Apple unveils thinner, slimmer, sleeker MacBook Airs

Although we’ve always admired the lithe, stylish lines of Apple’s MacBook Air range, we’ve never felt inclined to buy one due to the sky high price premium and minimal bang-for-your-buck compared to alternatives on other platforms – and the latest updates to the range look unlikely to persuade us.

That said, they surely are lovely looking things indeed, coming in two screen sizes: 13.3in and 11.6in, with both offering instant-on access, solid-state storage, FaceTime camera, 802.11n Wi-Fi, an extended battery life and rather elderly Core 2 Duo Processors and Nvidia GeForce graphics inside.

Both new MacBook Airs are housed in an aluminium unibody construction which looks delightful to our eyes.

The larger  machine rocks a 13.3in LED backlit display supporting a 1,440 x 900 pixels resolution and weighing in at 2.9 pounds, with bijou dimensions to match: it’s just 0.68in at its thickest point, 0.11in at its thinnest.

There’s also a full-sized keyboard and full-sized glass trackpad, with the battery life promising seven hours of wireless use, plus 30 days on standby.

The 11.6in edition supports a 1,266 x 768 pixel display, comes with a 5 hour battery life and weighs 2.3 pounds, with prices starting at £849 inc VAT for the 64GB, 1.4GHz  model, rising to £999 inc VAT for a 128GB version.

The larger 13in MacBook Air runs a 1.86GHz processor with 128GB of storage, and thumps your wallet to the tune of £1,039 inc VAT upwards, with the 256GB version slapping you even harder around the chops with a price tag of  £1,349 inc VAT.