Items tagged with MacBook Air
It seems as though Microsoft isn't done with ripping Apple's popular line of devices, as the MacBook Air is now in the Redmond giant's crosshairs. The MacBook Air is one of Apple's best-selling Macs and was refreshed late last year with the much-ballyhooed M1 SoC. With its ideal balance of performance and efficiency, the MacBook Air is a potent go-to for mobile warriors. However, Microsoft just launched its refreshed Surface Laptop 4, which means that it is coming out with guns blasting. The new Surface Laptop 4 is available with either 11th generation Intel Tiger Lake-U or AMD's Ryzen 4000 mobile processors. The actors in the ad start right out of the gate praising the Surface Laptop 4's touch...
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The ongoing global chip shortage has had wide-range effects across the tech sphere. Everything from AMD Radeon RX/NVIDIA GeForce RTX graphics cards, to Ryzen 5000 processors, to PlayStation 5/Xbox Series X/S consoles have been significantly impacted and in incredibly short supply. Even auto manufacturers have been forced to cut back production due to the inability to source critical microchips necessary for their cars and trucks. Up until this point, we haven't heard much about how the chip shortage has affected Apple. The company has soldiered on, seemingly unaffected with its iPhone sales. However, a new report from Nikkei claims that that the global chip shortage is starting to catch up with...
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If you're a jilted current (or former) owner of a MacBook, MacBook Air, or MacBook Pro with the oft-maligned butterfly keyboard mechanism, there's some breaking news today. A class-action lawsuit against Apple over the defective keyboards has been certified by Judge Edward Davila on March 8th in the state of California, but it was sealed until last week. The Verge reports that the class action lawsuit covers customers residing in California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, and Washington. Devices covered by the suit include 2015-2017 MacBooks, 2018-2019 MacBook Airs, and 2016-2019 MacBook Pros. Apple sought to have the class action lawsuit dismissed but was rebuffed...
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A week ago, two of the most prolific leakers when it comes to future Apple hardware coalesced around what features will be going into the next-generation MacBook Pro laptops. At the time, both analyst Ming-Chi Kuo and Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman agreed that redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros are incoming with faster Apple Silicon SoCs, MagSafe charging, and a distinct lack of the unloved OLED Touch Bar. Gurman is back at it again today with some insight into Apple's next entry-level MacBook Air laptop. If you recall, Apple just a few months ago introduced a new MacBook Air, which was the first of three new Macs to make the switch to Arm64 architecture with the Apple...
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Apple's MacBook refreshes typically haven't been all that exciting. Year after year, the company tweaked its trouble prone butterfly keyboard design before throwing in the towel and reverting back to the beloved scissor switch mechanism. And with regards to performance, each year brought minimal performance updates from Intel's latest Core processors. However, things are starting to heat up thanks to the arrival of the new Apple M1 SoC. As we saw last month, Apple released three new Macs -- the MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, and Mac mini -- all using the M1 SoC. They all deliver significant improvements in performance over their Intel predecessors while nearly doubling battery life (for...
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The latest generation MacBook Pro and MacBook Air represent a major departure from past models—they are the first ones to incorporate Apple's own custom M1 silicon, in place of the Intel x86 CPUs the company had been sourcing for the past 15 years. It is the beginning of a new era. You would not know it at first glance, though, because these new systems look the same, even if you tear into them. Of course, we all know that looks can be deceiving. Despite how these new laptops might appear from a passing glance, these are very different machines than their predecessors. Apple is embarking on a two-year transition to completely move away from Intel CPUs, and design custom processors based...
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Apple is gambling on itself and its ability to design custom silicon for its entire range of Mac devices, as part of a two-year plan to transition away from x86 Intel CPUs. To get things started, Apple recently introduced a new MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, and Mac mini, all powered by an M1 system-on-chip based on Arm. Early looks at the MacBook Air have left many people impressed. Equally intriguing, however, is an unofficial demonstration of an M1-powered MacBook Air running running Team Fortress 2 via CrossOver. If you have not heard of it before, CrossOver is based on Wine, a free and open source compatibility layer designed to allow Windows programs to run on Linux. There are versions...
