The new Macbook Air 11

The first-generation Macbook Air polarized opinion more than most of Apple’s products. Fans praised its ultra-slim design and ruthless omission of anything not in keeping with its mobility ethos; critics derided its performance, minimal port selection and premium price. By the time the 13-inch unibody MacBook graduated to MacBook Pro status, the Air had been relegated to a very small niche.
The new MacBook Air announced as Jobs’ “one more thing” at the company’s otherwise OS X focused “Back to the Mac” event this week, pulls the range back up to date. By standardizing integrated batteries, bulky SSD (by today’s standard) replaced by NAND flash storage, and the latest low-voltage CPU and GPUs – all technologies that were either too new, too expensive or too unrefined at the first Air’s launch – Apple has successfully rebooted their ultraportable without necessarily stomping on other MacBook and MacBook Pro models in the process.