New MacBook Air Announced With Magic Keyboard, Up to 2x Faster Performance, and Lower $999 Starting Price

[Zdigital2015]

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.

Because the lower clock speed is a tradeoff for getting a 10nm CPU from Intel. You get a much better iGPU than 14nm, but you pay for it in clock speeds. This is nothing new since 10nm finally went online. Don't expect it to get better. We should be happy at this point that Intel can even ship enough of these out the door to fill Apple's production needs, grousing about the clock speeds should directed to Intel's feedback e-mail address.

Hell, Apple had to TDP-Up these CPUs just to get them past the 1GHz barrier...the Core i5 model clocks at 800MHz in it's base frequency to achieve a 9w TDP.

 

[itsmilo]

so it still has only a 720p webcam? thats like a inside joke at this point no?

 

[triangletechie]

I have the mid-2018 MBP with Touch Bar (MR9U2LL/A), i5 option. How does this new Air processor compare to the 2018 model that I have?

 

[turbineseaplane]

so it still has only a 720p webcam? thats like a inside joke at this point no?

It's stunning..

It really makes me think that its a component that they'll only "get to" with all new industrial designs, starting with whatever model makes an ARM jump first -- and if no ARM, then whichever is the first to breakaway from the current aesthetic.

(please - please - nobody start with "there's no room - it's too thin for better" - complete and utter bollocks at this point. There are better cameras that are ridiculously thin)

 

[Mr Dobey]

Fans or Fanless?

 

[Seanm87]

I think these are great devices - but I wonder with people working at home for the next few weeks, are people using laptops? Most of my time working from home, I'm on a more powerful desktop...

The vast majority of people are given laptops by their companies. So yes people are using laptops.

 

[KPOM]

Anyone know if this is still the same with the new model? It was quite a noticeable difference before!

"The air and the pro both have 13.3in LED-backlit displays with IPS technology at a resolution of 2560x1600 making them 227ppi. The only difference now is that the Pro boasts a 500nit brightness level and wide colour (P3), but does not quote these for the Air."

The Air is 400 nits and SRGB only.

Also, the Air is using the Ice Lake processors customed up to 12W vs the 15W TDP in the 13” Pro, and 7W in the previous Air.

 

[Zdigital2015]

so it still has only a 720p webcam? thats like a inside joke at this point no?

OTA broadcasts to my home (I cut cable a LONG time ago) are still 720p, what's the big deal unless you're a cam girl making your living online?

 

[recoil80]

They just killed any reason to get the MBP 13.

Yeah only the better CPU, but for the same price you can get a MBA with 256 and 16GB of RAM and a MBP with half the storage and RAM. I wonder why they didn't update the MBP too starting with 256GB for the base model, would make more sense.

 

[Yvan256]

Okay so it has current-generation Intel processors with better graphics, the middle model is quad-core, the butterfly keyboard is gone, the arrows are in an inverted-T configuration, there is touch ID but no touch bar, the storage starts at 256GB (and up to 2TB!), there is a standard 3.5 mm headphone jack on the right side, the price is lower than the previous model. In my opinion, this is a perfect update and it was about time, too.

This is the MacBook Air update I have waiting for all these years. I can finally upgrade from my 2010 Mac mini.

A decade is a very long time to wait for a computer upgrade. I'm glad to see Apple are back in the game.

 

[Falhófnir]

So is this Intel Iris Graphics card good? Can I play WoW at at least 30FPS on it?

I can't quantify it until unit reviews are out, but whereas the 2019 Air's HD 617 graphics was actually weaker than the 2015 Air's HD 6000, this should at least be a reasonably competent modern iGPU. Doing a bit of digging it looks like these are 10th gen Ice Lake parts, which have a focus on integrated graphics (at some expense to CPU performance) - but it does look like they are Y series parts with a limited 9W TDP which might hamstring them a bit against the aforementioned Pro (which has a 15W TDP) particularly when under sustained load like gaming. For an older/ less demanding game like WoW I think the Pro's Iris Plus 640 would play it at 30FPS on 1080p med/high settings, so I will hazard a guess at yes, but do wait until reviews are out before committing!

https://gamesystemrequirements.com/ is a good site to give you an idea for future reference

 

[turbineseaplane]

there is a standard 3.5 mm headphone jack on the right wrong side

fixed it - haha

 

[Zen_Arcade]

Between the pricing, real keyboard, update to quad-core, doubling the storage, and the improved graphics, the new Air is a much more compelling machine. At $1529 for an i5 with 16 GB/1TB, or $1664 with i7, it actually looks like a good value.

 

[imp3rator]

I have the mid-2018 MBP with Touch Bar (MR9U2LL/A), i5 option. How does this new Air processor compare to the 2018 model that I have?

Your cpu has 2.3 ghz base frequency - So if you load full cpu and gpu - you get a 2.3ghz vs 1.1 (so twice as fast or four times fast in dual core version) and your gpu will be probably 2-3 times faster than in Air 2020...
9W vs 28W...

 

[seek3r]

Finally!! This is the update we've all been waiting for, quad core CPUs, better keyboard...

New MBA ordered, 1.2 quad, 16gb memory, 512gb disk! Delivery between March 26 and April 2!

 

[btsvchris]

I use my MBP (2019, 13", 1,4 quad i5, two ports) only with a second screen attached. With slightly CPU intense tasks (30% usage) the fan goes absolutly crazy (between 4000 and 7200 rpm).
Any comparison from the MBA Intel Iris Plus Graphics to the MBP Intel Iris Plus Graphics 645? Will a maxed MBA perform better with a second screen?

