Vadim Yuryev
It's been 10 years since Steve Jobs revealed the original MacBook Air, a laptop so thin he introduced it by pulling it out of an envelope. In those 10 years, Apple hasn't changed the iconic large bezel design of the MacBook Air at all — until now.
The new design of the MacBook Air is basically the same as the 12-inch MacBook, except it's a little bit thicker, and heavier. The display is one inch larger, so the speakers are on the left and right sides of the keyboard. In another move similar to the 12-inch MacBook, you can choose between Space Gray, Silver or Gold casing options.
There are also two Thunderbolt 3 ports instead of the slower USB 3.1 type C, like the single port on the 12-inch MacBook. This means you can connect an external GPU or even a 5K external display to the MacBook Air, the same way that you can to a MacBook Pro.
User input
Perhaps controversially, the new MacBook Air has Apple's third-generation butterfly keyboard. The keys are also individually backlit, which is a nice touch. If the new third-generation is more reliable than previous models isn't clear yet, but we'll keep looking into it.
There's also a Touch ID sensor which can be used instead of entering a password, and it makes online shopping with Apple Pay more secure. It's also packing Apple's T2 chip, which we think is a pretty big deal.
The Force Touch trackpad on the Air is practically identical to the 12-inch MacBook's version.
Audio and video
Apple also said during the announcement that the speakers are 25-percent louder with twice as much bass, something that will need to be tested once it is released.
The display is finally packing a Retina display, just like the rest of Apple's MacBook line. It's got the same resolution as the 13-inch MacBook Pro's display, but while the Pro's screen supports P3 wide color gamut and 500 nits of brightness, the Air's does not.
Processor performance and GPU
Moving onto performance, the new MacBook Air is packing Intel's recently-released Core i5-8210Y processor, with clock speeds similar to Apple's $1299 13-inch MacBook Pro's i5 processor. It has a thermal envelope of 7 watts of power, less than half the Pro's 15 watts. The new processor is more efficient, and at the same time won't draw as much power when needed.
Apple VP of hardware engineering Laura Lagrove introduces MacBook Air.The new MacBook Air has integrated graphics that is slightly faster than the 12-inch MacBook's graphics, but the 13-inch MacBook Pro's graphical performance is over 50% faster than the MacBook Air. Considering that you can get a 13-inch MacBook Pro for just $50 more at assorted vendors, it's hard to justify buying the MacBook Air if you're thinking in terms of GPU performance.
Even so, people don't generally buy the MacBook Air for the best possible performance from a Mac. They buy it because it's the cheapest way to get an Apple laptop, one that's thin, light, has great battery life, and lots of ports.
Pricing
The issue here is that the price just went up by $200, making it only slightly cheaper than a MacBook Pro. Not only that, but the port selection that everyone loved are now gone and replaced with two Thunderbolt 3 ports that require adapters for legacy devices.
With the price point so close to the 13-inch MacBook Pro, it's a toss-up whether to choose the new MacBook Air or the MacBook Pro with Function Keys. The MacBook air is overall thinner and lighter, it has Touch ID, the T2 chip, and new keyboard technology, but the MacBook Pro has it beat in performance.
For a lot of people, they just need a reliable Apple laptop that can surf the web and occasionally do a little bit more. If that's you, then you'll love the new MacBook Air, apart from needing adapters for the USB-C ports.
Where to buy
The new MacBook Air can be preordered from Apple authorized reseller Adorama with no tax collected on orders shipped outside New York and New Jersey. Prices start at $1,199.00 with free shipping for the new models.
Prefer the 13-inch MacBook Pro with function keys? Shoppers can save $50 to $100 on the Pro models with prices starting at $1,199.00 as well. A full list of discounts can be found in our 13-inch MacBook Pro Price Guide.
A previous version of this article incorrectly stated MacBook Air is a fan-less design.
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30 Comments
Yes and it fits original manilla envelope again as used by Jobs. At last. 13 inch with large bezels did not and we are not looking into taking large envelopes and pretend it is good size. It has to be smaller than regular laptops.
I was originally very happy with the MBA announcement. My daughters’ MBAs are old and due for replacement at Christmas.
Would have preferred a “U” processor so the MBA better competes with an XPS or Spectre. It Sure doesn’t compete on price reasons once you spec up the MBA to match, say the spectre ( in fact the price difference is Atlantic Ocean sized to put the same amount of storage in). But then of course, if you put the ‘U’ chip in you would need a fan and it might no longer match the XPS and Spectre on battery life. Also, who would buy the function key MBP if the MBA had a competitive chip?
Apple seems to be getting the future on iPads, yet without giving it the functionality of laptops, and that goal seems to be reflected in problematic laptop strategies.
T2 is just their name for the old SMC, not a big deal at all.
It's sad to say that in a presentation that was full of win, the Macbook Air was the least exciting of the announcements.
Sad, because it's really unfair on the actual device. The new Macbook Air looks lovely, and seems like it's a perfectly good machine (time will tell with the Y series processors, that some commentators don't seem to be too fond of). I think it's a fine successor to the old Macbook Air, it's just compared to the Mac mini, and the iPad Pro updates, it comes out kind of "meh".
I like that it has two TB3 ports, and TouchID (although, why not FaceID? Probably cost of adding the TrueDepth sensor.) and everyone's been after a Retina display for ages. It looks really good, and now matches the aesthetic of the other Macbooks. As far as I can tell at this stage, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. (I know someone's going to complain about not having some ancient port that they can't live without, but we've had that argument over everything.) It's just that it was the third most interesting announcement in a batch of three.
It's position as the first announcement wasn't an accident, either. I suspect Apple felt the same way, and wanted to show it off before moving on to the big news. Not to say they aren't proud of it, or were hoping to bury it, just that they knew more people would be excited by the mini, and the iPad.
Maybe there are people more excited about it than the Mac mini, in which case go for it. It might just be my perspective - I'm not looking for a Macbook just now, but I've been waiting for a Mac mini.
I rather have a 2018 13" function keys Macbook Pro of spec similar it's touchbar(useless!!) Macbook Pro. Thank God Apple didn't innovate and put touchbar in the new Macook Air but it will always be underpowered comapred to Macbook Pro. Apple, give us Function keys Macbook Pro and bit lower price due to no touchbar.