Earlier in October Apple officially unveiled a revamped and updated MacBook Air, the most popular notebook model that the company is currently selling.
We compared the latest iteration with an older model in order to see what changed and if the increased price tag is entirely justified.
The 2017 MacBook air was selected for the comparison. The addition of a 1.8 GHz Broadwell chip is the only thing that sets it apart from the 2015 MacBook Air.
The looks
The new Macbook Air brings a much-needed breath of fresh air when it comes to design. While the general shape remains the same, it shed a little bit of weight and it is noticeably thinner. The model comes in three colors: Silver, Space Grey and Gold. The second and third colors are new to the lineup and fans seem to love them.
Improved display
Apple opted to improve the display as the new MacBook also sports a high-resolution Retina display. While the new panel is a significant improvement, the one used on the MacBook Pro remains superior as it brighter and sunlight doesn’t pose a problem when you want to use it outside.
Beefy specs
Several features have been added to the new model. Among them we can count a Force Touch touchpad, improved speakers, a long-awaited Touch ID button for lightning fast authentication and the third generation of the controversial butterfly keyboard.
Internal specs have also been revamped. An 8th-generation Intel Core i5 processor provides 1.6 GHz of power while also keeping energy consumption low as Apple switched from 15W chips to energy-saving 7W processors.
One of the most disappointing changes is the port setup. Apple sacked the SD card reader and USB-A ports in favor of two Thunderbolt ports. This means that users which prefer USB peripherals are now forced to use an adaptor and while this is not an issue per se it may be considered an inconvenience by some. Thankfully, the 3.5 mm headphone jack remains right where it should be.
Updated price tag
The improvements come with a higher price tag as the base models sells for $1,199. You can still pick up the older model for $999 and if you don’t use resource-intensive programs it is still worth it.
As a passionate gamer since the 1990s, Vadim has kept his passion alive since then, and he is here to cover video games news, as well as to share with you all the novelties out there regarding gadgets or games-related tech.
