Ok now I see it, people pointed me at 18:12 in the keynote if anybody is wondering.
So it’s not fanless.
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MacBook Air 2018
- Thread starter Dave245
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Ok now I see it, people pointed me at 18:12 in the keynote if anybody is wondering.
So it’s not fanless.
The problem I see with this machine at this point is that John Lewis have the 13" NTB MacBook Pro for the same £1,199 currently (same 128GB configuration) and as it uses the 7th gen U series chip with iris plus graphics arguably you are getting significantly more computer for your money there. Of course the Air has the 3rd gen KB and 12h battery in its favour, but the UHD 617 graphics is a bit dubious considering how anaemic UHD 615 is on the MB (primarily down to the low TDP starving it by all accounts). I think you would probably really have to really want the wedge design for this basic computer specification to be something you couldn't have picked up since June 2017...If the performance is the same, most people would be fine with this new Air since the 12” MacBook is actually quite capable for most people, there is a video of it being able to handle editing in Final Cut, something that most people won’t be doing anyway and if they did would likely get a MacBook Pro.
For someone like myself who web browses, has long writing sessions and uses a computer for just general things, I really think the new Air would be more than capable. With 12 hours battery life it’s very appealing while also keeping the Air’s famous wedge design
Obviously it won’t be playing any games but if you need that you’d get a MacBook Pro or even an iMac.
If the performance is the same, most people would be fine with this new Air since the 12” MacBook is actually quite capable for most people, there is a video of it being able to handle editing in Final Cut, something that most people won’t be doing anyway and if they did would likely get a MacBook Pro.
For someone like myself who web browses, has long writing sessions and uses a computer for just general things, I really think the new Air would be more than capable. With 12 hours battery life it’s very appealing while also keeping the Air’s famous wedge design
Obviously it won’t be playing any games but if you need that you’d get a MacBook Pro or even an iMac.
If it was £150-250 less for the 512GB/16GB RAM variant, I may have considered it if budget was an issue for me (it’s not).
The price difference between this and the TB 13” is around ~£340.
Like you, I prefer no TouchBar, better battery life and I don’t need all the power of the 28W CPU.
But is the price difference good enough to justify:
- Stuck on 5W performance
- 300nit non-P3, non-Truetone display
- 2 Ports vs 4 Ports
If this had the same screen, I think I would have said “fine, it’s expensive but I’ll let it go”. But with a screen and CPU worse than the nTB, it has compromised on too much and the price no longer makes sense to me. The people who would use this machine would have greatly benefited from a 500nit screen as media consumption seems the target market for this device.
It looks like I’ll be getting the TB (or the new Windows laptop) even though I didn’t really need it, also sucks I missed out on the Beats headphone promotion waiting on this
.By the way, if you compare dimensions/weight of the new Air and the nTB, prepare to not be blown away they even somehow managed to make the maximum thickness higher!
Web design and coding will be alright on this MBA and pretty much any laptop in the market. Not to say it’s value for money, far from it.
Well, the aftermath now showed that the Touch ID was the cheaper feature so it was added. Unfortunately, in order to keep the 13" MBP competitive they have not added the option for a cpu with more than 2 cores. Oh well, I guess it's MBP for me now.
Regardless, this MBA looks really nice.
I think it's a compromise for battery life, the new Air gets 12 hours wireless browsing and 13 hours video playback, that's better than any MacBook or MacBook Pro so far. I get what you're saying tho, if you need the power get the MacBook Pro. Personally i don't need the power of the MacBook Pro, as long as it can browse the web, watch Netflix, handle long writing sessions, a couple of apps like Final Draft and maybe iMove (not for anything major (i only make some videos as a hobby) then i'm good.
I do think that some people are missing the point with this, yes they could of removed the Air from the lineup, however Tim covered it when he said that the MacBook Air was the best selling Mac, it's the most popular and people really do like them. I get why they have kept them around and updated it. There is a 12" MacBook if you want smaller but for those that like the Air, now have this new Air
All I wanted was a retina screen in the existing MacBook Air.
