MacBook Air 11-inch 2013 (with Haswell) Unboxing: Best just got better?

Unboxing the New MacBook Air

A few weeks ago Apple announced the newest MacBook Air featuring the power efficient Intel Haswell chip. Fast forward today and some stores here in the Philippines are already selling it! Seeing as we have ridiculously low EQ, we ended up buying a unit from our favorite Apple Premium Reseller store, Beyond the Box in One Rockwell, as soon as we found out it was available (last night). We unboxed early this morning and we’d like to share our initial impressions with you guys. 🙂

Before anything here’s a quick rundown of the specifications of the 11-inch base model:

MacBook Air 11-inch 2013 Model Spec Sheet

1.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 (Turbo Boost up to 2.6GHz) with 3MB shared L3 cache
Intel HD Graphics 5000
4GB of 1600MHz LPDDR3 onboard memory
128GB flash storage
11.6-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen display
1366 by 768 native resolution
720p FaceTime HD camera
802.11ac Wi-Fi wireless networking;3 IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n compatible
Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology
(2) USB 3 ports, Thunderbolt port, MagSafe 2 power port
OSX Mountain Lion

Packaging and Unboxing

It's the new MacBook Air! It's in the PH! :-D — It’s the new MacBook Air! It’s in the PH! 😀

The box of the new MacBook Air is basically the same as the previous model. There’s the hero product shot up front and the specifications are neatly displayed on the back. In fact if you don’t take a look at the specs you probably won’t know if this is the mid-2012 or 2013 variant.

Just so you know it's really the new model, hehe. — Just so you know it’s really the new model, hehe.

Just like any Apple product, unboxing the MacBook Air is an experience in itself. The clean and minimalist design of the packaging played a role in enhancing and over-all excitement and anticipation. We tore the plastic and pulled the top lid off to find the new MacBook Air wrapped in clean white plastic.

Underneath the laptop we found the usual MacBook Air peripherals and accessories: the MagSafe charger, manuals, certificates, and the usual Apple logo sticker.

Apple is one of the best in the industry when it comes to unboxing and packaging. The boxes look so good you just want to put them on display, hehe.

Hardware Check: Same Chassis and Body

Still thin. Still light. Still high quality. Still the best.

The 2013 MacBook Air sports the same body and chassis as the previous 2012 11-inch model. It’s the same aluminum unibody construction, 11.6-inch display, the best chiclet keyboard, and a full size glass trackpad. All the ports are neatly on the sides which includes 2 USB 3.0 ports, Magsafe 2.0, and Thunderbolt.

Still one of the best in the industry when it comes to value for money

While the outside looks the same, the real story of the 2013 MacBook Air is what’s inside of it. This baby runs on Intel’s latest Haswell chipset which is optimized for energy efficiency. According to Apple the 2013 MacBook Air 11-inch variant should have up to 9 hours battery life. We’re definitely going to put this to the test in our review.

Initial Verdict: Looks like the Best did just Get Better

The 2013 MacBook Air is potentially the best value for money notebook you can buy. The 11-inch model is priced a little over Php46,000 and you already get the latest Intel chipset which gives you monstrous battery life. It also has the new Intel HD 5000 graphics card which should help with image processing and gaming. Watch out for our full review by next week!

The 2013 MacBook Air models are now available in Beyond the Box. Go get ’em while they still have stock.