Apple MacBook Air (11-inch review: Apple MacBook Air (11-inch

(For a comparative look at the entire Apple MacBook line, read our 2012 MacBook Pro and MacBook Air roundup.)

8.3

Apple MacBook Air (11-inch

The Good

The new <b>11-inch MacBook Air</b> has third-gen Intel Core i5 and i7 processors, USB 3.0 ports, slightly improved battery life, and a lower price on the higher-end model.

The Bad

The Air still has relatively few ports and an expensive starting $999 price for only a 64GB SSD -- and that 11-inch screen feels small for its size.

The Bottom Line

The new 11-inch MacBook Air is every bit as fast as the 13-inch Air, despite its smaller size, but you'll give up 2 hours of battery life in the bargain.

Remember Netbooks and ultraportable laptops? Those 10- and 11-inchers were all the rage a few years ago, but thanks to the rise of larger-screened ultrabooks and smaller-screened tablets, they've been disappearing from the computer landscape.

One significant 11-incher still remains: the 11-inch MacBook Air. When it first debuted in late 2010, it was the answer to the Netbook Generation. Now it stands alone, not only as a speedy ultraportable, but as one of the few 11-inch ultrabook-class laptops around. The closest Windows equivalent we've reviewed recently, the Dell XPS 13, is larger and heavier.

Last year's 11-inch Air was a beautifully compact and surprisingly powerful machine, nearly as quick as a 13-inch Air, but with sacrificed battery life due to its tiny size.

This year's model is faster, packing a third-gen Intel Core i5 processor that's nearly indistinguishable from the one in the larger 13-inch MacBook Air. USB 3.0 ports have been added, and battery life is better, finally clearing 5 hours and then some on our tests.

The other problem had to do with price: last year's attractive $999 entry-level MacBook Air came with a diminutive 64GB solid-state drive (SSD) and only 2GB of RAM (which couldn't be upgraded). The package you really had to upgrade to was the one with a 128GB SSD and 4GB of RAM, which cost $1,199.

This year, the entry-level 2012 11-inch Air is still $999 -- the least expensive MacBook in Apple's lineup -- but still only has a 64GB SSD (though 4GB of RAM this time). The good news is that the configuration you'll want, with a 128GB SSD, costs $1,099, $100 less than last year's step-up. (If I were to be really nitpicky, I'd say that that $100 bump-up only buys you more SSD space as opposed to last year getting the SSD and RAM, but the total cost for components is $100 less either way).

A thousand dollars is a lot to pay for such a tiny laptop, but this Air's shocking portability and comfortable keyboard will win travelers over, with performance that's pretty much as good as that of the fuller Air. You're giving up about 2 hours of battery life and an SD card slot for the privilege compared with the 13-inch. Then again, some might enjoy saving an extra $100 off a similar 13-inch configuration. Either way, the 11-inch seems better as a luxurious secondary computer than a primary one.