The new Apple MacBook Air: at your fingertips

It's called the Macbook Airbut it's an air name only. This new version of the famous laptop could also be called MacBook Pro Lite because it is essentially what it is.

the Long conical air design, with its thick screens, small touchpad, deep keys and multiple ports disappeared, replaced by familiar design elements of the post-2016 MacBook ($ 1,279 on Amazon Marketplace) and Macbook Pro. On the contrary, the new Air looks like a half-step between the 12-inch MacBook and the 13-inch MacBook Pro, rather than an evolution of the classic Air.

In person, as during a practical demo session as a result of The October 30 Apple eventIt was hard at first to distinguish this new Air from other Apple laptops. (An Apple representative mistakenly identified a new Air nearby as being a pro.) Taking up the new Air, he immediately felt lighter and smaller than the current Air, which – having the same basic design since 2010 – number of us intimately familiar with.

You get more screen and less body, thanks to a display that cuts in half the thick edge of the cover and adds glass edge to edge over it. Now the Air screen looks a lot like the MacBook Pro, with the same True Tone color shift and a wider color gamut.

At 2.7 pounds (1.25 kg) and about 15 mm in thickness, its size and weight are actually very intermediate when it comes to 13-inch laptops . The thinnest systems are less than 10 mm, but at the expense of battery power, functionality and processing power. If you want an ultra-thin and lightweight device, opt for the aforementioned 12-inch MacBook for just $ 100 more, but be aware that you will lose a lot of features and power.

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Although size and weight are not particularly unusual compared to other laptops in this price class, the new MacBook Air looks much stronger than most competitors. Like the current MacBook Pro and 12-inch, the new Air is still as durable as a tank, with its one-piece aluminum construction (now 100% recycled aluminum, according to Apple). That's one of the reasons why MacBook, Air and Pro have been able to command higher prices for so long – because you're investing in a product that will hopefully last for years, which often this has been the case for the traditional MacBook Air.

Everything revolves around the keyboard

Only MacBook with a traditional island-style keyboard, the MacBook Air was the only safe haven for those who did not like the ultra-thin butterfly mechanism keyboards of recent MacBooks. Now, the new Air is firmly in the same camp as the other models.

Some may lament the loss of the old keyboard style. Personally, I have never found the butterfly keyboard as complicated as others, and I certainly have been dealing with more difficult keyboards in more expensive products. (I admit it may be a minority opinion.)

It takes a period of adjustment to get used to the subtle touch response, but once you get used to it, it's perfect, even for a long shot. But yes, you will never grow up to love him.

But the positive compromise is that the new Air also includes a much larger touchpad. The same Force Touch style as any other MacBook, which means it does not have a dive hinge at the back, but instead uses four corner sensors to record clicks. The larger area is frankly more important than the mechanics behind.

Will the intrepid take this change fiercely? They might be able to, but this old keyboard has never been as good as you remember, and the larger touchpad is a great addition.

Ports of call

If the change of keyboard disturbs you, the situation of the port will be hardly better. Following not only the other Apple laptops, but also most Windows premium notebooks from the last two years, the MacBook Air is now only USB-C compatible. This means that one of your USB-A devices will need a dreaded dongle.

That said, it has two USB-C ports, instead of just one on the 12-inch MacBook, so you can do more one thing at a time, like connecting a device. and the power cable. And since they are Thunderbolt 3-compatible USB-C ports, they cover the full range of high-end tasks: high-speed data transfer, for example, or output to 4K and 5K displays. External GPU Enclosures (eGPU) are also supported, but I have not tried it yet with the new Air. (These tests will follow soon.)

But back to this problem of power cable: the very good and last MagSafe connector is gone, so that one of these two USB-C ports will often be used for power. Although it's a pleasure to see Apple use the industry standard USB-C ports for this – you can invest in third-party USB batteries, for example – that means you may be able to go back to a single port open.

The entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro has a similar pair of Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports, but does not have the Touch ID fingerprint reader found here. The fingerprint reader is really the best part of the Touch Bar experience, and it's a great addition to the MacBook Air. I could not register my own fingerprint and try it in action, but my use of the fingerprint reader in MacBook Pro systems (optimized by the same T2 security chip), it is a fast and reliable system.

Still the latest student laptop?

One of the areas in which the new MacBook Air could lose ground is the default laptop students on many college campuses (and the default laptop in many businesses). Although this laptop is much better in almost every respect, it loses a major advantage of the previous MacBook Air: its price.

At $ 999 in the United States, the MacBook Air was an affordable luxury for many students, artists, writers and anyone who wanted a premium experience at less than premium. The new Air starts at $ 1,199 (£ 1,199, AU $ 1,849), which represents a jump of 20%, even though the old and new entry-level models feature 8GB of RAM and 128 GB of SSD storage. This places it just below high-end laptops such as the $ 1,299 MacBook, which lacks a second USB-C port and a fingerprint reader, and the MacBook Pro at $ 1,299, which does not have the fingerprint reader.

The overall design and usability, as well as the move from fifth-generation Intel processors to eighth-generation processors, certainly make it over $ 200 better than the old MacBook Air. But this is also becoming much more difficult for many future homeowners.

Fortunately old-school Air is always available, at least for the moment, just as the old 13-inch MacBook Pro has been for over a year after its launch in 2016. If you still need USB-A ports or HDMI, or island-style keyboard, take one now, because no one knows how long it will last. But note that, given the concerns we have in recent years about the low-resolution display, the thick frame and the outdated processor, it's hard to recommend this classic model yet.

We hope to be able to fully test and revise the new MacBook Air soon, so stay tuned for our benchmark results and get a complete review.

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