Gadgetory

on the outside the 11-inch version of the 2012 MacBook Air looks the same as last year's model but what about on the inside let's crack the case and find out I'm Bill Detweiler and this is cracking open the 11 inch air is Apple's smallest lightest and lowest priced laptop and while the company didn't make any big design changes to the 2012 air ample did make several significant hardware improvements for starters Intel's third-generation Ivy Bridge processors now power the air a 1.7 gigahertz dual-core core i5 processor comes standard but our test machine had a 2 gigahertz core i7 the 2012 airs also come with intel's HD Graphics 4000 a step up from the older models HD graphics 3000 system in addition to the more powerful processor and graphics apple also beefed up the RAM and available storage the 2012 air can support up to 8 gigs of RAM compared to the 2011 s4 and the chips are also faster 1600 megahertz compared to the old models 1333 megahertz as for storage the new air can be configured with up to 512 gigs which is twice the max capacity of last year's version rounding out the upgrades are a new 720p FaceTime camera a pair of USB 3 ports and Apple's new MagSafe 2 power connector now despite all these Hardware updates the 2011 and 2012 11 inch airs have identical internal hardware layouts there's a large battery to speakers on either side a small IO board single cooling fan and motherboard and just like this year's 13-inch air the battery is identical to last year's model so what's not to like about the new 11 inch air well nothing too serious there's no SD card slot as there is on the 13-inch air the base models 64 gig SSD seems a bit small given the machines 900 and $99 price tag and for those accustomed to a standard laptop the machines 11 inch screen may take some getting used to as is its larger sibling the 2012 11 inch air is a solid update to the line just remember you can't upgrade it so get all the RAM storage and processing power you'll need when you buy it for more information on the 2012 air including performance and battery life benchmark tests check out Scott Stein's full CNET review and to see more teardown photos and read my full Hardware analysis go to TechRepublic comm /tracking / I'm Bill Detweiler thanks for watching