Who's going to buy a new 2018 Air, and why?

[Lioness~]

Probably will take the 16GB / 512GB config Gold

That will give one that would last some yrs.
Though I will hardly fill that up.

I haven’t more data then ~500GB on my iMac even.
And will have much less apps on MBA

But some future proofing maybe
Could even use it with ext screen in between iMac’s if this decide to give up before I allow it to.

 

[bluecoast]

A few thoughts on the 8mb/128gb base spec.

I really think that this is fine for the vast majority of people.

Marzipan apps are the future of Mac applications and we’ll be seeing apps ported from iPad iOS - a system that expects to have way lower ram than 8 mb.

Productivity apps, light creative apps & casual games are the vast majority of apps that the vast majority use and they will be fine on those 8mb.

Most people don’t need to run logic, photoshop, autocad or a few VMs.

And since marzipan will be using apple’s own frameworks and not loading in vast amounts of cross platform code with wrappers for macOS etc. that 8mb should be enough.

128gb again, is fine for most people in the age of cloud drives. Most people won’t need to run boot camp, nor will they need instant access to all of their videos, photos and content in full fidelity.

So in many ways, our devices are becoming caching machines.

But If you want to keep everything you own on them, well you pay extra.

 

[Ma2k5]

A few thoughts on the 8mb/128gb base spec.

I really think that this is fine for the vast majority of people.

Marzipan apps are the future of Mac applications and we’ll be seeing apps ported from iPad iOS - a system that expects to have way lower ram than 8 mb.

Productivity apps, light creative apps & casual games are the vast majority of apps that the vast majority use and they will be fine on those 8mb.

Most people don’t need to run logic, photoshop, autocad or a few VMs.

And since marzipan will be using apple’s own frameworks and not loading in vast amounts of cross platform code with wrappers for macOS etc. that 8mb should be enough.

128gb again, is fine for most people in the age of cloud drives. Most people won’t need to run boot camp, nor will they need instant access to all of their videos, photos and content in full fidelity.

So in many ways, our devices are becoming caching machines.

But If you want to keep everything you own on them, well you pay extra.

It is fine for most people. I do however think $1199 is overpriced and it should really have been sold for $999 for the 128GB. There isn’t any significant R&D/innovation on this model so it is surprising. It’s just a 13” MacBook.

 

[bluecoast]

It is fine for most people. I do however think $1199 is overpriced and it should really have been sold for $999 for the 128GB. There isn’t any significant R&D/innovation on this model so it is surprising. It’s just a 13” MacBook.

Agreed, it does seem pricey for what it is. Then again, you can say that for nearly all of Apple’s products!

(Except maybe for the XR which seems pretty reasonable priced for what you’re getting).

 

[Dave245]

A few thoughts on the 8mb/128gb base spec.

I really think that this is fine for the vast majority of people.

Marzipan apps are the future of Mac applications and we’ll be seeing apps ported from iPad iOS - a system that expects to have way lower ram than 8 mb.

Productivity apps, light creative apps & casual games are the vast majority of apps that the vast majority use and they will be fine on those 8mb.

Most people don’t need to run logic, photoshop, autocad or a few VMs.

And since marzipan will be using apple’s own frameworks and not loading in vast amounts of cross platform code with wrappers for macOS etc. that 8mb should be enough.

128gb again, is fine for most people in the age of cloud drives. Most people won’t need to run boot camp, nor will they need instant access to all of their videos, photos and content in full fidelity.

So in many ways, our devices are becoming caching machines.

But If you want to keep everything you own on them, well you pay extra.

Yea it’s fine for most people, most general consumers and students. There is a 16GB Ram option and up to 1.5TB SSD for those that need it.

Me personally I’m planning on getting a space grey, 16GB Ram with 512GB SSD, mainly for long writing sessions, blog writing, Netflix, YouTube, web browsing and some photo editing on Pixelmator, nothing too heavy tho.

 

[lowkey]

Yeah. A 13” MacBook with a 1.6Ghz chip for less than the price of a 12” MacBook with a 1.2GHz chip would be sweet

It is fine for most people. I do however think $1199 is overpriced and it should really have been sold for $999 for the 128GB. There isn’t any significant R&D/innovation on this model so it is surprising. It’s just a 13” MacBook.

 

[stratokaster]

mainly for long writing sessions, blog writing

Just don't forget to get an external keyboard. Oh, and getting AppleCare+ probably would be a wise move as well

 

[Dave245]

Just don't forget to get an external keyboard. Oh, and getting AppleCare+ probably would be a wise move as well

I don't mind the travel of the butterfly keyboard, if i did i wouldn't be buying one! its personal opinion when it comes to the feel the of the keyboard and yes they have had issues, however that is probably fixed by now, how many people were actually affected in the the first place? was it everybody, no was it more than half of people who brought Mac's? probably not, things often get blown out of proportion. Should it of happened, no, at the prices they charge Apple should of made sure quality control had it nailed down, but i'm sure by now any issues will have been ironed out.

