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Hands-On With the New 2018 MacBook Air
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Is it just me, or is the new gold much better looking than before? I've never put my eyes on gold products, and this new shade is really gorgeous to look at.
@SandboxGeneral I can imagine, going from a fat 15" cMBP (I am an owner of a fat 2010 13" MBP) to this machine, it has to be like night and day! I expect something similar when I switch to a future nTB 13" MBP, although the weight difference will be smaller.
@SandboxGeneral I can imagine, going from a fat 15" cMBP (I am an owner of a fat 2010 13" MBP) to this machine, it has to be like night and day! I expect something similar when I switch to a future nTB 13" MBP, although the weight difference will be smaller.
The gold is beautiful and it's a lovely little laptop, but I cannot get comfortable using that butterfly keyboard.
For some reason, it looked very small to me.
Hope everyone enjoys their MBAs.
For some reason, it looked very small to me.
Hope everyone enjoys their MBAs.
Yep. It is a bit like night/day. I loved the old cMBP I've been using for the last 6 years, but I'm ready for smaller and lightweight and this MacBook Air fits the bill nicely for me. I considered the MBA over the last few years, but with the big silver bezels and non-retina display, I held off. I'm glad Apple finally updated this line.
The big problem with the new Apple keyboards is actually not so much dust and crumbs (although that is indeed part of it) but rather that their new keys give a poor typing experience. The combination of flat topped keys and insufficient key travel makes them typo machines.
I'm just one person, but so far this keyboard is just fine for me. In fact, it's the first experience I have with this design. I feel like I'm typing faster on this keyboard than my old cMBP or my Apple Wireless keyboard for the Mac mini. Typos aren't any more frequent for me than on any other keyboard.
Everyone's different so YMMV.
I had the chance of trying the 2017 MBP keyboard (which essentially is the same as the 2016), and I didn't dislike it. Yes, it was very noisy, and as far as I've read, prone to break because of dust/crumbles, but that has been solved with the third gen keyboard, so I'll be happy with this design.
After living with the awful, non-tactile Touch Bar, this is a major selling point for me. If only the RAM and HDD capacity were greater.
Edit: You can build this with 16 GiB RAM and larger SSD!
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Let’s hope so. The sooner we’re rid of the thing the better. Or at least have it as a BTO option. Apple laptops could do with the $300-400 saved.
I haven't experienced that on my 2017 MBP. Rather, I can now type faster and more accurately. No way I'd want to go back to my 2013 MBA's keyboard.
no. for 1199, it better contain 256GB.
LOL Gotta love the writer of this review - and their conclusion that the new MacBook Air is NOT as portable as the MacBook ... - Yeah that extra 1/8 of an inch thickness with an entire 1/3 of a pound extra weight just makes this new MacBook Air completely impossible for anyone to carry around. It is so heavy and difficult to handle you might as well go back and dust off your true portable machine, the Macintosh Portable, and charge up a few spare lead batteries to get a whole hour or two out of its glorious non backlit monochrome display.
You make a great point. We're so unbelievably spoiled by now. If a device has a bezel that's 1 mm larger than we want, or a display that's a few ppi less than another device's display, we act like it's useless junk.
The power and utility that we have in tiny-sized packages is unlike anything ever seen in this history of civilization. Even compared to where we were a couple of decades ago, it's an astonishing transformation.
I held and compared both in the Apple Store the other day. The MacBook 12 is still significantly lighter and smaller. It makes a big difference when you need to travel light and every ounce matters.
Apple should really rename the MacBook Air the “MacBook” and make the 12” the MacBook Air, but I don’t know how they do that without confusing the hell out of everybody at this point.
MacBook Air is definitely the best value compared to the 12”
In the meantime Samsung is making DEX . https://www.samsung.com/global/galaxy/apps/samsung-dex/
When are we getting our post PC Device from Apple
When are we getting our post PC Device from Apple
You’d be surprised how much .75 lbs and a couples inches make if you’re carrying on luggage for a business trip and every little bit counts. Or if you have back problems and also carry a camera and iPad around...it does matter. But the MacBook Air is the computer for most people.
