Best Review

Other World Computing has announced the release of the 6G Mercury Aura Pro Express, a replacement SSD for the 2011 MacBook Air that fully utilizes its SATA 3 (6Gbps) interface. Available in 120GB and 240GB capacities, the new drives combine a SandForce 2200-series controller with Tier 1/Grade A NAND memory to achieve up to 507MB/s read speeds and 454MB/s write speeds, which is about twice as fast as the stock drive in MBAs.
Apple ships its current MacBook Airs with SATA 3Gbps SSDs and doesnt promote SATA 6Gbps even though the hardware supports it. Since the ultra thin and light notebook uses a nonstandard SSD form factor, the typical 2.5-inch drives on the market cant be used as a replacement. OWC says that the new Aura Pro Express 6G SSD is the first and only 6Gbps SSD designed to work with both the 11.1-inch and 13.3-inch models of the new MacBook Air.
In addition, according to the company, it provides up to 100 times the data protection of an ordinary SSD by combining the highest level of Error Correction Code and SandForce RAISE technology, along with 7 percent overprovisioning.
The drive is available now at around $345 and $600 for the 120GB and 240GB models, respectively. A 480GB capacity model for the 2011 MacBook Air is supposedly planned but no date has been announced.

From the outside, the latest 15-inch MacBook Pro closely resembles its predecessor. It sports the same solid aluminum unibody enclosure with the indented thumb scoop for opening the lid, the same huge touchpad, and the same stiff button that makes tapping and swiping the touchpad with your fingers easier than depressing the button. The big glossy screen still has a resolution of 1440 by 900 pixels, and all ports--including the MagSafe power port, gigabit ethernet, FireWire 800, two USB ports, and separate audio-in and -out ports--are still grouped together on the left side of the case. The iSight camera is positioned in the same spot, as is the 8X SuperDrive. Nevertheless, Apple has introduced significant changes to the new model.

A new Secure Digital (SD) card slot lets you transfer files to your Mac and boot the laptop. Apple says that the MacBook Pro supports the following cards: SD (which holds 4MB to 4GB of data), SDHC (which holds 4GB to 32GB of data), microSD (with an adapter), and miniSD (with an adapter). It does not support SDXC, a new card specification that theoretically can support up to 2TB of storage; this card is not yet available on the open market, however. Users--especially photographers and videographers--who have invested in ExpressCard hardware will lament Apples decision to eliminate the ExpressCard/34 slot. The latest 17-inch MacBook Pro retains its ExpressCard/34 slot.

For the 15-inch MacBook Pro, Apple has abandoned replaceable batteries in favor of the same battery technology that it introduced earlier this year for the 17-inch MacBook Pro--a larger, flatter, more compact, and longer-lasting lithium-polymer battery. The new battery contains a chip that monitors things like charge level and temperature, and communicates this information to the computer. According to Apple, the technologys ability to determine and maintain the optimal charging currentenables the new battery to survive 1000 charges, or approximately five years, before reaching 80 percent of original capacity; conventional rechargeables have a typical lifespan of 300 recharges. In the Macworld Labs tests of battery life, the new battery held out for ran an average of 4 hours. PC Worlds Battery tests (running Windows Vista in Boot Camp mode) didnt shine as favorable for the high-end MacBook Pro we tested. It only lasted 3 hours, 40 minutes in PC Worlds Battery drain tests. Thats almost a half-hour less than the average all-purpose machine running the same test.