 

[stratokaster]

For what it's wortth, I'm now on my thiird butterfly keyboard and it seems I need to have it replaced once again.

I like the feel of this keyboard and I can type incredibly fast on it. However, it's just not reliable.

There is a long thread about Gen3 butterfly keyboard in the Macbook Pro forum, it's very enlightening. The consensus seems to be that it's just as (un)reliable as Gen1 and Gen2.

That said, my wifee has been using her 2016 MB 12" for two years without any issues.

(I didn't correct double letters in this post because they're Apple's fault, not mine!)

 

[Dave245]

For what it's wortth, I'm now on my thiird butterfly keyboard and it seems I need to have it replaced once again.

I like the feel of this keyboard and I can type incredibly fast on it. However, it's just not reliable.

There is a long thread about Gen3 butterfly keyboard in the Macbook Pro forum, it's very enlightening. The consensus seems to be that it's just as (un)reliable as Gen1 and Gen2.

That said, my wifee has been using her 2016 MB 12" for two years without any issues.

(I didn't correct double letters in this post because they're Apple's fault, not mine!)

Yea i'm not saying that there hasn't been any issues, it's obvious that there has and Apple need to sort it out! however with there being a thread about it, what needs to be taken into account is that people who post there are generally ones with issues, what you don't here from are those people who haven't had any issues, people only tend to complain when they have an issue but obviously not mention anything when things are ok, which is understandable no one likes to complain for no reason (i know i don't).

It will be interesting to see how it plays out with new machines going forward and to how Apple has or will solve the issue.

 

[stratokaster]

And I really hope that you don't get any issues with your new MBA! I just think that with these new laptops, where everything is glued and soldered and squished together in the name of thinness, getting extended warranty is a smart thing to do. If something breaks after your warranty expires, the repair is likely to be almost as expensive as getting a new machine.

I quite like the new MBA, to be honest. On paper it looks like a perfect laptop for me: thin and light, reasonably fast, incredible battery life, USB-C charging and that sweet retina screen. I'm just wary of trying my luck once again.

 

[Dave245]

And I really hope that you don't get any issues with your new MBA! I just think that with these new laptops, where everything is glued and soldered and squished together in the name of thinness, getting extended warranty is a smart thing to do. If somebody breaks after your warranty expires, the repair is likely to be almost as expensive as getting a new machine.

I quite like the new MBA, to be honest. On paper it looks like a perfect laptop for me: thin and light, reasonably fast, incredible battery life, USB-C charging and that sweet retina screen. I'm just wary of trying my luck once again.

I shall definitely get the Apple Care+ it has up to 2 accidental incidents with it as well so that’s worth it. Even tho I’m very careful with my Macs it’s more for peace of mind.

I think reviews should start dropping soon, maybe wait and see what they say before you buy? It will be interesting to see, I remember when the 12” MacBook came out and it was called underpowered along with people saying “I can’t belive Apple have released this” yet later on videos appeared of people using Photoshop and Final Cut Pro on it, it’s not always about specs in my opinion.

 

[alpinadvl]

"essentially the same exact model"

The poster is obviously joking. Or is looking at the specs of the 2015 MBA and thinking that those are the specs of the brand new MBA.

sorry, should have been clearer... i meant to say if someone was uncertain of buying the new rMBA or didn't really see the "value" or "performance" proposition of the new rMBA ... they can get the previous iteration of the MBA...

(and that previous generation between 2015 to early 2018 are essentially the same MBA laptops... so ... any of those years would be fine to get. (I was not saying the old MBA is better than the new rMBA) )

 

[LukeWorm]

I've been waiting for this new Air to replace my mid-2010 MBP 15" 8/256GB (SSD). This MBP works perfectly well, the screen is the hi-resolution+matte version and the SSD I installed myself.
But some keys don't work, intermittently: keys E R T Y U I O. And that's annoying, to say the least. Normally it helps to press long on on of them, very long; and then they all work for a while again .
According to recent Geekbench numbers, the Air 2018 is 2-3 times better than my current MBP. Plus the retina display. Quite enough improvements for me. It's just the high price that still bothers me.

 

[Mainsail]

I'll get the base model early next year, as long as there aren't keyboard reliability issues. I will have to wait for a few of months to see if there are reports of failures similar to the Gen 3 keyboard on the MBP 2018. If so, then I will hold onto my 2014 MBA until Apple figures this thing out.....which could be a couple of years.

