Apple's New MacBook Air Uses MacBook-Class Amber Lake Chip [Updated]

[smulji]

This is a new macbook, not a new AIR.

Exactly. This is a MBA in name only, not in spirit.
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I was upset it wasn't quadcore, then found out this.

Haven't Windows laptops around this size been shipping with 15 W quadcore for quite a while now? I could be wrong. I find it really confusing to keep up with Intel chips.

That's correct. Right now, you could buy a Surface Laptop 2 with:

quad-core CPU
8GB RAM
128GB SSD
13.5" Retina-class Touch Screen
Windows Hell-enabled Facial Recognition
excellent keyboard

Starting at $999. Sure, it has Windows 10 and no TB3 / USB-C but that's still great value for what you're getting.
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I use Final Cut Pro and photoshop on my 2012 Air. It slows up from time to time but overall it’s surprisingly fine. I assume it’ll run much better though on this new Air, right?

It will run the same unless of course you upgrade to 16GB RAM then it should run better.
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Read it as MacBook Air - MacBook Pro. The "generic" MacBook will be discontinued.

What makes a device Pro anyway? Can't just name a more expensive model Pro without defining criteria.

This Air will cannibalize the MacBook Pro 13" into the trash bin.

"This Air will cannibalize the MacBook Pro 13" into the trash bin."

No it won't. It will cannibalize the 12" rMB. The MBP is still a very popular machine

 

[flightime56]

Insanely Expensive!

Obviously Apple has touch with its market and users... this is not an entry level product?

 

[Yvan256]

Considering the cost of that low-end dual-core i5 processor and the way Apple presented the specs of their own A12X, I'm disappointed the ARM switch didn't happen today. Instead, the MacBook Air got more expensive, is still only dual core and the performance per watt probably stayed about the same. Add the butterfly keyboard to this fiasco and I'm not interested at all even at half the price. The only good things are the new display and the 16GB RAM option.

The new Mac mini is great (although expensive but at least it has good specs) but I wanted to switch to a laptop. I could buy the old MacBook Air since Apple are still selling it but they haven't even lowered the price.

 

[smulji]

Insanely Expensive!

Obviously Apple has touch with its market and users... this is not an entry level product?

This is an entry-level Retina-class Mac laptop. No one ever said it was going to be insanely cheap

 

[KPandian1]

"This Air will cannibalize the MacBook Pro 13" into the trash bin."

No it won't. It will cannibalize the 12" rMB. The MBP is still a very popular machine

I agree that the MacBook will be gone.

I also predict that the Air will cannibalize the MacBook Pro 13" alone, not the MacBook Pro 15". The Air and MBP13 are too close yo each other.

Soon, saying Pro when referring to a laptop from Apple will mean the 15" version.

 

[smulji]

Disagree.

The Apple of Steve Jobs was the iPhones and services - the main reason why Apple is a Trillion dollar corporation. Tim did a lot of good and bad stuff, but the momentum was in place; plus, he was handpicked by Jobs to hold a line and add.

Accomplished.

What do you mean he was handicapped by Jobs. Tim Cook has repeatedly stated that before Jobs passed, Jobs told him not ask what he would do & do what he thought was right.

 

[BigMac?]

People are complaining about the new MacBook Air being only dual-core but the new Surface Laptop 2's are only dual-core and they benchmark well. I am wondering how this Amber Lake Chip compares to the Surface Laptop 2 1.6GHz Intel Core i5-8250U processor?

Surface laptop 2 is using quadcore CPUs

 

[smulji]

People are complaining about the new MacBook Air being only dual-core but the new Surface Laptop 2's are only dual-core and they benchmark well. I am wondering how this Amber Lake Chip compares to the Surface Laptop 2 1.6GHz Intel Core i5-8250U processor?

That CPU in the Surface Laptop 2 is not dual-core. It is a quad-core CPU. It is significantly faster.

 

[KPandian1]

What do you mean he was handicapped by Jobs. Tim Cook has repeatedly stated that before Jobs passed, Jobs told him not ask what he would do & do what he thought was right.

Read my post again, slowly and carefully.

 

[flightime56]

For the Air it is about price point and not features, Apple have now lost a lot of their entry market, as it is so close to the Macbook pro 13 in price as here it is only a $50 (Aus) difference? I can buy a Surface 2 with the same performance for $400 less... It is a no-brainer where my money will go, Apple or no Apple... in a year you will lose $800 (Aus) in value on the new Air? and all for a more pretty screen?

 

[smulji]

Read my post again, slowly and carefully.

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by " he was handpicked by Jobs to hold a line and add."

 

[KPandian1]

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by " he was handpicked by Jobs to hold a line and add."

I meant that Tim was liked by Steve to hold the company line AND innovate, which he has done for the most part.

 

[neuropsychguy]

This Air will be much faster than the previous model. 8th gen processors are much more efficient than the 5th gen in the previous model and even at 7W instead of 15W, this will be faster. The processor is dual core but hyperthreaded, which helps too. Add in faster SSD speeds and faster RAM and the computer will feel (and be) considerably faster than previous generations.

In any case, people buying Airs are not, for the most part, doing heavy work. They also don't care about specs.

 

[tipoo]

Thought so, afaik there's no U series 8th gen parts with two cores, so they had to have stepped down.

It keeps a fan though, so it should have much better sustained performance than the 12" Macbook...I wonder if the 12" is just going to die now, because the two are too close in price while this beats it on function now.

 

[aaronhead14]

Apple just needs to get rid of the MacBook entirely, and stick with just the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. Their product line is getting increasingly confusing.

 

[CntryClub007]

IMO...

