Ever since Apple introduced the 12-inch Retina MacBook, it felt that the company had quietly announced that the MacBook Air would be going the way of the dinosaur. However in recent months we have been hearing rumors that Apple could be launching a brand new model, and sure enough at Apple’s event today, they have announced a brand new MacBook Air.
One of the main differences made to the MacBook Air on the surface would be its design to its display, where it now sports black bezels around the border around the display, getting rid of the aluminum bezel in the process and making the overall bezels 50% narrower. Speaking of display, Apple has also finally introduced Retina Display to the MacBook Air, making text and images sharper than before, and also featuring 48% more color.
The laptop will also come with Touch ID built into the keyboard of the laptop, a feature that was primarily only available in Apple’s higher-end MacBook Pro laptop lineup which will also be powered by the T2 secure enclave chip. This is the same T2 chip that can be found in the iMac Pro and the 2018 MacBook Pros.
Speaking of keyboards, the MacBook Air will feature a third-gen butterfly design keyboard with individual backlit illuminated keys. The laptop will also come with the same touchpad used in Apple’s newer laptops which will rely on haptic feedback to simulate the clicks found on the older touchpad design.
Apple is also boasting improved audio performance where it is 25% louder, 2x more bass, stereo sound, and a three microphone array that will help improve voice calls and also makes Siri understand you easier. As expected, the new MacBook Airs has done away with pretty much all the legacy ports and will instead feature two Thunderbolt 3 ports.
As for the rest of the specs, the laptop will be powered by Intel’s 8th-gen dual-core CPU and will support up to 16GB of RAM, 1.5TB of SSD that Apple claims is 60% faster than before, and will also boast 12 hours of battery life for web browsing. Apple has also managed to made the laptop smaller where it has 17% less volume than the previous model, and will also measure 15.6mm thin, 10% thinner than the previous model, and will weigh 2.75lbs.
In terms of pricing, the new MacBook Air will be priced starting at $1,199 and is available for pre-order with a release set for the 7th of November.
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