At long last, Apple gives MacBook Air some love
Modernized workhorse has the looks and more
If you think a major update to the MacBook Air was long overdue, you’re likely to cheer the new version, complete with high-resolution Retina display. It doesn’t arrive without some serious cost, however, starting at $1,199 and climbing up to $2,599.
Think a major update to the MacBook Air was long overdue? The last time Apple bestowed this much attention on the notebook the company claims as its “most loved Mac,” Barack Obama was in his first term in the White House.
Sure, we’ve seen some specs bumps along the way, and my own lightweight MacBook Air – circa mid-2013 – has been a reliable workhorse. But the No. 1 feature fans of the Air have had on our wish lists for years is the kind of beautiful high-resolution Retina display that Apple previously reserved for the most expensive computers in its mobile lineup, notably the priciest MacBook Pros, but also the most recent MacBook.
So you best believe the arrival of Retina on the new MacBook Air I’ve been testing gives the faithful an excellent reason to cheer, along with other features that modernize the machine.
As with most of Apple’s computers, you won’t get an Air without spending serious bucks. It starts at $1,199 for a model with 8GB of RAM and a modest 128GB of storage, but the sum can climb to $2,599 if you jack up the specs to 16GB and 1.5-terabytes, respectively. (Apple still sells an older non-Retina MacBook Air for $999.)
Let me digress for a brief detour back in time: The late Steve Jobs famously knocked the socks off Macworld conference attendees a decade ago when he pulled the first MacBook Air out of an in- teroffice envelope, a display of showmanship that demonstrated how skinny and lightweight the computer was.
It wasn’t the fastest computer back then and had limited connectivity but the remarkable (for its time) machine nevertheless boasted a full-sized keyboard, and it forever altered our vision for what a road warrior laptop could be and would become, forcing competitors on the Windows side to play catch up.
On balance, the new MacBook Air represents a tantalizing alternative for those of you who might have otherwise considered a MacBook Pro with a 13inch Retina display, which starts at $1,299. Indeed, the Air versus Pro conundrum yields a fuzzy choice. Pick the more robust Pro if extra performance is crucial – that is, you’re the kind of person who cuts 4K videos or engages in other creative-oriented industrial strength computing tasks. For the rest of you, pick the Air and don’t look back.
❚ Modernizing the Air: Apple has maintained the wedge-shaped design that has defined the Air since Jobs slipped it out of that envelope. But at 2.75 pounds, the Air is about a quarterpound lighter than its most immediate predecessor and noticeably smaller. The far narrower bezels bordering its lovely 13.3-inch display, compared with what came before, help account for a computer with 17 percent less volume.
My sturdy rose-colored test machine is as pleasing to look at as the screen, and you also can get it in silver or space gray. The color Apple is really touting though is green since the laptop is crafted from 100 percent recycled aluminum.
The display is not the only way Apple has modernized the Air. Embedded in the power button is Touch ID, meaning you can now unlock the Mac, or authenticate online purchases made via Apple Pay, with your fingerprint. It was fast and flawless in my tests. It’s funny that Touch ID is new to this Mac even as Apple ditched the feature on the latest iPhones. A feature called Windows Hello permits you to unlock many Windows 10 computers with your mug.
Touch ID is tied to the T2 security chip that assumes a major role on the new Air. The T2 also permits you to bark out “Hey Siri” to summon Apple’s vocal virtual assistant. It helps encrypted data stored on the computer on the fly. And the chip is also supposed to prevent an intruder from being able to mess with your Mac when you boot up. ❚ Ports and connectors: A pair of state-of-the-art Thunderbolt (USB-C) connectors are on the new Mac, which you can employ for a variety of purposes: to rapidly transfer data, connect to external storage devices, connect to external displays (even 5K), and of course power up the computer through the adapter that comes in the box.
It also means you might share that charger with a USB-C capable smartphone, standard on many Android devices, but not Apple’s own iPhones.
And bravo, the computer has a standard-sized headphone jack, which Apple has sadly removed on recent iPhones. What’s no longer here, though, is a slot for an SD memory card, a fixture on my older Air. ❚ Running down the battery: Apple claims up to 13 hours of iTunes movie playback, based on a test where the company set the brightness to around 75 percent. I only got around 4 hours, running an admittedly far harsher test: I cranked up the brightness to the max and streamed a high-definition, fullscreen movie on Netflix via Wi-Fi.