I do think that some people are missing the point with this, yes they could of removed the Air from the lineup, however Tim covered it when he said that the MacBook Air was the best selling Mac, it's the most popular and people really do like them. I get why they have kept them around and updated it. There is a 12" MacBook if you want smaller but for those that like the Air, now have this new Air
I believe it's popularity increased after Apple instituted the butterfly keyboard on the new MBPs. Until yesterdays refresh, the Air was the only Apple laptop with the old style (and arguably better) keyboard mechanism.
It’s always been a popular machine, that’s why Apple has kept it around. I don’t think the butterfly keyboard will put most people off, especially if it’s now fixed (which it should be).
I want the new MBA but when you configure it with 16GB ram it's the same price as the MBP 13", but if I was to get a MBP I feel like it's already "dated" relatively speaking. Therefore, I think i should wait for the updated model, but I don't want to wait :/
What do i do?
What do i do?
Buy. If you don't want to wait, buy one now and enjoy it. There is always something new around the corner.
My biggest concern is if the UHD 617 with have enough grunt to push the retina display without any slowdowns or frame drops? I don't need much power, my 2011 MBA still does the job i just want a decent screen, if the new MBA can run the retina display without lagging i might upgrade. I would get the Non TB MBP but it does not have the gen 3 keyboard
My biggest concern is if the UHD 617 with have enough grunt to push the retina display without any slowdowns or frame drops? I don't need much power, my 2011 MBA still does the job i just want a decent screen, if the new MBA can run the retina display without lagging i might upgrade. I would get the Non TB MBP but it does not have the gen 3 keyboard
It should be fine, I’ve never known any Apple computer to lag. The 12” MacBook runs good and the specs are around the same as the new Air.
What I plan on doing is offering a 16GB model for a little future proof, then in a couple of years I will probably upgrade if they get more powerful. The Air isn’t about power tho if you need a high amount the MacBook Pro is for you, the Air gives great battery life and that’s the balance, the new Air gets 12 hours web browsing and 13 hours video playback, personally I’m happy with that over having a much higher spec machine
The first retina MBP's had framedrops on the integrated GPU versions, i think the 2017 model was the first that ran well with the integrated GPU hence my worries about the UHD 617.It should be fine, I’ve never known any Apple computer to lag. The 12” MacBook runs good and the specs are around the same as the new Air.
What I plan on doing is offering a 16GB model for a little future proof, then in a couple of years I will probably upgrade if they get more powerful. The Air isn’t about power tho if you need a high amount the MacBook Pro is for you, the Air gives great battery life and that’s the balance, the new Air gets 12 hours web browsing and 13 hours video playback, personally I’m happy with that over having a much higher spec machine
You could buy one and if you don’t like it return it? My experience with Mac’s has always been great, hence why I’ve stuck it out this long with the fact that they don’t seem to update them as much
Yeah that is the great thing about Apple, if you don't like it you can take it back for a full refund no questions asked.You could buy one and if you don’t like it return it? My experience with Mac’s has always been great, hence why I’ve stuck it out this long with the fact that they don’t seem to update them as much
I think it's a compromise for battery life, the new Air gets 12 hours wireless browsing and 13 hours video playback, that's better than any MacBook or MacBook Pro so far. I get what you're saying tho, if you need the power get the MacBook Pro. Personally i don't need the power of the MacBook Pro, as long as it can browse the web, watch Netflix, handle long writing sessions, a couple of apps like Final Draft and maybe iMove (not for anything major (i only make some videos as a hobby) then i'm good.
I do think that some people are missing the point with this, yes they could of removed the Air from the lineup, however Tim covered it when he said that the MacBook Air was the best selling Mac, it's the most popular and people really do like them. I get why they have kept them around and updated it. There is a 12" MacBook if you want smaller but for those that like the Air, now have this new Air
Reading a bit further regarding its CPU, it seems that there are more drawbacks when compared to the older MBAs, that apple missed to tell us in the keynote. This new MBA seems to have a Y-class cpu (e.g. the low power CPUs used in fanless laptops like the 12" MB). The MBAs until now had a full U-class cpus.
