MacBook Air 2018

[Dave245]

If it's 300 nits I might be able to deal with it.... Maybe.... If it's the low 200's as reported by Laptop Mag using brightness testing devices? Nadda, no way, no how!

Personally I’m not worried too much as it will have a Retina display which will still be better than the none retina 2011 MacBook Pro I had before. Hell if it’s retina the screen may even be better than my 2012 iMac, which again is non retina.
I will test it out when it arrives and see what I think.

 

[uecker87]

You clearly do not know me. I am not unreasonable. I am a fan though. I don't deny that and there is nothing wrong with being a fan of a company. Hopefully it makes them a better company. Apple is where my heart is. Have been an Apple customer for over 22 years. They make phenomenal products. Especially when compared to the "competition", or lack thereof I should say.

Yes it is...

https://www.apple.com/support/keyboard-service-program-for-macbook-and-macbook-pro/

*snip*

The program covers eligible MacBook and MacBook Pro models for 4 years after the first retail sale of the unit.



Laptop Mag's testing said the max brightness on the new Air they reviewed was a woeful 234 nits! Yikes! Hope nobody plans on using it outdoors....

https://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/apple-macbook-air-2018

*snip*

While Apple rates the Air's panel as capable of producing 300 nits of brightness, our unit maxed out at 234 nits

So then it’s 4 years from the date of release, which is June 2017.

It should be 4 years after the date of our purchase. Doesn’t sound right to be 4 years after it is first announced since the issue will creep up after usage.

Well I was also interested in the 2017 nTB MBP. I went on their support chat and asked the rep. He was unsure and reached out to his supervisor to get the answer. Below is his response:

• Alright, so this one definitely falls into a gray area.
• I can confirm that the date itself is tied to the model launch (2017) So you’ll only be covered until mid 2021.

That gives me a pause on going that route. I'll think it over a little more.

 

[EugW]

I’ve placed an order, I could cancel but I will go off what I think when it arrives, if I don’t like it or there are issues, I have 14 days to return it

It will be OK. Just underwhelming.

It’s really a 13” MacBook but with dimmer screen and fan noise, with no refurb cost option.

 

[raqball]

Below is his response:

• Alright, so this one definitely falls into a gray area.
• I can confirm that the date itself is tied to the model launch (2017) So you’ll only be covered until mid 2021.

That gives me a pause on going that route. I'll think it over a little more.

Sorry that you got an un-knowledgeable rep... I have an email from Apple clarifying that it is date of 1st retail purchase, just as it says on their website. Release date is NOT the date of 1st retail sale...

The keyword in the Apple policy is 1st retail sale

 

[Dave245]

It will be OK. Just underwhelming.

It’s really a 13” MacBook but with dimmer screen and fan noise, with no refurb cost option.

It really depends on you’re prospective, someone like me who hasn’t updated in years will probably find it a great update, before this I was running a 2011 MacBook Pro that died a couple of months back. For me this will probably be a big upgrade.

 

[uecker87]

Sorry that you got an un-knowledgeable rep... I have an email from Apple clarifying that it is date of 1st retail purchase, just as it says on their website. Release date is NOT the date of 1st retail purchase...

The keyword in the Apple policy is 1st retail purchase

So how does that work with refurbs then? Maybe he was just talking about those then? I asked him specifically about the refurb models.

Wouldn't be surprised if I just got a bad rep. Would've hoped when he talked to his "supervisor" that he would've come back with the right information.

 

[raqball]

So how does that work with refurbs then? Maybe he was just talking about those then? I asked him specifically about the refurb models.

Wouldn't be surprised if I just got a bad rep. Would've hoped when he talked to his "supervisor" that he would've come back with the right information.

I assume refurbs are covered differently.. Maybe by the date it was originally purchased as they can easily tell that from the SN#.. I honestly have no clue about refurbs but for new machines, it's 4 years from the sale date...

 

[Ma2k5]

It will be OK. Just underwhelming.

It’s really a 13” MacBook but with dimmer screen and fan noise, with no refurb cost option.

Are the specs of the 12” MacBook and 13” MacBook Air different? I would have thought both would be the same brightness. If not, that is a deal breaker.
[doublepost=1541519730][/doublepost]

It really depends on you’re prospective, someone like me who hasn’t updated in years will probably find it a great update, before this I was running a 2011 MacBook Pro that died a couple of months back. For me this will probably be a big upgrade.

Yep, although it’ll probably still be a great upgrade if they charged $2,000 instead of $1,199. I do see why people are frustrated, the machine isn’t cheap but it’s loaded with compromises.

MacOS alone is saving this machine, otherwise it would be a write off.

