The redesigned MacBook Air in October 2010 sparked a minor revolution in notebooks; after years of ultraportables (even Apple's) being relegated to the margins, they were suddenly the future of computing. Intel went so far as to coin a new notebook concept, the "ultrabook," to spur Windows PC builders to do what Apple was doing. But with stiff competition emerging from Samsung, Sony, and even ASUS, Apple has had to step up its game with a much faster processor and Thunderbolt for desktop-level external storage. We'll see in our review of the
