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The Air remains our favorite ultraportable, thanks to improved battery life, exceptional speed and a comfortable design.

Apple makes the quintessential ultraportable notebook even better by giving the MacBook Air faster performance and longer battery life.

The 2012 MacBook Air doesn't look any different than its last couple of predecessors, but the upgrades on the inside are what make the machine.

The new Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (Mid 2012) is a simple upgrade of the class-leading line, with a $100 price drop. While a new processor gives you a little extra performance and some tests, the real additions are things like the new (for Mac) USB 3.0 ports and free upgrade to OS X Mountain Lion.

The bottom line: This year's MacBook Air opts for gradual improvements rather than anything revolutionary, but lowered prices continue to make it the go-to mainstream recommendation for any MacBook owner-to-be.

With the PC industry throwing every ultrabook it can come up with at the market in the hope of scoring a win, Apple has done exactly what it needs to with the MacBook Air. Faster, more flexible and cheaper, it presents the strongest challenge from an Air model to-date.

... the Air remains an object of desire, a powerful laptop and a computer that you just want to use constantly. It certainly is the best MacBook Air, and it really has to be a contender for the best laptop of the year too.

The new 13-inch Apple MacBook Air is as thin and stunningly designed as ever, but it's now packing the latest Intel Ivy Bridge processor, making it more formidable for graphics tasks and bringing those all-important high-speed USB 3.0 ports. It's still going to cost you a pretty penny though.

The new 13-inch MacBook Air might not be the huge revision we were hoping for, but it's still an excellent laptop, borne out of years of refinement.

With a starting price of £999, the new 2012 Macbook Air 13in is solidly positioned at the premium end of the market, but is better value than ever before thanks to its upgraded bits.

With an Intel Ivy Bridge CPU and speedy USB 3.0 ports, Apple’s latest Air is still a strong candidate for best ultraportable available. But with the same chassis and screen resolution as last year’s models, it’s not the class-leader-by-a-mile that the previous version was.