Don't buy an Apple MacBook Air (or any Apple product) - don't believe me, do your own research (I highly encourage it). I bought a brand new Apple MacBook Air in March of 2015, fast forward to November 2017 and my MacBook has died. My machine was in excellent condition and only left the house a handful of times - never dropped it, never spilt anything on it (Guiness Bar confirmed I did nothing wrong as far as they can tell). I'm extremely upset and disappointed with Apple and I'll be making it known to everyone in my circle. How does such a major hardware component fail in such a short time? How does Apple not stand behind their products? They want half the price of a brand new MBA to fix their faulty product.  When I question the quality of their product and asked if I had a dud, the response is we never know when this kind of stuff will happen or why - based on all the Apple threads, I think that's a lie. They obviously know their products' logic boards don't work.

What's even more unbelieving, I only bought such an expensive machine because an Apple laptop was supposed to be high quality and last for years - what a joke! Don't waste your hard earned money on such a joke of a company. Obviously, no tech company, Apple included, can figure out how to make a quality machine. Even Apple's cell phones can't last more than 2 years without failing - I can't believe people keep giving them so much money. I WAS converting all my technology to Apple products but you better believe that isn't happening anymore - NEVER BUYING AN APPLE PRODUCT AGAIN!!

Don't buy an Apple MacBook Air (or any Apple product) - don't believe me, do your own research (I highly encourage it). I bought a brand new Apple MacBook Air in March of 2015, fast forward to November 2017 and my MacBook has died. My machine was in excellent condition and only left the house a handful of times - never dropped it, never spilt anything on it (Guiness Bar confirmed I did nothing wrong as far as they can tell). I'm extremely upset and disappointed with Apple and I'll be making it known to everyone in my circle. How does such a major hardware component fail in such a short time? How does Apple not stand behind their products? They want half the price of a brand new MBA to fix their faulty product.  When I question the quality of their product and asked if I had a dud, the response is we never know when this kind of stuff will happen or why - based on all the Apple threads, I think that's a lie. They obviously know their products' logic boards don't work.

What's even more unbelieving, I only bought such an expensive machine because an Apple laptop was supposed to be high quality and last for years - what a joke! Don't waste your hard earned money on such a joke of a company. Obviously, no tech company, Apple included, can figure out how to make a quality machine. Even Apple's cell phones can't last more than 2 years without failing - I can't believe people keep giving them so much money. I WAS converting all my technology to Apple products but you better believe that isn't happening anymore - NEVER BUYING AN APPLE PRODUCT AGAIN!!

Very detailed write up. I am a bit shocked that with this level of scrutiny you didn't mention the ports when comparing it to the Macbook and Macbook Pro. The multiple USB 3.0's, SD reader, display port and Magsafe are all positive attributes helping keep the Air alive. Apple force feeding us USB-C and requiring dongle for everything has no upside to the large majority of targeted demographic. The ports alone I suspect are a huge draw when deciding the Air over the Macbook or Pro.

As an alternative you could try using Windows 10 in Boot Camp for the projector. Not the best choice but at least a possibility.

I am  using the MacBook Air to connect to my wireless digital projector  for PowerPoint and keynote presentations as well as to play videos for educational use.  I felt it performs similar to most of your ratings, but I've had terrible compatibility problems with the projector- eg. trouble with my MAC recognizing the display options for the projector as well as poor resolution when playing videos.  Tech support knowledge seemed scant for this particular device.  Also I find the touch pad awkward and not working on the Apple mail app.  The device is lightweight so quite easy to carry and does provide a slightly larger screen than the Pro  so I find it does everything my PC does but too much money to pay without a seamless projector connection.

wow, that was I looking for, your work here its perfect. totally detailed. (Y)

Excellent, detailed review.

This captures the key problem with the MacBook Air well:

"This is most obvious when looking at text, where the Air's lack of sharpness results in blurry shading along the edges. Thus, we would absolutely recommend a higher resolution display for those of you who work with and look at text all day long."

I'm typing this on an earlier MBA and the text flickering in and out when scrolling is horrendous!  It's especially hard to deal with after spending time on an iPad.  The MacBook and MBP screens are much better, very iPad-like!

OTOH, the tapered large palm rest is great on the MBAs!  The MacBook's is too small, while the MBP's is smaller than the MBA's and a rectangular, gotcha front edge.  The MBA's keyboard also doesn't make as much noise as the 2017 MB's!

What's really needed is a 13" MacBook with two ports, Retina Display, and tapered front edge!

The display is fairly ridiculous and even embarrassing for an Apple product, but will work for most people, there´s still a lot of value in a decent OS, not having to worry about malware all the time or what the latest update will break.

With a little work on your part you can find a laptop with an IPS display and setup a Linux distro in it, for 50 to 60% of the (US) price: Thinkpad 13, some Asus zenbook.