MacBook Air 2012 vs MacBook Air 2013: Spec Showdown

By Brandon Widder Published June 10, 2013

macbook-air-vs — Image used with permission by copyright holder

This story is part of our complete Apple WWDC coverage

As expected, Apple unveiled the new Haswell-powered MacBook Air at at its World Wide Developers Conference conference today, flaunting the latest enhancements to the notebook that essentially launched the current Ultrabook craze. It’s not a complete overhaul, but the new system specs offer some noteworthy improvements over the 2012 model, offering improved performance but lacking the much-rumored Retina display we were all hoping for. Check out our spec comparison below for a quick look at how the new 13-inch MacBook Air stacks up against it’s predecessor.

	2012 MacBook Air (13-inch) Image used with permission by copyright holder	2013 MacBook Air (13-inch) Image used with permission by copyright holder
Dimensions	12.8” x 8.94” x 0.68”	12.8” x 8.94” x 0.68”
Weight	2.96 pounds	2.96 pounds
Keyboard	Backlit w/ ambient light sensor	Backlit w/ ambient light sensor
Processor	1.8GHz Intel Dual-core i5-3427U	1.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 (Haswell)
RAM	4GB DDR3L SDRAM	4GB of 1600MHz LPDDR3
Graphics	Intel HD Graphics 4000	Intel HD Graphics 5000
Screen Size	13.3″ (non-touch)	13.3″ (non-touch)
Resolution	1440 x 900	1440 x 900
Storage	128GB SSD	128GB SSD
Networking	802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0	802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0
Ports	Thunderbolt, USB 3.0 x 2, SD memory card reader	Thunderbolt, USB 3.0, SDXC card reader
Webcam	720p HD webcam	720p HD webcam
Operating System	Mac OS X Mountain Lion	Mac OS X Mountain Lion
Battery Life	7 hours	12 hours
Price	$1,200	$1,100

Recommended Videos

Apple claims the new Haswell chip will extend battery life from seven to 12 hours on a single charge, while the new GPU and quicker graphics processor will ramp up performance beyond the capabilities of earlier models. The 1440 x 900 resolution display remains the same, but other feaures — such as flash and the 802.11ac Wi-Fi — will see dramatic speed improvements.

Apple also dropped the price of the new Air by $100 across all models, but is Apple’s refresh really enough? For those who already own a MacBoo Air, the longer battery life and faster processor are probably not enough to justify buying a new Air.

What do you think? Are you excited for the new MacBook Air, or do you simply feel let down? Let us know in the comments below.

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Brandon Widder is a multimedia journalist and a staff writer for Digital Trends where he covers technology news, how-to…

Computing

Get a $200 discount on the 13-inch Apple MacBook Air M3

The M3 MacBook Air in front of a window.

There's always a lot of interest in MacBook deals because of the expensive prices attached to Apple's laptops. Here's an offer from B&H Photo Video that you wouldn't want to miss -- the 13-inch Apple MacBook Air M3 with a 256GB SSD at $200 off, which brings its price down to $899 from $1,099. This bargain is only available for a limited time, ending on November 30, but we highly recommend completing your purchase as soon as possible because there's a possibility that the stocks up for sale won't last that long.

Why you should buy the 13-inch Apple MacBook Air M3
The 13-inch model of the Apple MacBook Air M3 is our top choice among the best MacBooks, with a rating of four out of five stars in our review. The first thing that you'd notice about the laptop is its "compact and beautiful design." It's extremely thin, at just 0.44 inches, and wonderfully light, which is why its name works so well. The 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display with a resolution of 2560 x 1664 and pixel density of 224 pixels per inch is bright and colorful, so you'll enjoy working on your projects, browsing the internet, and watching streaming shows on this screen.

Computing

Leaked M4 MacBook Pro benchmarks reveal incredible performance

MacBook Pro with M4

The M4 MacBook Pros launched this week with plenty to talk about. Performance, however, wasn't the focus of all the attention. Apple didn't provide many direct comparisons of how much more powerful the M4 MacBook Pro is over the previous generation of chips.

But now some leaked benchmarks for the M4 series have been put online, and they reveal just how significant of an uplift the M4 Max and M4 Pro bring. Over on X (formerly Twitter) user James Atkinson discovered some results from a Geekbench 6 benchmark for the M4 Max chip, which revealed 4,060 single-core and 26,675 multi-core scores.

Computing

Best laptop deals: Save on the Dell XPS 14, MacBook Pro 16 and more

The Dell XPS 14 on a white table with the screen open.

There are a lot of great laptop options out there, especially with some of the best laptop brands out there starting to branch out beyond what they are usually known for. That means that you can snag anything from an excellent 2-in-1 to a gaming laptop while still finding excellent deals. Of course, you don't need the best laptops to get something that's pretty great quality and can even compete with desktop computers, so if you want something budget-oriented, you're in luck.
That's why we've gone out and collected these deals from the best brands; you'll find HP laptop deals, Dell laptop deals, Acer laptop deals, Lenovo laptop deals, and more. They run the gamut from Chromebook deals and 2-in-1 laptop deals to powerful gaming laptop deals and everything in between.

HP Chromebook 14a -- $220 $320 31% off