新款MacBook Air是终极商务笔记本吗？

试用新款11英寸MacBook Air一周后，我确信，苹果本次硬件升级虽然看起来微不足道，但光凭出色的电池续航时间就足以说服部分用户升级或是首度购买MacBook Air。这款设备在日常使用中并未能实现9小时续航时间，但8.5小时的网页浏览时间跟9小时已经相差无几。虽然我希望苹果能根据买家需要提供更高清屏幕的版本——目前1366×768的分辨率已经感觉开始有点不清晰了——但新款MacBook Air可谓瑕不掩瑜。它到底能不能算是商旅狂人的终极利器？考虑到它仅仅一千美元出头的价格，似乎很难说出个“不”字。（财富中文网）

Opening apps, toggling through windows, and watching high-definition video is a smoother experience than before, but the small speed bump isn't one many will notice. As for Intel's claim that Haswell offers better graphics performance? The first-person puzzle game Portal 2 was solid with some of the graphics bells and whistles turned on, but much less so when we tried everything on full throttle. In other words, expect more contemporary games to be playable, provided those settings are kept medium.

笔记本的外型几乎没有什么变化。对于新用户来说，这没什么问题。因为Air简洁明快的线条、微不足道的2.38磅（约合1080克）重量以及超纤薄的外形即便在三年后的今天来看也丝毫不觉得过时。内部配置则略有升级。此前的单麦克风升级为双麦克风，固态闪存的速度据说也比上一代产品提高了45%。硬件上的最大的变化无疑是处理器，全新的英特尔（Intel）第四代Haswell处理器也登台亮相。

With Haswell, Intel promises better energy savings and a serious graphics bump without trading performance. The Air has an ultra-low-power version of the chip, ranging from a 1.3 GHz dual-core i5 to an optional 1.7 GHz dual-core i7, called "ULT." Apple says the battery sizes in this year's models haven't changed. It's the new processor and its improved power-conserving ways that are responsible for better battery life.

笔记本全天候续航问题目前仍然无解。除非你使用配备了12芯扩展电池的惠普（HP）笔记本，要不然，要想支撑7小时以上无异于痴人说梦。

With laptops, all-day battery life remains an elusive, almost mythic, thing. Because unless it's an HP (HPQ) laptop with a protruding 12-cell battery, reaching anywhere north of seven hours of use between charges is near-impossible.

Little has changed on the outside. For newcomers, that should be just fine, since -- let's face it -- the Air's clean lines and 2.38 lb. waif-like frame are still nice to look at, even three years later. Inside, Apple has made small tweaks. There are now two microphones instead of one, and the flash-based storage is supposedly 45% faster. The biggest change in this otherwise minor hardware upgrade is the inclusion of one of Intel's (INTC) fourth-generation Haswell processors.

译者：项航

开启应用程序、切换窗口以及观看高清视频的体验都比之前更顺畅，但小幅的速度提升很多人根本不会注意到。至于英特尔所宣称的Haswell的图形性能更佳？开着一部分花里胡哨的图形功能玩第一人称解谜游戏《传送门2》（Portal 2）是没问题，但假如把这些功能全部开启，那就不行了。换言之，用户倘若将上述设置维持在均衡状态，就可以玩更高级的游戏了。

But the new MacBook Air models, announced at WWDC, are supposed to be exceptions: Apple (AAPL) rates the 13-inch model at 12 hours of battery life and the 11-incher at nine. That's four-plus hours more than before -- a potentially serious improvement. To suss out the claim, Apple loaned us an 11-inch unit stocked with a 1.3GHz dual-core i5 processor, 4 GB of RAM, and 256 GB of flash storage, a model that sells for $1,199.