With the heavy bits removed, we catch the logic board before it floats away. Turning it over, we found the heart of the matter:

1.6 GHz Intel Core i5 5250U processor, with integrated Intel HD Graphics 6000

Intel DSL5520 Thunderbolt 2 controller

GL3219 Genesys Logic SDXC controller

LT3957 Linear Technologies inverting controller

Broadwell shrinks the MacBook Air's previous architecture (Haswell)—meaning not a lot has changed performance-wise, but a new manufacturing process makes the transistors smaller, and the entire chip more power efficient by up to 30%.

In contrast, the integrated Intel HD Graphics 6000 brings a legit graphics performance boost (roughly a 20-25% improvement over HD 5000).