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New MacBook Air Announced With Magic Keyboard, Up to 2x Faster Performance, and Lower $999 Starting Price
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Looks great but why only 1.1GHZ Core i3 on the base model??? I hate how laptops come with such low speed, I would've liked to of seen at least a 1.4GHZ base option for $999.
Apple today updated its MacBook Air lineup with faster processors and graphics, a scissor switch Magic Keyboard, a lower starting price of $999, and more.
The new MacBook Air features Intel's latest 10th-generation Core processors, including up to a 1.2GHz quad-core Core i7 with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.8GHz, resulting in up to two times faster performance compared to the previous generation. And with Intel Iris Plus Graphics, the new MacBook Air delivers up to 80 percent faster graphics performance.
First introduced on the 16-inch MacBook Pro, the new MacBook Air features a Magic Keyboard with a redesigned scissor mechanism that delivers 1mm of key travel, plus a new inverted-"T" arrangement for the arrow keys. Most importantly, this keyboard should prove to be far more reliable than the problematic butterfly keyboard on the previous MacBook Air.
The new MacBook Air has a starting price of $999 with 256GB of storage in the United States, compared to $1,099 with 128GB of storage for the 2019 base model. Education pricing starting at $899 is available to current and newly accepted college students and their parents, as well as faculty, staff and homeschool teachers of all grade levels.
Overall, the new MacBook Air has a similar design as the previous model, including a 13-inch Retina display with True Tone, Touch ID, a Force Touch trackpad, two Thunderbolt 3 ports, stereo speakers, an Apple-designed T2 security chip, and three microphones.
The new MacBook Air can be ordered on Apple.com or in the Apple Store app starting today in most countries. It is available in space gray, silver, or gold.
Article Link: New MacBook Air Announced With Magic Keyboard, Up to 2x Faster Performance, and Lower $999 Starting Price
It's now Iris Plus so should be better than the horribly anaemic HD 617 - likely closer to the 15W MacBook Pro than the outgoing Air... actually are these 15W chips? I don't think Y chips have Iris, or at least they haven't done til now.
Edit: there's also this:
2020 MacBook Air Supports Up to 6K External Display, Including Pro Display XDR
Apple today announced that its new 2020 MacBook Air supports up to a 6K external display for the first time ever, including the Pro Display XDR. Apple's Pro Display XDR is a 32-inch 6K monitor with a P3 wide color gamut and true 10-bit color support, 1,600 nits of peak brightness, a...
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Apple’s Tech Specs webpage lists the 2020 MacBook Air has 802.11ac (WiFi 5). Was there somewhere else that stated it has 802.11ax (WiFi 6)?
...And finally, it also has 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports! The single port has been bugging me so much so I went to MBP13.
nicho, I'm not sure if it would make the base MBP 13" dead in the water but it makes it more difficult of a sale... Hopefully a 14" MBP with much better specs come along soon.
Darth Tulhu
macrumors 68020
Finally. The iPad for those that need a real computer. /s
This thing will sell like hotcakes.
I might, MIGHT finally put my 17" to rest, but there's a rumor of full redesign next year so I'll probably hold out.
But this makes it TOUGH.
This thing will sell like hotcakes.
I might, MIGHT finally put my 17" to rest, but there's a rumor of full redesign next year so I'll probably hold out.
But this makes it TOUGH.
I still hope for miniLED 14 mbp in upcoming weeks
Wow - going from a 17" screen to a 13"?
Sounds a bit claustrophobic all the sudden honestly -hah
If you have large storage needs (#3), that will always be top priority IMO, as it's a fixed "amount" whereas #1/#2 on your list are going to be performance oriented and somewhat subjective "nice to have" boosts, barring large VM stuff where RAM is critical.
OTOH, limited storage can somewhat easily be remedied by using external hard drives and online storage. I'd recommend upgrading the RAM and the processor if you plan on keeping it for a while. In future macOS versions, the extra RAM especially will probably be important for good performance.
Darth Tulhu
macrumors 68020
I know.
I wish Apple built a 17" Air!!
Still, this is a banging deal, and $450 less than a similarly configured iPad Pro 12" with the Magic Keyboard (no pencil).
You and me both - I don't need loads of laptop "power", but screen size is a serious quality of life thing and I like lots of screen.
I'm thinking the same thing! I'll wait until they hit the Refurbished store, though, because my need isn't urgent. Two months ago, I bought my wife a refurbished 2019 16GB/512GB MBA, and I love it (so does she). That configuration just dropped $300 in the Refurbished store, but so it goes.
My 13" 2015 MBP has only 8GB of RAM and bogs down with some of the programs I use. The 256GB of storage is limiting, too. I thought about getting an OWC 1TB SSD upgrade, but there's nothing I can do about the RAM, and I'm leery about spending $300 on a five-year-old computer. I bought a 2019 iMac a year ago to become my primary computer, and it's awesome, but sometimes I need portability. A new MBP would be overkill, though, and the new MBA hits the sweet spot for me.
The 13" Pro still has the butterfly keyboard which many people hate. It also doesn't have the nice slanted keyboard which is easier on the wrists when typing. And it's more expensive.