MacBook Air (13-inch, late 2018)
Now with more pixels per pound
From £1,199 from Apple, apple.com/uk Features 1.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB 2,133MHz memory, 128GB storage (256GB tested), Intel UHD Graphics 617, 2x Thunderbolt 3 ports
Apple’s industry-leading, slimline notebook turned heads in 2008 and, after a lot of moaning about things like minimal ports and no DVD drive, since 2010 it has built a healthy
fanbase within the Mac line-up. But in the years since, the MacBook Air has really been about small bumps to its specs. If it ain’t broke, huh? Though still a capable tool, for a while it’s been looking a little, well, old-fashioned.
Immediately apparent when you lift the lid is that the Air’s appearance has been spruced up for 2018. The screen bezel has been significantly reduced in width and recoloured black. That alone makes the new Air look like it really belongs in the modern Mac family, rather than being a throwback to the start of the decade.
Apple has also updated the Air’s keyboard with its third-generation butterfly mechanism, which first appeared on the MacBook Pro a few months ago. Though still divisive where the degree of key travel is concerned, this butterfly iteration feels much better than its two predecessors. That’s due to the insertion of a membrane beneath the keys, giving them a cushioned feel that’s particularly good for extended typing sessions.
There’s something unique about the Air’s keyboard: its top row has a Touch ID sensor at the right end, but the rest of the row is filled with traditional keys rather than the context- sensitive Touch Bar that accompanies it on the MacBook Pro. Some will consider that to be preferable to the Pro’s setup. Touch ID makes logging in and paying with Apple Pay largely frictionless. Touch ID’s presence means there’s also a T2 processor on board, bringing the benefits of Secure Boot (bit.ly/secboot) and tougher storage encryption (bit.ly/t2encry).
One of our favourite changes is to the Air’s trackpad, which is 20% larger. That’s a plenty big enough surface to comfortably move the pointer and perform multi-touch gestures for instant access to all your windows, to move between workspaces, and to shove everything out of the way to reach the desktop. Swapping keyboard taps for this natural-feeling
navigation remains a highlight of macOS.
After making great strides with speaker quality on iOS devices, Apple has turned that attention to the Air’s sound output. The volume can go louder and with more bass, but what really impressses is the stereo separation, which does a great job of immersing you in action films despite you towering over the small screen.
Pixels to the people!
The most significant update, though, is the new display. Ever since the 12-inch MacBook entered the scene in early 2015, we’ve been hoping for a sharper Retina display on the most affordable portable Mac. It seems like it has taken more than three-and-a-half years for that to happen, probably because we’ve been used to high pixel densities on iPhones and iPads for even longer.
Apple hasn’t quite doubled the number of
Refashioned after design cues from other MacBooks, the new Air looks more modern.
lines and rows of pixels from 1440x900 on the older model. Even if possible, that wouldn’t have been a good look on paper as it would’ve taken the screen resolution higher than the 13in MacBook Pro’s (and would’ve matched the 15in Pro). Instead, you get a 2560x1600-pixel panel with a density of 227 pixels per inch – sharp like the 13in Pro, though there are differences elsewhere in the screen spec.
It isn’t as bright as the Pro’s 500 nits panel, though you may find that isn’t a bother; we tend to run our Pro between 50 and 75% brightness so it doesn’t dazzle. The Air also lacks the wide (P3) colour gamut of the Pro. If you’ve bought an iPhone 8 or later, the cameras capture a wider gamut, but it’s worth noting that the Air’s display can’t render all of that beauty. If you spend a lot of time editing photos, even as an enthusiast rather than a professional, that might nudge you towards a different MacBook. And the 13in Pro is just 120g heavier.
The Retina display alone is a big temptation
The trackpad is now 20% larger – plenty big enough for multi-touch gestures
to drop money on an upgrade. It’s sharp, vivid enough and, in conjunction with the new-look frame around it, makes a difference to the one place Apple really had to improve its trusty workhorse: the focus point you spend all your time looking at while beavering away.
Internal affairs
On the inside, changes are rather more modest. There’s an Intel Core i5 processor with two cores like before, though this one is from the eighth generation. Its 1.6GHz clock speed is a reduction of 0.2GHz over the 2017 Air’s, though the Turbo Boost speed (when only one core is active) now goes to 3.6GHz, up from 2.9GHz in last year’s model.
