Is the MacBook Air a good laptop?

Last week, I wrote an article on the laptop that I hope Apple announced during their October event. This event took place, and I received no less than 10 Twitter messages and many messages from my friends asking me, "Is the MacBook Air a good laptop?"

In short, the MacBook Air Retina was a exactly what I wanted them to announce. The new MacBook Air is now the Mac that I recommend to most people. It will fly off the shelves for students and business buyers.

Backblaze

Reminder, its 13-inch screen has a large trackpad (Apple has the best trackpads for laptops and you never persuade me otherwise), 2 USB-C / Thunderbolt 3, the 2018 keyboard, Touch ID, the T2 chip and a Retina display.

As a wholesale laptop buyer, I often tend to think of everything with Apple on a large scale. If I buy laptops in bulk in 2018, this laptop has just become my favorite machine. Some companies (especially large companies) will continue to buy the old MacBook Air at $ 999, but the new one has too many great features for me to let them through. I will probably buy 50 of these laptops in the spring.

Screen Size

I've often said that my 12 inch Powerbook was my favorite laptop, but I learned to like 13 inches. Screen size over the years. I've always looked at the taste of the 12-inch MacBook, but I do not think I want to use it on a daily basis. With the new 13-inch MacBook Air, Apple has given us the best of the MacBook and the best of the MacBook Pro. It's the perfect combination.

2 USB-C / Thunderbolt 3 Ports

The abandonment of USB-A has been and will continue to be painful, but we will be better at the end. I do not have the proof, but I imagined that so far, the previous MacBook Air was the best selling laptop from Apple. Tim Cook did not give any numbers, but he stated the following: "Our customers love their Mac, and especially a Mac in particular …" just before announcing the new MacBook Air with Retina display .

released a MacBook Air with USB-C / Thunderbolt 3, the industry can continue to progress with the adoption. In a few years, we will not remember the transition, just as we will not remember the difficult transition from the iPhone's 30-pin dock connector. By including two ports, you can load while backing up with Time Machine or unloading images from your camera. I would have liked Apple to include 1 USB-A adapter in the box, but that's Apple we're talking about, so I'm not surprised.

T2 and Touch ID

I wrote about the state of Apple. in the company last week, it certainly worried me lately. The new MacBook Air comes with Apple's T2 security chip, which ensures that the software loaded during the boot process has not been tampered with. Here is some additional information about how it works:

Without valid login credentials or cryptographic recovery key, the internal APFS volume remains encrypted and is protected from unauthorized access even if the physical storage device is removed and connected to a device. other computer. Internal volume encryption on a Mac with the T2 chip is implemented by building and managing a key hierarchy and relies on hardware-based encryption technologies embedded in the chip. This key hierarchy is designed to achieve four goals simultaneously:

• Require the user's pbadword for decryption.
• Protect the system from sudden attacks directly against storage media removed from the Mac.
• Provide a quick and secure method for clearing content by removing the necessary cryptographic material.
• Allow users to change their pbadword (and therefore the cryptographic keys used to protect their files) without requiring re-encryption of the entire volume.
To prevent brute force attacks, at Mac startup no more than 30 pbadword attempts are allowed in the login window or via target disk mode, and escalation delays are imposed after incorrect attempts. Delays are applied by the Secure Enclave coprocessor on the T2 chip. If Mac restarts for a delay, the delay is still applied and the timer restarts for the current period.

For security-focused companies, the Apple T2 chip is music to their liking. Apple has also found that the microphone of laptops with T2 chips is disconnected when the lid is closed.

The combination of the T2 chip with hardware disconnection to ensure that the microphone is off when the lid is closed results in a level of privacy and security protection never before seen on Mac

may look like MacBook Air (previous generation) at $ 999, but the new MacBook Air is hard to beat for those looking for extra hardware security. Touch ID will be another added benefit for end users who will quickly unlock their Macs.

Retina Screen

Some people I work with say that they can not tell the difference between Retina screens and those that are not. my eyes, use non-retina screens in 2018 is difficult for me. Everything on a Retina screen is simply easier to read and the photos are much better during editing. I am grateful that the entire range of Apple is now 100% retina.

Is the MacBook Air a good laptop?

At the beginning of this article, I've already asked my multiple interlocutors: "Is the MacBook Air a good laptop?" It combines some new features with a modern processor at a reasonable price for anyone other than business users.

The MacBook Air is now the best Apple laptop on the market. If you want a little more RAM, you can finally update the MacBook Air to 16GB. My only complaint is that I'd like to have the default storage size of 256GB, but maybe next year. In summary, the 2018 MacBook Air is almost the perfect laptop.

For a detailed badysis of how the MacBook Air Retina compares to the rest of the MacBook lineup, check out our comparison article.

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