What is the Apple MacBook Air 2018?
The new MacBook Air 2018 range has finally arrived. And by ‘finally’ I mean Apple has given this much-loved ultrabook a proper modern update, instead of the iterative leaps we’ve seen with the last few versions.
As well as rocking a Retina Display, which packs a resolution of 2560 x 1600 into a 13.3-inch panel, there’s the T2 security chip, which automatically encrypts your files and offers a secure boot option. That latter choice may mainly be of interest to IT professionals, SysAdmins or whoever buys the laptops for your company. But for everyday consumers, the T2 chip gives you a level of security that until now has only been available to MacBook Pro 2018 and iMac Pro buyers (and the forthcoming Mac Mini 2018).
In terms of looks, the new MacBook Airs retain that classic wedge shape which set the bar over ten years ago. While many laptops look like this these days, Apple can take a lot of credit for that.
Compared to the 2017 MacBook Air line up, this year’s models are about 10% thinner, with a smaller footprint which Apple says shaves just over a centimetre from the x and y-axis.
On top of this, you get more up-to-date processors running the show and up to 16GB of RAM, up from the 8GB maximum of the previous generation.
I haven’t had the MacBook Air review unit for long enough to be able to deliver a full verdict yet, but here are my thoughts so far. Consider this article a review in progress that I’ll be periodically updating over the next few days.
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Apple MacBook Air 2018 – Design and features
The new MacBook Air is business as usual, only thinner, better, faster, smoother.
Slimming down means that this weighs just 1.25kg. That’s an impressive feat, considering the unibody case is an aluminium-heavy alloy, instead of the lighter and flexier magnesium-based alloy of the circa 1kg weight of the LG Gram range.
In the few days I’ve spent lugging the MacBook Air around, at times, I’ve barely noticed it’s there. Then again, prior to this, I’d been using the very chunky Asus ROG GL504 Hero II gaming laptop as my daily driver, so that partially explains it.
In terms of physical connectivity, you get just two USB-C ports, both supporting the Thunderbolt 3 standard.
This means you can benefit from things like video passthrough (using the DisplayPort 1.2 video standard) data rates of up to 40Gbps, and the ability to daisy-chain, so there’s potential here for your MacBook Air to become the nexus of a powerful home studio.
Right out of the box, though, you’re very limited. Note that most of the time, one of those USB-C ports will be taken up by the mains adapter, so you’re only really getting one USB-C port in practice.
More peripherals these days support the Thunderbolt standard, which is a good thing, but that’s only really a benefit if you’ve got a big monitor with lots of extra connections or a dock that you had to buy to use with a previous MacBook. Not to mention a budget/credit rating ample enough to accommodate the extra expense.
As with the MacBook Pro 2018, Apple’s not even giving you a USB-C to Ethernet adapter, a freebie which most other laptop manufacturers are happy to bung in with their high-end models.
Apple says that this generation of MacBook Airs is the first to feature a case which is made entirely from recycled metal.
It’s apparently the shavings left over from when other MacBooks have been machine milled out of blocks of metal. The shavings are simply gathered up and re-smelted, instead of using material that’s been mined, extracted and smelted from bauxite.
Apple says that the 2018 MacBook Airs are the greenest yet and this step is being taken as part of a wider drive to reduce the entire company’s carbon footprint by 50%. The cases of the new Mac Minis will also be fashioned in the same way.
While I’ve not had the time to analyse Apple’s entire supply and manufacturing chain, or enquire as to whether or not that 50% figure includes manufacturing partners, we can all appreciate the fact that leftover materials are being repurposed. I also quite like the idea that the MacBook Air I’ve been holding in my hands might have once began life as a MacBook Pro, or maybe an iPad Pro.
Bookending the keyboard (which I’ll get to shortly) are two sets of speaker grilles. Apple says that the sound system here features two new bass units, one in each speaker cluster, and a more powerful audio setup overall.
I’ve not really been able to properly blast any music at full volume or stream/watch anything, so I can’t offer any thoughts on this yet.
Apple MacBook Air 2018 – Keyboard and trackpad
The MacBook Air 2018 comes with the same third-generation butterfly-switch keyboard that we first saw with the MacBook Pro 2018 range.
These are something of an opinion divider. I personally like them, but after having spent the last few weeks using laptops with more traditional scissor-switched keycaps, I can say that the initial sensation of tapping away on the MacBook Air 2018 is quite strange.
The keys have a incredibly shallow travel, which takes a little while to get used to. I can normally comfortably cruise at around 80 words a minute on Type Racer, but I was dropping typos all over the place with the MacBook at first. I’m a lot happier with the feel and layout of it now.
Despite my initial fumbling with the keys, I really like the keyboard layout. Nothing feels too cramped or clustered and with exception of the up and down arrow keys, most of the keycaps are generously sized.
The trackpad is also very smooth and whip-smart, so much so that I’ve actually had to dial the responsiveness down in the settings. I had to do that with the MacBook Pro, too, mind. I’ve also not encountered any flexing as I did with the MacBook Pro either.
Force Touch, a setting which lets you tap gently on the trackpad instead of clicking down, is turned on by default. I personally don’t enjoy this, as I find that it’s easy to mistakenly click on links when browsing the web by accident, but it’s easy to switch off, so it’s no bother.