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Apple is hitting the ground running today with the announcement of its very first custom Apple Silicon designed specifically for its MacBook line of laptops and Mac Mini desktops. Meet Apple M1, which is a new Arm-based SoC that Apple says delivers a significant boost in performance over the Intel processors that it uses to power its current line of Macs, while offering claimed unrivaled power efficiency. To achieve this, M1 is built on a 5-nanometer process node and is comprised of some 16 billion transistors. At its heart is an 8-core CPU with 4 high-performance cores coupled with 4 efficiency cores. The high-performance cores feature 192KB instruction cache, 128KB data cache and shared 12MB...
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Ever since Apple announced last month that it would be leaving Intel by the wayside to produce its own Arm-based "Apple Silicon", the rumor mill has kicked into overtime about the company's plans. So far, the only "confirmed" aspect of Apple's near-term product plans is that the first Arm-powered Mac will arrive before the end of 2020. However, DigiTimes alleges that there will in fact be two Arm Macs launching this year. According to the report, the 13-inch MacBook Pro (which has previously been rumored) will now be joined by a 13-inch MacBook Air in late 2020. The report goes on to add that Apple's total shipments of Macs is expected to increase to 16-17 million units for the year...
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Apple is notorious for high prices and rare [big] discounts on its notebooks, such as the MacBook Air. When discounts are seen on Apple hardware, Apple fans typically rejoice, and anyone considering upgrading should catch this deal which is available at both Amazon and B&H. Computer shoppers can get the latest Apple MacBook Air 13-inch notebook with 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of SSD storage with a discount of $99.01. That makes the retail price at Amazon $899.99 after the 10% discount. Amazon lists the MacBook Air as in stock and ready to ship as of writing available in gold, silver, and space gray. Apple MacBook Air at Amazon - $99.01 off at $899.99 Amazon shoppers wanting the same MacBook Air...
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Here we are again, folks; the latest chapter in the ongoing "will they or won't they saga" of Apple's inevitable transition to Arm processors for its Mac computers. Today, we're receiving additional information that Apple's Arm conversion will start in 2021, and it comes from a very reliable source. That source is Mark Gurman, who says that the first Mac Arm chip will be based on Apple's upcoming A14 Bionic SoC destined for the iPhone 12 family of processors. Like the A14 Bionic, the Mac-centric processor will be built on TSMC's 5nm process node and will have a total of 12 cores. 8 of them will be high-performance cores (codename Firestorm), while 4 will be efficiency cores (Icestorm). For...
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Apple was forced to add user-facing battery health functionality in iOS 11.3 for its iPhones after it was found throttling performance on devices with "well worn" batteries. This battery management feature now allows you to see what percentage of your max capacity is available, and if your performance is currently being crippled due to an old battery (usually at 80 percent or less capacity). Apple is bringing similar functionality to Macs with a feature that will be called Battery Health Management according to The Verge, and will be found in Energy Saver Preferences within Settings. The purpose of the feature is to prevent premature aging of the batteries inside MacBooks, which...
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Apple might consider itself to be a company that produces premium hardware that is a notch above garden-variety PCs on the market, but the company has had its fair share of high-profile hardware/design failures in recent years. The most embarrassing stain on Apple’s reputation in recent years is no doubt the troublesome butterfly keyboard, which proliferated throughout the company’s entire MacBook family for four years. Now, it appears that Apple is admitting to another design defect with its hardware, and this time it involves the Retina MacBook Air laptops. In this instance, the anti-reflective coating can wear off or “delaminate” from the display. Once this happens,...
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Apple's New, Cheaper MacBook Air Gets Intel Ice Lake Boost, Doubles Storage, And Adds Magic Keyboard
Apple has refreshed its popular 13-inch MacBook Air entry-level laptop, and there's a lot to like about this new model. Apple has seemingly addressed nearly every complaint about the previous generation with some very useful upgrades. For starters, Apple has tossed the unreliable and hated (by nearly everyone) butterfly-style keyboard mechanism in favor of the Magic Keyboard found in the 16-inch MacBook Pro (which uses a scissor-style mechanism). Not only does this result in longer key travel, but it should also make the keyboard more reliable in the long run. Apple also upgraded the hardware inside, equipping the new 2020 MacBook Air family with 10th generation Intel Ice Lake processors....