If that is the case, regardless of the number of cores, this cpu is much weaker. I'll have to wait for the real reviews, though, during the next few days.
All I wanted was a retina screen in the existing MacBook Air.
You know that all laptops are a compromise between competing design interests right?
They added a retina screen. That requires more power to operate. If you did nothing else, you would have killed battery life. A laptop with say 6 hours battery life aint going to fly off the shelves when the main target market is college and education users on the go.
So how do they provide more power to maintain battery life?
Do they increase battery capacity and deliver a laptop that is heavier and thicker than the previous model?
Or do they compensate for the higher power use screen by including a lower power CPU?
I think they got the balance right. As a Y-class cpu user [on a lowly 1.1GHz 2015 MacBook] I know that most computing tasks can be handled by a 5 [or 7] watt CPU. I don't think the other options of a laptop with poor battery life, or one that is significantly heavier are better than what they delivered.
The idea that you could you could simply replace the screen and be done is a bit of a fantasy.
It's probably going to depend on what you're doing, this new Air isn't intended as a power house. Most people will probably be fine with the new Air, adding the 16GB Ram will probably help as well. Personally i just need a new Mac for long writing sessions, web browsing, email, iTunes/TV Shows and movies, Netflix, some editing in Photo's app, Final Draft and so on. I also have a 2017 iPad Pro that i use for more intense photo editing with apps such as Pixelmator and i do use a 2012 iMac my main desktop, granted its an old machine but it still runs fine and will probably last until i upgrade either next year or when Apple decide to do a redesign.
I think most people who buy the Air are students, teachers and people who generally don't need a lot of power but do want/need more battery life, the new Air delivers that with the 12 hours for wireless web and 13 for video playback.
We will have to wait and see what this new Air benchmarks at, i remember when the 12" MacBook came out and people were complaining about its processor and were just generally down on it, that turned out to be a good machine for those who wanted it, there were even videos of people editing in 4K on it. In this case i will receive judgement until bench marks and reviews start to drop
It's probably going to depend on what you're doing, this new Air isn't intended as a power house. Most people will probably be fine with the new Air, adding the 16GB Ram will probably help as well. Personally i just need a new Mac for long writing sessions, web browsing, email, iTunes/TV Shows and movies, Netflix, some editing in Photo's app, Final Draft and so on. I also have a 2017 iPad Pro that i use for more intense photo editing with apps such as Pixelmator and i do use a 2012 iMac my main desktop, granted its an old machine but it still runs fine and will probably last until i upgrade either next year or when Apple decide to do a redesign.
I think most people who buy the Air are students, teachers and people who generally don't need a lot of power but do want/need more battery life, the new Air delivers that with the 12 hours for wireless web and 13 for video playback.
We will have to wait and see what this new Air benchmarks at, i remember when the 12" MacBook came out and people were complaining about its processor and were just generally down on it, that turned out to be a good machine for those who wanted it, there were even videos of people editing in 4K on it. In this case i will receive judgement until bench marks and reviews start to drop
I agree, performance wise I think most will be fine, of course it won't compete with the 15W Whiskey Lakes but it will be an upgrade from the current Air I would imagine.
My main critique is really down to price for what you get and how I would have loved for them to keep the screen from their 2016 nTB (even without TrueTone).
I certainly agree that Apple should of priced it better, around £1000 would of been great. Who knows maybe they will drop the price in time, just like they did with original Air.
I think for someone like myself who was using a 2011 Macbook Pro (it died a couple of months back) this will still be an upgrade, the screen alone will be a big jump for me (from the 2011 non retina).
If the £1199 was with a 256GB SSD, I might have been okay with it, so I agree with it starting at £999 for 128GB model.
