Apple has launched the new MacBook Air at an event in New York on Tuesday. The all-new MacBook Air features a Retina display, a first for the series and a feature that’s long been anticipated. Another highlight feature is Touch ID, which is enabled by the T2 chip. The Apple T2 chip does a whole lot more than provide a secure enclave for Touch ID, as it also contains the SSD controller and other vital components like an image signal processor.
The all-new MacBook Air base model features 8GB of 2133MHz RAM (up to 16GB), an Intel Core i5 processor (1.6GHz base clock, with Turbo up to 3.6GHz) with Intel UHD Graphics 617, and a 128GB SSD (up to 1.5TB). It is priced at $1,199 (approximately R18 000), and goes up for pre-orders in the US today, with availability from the 7th of November.
The all-new MacBook Air will be available in Gold, Silver, and Space Gray colour variants. A $1,399 (approximately R21 000) model was also detailed, which has much the same specifications, except 256GB SSD storage.
The new MacBook Air has a backlit keyboard with individual lighting behind each key, based on the third-generation Butterfly mechanism that’s said to be 4 times more stable. There is also a brand new Force Touch trackpad, giving it 20 percent larger area apart from pressure-sensing capabilities. The all-new MacBook Air features a 13.3-inch Retina display (2560×1600 pixels) with a 16:10 aspect ratio. This also gives the display 48 percent more colour, and bezels that are 50 percent narrower, than the previous generation.
The company is also touting louder stereo speakers with more bass than before, and it features a three-mic array. There are two USB Type-C Thunderbolt 3 ports on the left side of the all-new MacBook Air, which will give it power, USB , Thunderbolt connectivity, HDMI, VGA, DisplayPort, and eGPU connectivity, depending upon the type of accessory connected at the end.
There is also a 720p FaceTime HD camera on top of the display, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Wireless connectivity options on the MacBook Air include Wi-Fi 802.11ac and Bluetooth v4.2. It features a 50.3Wh battery that is said to provide up to 12 hours of wireless Web browsing, 13 hours of iTunes movie playback, and 30 days of standby time.
In terms of design, the company says the all-new MacBook occupies 17 percent less volume than the previous generation MacBook Air. Apple also says it now uses custom alloy from excess aluminium, ensuring the laptop is built with 100-percent recycled aluminium, instead of high-grade aluminium in previous generations – which helps reduce the carbon footprint be nearly 50 percent.
The all-new MacBook Air is also just 15.6mm-thick, which makes it 10 percent thinner than the previous Air. It weighs 1.25kg, down from 1.34kg of the previous generation.
