Apple’s WWDC 2013 last week wasn’t just about the unveiling of refreshed software, such as OS X Mavericks and the redesigned iOS 7, the dev conference was also about the release of new MackBook Air models. Starting at $999 and already sold at the Apple store, the laptops boasts battery life that can last for the entire business day.

Hardware design and improved Retina display weren’t the highlights of this year’s MacBook Air. In lieu of those key aspects are enhancements over battery life, computing power, and storage. To illustrate, the 11-inch Air now has an average battery life of nine hours, up from five hours. The 13-inch variant, on the other hand, is boosted to last for up to 12 hours.

Apple was able to accomplish such long-lasting battery life—a feature that’s rare in laptops but common in tablet computers—largely because of Intel’s new Haswell chips. Consumers can choose between two Intel CPUs for their Macbook Air, either a 1.3 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 or a 1.7 GHz dual-core Intel Core i7. Handling the graphics department is an integrated Intel HD Graphics 5000. Its key features include dual display support and video mirroring.

[two_fifth]Related: Apple iOS 7: A Major Redesign, New Features[/two_fifth]

Other upgrades include Wi-Fi, which now supports the 802.11ac protocol. While choices for storage remain the same (128GB, 256GB, and 512GB), Apple has opted for the faster SSD storage system. The revamped MacBook Air is also reported to wake up in less than a second and go on for a month while on standby.

For MacBook Pro lovers out there, it’s sad to say but no upgrades have been revealed at the event. This was to be expected though, given that the last announcement for this product line was in October 2012. But when this high-performance laptop line does receive a bump, we can at least be sure that it’ll also come with the great specs as that of the new MacBook Air.

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  1. this is a nice laptop, it will be very nice to have one also. if i got one, for sure I’m going to buy the thule laptop bag the same as my friends, bec. it really does give a protection.