 

[raqball]

It really depends on you’re prospective, someone like me who hasn’t updated in years will probably find it a great update, before this I was running a 2011 MacBook Pro that died a couple of months back. For me this will probably be a big upgrade.

This is true..

My issue is not really the processor as I'd be fine with the Y.. Mine boils down to screen brightness and the KB... I do not have faith that Apple resolved the issues and buying a MBP gives you 4 years of KB warranty....

I am still back and forth... It's not about the cash as I can easily spend the extra $100 for the Pro but I really wanted the Air for the fingerprint reader and I am NOT buying a TB Mac just to get it as I view the TB as a complete gimmick...

 

[Kimcha]

Screen brightness (300 nit -v- 500 nit) is a massive bummer! Laptop Mag review says the Air is woeful 234 nits = Yikes!.

I think that's an outlier. I am confident most of the MBA screens will be 300nits or exceed it. Who knows how accurate their equipment is.

I think the bigger issue is that 300 nits in general is 40% less than the MBP. The brightness slider has 16 dots, which means the MBA can only go up to the MBP equivalent of 10 dots.

I keep my 2017 MBP at 8 dots most of the time indoors. And like to crank it up when watching movies.

So with the MBA there is no room up.

 

[raqball]

I think that's an outlier. I am confident most of the MBA screens will be 300nits or exceed it. Who knows how accurate their equipment is.

I think the bigger issue is that 300 nits in general is 40% less than the MBP. The brightness slider has 16 dots, which means the MBA can only go up to the MBP equivalent of 10 dots.

I keep my 2017 MBP at 8 dots most of the time indoors. And like to crank it up when watching movies.

So with the MBA there is no room up.

If the Air gets the full 300 nits, I might be okay with it... Using my Yoga (also 300 nits) outdoors can be a struggle depending... Laptop Mag is usually pretty spot on with their testing but maybe they have a bad machine.. If it really is 230'ish then I am back to being an instant pass!

What I might do is buy it and see as I have 2 weeks to decide. If it sucks then return it for a 2017 Pro.... I really still want the Air for the print reader but.............

I might wait until tomorrow and pop into one of the local Apple stores and snag a 256GB version.. If it stinks outdoors then back it will go....

I am massively back and forth on this as I want it but not if the screen is really as dim as the reviews are saying..

 

[profH]

I'm hardly an expert. But it is hard for me to escape the impression that the original sin of Apple's mac lineup was to go all retina as early as possible, instead of aim for incremental improvements in screen quality that would allow them to hold onto performance and battery life. On the Pros, it took 2-3 years of retina screens before I felt that that the day-to-day UI performance could hold up to an anemic non-retina Air, even as the multicore performance went up and up.

Now even 6 years out, we are seeing that it remains impossible to build an Air-like machine that keeps up on performance and battery life around a retina screen. (Again I am not an expert, but it seems like Intel's inability to keep up also has something to do with it). So we've probably hit our target battery life, in a near-perfect sized chassis and screen, but on an anemic netbook+ for performance.

Non-creative white collar types and students need a device with a light footprint, excellent battery life, and the power to keep up with normal day-to-day multitasking including some technical computing. It sounds like this still, despite all the hype, isn't it. The nTB with longer battery life, or this with a 1080p screen and a 15w cpu, probably would be.

 

[EugW]

I think that's an outlier. I am confident most of the MBA screens will be 300nits or exceed it. Who knows how accurate their equipment is.

I think the bigger issue is that 300 nits in general is 40% less than the MBP. The brightness slider has 16 dots, which means the MBA can only go up to the MBP equivalent of 10 dots.

I keep my 2017 MBP at 8 dots most of the time indoors. And like to crank it up when watching movies.

So with the MBA there is no room up.

Where do you find the official nits ratings? They’re not listed on the main tech specs pages for the MacBook or MacBook Air. If the 2018 MacBook Air is rated for 300 nits then the 2017 12” must be rated for 400 nits.

 

[Dave245]

Where do you find the official nits ratings? They’re not listed on the main tech specs pages for the MacBook or MacBook Air. If the 2018 MacBook Air is rated for 300 nits then the 2017 12” must be rated for 400 nits.