Otherwise, it checks all of the boxes for me:

• Long battery life....which is owing to the low power CPU. Sorry, you don't get something for nothing
• Retina Display
• Touch ID
• USB - C
• Much smaller foot print and smaller bezels than my current MBA

There have been a lot of complaints about the low power Y CPU. This is just not going to be a problem for me. The early geek bench data looks fine for my purposes: Mail, Messages, Calendar/Reminders, Safari, iWork, Notes, editing in Photo app, and occasional short video creation with iMovie.....usually just glorified family event slideshows. My 2014 MBA has 4GB of RAM and a slower processor, so this new MBA will be a performance improvement for me.
[doublepost=1541272716][/doublepost]

It is fine for most people. I do however think $1199 is overpriced and it should really have been sold for $999 for the 128GB. There isn’t any significant R&D/innovation on this model so it is surprising. It’s just a 13” MacBook.

When the wedge shaped MBA model first came out in 2010, it was $1,299. This is not to be confused with the 2008 model, which was a different body style and design and retailed for $1,799. Anyway, the 2010 model added numerous improvements over the years: 2GB RAM went to 8GB RAM standard, Better CPU and other internals, Thunderbolt 2, Backlit keyboard, etc... Meanwhile, as production ramped up and components became more readily available, the price drifted down from $1,299 to $999. I think it is a little unreasonable to expect the the new MBA model would be priced at the same $999 as the older MBA model, which has been optimized over 8 years of production.

Honestly, I think the introductory price for the new MBA is ok. It is $100 less than the 2010 introductory price, and it is a far superior machine.

 

[Ma2k5]

Yeah. A 13” MacBook with a 1.6Ghz chip for less than the price of a 12” MacBook with a 1.2GHz chip would be sweet

Well the base model is £1,249 vs £1,199 but the 12” comes with 256GB SSD vs 128GB SSD, which from the pricing is a £200 premium.

I’d also argue the 12 MacBook probably deserves a price drop as it’s 2 years old and only getting minor upgrades and it’s original high cost was probably just to cover the R&D.

No matter how I look at it, the price of the 12” doesn’t make me feel better about the 13”, not one bit.

[doublepost=1541274820][/doublepost]

I'll get the base model early next year, as long as there aren't keyboard reliability issues. I will have to wait for a few of months to see if there are reports of failures similar to the Gen 3 keyboard on the MBP 2018. If so, then I will hold onto my 2014 MBA until Apple figures this thing out.....which could be a couple of years.

Otherwise, it checks all of the boxes for me:

• Long battery life....which is owing to the low power CPU. Sorry, you don't get something for nothing
• Retina Display
• Touch ID
• USB - C
• Much smaller foot print and smaller bezels than my current MBA

There have been a lot of complaints about the low power Y CPU. This is just not going to be a problem for me. The early geek bench data looks fine for my purposes: Mail, Messages, Calendar/Reminders, Safari, iWork, Notes, editing in Photo app, and occasional short video creation with iMovie.....usually just glorified family event slideshows. My 2014 MBA has 4GB of RAM and a slower processor, so this new MBA will be a performance improvement for me.
[doublepost=1541272716][/doublepost]

When the wedge shaped MBA model first came out in 2010, it was $1,299. This is not to be confused with the 2008 model, which was a different body style and design and retailed for $1,799. Anyway, the 2010 model added numerous improvements over the years: 2GB RAM went to 8GB RAM standard, Better CPU and other internals, Thunderbolt 2, Backlit keyboard, etc... Meanwhile, as production ramped up and components became more readily available, the price drifted down from $1,299 to $999. I think it is a little unreasonable to expect the the new MBA model would be priced at the same $999 as the older MBA model, which has been optimized over 8 years of production.

Honestly, I think the introductory price for the new MBA is ok. It is $100 less than the 2010 introductory price, and it is a far superior machine.

Thing is, I feel the 2008/2012 brought something different/great upgrades to the table. This new Air is literally just a 12” MacBook made into a 13”. No innovation.

They had options i’m sure, like the competition have added LTE, Apple could have done that. They could have improved the design of the 12” to make the laptop even thinner/lighter with the same internals had they invested some R&D in to it, but they skipped it.

Compared to a 2 year old nTB, it has tapered its base, but that’s the only improvement. Maybe the gen 3 keyboard too but I see that more of a fix rather than an upgrade and there is nothing to stop them adding that to a nTB. It had it’s screen and CPU downgraded- you can’t even call the battery life a positive because frankly it was achieved by downgrading other parts. Apple could have done it if they invested in more R&D on this model, which would have justified the cost.

By the way, the nTB is rated at 10 hours, but is actually closer to 12. The new Air may be 12-14 and probably is higher, but it does have a slightly smaller battery so it’s probably not significantly higher? Just a guess.

Who knows, maybe one day Apple had all this spare aluminium and thought about what to do with it, and some genius thought - hey, let’s make a 13” MacBook but wait for it, we will call it the Air and price it high. That guy probably got promoted.