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Slowly but surely, Apple is moving on from using keyboards with a flawed butterfly mechanism, and outfitting new products with scissor switches like the ones it used on MacBook Pro models prior to the 2015 redesign. As such, it's expected that a couple of upcoming products—a new MacBook Pro and MacBook Air—will implement a so-called "Magic Keyboard" as well. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo outlined his predictions in a research note to investors. According to his note, Apple will release new MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models in the second quarter of 2020, both with Magic Keyboards, which is how Apple dubs the return to scissor switches (it has a better ring to it, we suppose). His prediction...
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The hits just keep coming for Apple and its butterfly keyboard design that debuted back with the 2015 MacBook. A U.S. District judge nixed Apple's request to have a class action lawsuit brought against it over keyboard issues dismissed. As we have discussed on numerous occasions, the keyboards have been plagued with reliability issues, including keys that become stuck or fail completely after regular use. In some cases, a single speck of dust is enough to "kill" a key, resulting in an expensive keyboard replacement. Over the years, Apple has made refinements to the keyboard -- including the use of a silicone membrane to prevent debris from entering the key mechanism...
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It has been a crazy week so far, thanks to Amazon's 48-hour Prime Day sales event that spurred other retailers to follow suit with discounts of their own. As the dust settles, you can still score a deal on a 2019 model MacBook Air. Should you, though? That depends on how you feel about the downgraded SSD speeds in the newest models. The refreshed MacBook Air features a 13.3-inch display with a 2560x1600 resolution, and is powered by an Intel Core i5-8210Y, a 1.6GHz dual-core Amber Lake CPU with integrated UHD Graphics 617. It also comes standard with 8GB of LPDDR3-2133 RAM and 128GB or 256GB of SSD storage, as it pertains to the models that are on sale. Here is how they are priced on Amazon......
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After letting its entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro languish for the past two years without any major updates, Apple is finally "making it rain". Just in time for Back to School season, the base 13-inch MacBook Pro is gaining a number of features previously reserved for its more expensive siblings. Standard equipment now includes a True Tone display, the T2 security chip and the Touch Bar (which includes Touch ID). The last addition might be sad news for those Apple fans that hate the Touch Bar (admittedly, it's more of a gimmick than actually being useful) and love the traditional function keys on the top row. Apple has also updated the internal hardware, as the previous "old hat" 7th generation...
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Apple may be getting rid of a pain point for laptop buyers by doing away with the problematic butterfly keyboard found on its MacBook models, starting with the MacBook Air. Nothing is set in stone, but if Apple does ditch the butterfly keyboard, it could ease the frustration for both buyers and Apple store employees, who have been tasked with performing accelerated next-day repairs. The butterfly key mechanism found its way to MacBook models starting in 2015. Some customers reported premature failures, ultimately sparking a petition for a recall in 2018, followed by a class-action lawsuit. While Apple has maintained that only a small number of MacBooks have been affected, the lawsuit alleges...
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Good news if your 2018 model MacBook Air is giving you trouble—Apple has discovered an issue with the logic board and has instructed to employees at Apple Store locations as well Authorized Service Providers to fix affected units at no charge. If you own an affected model, you should receive an email from the company. That is not a guarantee, of course, but Apple is sending out emails to customers who own a potentially affected MacBook Air. According to Apple, the issue with the logic board is present on "a very small number" of 2018 MacBook Air models. It is not clear what the exact problem is or what the symptoms might be, only that an issue exists, according to an internal document that...
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Apple just can’t seem to get it right when it comes to the keyboards on its MacBook, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro family of laptops. Even though the company is currently on the third-generation of its “butterfly key” keyboard design, customers are still complaining of premature failures. With that being said, the process of replacing a defective keyboard is not a simple one, and requires removing the whole top panel of the notebook (which includes the integrated battery). Not only is it time extensive – currently requiring a few business days for the machine to be shipped off-site, repaired, and then sent back – but it is an expensive repair (for Apple) as it’s...
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Keyboards aren’t an unknown quantity in the PC realm; we’ve been using them to input data into our computers for decades, and Apple seemingly was at the top of its game with keyboard design for its notebooks – that is until the 2015 MacBook and 2016 MacBook Pro redesigns occurred. A new report from The Wall Street Journal’sJoanna Stern indicates that Apple still has not exorcised its keyboard demons. Stern is already experiencing key failures on her new MacBook Air, which was redesigned late last year. That’s a relatively short span of time to begin seeing hardware failures on a brand-new piece of hardware. Stern rather interestingly highlighted...
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