MacBook Air

Apple’s most popular Mac just got better

ACCORDING TO APPLE, MacBook Air is the most popular Mac model and the world’s best– selling 13–inch notebook. Starting at the same price as before, Apple says the new generation offers significantly better performance and “extraordinary battery life, with up to 15 hours of wireless web browsing and up to 18 hours of video playback — the longest battery life ever on a MacBook Air.”

The $999 base model has the Apple M1 chip with 8–core CPU and 7–core GPU, 8GB unified memory, 256GB SSD storage, and two Thunderbolt (USB 4) ports. The $1,249 model adds an 8–core

GPU and 512GB SSD storage, and there are limited build–to–order options. For an extra $200 you can increase the memory to 16GB (the maximum for M1–based Macs), you can upgrade the storage from 512GB to 1TB SSD for an extra $200, and to 2TB SSD for a hefty $600 extra. It’s worth taking the time to decide your requirements up–front as the M1– based Macs can’t be upgraded later.

With up to an 8–core GPU, Apple claims graphics are up to 5x faster than previous MacBook Airs. Support for P3 Wide Color results in an even more vibrant, true–to–life Retina display. Apps that use machine learning–based features such as face recognition or object detection could run up to 9x faster. The M1 chip’s I/O controller and latest flash technology deliver up to 2x faster SSD performance, so opening huge images or importing large files is faster than ever.

Wi-Fi 6 support promises faster wireless, but other enhancements are all down to the M1 chip. The camera is the same 720p hardware as before, but the M1 chip’s image signal processor improves image quality with better noise reduction, greater dynamic range, and improved auto white balance.