The teardown enthusiasts at iFixit have plied their considerable talents on the new 13-Inch MacBook Air, and while they didn’t find any drastic changes, there are a couple that are worth taking note of.
The team found that the PCIe-based SSD module from Samsung is smaller than the previous model’s Toshiba SATA module, which also means that the drive is not compatible with previous MacBook Air models. As noted earlier by AnandTech, the read/write speeds of the flash storage approach 800 MB/s.
When introduced on Monday, the main highlight of the new Airs was the battery life in the ultra-light laptop that tops out at 12 hours for the 13-inch model. During the teardown, iFixit found the Airs boast new batteries with increased capacities and higher voltages. Increased from a 7.3 V, 6700 mAh power battery to a 7.6 V 7150 mAh power battery.
The new Air’s also sport a redesigned AirPort card capable of 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and a larger heat sink that covers both the CPU and GPU. Oddly enough, the GPU didn’t have any thermal compound applied to aid in the transfer of heat to the heat sink.
Apple offers the 11-inch MacBook Air starting at $999 with a 128 GB hard drive, while the 13-inch MacBook Air has a starting point of $1099 with a 128 GB hard drive. Both lines are available at Apple’s Online Store and at their retail outlets.