Apple has withdrawn the option of swapping the Core i5 processor for a Core i7. If you want one – including the two-threadsper-core processing benefit of Intel’s HyperThreading tech – you’ll need to step up to the MacBook Pro and upgrade the processor there.
Though that takes away some choice over places to compromise on customising the Air, it gives a clearer picture of why you might shell out even more for that particular component to benefit your work. If you‘re not willing or able to consider that, you have a three-way choice between the new Air, 12in MacBook and 13in MacBook Pro, all of which start within the £1,199 to £1,249 range.
Also updated is the graphics processor (GPU), Intel’s UHD Graphics 617. This is capable of driving one 5K or two 4K external displays in addition to the Air’s built-in screen. Its ability to handle much heavier tasks than drawing the desktop doesn’t hold up very well, but that’s not unusual from the kinds of low-end GPU used at the bottom end of the Mac range.
Even so, we were disappointed by the low frame rate in Tomb Raider – not the most recent game in that series, but the one released on the Mac in 2014. The Air managed an unplayable 13.3 frames per second (fps).
A lower resolution of 1280x800 and using the High quality preset raised the mean average to 23.9fps. And to get that game’s sequel close to comfortable, we had to use the lowest resolution and quality preset. That gave us 29.5fps, but a
poor experience in terms of graphical fidelity.
The GPU’s weakness in heavy work is underscored by our DaVinci Resolve export test. Even a 13in Pro from further up the range takes a long time to complete this test. The Air, though, trails far behind; it’ll be fine for fairly light Photoshop, Affinity Photo or even Final Cut Pro, but if your ambitions in pro apps will grow, you should be looking at the higher specs of MacBook Pro with a quad-core processor and a much more capable GPU.
The graphics processor’s ability to handle heavier tasks doesn’t hold up very well
The memory has a faster clock speed of 2,133MHz, up from 1,600MHz in the previous Air. 8GB is still the standard amount, but you can double it to 16GB for £180, which can only be added at the time of purchase.
The Air has used an SSD as storage for years, which contributes to its appeal as a fast little mule. Here, like on other recent Macs with the latest SSD tech (using a PCIe connection), the drive is capable of transfer rates that peak at around 3GB/sec. Mean averages are expectedly slower at 2.1GB/sec when reading and 1.4GB/sec when writing. That still runs rings around the SSDs in budget laptops where the drive is connected using the older SATA interface, and it gives an impressive sense of responsiveness.
Less appealing, though, is the amount of storage you get on the £1,199 model. You may find its 128GB capacity uncomfortably restrictive, as we have in the past. Storage optimisation features introduced to macOS recently – which help you change behaviours in apps including Mail and iTunes, and easily identify unwanted apps and files to get rid of – can help make it workable. Assess what you really need on your current computer, and to carry around, to help decide what you need.
We would immediately recommend paying to upgrade to 256GB, but that bumps the price up considerably – by £200, as the amount of storage is the only difference between the two off-the-shelf configurations Apple offers.
If you need a new MacBook with more storage right away, and the 12in MacBook isn’t a good fit for you – it comes with 256GB of storage for £1,249 – then you may find yourself giving up on the Retina display dream in favour of the £949 Air and its less crisp and vibrant screen.
How high can you get?
It isn’t that the new MacBook Air is egregiously priced in comparison to competing products. Similar Windows laptops are around the same price and make compromises elsewhere in their specs. For £20 more than the entry-level Air, Dell’s latest XPS 13, say, includes a 256GB, PCIe‑based SSD, but its display resolution is only 1920x1080. Something has to give.
We hope that the £949 Air isn’t long for this world. If Apple can’t get the price down on the exact configuration it offers for £1,199 today, we hope that it finds a place to compromise on the specification to get a MacBook with a Retina display under a grand sooner rather than later.
The Air’s changes are (mostly) what you’d hope for, its specs are well balanced, and things are competitively priced – but the upgrade costs for storage may force you to make compromises. That could be buying the older, non-Retina Air, or sticking with your current Mac longer and hoping that a better sub-£1,000 model comes along.