 

[Mattsasa]

I can't quantify it until unit reviews are out, but whereas the 2019 Air's HD 617 graphics was actually weaker than the 2015 Air's HD 6000, this should at least be a reasonably competent modern iGPU. Doing a bit of digging it looks like these are 10th gen Ice Lake parts, which have a focus on integrated graphics (at some expense to CPU performance) - but it does look like they are Y series parts with a limited 9W TDP which might hamstring them a bit against the aforementioned Pro (which has a 15W TDP) particularly when under sustained load like gaming. For an older/ less demanding game like WoW I think the Pro's Iris Plus 640 would play it at 30FPS on 1080p med/high settings, so I will hazard a guess at yes, but do wait until reviews are out before committing!

https://gamesystemrequirements.com/ is a good site to give you an idea for future reference

I am trying to figure out for each the options.... i3, i5, i7... if they are using the G4 or G7 Iris plus processors

 

[Enerccio]

Can someone explain me why is that CPU hot garbage in multicore?

Intel Corporation Ice Lake Client Platform - Geekbench

Benchmark results for an Intel Corporation Ice Lake Client Platform with an Intel Core i7-1060G7 processor.

browser.geekbench.com

Single core is better than last years MBP but multicore it's garbage...

 

[imp3rator]

btsvchris : what adapter do you use ? Because usb-c -> hdmi adapters uses displaylink drivers (cpu simulate gpu data a send them to this adapter...) You should use direct thunderbolt cabel to hdmi - so data would go directly from gpu to monitor

 

[Zdigital2015]

I can't quantify it until unit reviews are out, but whereas the 2019 Air's HD 617 graphics was actually weaker than the 2015 Air's HD 6000, this should at least be a reasonably competent modern iGPU. Doing a bit of digging it looks like these are 10th gen Ice Lake parts, which have a focus on integrated graphics (at some expense to CPU performance) - but it does look like they are Y series parts with a limited 9W TDP which might hamstring them a bit against the aforementioned Pro (which has a 15W TDP) particularly when under sustained load like gaming. For an older/ less demanding game like WoW I think the Pro's Iris Plus 640 would play it at 30FPS on 1080p med/high settings, so I will hazard a guess at yes, but do wait until reviews are out before committing!

https://gamesystemrequirements.com/ is a good site to give you an idea for future reference

Intel doesn't even identify them as Y-Series now and their base TDP is 9w. Apple had to TDP-Up the Core i5 and Core i7 CPUs to 12w just to get the clock speed over 1.0GHz. Hat tip to @MakeAppleAwesomeAgain on finding the correct parts in the ARK.


Core i3-1000G4 (Base TDP, 9w CPU, no TDP up offered, TDP-Down offered)
Core i5-1030G7 (Base TDP, 9w, Up'ped to 12w)
Core i7-1060G7 (Base TDP, 9w, Up'ped to 12w)

Hopefully, that chassis has no issue with the slightly higher TDP.

 

[HarryWild]

Not much of an upgrade other then adding in i-7 Quad CPU built-in better GPU inside and new keyboard. With all upgrades, $1,700.00! Ouch!

 

[btsvchris]

btsvchris : what adapter do you use ? Because usb-c -> hdmi adapters uses displaylink drivers (cpu simulate gpu data a send them to this adapter...) You should use direct thunderbolt cabel to hdmi - so data would go directly from gpu to monitor

I use the 3 in one original apple HDMI (thunderbolt, hdmi, usb) adapter. Does that really make a significant difference?

 

[jicon]

Almost ready to pull trigger, but $400 CAD difference between the 256GB and 512GB model... $1699 CAD plus tax. I think I'll wait out how these work for people. Interested to hear about quality of the screens in particular compared to the MBP.

 

[Zdigital2015]

Can someone explain me why is that CPU hot garbage in multicore?

Intel Corporation Ice Lake Client Platform - Geekbench

Benchmark results for an Intel Corporation Ice Lake Client Platform with an Intel Core i7-1060G7 processor.

browser.geekbench.com

Single core is better than last years MBP but multicore it's garbage...

Ice Lake is hot garbage, simple as that...but everyone was griping that Apple is so far behind. Now they are not...the plus side is that now the GPU is no longer hot garbage. Po-tay-to, poh-tah-to.

Ice Lake Tested: We Benchmark Intel's New 10nm Processor

Intel’s 10nm Ice Lake processors are here, and we had the opportunity to benchmark one on a software development system.

www.tomshardware.com

The Ice Lake Benchmark Preview: Inside Intel's 10nm

www.anandtech.com

 

[Falhófnir]

I am trying to figure out for each the options.... i3, i5, i7... if they are using the G4 or G7 Iris plus processors

@Zdigital2015 / @MakeAppleAwesomeAgain has found the exact parts:

Intel doesn't even identify them as Y-Series now and their base TDP is 9w. Apple had to TDP-Up the Core i5 and Core i7 CPUs to 12w just to get the clock speed over 1.0GHz. Hat tip to @MakeAppleAwesomeAgain on finding the correct parts in the ARK.


Core i3-1000G4 (Base TDP, 9w CPU, no TDP up offered, TDP-Down offered)
Core i5-1030G7 (Base TDP, 9w, Up'ped to 12w)
Core i7-1060G7 (Base TDP, 9w, Up'ped to 12w)

Hopefully, that chassis has no issue with the slightly higher TDP.

Interesting, Hopefully some reviews will be up soon to see how these chips do with a 12W TDP, could be competitive with the 2019 Pro? Ice Lake is meant to be reasonably good on graphics, but poor in comparison to the latest 14nm releases on CPU performance. With the 15W Pro shipping dates still way out it looks like that might still be updated tomorrow - will be interesting to see if it is using Ice Lake or Comet lake parts.