Last year's Airs offered big performance gains over their predecessors thanks to the switch from Core 2 Duo to Core i5 processors. While this year's Airs don't offer as big of a jump, show that the new Airs are roughly 15 to 21 percent faster in processor-intensive tasks (namely, our Cinebench CPU and MathematicaMark8 tests) than their immediate predecessors, and that's the case for both the 13-inch and 11-inch models.

(The $1099 11-inch Air and $1499 13-inch model can be purchased with an upgraded 2.0GHz Intel Core i7 processor with 4MB of level--3 cache. We will be benchmarking some build-to-order Airs and will publish our results when available.)

When it came to graphics performance, the 2011 Air was in some ways a step back compared to the 2010 model. The 2010 model featured a dedicated graphics processor (GPU), the Nvidia GeForce 320M, while the 2011 Air used an integrated Intel HD Graphics 3000 GPU. In our testing, we found that when we used our traditional benchmark tests, such as Cinebench's OpenGL test and a Call of Duty demo, the 2011 Air's performance was quite poor compared to the 2010 model. However, when we used apps that had been specifically optimized for Intel graphics, such as Valve's Portal 2, the 2011 Air's integrated GPU slightly bested its predecessor's discrete chip.

For 2012, the Air line has been upgraded to an Intel HD Graphics 4000 GPU. While still an integrated GPU, Apple claims the 4000 is up to 60 percent faster on graphics-intensive tasks than last year's 3000. In our testing the 2012 Airs were indeed around 60 percent faster in our Cinebench OpenGL test, though only 20 to 25 percent faster in our Portal test. So while Apple's claims may not hold up across the board, it's clear that the 2012 Airs gain significant graphics improvements and comfortably best all previous generations in this area.

For real-world testing, I spent some time playing Portal on the new Airs. At the highest supported resolution with the default detail settings for the Air's GPU, the game was quite playable, with only occasional mild stuttering, even when mirroring the Air's display to a 23-inch Cinema Display. It's worth noting, however, that after 10 to 20 minutes of this, the laptop's fans were easily audible, and after 20 to 30 minutes, the 11-inch Air was too hot to use on my lap. (The 13-inch model also got hot, but the temperatures weren't quit as high as those of its smaller sibling.)