Hopefully we'll get benchmarks tomorrow. With the unboxing videos out there it's incredible that nobody here has one yet.
One of you guys should take one for the team and run to the Apple store and pick one up.
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The new 2018 Macbook Air
- Thread starter elhungarian
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Hopefully we'll get benchmarks tomorrow. With the unboxing videos out there it's incredible that nobody here has one yet.
One of you guys should take one for the team and run to the Apple store and pick one up.
Same. My only fears about this laptop are the performance...and the keyboard.
Otherwise it would have been the perfect laptop for most people I think.
Here's an interesting article about just the processor and what effect that should have on system performance.Hopefully we'll get benchmarks tomorrow. With the unboxing videos out there it's incredible that nobody here has one yet.
One of you guys should take one for the team and run to the Apple store and pick one up.
https://www.engadget.com/2018/10/31/macbook-air-intel-processor-cooling/
It's not a benchmark, but a pretty detailed analysis.
By the way, do you think that, on november 7th, along with the new MacBook Air, Mac mini, and iPad Pro, we'll see some silent refreshes? Like the Vega GPUs for the 15" MBP, or the 15W Whiskey Lake CPUs for the 13" nTB MBP. Just saying... Maybe we'll have some surprises!
The Vega CPU’s are coming to the Pro on the 14th.
As for the nTB, could they? Sure, would they? Not sure, I’d say it’s unlikely I mean it also needs the new gen 3 keyboard. If it’s not a very popular model, it will mean there is less incentive to upgrade it and they may discontinue it at one point. If they did update it, it will likely cannibalise the Air sales.
I don't want to be off-topic, but I still have my hopes for that future nTB model. I'm sure, so far, its been the best selling notebook on the past few years. And they didn't discontinued it. I think it fills the gap between the Air and the TB MBP, but I agree with you, it could cannibalise some Air sales.
Fingers crossed (although I wanted to wait until cannonlake... lol)
Seems like a missed opportunity and a weird departure from Apple's way of creating products. Sure folks wanted retina and USB-C for the Air, and I was hoping this would offer more power like the original Air offering a real i7. It will be interesting to see the benchmarks comparing a maxed-out MacBook to a max-out 2018 Air to a mid-range 13-inch MBP. Kinda wish they would have redesigned it from the ground up to support a more powerful processor, or maybe this just signals that they aren't happy with Intel and are ready to cut bait.
You mean the MBA? According to that Engadget article it was designed from the ground up to push the m5 chip closer to a "real" i5. The tradeoff would be battery life and heat. I do wish that they had an optional upgrade. Obviously a quad core would be nice but they would never do that because it would compete with the MBP sales at that point.
I ordered it the day of the Keynote. I have to replace my husbands 2012 MBA. He get's my 2013 and I get the new 2018. But I'm nervous like so many of you about the performance. I upgraded the RAM to 16 and got the 512GB drive and although everyone says the prices have gone up (this configuration was $1,799), this is a few bucks less than my 2013 with 8GB RAM ($1,849) and considerably less than my husband's Air from 2012 with the same specs ($ 2,228.00). So the price wasn't the scary part for me. If the performance isn't reasonably better than what I'm typing on, then I may return it for the ntb MacBook Pro. The same specs in that one are just $100 more for a lot more machine... but I don't need that much more machine. I guess I just feel like we've waited so dang long for updates that I want to see a real improvement. And yes, like many out there, I'm not sure I want to give up my keyboard. I really want to like this machine but I'm so conflicted.
^The Y-series chips on the MacBooks punch way above their weight for tasks that don't require extended processing power. For everyday computer use they are pretty awesome, getting through most tasks with short bursts of turbo boost.
If you're using Logic for example and trying to run Audio Unit plugins for hours, its going to get killed and drop back to its base frequency or less.
Ive got a 2015 1.1GHz MacBook and it handles Indesign, Word, XL, browsing, emailing etc no problems. Even photoshop is surprisingly good, but obviously you're not going to be able to work on big files doing tons of filters without waiting. Converting video files or AIFF Files to MP3s and stuff like that is pretty slow.
If its 50% faster than my MacBook I think you will be fine for general computing.
If you're using Logic for example and trying to run Audio Unit plugins for hours, its going to get killed and drop back to its base frequency or less.
Ive got a 2015 1.1GHz MacBook and it handles Indesign, Word, XL, browsing, emailing etc no problems. Even photoshop is surprisingly good, but obviously you're not going to be able to work on big files doing tons of filters without waiting. Converting video files or AIFF Files to MP3s and stuff like that is pretty slow.
If its 50% faster than my MacBook I think you will be fine for general computing.
HP, Lenovo, Microsoft, Dell, they are all guilty of charging $1000+ for their premium laptops that start with 128GB. I agree, it’s time we moved to 256gb base because with the OS installed you are not left with much... but as long as people are still buying them, people will pay. Anyways, it’s nothing more then an up sell ploy, because most people have sense to know 128gb is not enough and will pay the extra few hundred for 256gb. So for these companies what’s the incentive? They’ll loose that up sell because 256 is the sweet spot. They’ll have far less people upgrading to the 512gb then going to 256gb from the base 128gb.
When I could see the move to 256gb as base is when the OS install with default apps takes up 60+GB.
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I’m okay with 128GB start as there seem to be some people who really don’t need storage - my quarry is only when a 128GB model is priced high, especially £1,199. I know at least Dell’s 128GB in UK was sub-£1000. At present the XPS 9370 isn’t available in 128 GB config, with the 256 GB config at £1198 (Dells official prices are always at least 10% higher than what you can easily negotiate with sales rep).
a new special Software Update for the 2018 MacBook Air now live.
Downloading it now, it's big: 1,48Gb
Downloading it now, it's big: 1,48Gb
Yeah the way they positioned it made it a very difficult decision on what to do for many people
Here is my take....so far I really like this computer. I use it everyday for web-browsing, email calendar, etc. I had a NTBPro for a while and actually had to have it repaired for 2 different reasons. I can't tell the difference between the two. If anything I love the Touch ID and this keyboard is slightly better....and the screen is NOT an issue...unless you are astronaut orbiting the sun.
Actually one thing I wish it had...true tone.
Actually one thing I wish it had...true tone.
Just to confirm, are you saying you can’t tell the difference between the two as an absolute - or can you differentiate the screens somewhat. Is it different at say 30, 50, 70 or 100% on either and how much would you say it changes?
What brightness level do you keep your Air at in general use?
No issues. Been using all day since 7am and I have more than half. Again just browsing email and calendar.
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I usually keep it at 13-15. 16 is the max. My NTB 2017 Mac got brighter but I don't think its night and day difference. For my uses I have not said once "I need this thing to go brighter". If I had to guess I would say 90%. The NTB may get you an xtra 5-10%. It may matter to some but in my real-world use it has been a non-issue. Everyone is too concerned with nits. While the numbers may differ it has not impeded my use.
It’s comparing Apples and oranges though.
For one thing, the Air back then was quite a revolutionary product. Then there is a lot to be said about the state of the laptop market then and now on a comparative basis against the competition.
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Interesting, it sounds similar to the review where he keeps it very high setting too.
When I had my MBP I believe I had it around 40-50% indoors, but we may just have different preferences.
I do love my XPS 13 matte screen, I work on it comfortable at 20-30% brightness and it’s even readable at 0%. Who would have thought a matte screen made such a difference!
100% on this is probably about 60% on my previous nTB..... It's dim! I have it maxed out just sitting indoors where I'd usually have the nTB at 60 or 70%.....