View attachment 801807

Nope, Apple have it listed as 300 nits the same as the new MacBook Air, it’s under the compare section, click on the MacBook 12” and then new Air and scroll down.
[doublepost=1541525331][/doublepost]The display on the new Air is listed as:

13.3 inch diagonal LED backlit display with IPS technology

2560x1600 resolution

300 nits

Full standard colour (sRGB)

 

[EugW]

Nope, Apple have it listed as 300 nits the same as the new MacBook Air, it’s under the compare section, click on the MacBook 12” and then new Air and scroll down.
[doublepost=1541525331][/doublepost]The display on the new Air is listed as:

13.3 inch diagonal LED backlit display with IPS technology

2560x1600 resolution

300 nits

Full standard colour (sRGB)

FWIW, Laptop mag measured the new iPad Pro at 484 nits. It is rated at 600 nits. So it’s not as if the currently reviewers don’t know how to test above 250 nits.

 

[Dave245]

FWIW, Laptop mag measured the new iPad Pro at 484 nits. It is rated at 600 nits. So it’s not as if the currently reviewers don’t know how to test above 250 nits.

I’m just saying what’s on Apple’s website. It’s listed as the same as the 12” MacBook with 300 nits.

 

[Big Apple]

FWIW, Laptop mag measured the new iPad Pro at 484 nits. It is rated at 600 nits. So it’s not as if the currently reviewers don’t know how to test above 250 nits.

It is the same guy who reviewed both the MBA and iPad Pro and both seem to be measuring quite a bit lower than they are rated. His review of the 2018 15" MBP on Sept 24th states the max brightness is only 354 and that is rated at 500. Does that seem to be pretty consistent with other reviews of that same MBP? I'm not technical and don't know how they measure all this, so genuinely asking out of curiosity on how this all works.

With all that said I really liked his review and thought it was pretty detailed compared to some of the others. I'm definitely going to stop by the Apple Store tomorrow after work and check it out in person.

 

[EugW]

One of the issues I guess is how auto-brightness is dealt with.

In any case what we can probably be confident in saying is that the Pro has the best screen. It goes brighter as needed but also is a wide colour gamut screen.

The 12” MacBook is reasonably bright as well but loses wide colour gamut.

The 13” MacBook Air not only is missing the wide colour gamut, it also doesn’t get as bright as the other models.

It is the same guy who reviewed both the MBA and iPad Pro and both seem to be measuring quite a bit lower than they are rated. His review of the 2018 15" MBP on Sept 24th states the max brightness is only 354 and that is rated at 500. Does that seem to be pretty consistent with other reviews of that same MBP? I'm not technical and don't know how they measure all this, so genuinely asking out of curiosity on how this all works.

Notebookcheck rates the 12” MacBook between 340 - 385 which is in the same ballpark as Laptop mag.

 

[Big Apple]

One of the issues I guess is how auto-brightness is dealt with.

In any case what we can probably be confident in saying is that the Pro has the best screen. It goes brighter as needed but also is a wide colour gamut screen.

The 12” MacBook is reasonably bright as well but loses wide colour gamut.

The 13” MacBook Air not only is missing the wide colour gamut, it also doesn’t get as bright as the other models.


Notebookcheck rates the 12” MacBook between 340 - 385 which is in the same ballpark as Laptop mag.

Thanks! I'm definitely going to be scoping out the brightness now while I'm in there and try to see how all models seem to compare with each other. Since Apple is rating both the MB and MBA at 300 I'll try and see if there is a very noticeable difference between them ( just with my eyes though so don't be expecting some fancy meter readings )

 

[fokmik]

Ok,i got the air,and at max brightness my tool is reporting around 247nits, at auto brightness in full light the tool is getting around 321 nits
Hope it helps

 

[Kimcha]

I just went to the Apple store and compared the new air and MBP side-by-side.

MBP screen was definitely brighter, but not shockingly.

The size and weight differences are negligible though. You can barely tell them apart next to each other.

It definitely seems like a compromise. Even the size difference is totally negligible, but the battery is smaller and it’s using a lower performance CPU and GPU option. While the battery in the ntb-MBP seems to be underestimated by Apple with a he 10h, the battery life of the air seems to be overestimated.

I think they will be very close to each other in real life.

The gold color looks very pink / rose gold in the store. Great for girls.

I’ll let my gf decide whether she values Touch ID and the pink color over performance.

 

[fokmik]

Whats the performance difference between 2017 base non touchbar MBP and this new air?

 

[Dave245]

The gold color looks very pink / rose gold in the store. Great for girls.

i ordered the gold yesterday i thought it looked more gold than pink? from the pictures i saw online anyway

 

[EugW]

Ok,i got the air,and at max brightness my tool is reporting around 247nits, at auto brightness in full light the tool is getting around 321 nits
Hope it helps

So as postulated it was indeed related to auto brightness.

 

[Dave245]

I've just canceled my Air order, i'm going to wait and see how all this plays out over the coming weeks. I still have my 2012 iMac so it's not like i've not got a Mac at all.