Consumer Reports infamously loathes the iPhone 4, but if their latest list of computer ratings are anything to go by, that seething distaste doesn’t extend to Apple’s notebooks: not only do they highly recommend most of Cupertino’s current laptops over the competition, but they’re absolutely gaga over the new MacBook Air.
First, the new Air: the 11-inch MacBook Air ranked a score of 67 out of 100, putting it at the top of Consumer Reports’ list of — well — only two 11-inch laptops. Even so, Consumer Reports ranked it “very good” as far as Ergonomics and Display, “fair” in Versatility in Speakers, and “good” in performance.
The 13-inch Air did a lot better though: in a much more sizable list of 13-inch laptops, Consumer Reports listed it first, above two 13-inch MacBook Pro models that placed third and fourth in the category.
Apple’s winning streak continued in the 15 to 16-inch category, with the 2.54GHz Core i5 MacBook Pro winning the category soundly. The same was true in the 17-inch category to boot.
Consumer Reports may not recommend the iPhone 4, but if you’re looking for pretty much any laptop, the message is clear: Apple’s making the best notebooks in every category that money can buy.
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