MacBook 11” - $849
MacBook Air 13” - $1,199
MacBook Pro 15” - $1,699

That should be the lineup, give people an option to select a tablet (iPad Pro) or Laptop (MacBook) under $849. It’s so obvious that Apple is pushing hardware (single user iPad’s vs. multi-user laptops) it’s borderline embarrassing.

They could also be trying to clear out inventory of the 12” MacBook with discontinuing gold. I doubt it’ll be around for long.

I thought this article was good, great $1,300 scenario: https://www.engadget.com/2018/10/30/apple-laptop-line-is-a-mess/

The 13” Pro is pointless with this 2018 Air, and the regular MacBook is basically less powerful than the iPad Pro, so...
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Apple just needs to get rid of the MacBook entirely, and stick with just the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. Their product line is getting increasingly confusing.

Yeap - that’s a pretty consistent lineup too. Go back to their roots.

 

[Nicky G]

I assume it’ll run much better though on this new Air, right?

Very yes

 

[KPOM]

I agree that the MacBook will be gone.

I also predict that the Air will cannibalize the MacBook Pro 13" alone, not the MacBook Pro 15". The Air and MBP13 are too close yo each other.

Soon, saying Pro when referring to a laptop from Apple will mean the 15" version.

I disagree. Apple will update the MacBook when Cannonlake arrives. They likely didn’t update the MacBook to Amber Lake because Amber Lake is just Kaby Lake with higher clock speeds. Cannonlake will allow Apple to put the MacBook on par with the Air.

There is a big difference between 2lbs and 2.75lbs. Slightly faster processor and RAM, plus Touch ID and Thunderbolt might not be enough for some to justify the added weight.

 

[duervo]

CORPORATE GREED !!

This chip is useless other than web browsing and think and iPad Pro can run circles around it. My MacBook Air is an i7, 2.2 which is really fast compared to this and bought it years ago !!

That’s why I will probably be trading in my iPad Pro 12.9” for one of these new ones. ($350 trade-in value.)

 

[- rob -]

I found it strange that Apple is bringing out new MacBook Air with Touch ID, while on the new iPad Pro Touch ID is being replaced by Face ID. If Face ID is better, why not use that on new MacBooks?

If is like the MacBook team are not working with the iPad team - and the former is one step behind in technology

I believe, again, this is because a new ARM based MacBook is pending and Apple will debut Face ID on they machine.

It is rediculous to suggest Apple is abandoning the MacBook, when it is clearly best suited both in function and brand reputation for the first arm laptop.

Many will doubt the new processor and the software compromises it entails which makes it even more important Apple put everything it has behind the change.

This computer backfills a lagging lower end and provides an x86 option for people who want to wait out a few gems of arm

 

[Burnsey]

Lol this thing in Canada costs $1800 for a base processor with 256GB HD and 8GB Ram. I paid $1600 for my 13" retina Haswell MBP with the same ram and storage back in 2014.

256GB/8GB should be standard and the base price should be $1299CAD/$999USD.

 

[SuperCachetes]

I agree that the MacBook will be gone.

I also predict that the Air will cannibalize the MacBook Pro 13" alone, not the MacBook Pro 15". The Air and MBP13 are too close yo each other.

Soon, saying Pro when referring to a laptop from Apple will mean the 15" version.

I think there is "some" possibility of this cannibalization, but I'll reserve judgment until there are some benchmarks.

The two 13" models are VERY closely priced - within $100 for a 16GB/512GB machine - but on paper the processor, graphics, and display are all better on the MBP. If you want to pay still more, you can even get the i7 on the smaller MBP.

I think TouchID is a good feature, but when buying my MBP a year ago, it wasn't reason enough for me to spring for the Touch Bar to get it. Compared to what I have, the T2 is very attractive because of the real-time SSD encryption.

So, I want to see how the new MBA actually performs before I say "screw the so-called 'Pro' models - the wedge form factor and fingerprint sensor are where it's at."

In any case, people buying Airs are not, for the most part, doing heavy work. They also don't care about specs.

Great point. I think they will listen to people telling them what the "best value" is though, and if someone is telling me I can get X% better performance for only a little more money, I might have to think about it a bit.

An interesting follow-up point might be, for the consumers who don't care about specs and have that much money to blow - which name carries more marketable cache - "Air" or "Pro?" I don't know the answer...

 

[jecowa]

I was kind of hoping it would turn out that Apple was the secret Canonlake customer. It would have been nice to get 10nm process, LPDDR4X or even the old LPDDR4.

I'm not sure what to think about a Y processor instead of a U. The Y will probably be good enough for me. And running cooler will make the laptop more comfortable. I'm glad they included a fan anyway just in case, though.

Also I hope they fix the keyboard soon. Gen 3 is a bandaid fix, and the fix (which is a plastic sheet) makes the keyboard harder to use than the gen 2 keyboard (it dampens feedback to make it harder to feel or hear when the key is pressed). The old scissor switches were very durable and very easy to use. Having an awesome keyboard is worth adding 3mm to the thickness of the laptop.

Apple's solution of adding a fingerprint reader without adding a TouchBar was nice, though. Not that I want a fingerprint reader or a TouchBar.

 

[Mainsail]

I will need to see the actual performance reviews, but the Y processor will probably be fine for me. I mainly use productivity apps (Notes, MS Office or iWork) plus occasionally edit photos or rarely make a simple iMovie. I doubt this processor won’t be able to do this stuff.

Frankly, I am more concerned about the keyboard reliability issues. I could be wrong, but one of the conditions for keyboard failure has been overheating. So, I am wondering if using a low power processor, will reduce the chance of overheating and associated keyboard issues?

 

[imageWIS]

That "sub $1000" rumor dried up and blew away like dead, autumnal weeds.