I saw kids in my school with the new Air already. It looks so small almost like a toy, but they all rave about it.
Prob a decent enough machine, but the weak 7w chip and still-faulty keyboard are dealbreakers for me.
I'm waiting for a redesign in 2019 hopefully of the entire chassis. What I really want is no-touchbar, quad core cpu, fixed keyboard, and AV1 hardware decoding. This may all be a 2020 dream though.
I'm waiting for a redesign in 2019 hopefully of the entire chassis. What I really want is no-touchbar, quad core cpu, fixed keyboard, and AV1 hardware decoding. This may all be a 2020 dream though.
I'm probably picking one of these up in a week or two for my wife. She currently has a 2015 MB. It's a little slow, but all in all it's been a very good machine for her. So why upgrade? TouchID, Thunderbolt 3, and a second port.
TouchID for 1Password is really, really nice. She can now use my LG 5K (and all my other stuff). The second port is nice. The one port on the MacBook is livable, but the difference between 1 and 2 is massive. (I have 4 on mine and never use more than 2.) Also, TB3 > USB-C by a wide margin. And finally... gold. Haha.
So, what differentiates this from the rMB is pretty much exactly what I want. It's lighter than the MBP without TouchBar and has TouchID although the prices are pretty close.
I agree, if they want to continue with TB it had to be everywhere. Nobody is gonna support this gimmicky thing when they have only on two devices. Just remove it, everybody is happy.
We want 15" MBP without TB, give it to us Apple!
I want a 17” MBP w/o TB!
I'm personally very disappointed with this new Macbook "Air".
To me it's not an MBA at all. To me what made the previous Air valuable is:
1) The excellent keyboard (silent, responsive) I could type on for hours
2) The great port selection, USB on right & left side for different peripherals, SD-card slot for cheap memory expansion and quick camera downloads
3) Magsafe
4) I could easily switch the SSDs between my 2014 Mac Mini or MacBook Pro up to the 2015 model.
5) Iconic look that separated it from the rest of the MB lineup. I don't care for the thin bezel craze.
6) The cheap entry level price. My refurb 2017 MBA 512GB SSD model costs less than the entry 128GB now.
At home I'm hooked up to a 27" IPS monitor for $200 that's still better and brighter than the new 13" Retina display.
On the road, I put up with the TN display but overall, I value port selection and keyboard quality over this new pricier model.
Also, no longer do we have the choice for even a dual-core i7 processor which performed about as good as the current i5 Y processor. So you're getting the shallow and still noisier butterfly keyboard with a dimmer Retina display than a MBP and super pricy upgrade options that if needed, I'd rather opt for a Pro model then.
To me, this MBA is misplaced. It doesn't fit the entry level anymore and at the power end a MBP for $50-$100 more is way better.
To me it's not an MBA at all. To me what made the previous Air valuable is:
1) The excellent keyboard (silent, responsive) I could type on for hours
2) The great port selection, USB on right & left side for different peripherals, SD-card slot for cheap memory expansion and quick camera downloads
3) Magsafe
4) I could easily switch the SSDs between my 2014 Mac Mini or MacBook Pro up to the 2015 model.
5) Iconic look that separated it from the rest of the MB lineup. I don't care for the thin bezel craze.
6) The cheap entry level price. My refurb 2017 MBA 512GB SSD model costs less than the entry 128GB now.
At home I'm hooked up to a 27" IPS monitor for $200 that's still better and brighter than the new 13" Retina display.
On the road, I put up with the TN display but overall, I value port selection and keyboard quality over this new pricier model.
Also, no longer do we have the choice for even a dual-core i7 processor which performed about as good as the current i5 Y processor. So you're getting the shallow and still noisier butterfly keyboard with a dimmer Retina display than a MBP and super pricy upgrade options that if needed, I'd rather opt for a Pro model then.
To me, this MBA is misplaced. It doesn't fit the entry level anymore and at the power end a MBP for $50-$100 more is way better.
Please tell me about the fan noise. The entry level MBP 13 w/o Touch Bar is a noise machine aka PowerBook G4 12. It's unbearable how hot it gets even under small stress. Could you please elaborate on the fan noise of the new MBA?