2011 Lappy Awards: Best Laptop Features of the Year
Best Touchpad Award & Fastest Boot Time Award: Apple MacBook Air (13-inch)
The best all-around ultraportable laptop money can buy, Apple’s 13-inch MacBook Air is a tour de force of portable computing craftsmanship. From its sleek, razor-thin design to the aluminum unibody construction, it’s immediately evident that Apple takes quality seriously. This same devotion to detail extends to the notebook’s roomy 4.1 x 3-inch touchpad.
The glass surface of the Air’s Trackpad allows for impressively smooth and responsive two-finger scrolling, three-finger swipes, and pinch-to-zoom gestures. Plus, Mac OS X Lion lets you perform nifty new gestures on this machine, including a three-finger swipe down for activating Mission Control.
To cut the trim machine down to a featherweight 2.9 pounds, Apple tossed the traditional hard drive and outfitted the Air with solid state memory installed right on the laptop’s motherboard. As a result, the 13-inch MacBook Air consistently fired up Mac OS X Lion in a mere 17 seconds. Just as impressive, the Air wakes from sleep as soon as you open the lid, giving it iPad-like responsiveness.
Starting at $1,299; www.apple.com
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November 10th, 2011 at 1:48 pm
I think Lenovo is a good computers! But I don’t know exactly. I never used it, yet.
November 12th, 2011 at 9:33 am
You mean those Lenovo ads where the parachutist has to get the Lenovo to boot & deploy its chute before it crashes (to show how Lenovo laptops have the fastest boot time) are a lie? Has Apple tried the “boot to deploy parachute” test on a MacBook Air yet?
January 30th, 2012 at 3:46 am
I don’t understand what is so great about this keyboard?
April 4th, 2012 at 2:34 am
Joe, have you ever tried a thinkpad keyboard? It won’t make a difference if you only type with two fingers; but if you spend hours touch typing at time, this is the best laptop keyboard you can get. I had a Dell Latitude for over 3 years and when my company finally upgraded me to the ThinkPad X220, it was a huge difference.
Even worse are the now widespread chiclet or island style keyboards. The keys are far apart, they have no curved surface, and they are typically harder to press.
September 2nd, 2012 at 11:56 pm
The best keyboard + trackpad is hands down the MacBook Air. Just visit the nearest Apple store to try it for yourself. The wedge shape leads to a comfortable wrist rest. The keys have just the right amount of travel and cushion that it’s almost effortless yet gives enough tactile feedback. And no worries about keys popping out.