DisplayOne of the features that most impressed both Dana and our readers was the improved 2,560 x 1,600 screen. Dana called the display more vibrant despite the glossy finish’s occasional glare. Various e readers agreed that the screen was a step up, with Vlad deeming it “a breath of fresh air … The Retina display is bright and rich in colors, with generous viewing angles and plenty of screen real estate.” tonyae198 likewise felt the “display compared to the original MacBook is like night and day.” Michael said it was great, though he “keeps it under half brightness except in direct sunlight.”PortsWhile it still features two USB-C Thunderbolt 3 ports and a headphone jack, the new Air lacks an SD slot and a full-size USB port. While this minimalist approach makes for a slim profile, it also garnered mixed feedback from reviewers, with myob saying two ports “are very limiting and are never enough.” Ori thought two ports were fine, but “would prefer placing them on each side for various flexibility.” Meanwhile, Brent wished for another Thunderbolt 3 socket so he could use more peripherals while charging.
Vlad wrote extensively about this, overall giving the Air a 10 out of 10 for expandability, as “full use of Thunderbolt 3 … turns the MacBook Air into a surprisingly decent gaming system or GPU programming terminal.”KeyboardThe butterfly keyboard and Touch ID were also popular: S called the setup “great and quieter than previous butterfly keyboard versions,” while myob said that “having physical function keys and Touch ID makes this notebook a winner in my book.” Reviewer Nope was more pragmatic, stating the keyboard “is nowhere near as bad as people like to say and is entirely passable,” and that they “really enjoy the Touch ID unlock, overall keyboard layout and similar but better form factor.” cf was also a fan, deeming Touch ID “really nice for waking it up and unlocking 1Password. I also like having real function keys vs the Touch Bar!”SoftwareIt’s no surprise that reviewers showered the Air’s software experience with praise; most people who buy an Apple product understand what they’re getting there.
Vlad felt that “macOS continues to shine and compare very favorably with Windows in most domains. Key are: ease of use, compatibility with apps and hardware, and a stellar backup system.” S stated that macOS “has been more reliable and dependable,” and its inclusion is “an underrated benefit.”PerformanceIn practice, Dana felt her hands-on experiences with the Air went well. The new model is quieter than previous iterations, and the Intel Core i5 processor and 8GB of RAM handled day-to-day tasks well. Readers had mixed results. S said the Air “surprised me with its speed, capability and battery life. Haven’t experienced slowdowns, even using some more resource intensive programs. The processor has held up well.” But Nope thought that “drive space on the low end is crazy small,” and cf said “whenever the CPU load is high, the fan sounds like a jet and the battery life
Read More