I really don’t believe much work was done to produce the new MBA.

Love or hate the 12”, at least when it came out, it was something new and exciting, very different to what anyone else was doing. You knew they invested a tonne of time and money to make that happen.

 

[PalidinoDH]

Considering it since the benchmark scores aren't worse than the 2016 ntb pro and I'd prefer to get the newer keyboard for (hopefully) less issues.

 

[warehouse40]

Just ordered a 16GB/256GB space gray! Replacing my 2014 MacBook Air. It’s twice the power of my old air and a retina screen. Perfect for what I need. Will let you all know how the keyboard plays out. My first Mac with the new keyboard style

 

[DVD9]

When the wedge shaped MBA model first came out in 2010, it was $1,299. This is not to be confused with the 2008 model, which was a different body style and design and retailed for $1,799. Anyway, the 2010 model added numerous improvements over the years: 2GB RAM went to 8GB RAM standard, Better CPU and other internals, Thunderbolt 2, Backlit keyboard, etc... Meanwhile, as production ramped up and components became more readily available, the price drifted down from $1,299 to $999. I think it is a little unreasonable to expect the the new MBA model would be priced at the same $999 as the older MBA model, which has been optimized over 8 years of production.

You actually made a great argument for why the new MBA should have been priced at $899-

 

[minik]

I ordered the space gray/16GB RAM/512GB SSD on Oct. 31 and the ETA was Nov 7. Last night I checked and it's been push back to Nov 13-15 with 'This item will take longer than usual to ship. As soon as it’s ready, we’ll send you an update and prepare the shipment.' Anyone on the same boat?

 

[Mainsail]

You actually made a great argument for why the new MBA should have been priced at $899-

Let’s see the rMB starts at $1299, and the nTB MBP starts at $1,299.

The New MBA has Touch ID, 12 hour battery life, same storage as the MBP, 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports vs 1 USB-C on the rMB, a larger display than the rMB, a faster and newer processor than the rMB.......and you think Apple is going to sell it for $400 less?

Okay, why not? Maybe Apple should sell it for $499.....no no wait.....$329. Same price as the base iPad. I don’t understand where you get $899??? For a new model that just began production??

 

[DVD9]

Let’s see the rMB starts at $1299, and the nTB MBP starts at $1,299.

The New MBA has Touch ID, 12 hour battery life, same storage as the MBP, 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports vs 1 USB-C on the rMB, a larger display than the rMB, a faster and newer processor than the rMB.......and you think Apple is going to sell it for $400 less?

1) This is a much different argument than what I quoted and responded to, actually an argument in direct opposition. Which argument are you going with?

2) Those two Macs you cited are both old, do not have the T2 chip, are not being updated and will soon be discontinued.

 

[Lioness~]

I ordered the space gray/16GB RAM/512GB SSD on Oct. 31 and the ETA was Nov 7. Last night I checked and it's been push back to Nov 13-15 with 'This item will take longer than usual to ship. As soon as it’s ready, we’ll send you an update and prepare the shipment.' Anyone on the same boat?

Yup, delivery is not fast on these.
My Gold 16/256 won't be delivered until 20-22 November.

But it's ordered and I'll look forward to its arrival

 

[Mainsail]

1) This is a much different argument than what I quoted and responded to, actually an argument in direct opposition. Which argument are you going with?

2) Those two Macs you cited are both old, do not have the T2 chip, are not being updated and will soon be discontinued.

My arguments are simple:

First, I am ok with the introductory price of the MBA. It is $100 less than the 2010 introductory price. So, while the technology has significantly improved over 8 years, the introductory price has dropped. Also, you shouldn’t compare the price of the new MBA to the current price of the old MBA, since the old one was in production for 8 years and has been cost optimized.

Second, you quoted a price of $899, and I am wondering where you got that number. Apple is selling an inferior rMB that has had more production optimization for $1,299, or $100 more than the new MBA. Why would you expect them to sell the new MBA for $400 less than this price point?

What is your reference point? Clearly it isn’t the introductory price of the MBA, which is lower than it was 8 years ago. Clearly, it isn’t the current prices of Apple’s other laptop offerings. So, are you just complaining because Apple won’t sell you a laptop at a price that is $400 below the historical or current pricing structure? Honestly, I don’t understand the expectation.

 

[S.B.G]

I ordered the space gray/16GB RAM/512GB SSD on Oct. 31 and the ETA was Nov 7. Last night I checked and it's been push back to Nov 13-15 with 'This item will take longer than usual to ship. As soon as it’s ready, we’ll send you an update and prepare the shipment.' Anyone on the same boat?

I ordered the same specs on the 31st as well. So far it is “preparing to ship” with delivery on the 7th.