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Apple MacBook Air 2018 – Display
The MacBook Air’s screen measures 13.3-inches diagonally and crams 2560 x 1600 pixels into that space. This gives you a ppi (pixels per inch) count of 226.9.
Using an X-Rite i1 colorimeter and DisplayCAL software, I recorded 304.48 nits of maximum brightness. With the screen cranked all the way up, I recorded black levels of 0.6 nits. Both of these results give us a contrast ratio of 501:1. These results are about the standard of what you should expect from something that’s going to cost you just over a grand.
300 nits is absolutely fine for working and watching movies, but it might be a little dark for anyone wanting to do some photo editing. By contrast, the MacBook Pro 2018 I tested earlier in the year gave me an extremely high 514 nits of peak brightness.
Colour gamut coverage is similarly impressive. The MacBook Air’s screen hit 93.3% of the sRGB colour space, which is what most digital artists, designers and photographers will be working in. That means that webpages and anything you’re working on will look rich and vibrant. It’s a cliché to say that colours ‘pop’ on laptop displays, but they kind of do on the MacBook Air.
Testing for the Adobe RGB and DCI-P3 gamuts favoured by some digital photographers were less impressive. Generally, anything scoring 80% or above in these spaces will be serviceable, but I got 68.2% and 70.8% respectively. If your primary reason for picking up an Apple laptop is photo work, you ought to be looking at the MacBook Pros anyway, so this point is kind of moot.
All the same, here’s how the MacBook Air’s screen compares to similarly priced and specced rivals in terms of colour space coverage:
| sRGB | Adobe RGB | DCI-P3 | |
| Apple MacBook 2018 | 93.3% | 68.2% | 70.8% |
| LG Gram (14Z980) | 94.9% | 67.5% | 70.6% |
| Microsoft Surface Pro 6 | 90.2% | 62.4% | 64.2% |
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Apple MacBook Air 2018 – Performance
So far, I’ve only been able to run Geekbench 4 on the MacBook Air. The scores I got don’t compare terribly well to some laptops we’ve tested recently.
| Geekbench 4 single-core | Geekbench 4 multi-core | |
| Apple MacBook 2018 | 4248 | 7820 |
| LG Gram (14Z980) | 4085 | 11888 |
| Microsoft Surface Pro 6 | 4080 | 13913 |
Note that Geekbench is a CPU stress test, and so these numbers aren’t terribly reflective of the MacBook Air’s performance overall, but this should give you an idea of how it’ll handle everyday tasks, compared to key rivals.
It’s also worth noting that the MacBook Air I’m testing is powered by an Intel Core i5-8210Y which has a base clock speed of 1.6GHz, while both the LG Gram and Microsoft Surface Pro 6 have i5-8250Us with the same base clock. Despite both of these being 8th-gen i5 laptop CPUs, U-series processors typically perform a little better than Y-series equivalents.
On the flipside, Y-series chips are less thirsty, so the MacBook Air might do better in battery drain tests than the Gram and the Surface Pro 6.
I’ll update this section once I’ve run further stress tests and benchmarks.
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Apple MacBook Air 2018 – Specifications
Here’s how the specs for the MacBook Air 2018 range compare. The model I’ve been sent for review has 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, 250.69GB of which is user-available out of the box.
| MacBook Air 2018 | |
| Display | 13.3-inch Retina Display, 2560 x 1600 LED, 300 nits |
| Processor | 1.6GHz dual-core 8th‑generation Intel Core i5 processor (Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz), 4MB L3 cache |
| Memory | 8GB / 16GB 2133MHz LPDDR3 RAM |
| Storage | 128GB, 512GB, 1.5TB SSD / 256GB, 512GB, 1.5TB PCIe-based SSD |
| GPU | Intel UHD Graphics 617 |
| Ports | 2 x Type-C USB (supporting Thunderbolt 3), 3.5mm headphone jack |
| Connectivity | 802.11ac Wi‑Fi, Bluetooth 4.2 |
| Misc | 720p FaceTime HD camera, Touch ID, T2 security chip, 3rd-gen butterfly switch keys |
| Dimensions | 4.1–15.6×304.1×212.4 mm |
| Weight | 2.75 lbs (1.25kg) |
| Battery | Up to 13 hours video playback (iTunes) |
| Price range | £1199-£2579 |
First impressions
My first impressions of the MacBook Air 2018 are overwhelmingly positive.
You get a lot of what’s great about the MacBook Pro – Retina Display resolution, extra security thanks to the T2 chip, Touch ID for easy and more secure unlocking – for a lower price.
While skinny, wedge-shaped laptops are nothing new, the MacBook Air is also elegant, light and has a premium feel.
I’d put the butterfly switch keyboard down as a plus too, but I’m aware that some people aren’t keen on this.
A big downside is the lack of ports. If you’re thinking of picking up a new MacBook Air 2018, prepare to shell out for some accessories. While the Thunderbolt standard is incredibly versatile, the LG Gram proves that you can make a slim and powerful ultrabook and cram a load more than just two USB-C ports in.
Also, at the higher end of the MacBook Air pricing spectrum, you begin to stray into MacBook Pro territory, so I wonder if there’s much point in picking up a higher end model.
The post MacBook Air 2018 review: Was the new MacBook Air worth the wait? appeared first on Trusted Reviews.
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