Apple’s MacBook Air Gets True Tone Display, Lower Price Tag
by Anton Shilov on July 9, 2019 2:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Notebooks
- Apple
- MacBook Air
- Laptops
- Amber Lake
Apple on Tuesday introduced updated versions of its entry-level MacBook Air notebooks. Apple’s mid-2019 MacBook Air laptops feature the company’s True Tone displays and lower price tags when compared to their predecessors introduced last October. Separately, Apple discontinued its 2017 MacBook Air machines that featured previous-generation design.
Apple’s mid-2019 MacBook Air notebooks come in silver, space gray as well as gold colors and are based on Intel’s low-voltage 8th Gen dual-core Core i5 processor with UHD Graphics 617 (previously known as codenamed Amber Lake Y), the same chip used for late-2018 MBA models. Depending on exact configuration, the new MacBook Airs can be equipped with 8 GB or 16 GB of LPDDR3 memory as well as a 128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB or 1 TB PCIe SSD.
The key difference between the 2018 and 2019 MacBook Air laptops is their display. The notebooks to use a 13.3-inch IPS panel featuring a 2560x1600 resolution and a 227 PPI pixel density. Meanwhile, the new machines support True Tone technology that automatically adjusts white balance depending on the surrounding environment and lighting.
Other notable features of Apple’s latest-generation MacBook Air notebooks include two Thunderbolt 3 ports, 802.11ac + Bluetooth 4.2 controller, a large trackpad, the Apple T2 chip, Touch ID fingerprint reader, and everything else that you come to expect from a modern mobile PC.
Traditionally, Apple’s MacBook air are among the thinnest and lightest notebooks around at 1.56 cm z-height as well as 1.25 kilograms. Because Apple’s MacBook Air uses Intel’s low-power CPU and comes with a 49.9 Wh battery, it can work on one charge for up to 12 hours, which is longer when compared to 13.3-inch MacBook Pro machines.
| MacBook Air Specifications | |||||
| Model | 2019 (Base) | 2018 (Base) | 2017 (Base) | ||
| Dimensions | 0.41 - 1.56 cm x 30.4 cm x 21.2 cm | 0.30 - 1.7 cm x 32.5 cm x 22.7 cm | |||
| Weight | 2.75 lbs (1.25 kg) | 2.96 lbs (1.35 kg) | |||
| CPU | 1.6 GHz (3.6 GHz Turbo) Core i5 2 CPU Cores |
1.8GHz (2.9GHz Turbo) Core i5-5350U 2 CPU Cores |
|||
| GPU | Intel UHD Graphics 617 | Intel HD Graphics 6000 | |||
| Display | 13.3-inch 2560x1600 IPS LCD DCI-P3 with True Tone |
13.3-inch 2560x1600 IPS LCD DCI-P3 |
13.3-inch 1440x900 TN LCD | ||
| Memory | 8GB LPDDR3-2133 | 8GB LPDDR3-1600 | |||
| SSD | 128GB PCIe SSD | 128GB PCIe SSD | |||
| I/O | 2x USB 3.1 Type-C w/Thunderbolt 3 3.5mm Audio Touch ID |
2x USB 3.0 Type-A 1x Thunderbolt 2 SDXC Card Reader 3.5mm Audio |
|||
| Battery Capacity | 49.9 Wh | 50.3 Wh | 54 Wh | ||
| Battery Life | 12 Hours | 12 Hours | |||
| Price | $1099 | $1199 | $999 | ||
In a bid to make its MacBook Air laptops more popular, Apple slashed price of the entry-level model by $100 and from now on it will be available for $1,099 (down from $1,199 previously). In addition, qualifying students in the USA can get the new MBA starting at $999.
Related Reading:
- Apple Announces 2018 MacBook Air: Entry-Level Laptop Gets Essential Refresh
- Apple Refreshes Mac Laptops: Pro, Vanilla, & Air All Get New CPUs
Source: Apple
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Rookierookie - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
To be fair, its most comparable competitor is the entry-level model Surface Laptop 2 (and Surface Pro), which also has the same RAM/storage at the same price point.Of course, the Surface Laptop 2 runs a quad-core CPU and is still grossly overpriced...
quiksilvr - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
It is actually $100 cheaper than this with 8GB RAM and 128GB SSD. What is dumb about the Surface Laptop 2 is going from 128GB to 256GB is a whopping $300 premium, which is enough to buy a decent 2TB PCIe NVMe SSDfred666 - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
the MBA has never been the best deal. Especially not for money conscious students.Alistair - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
yes it was, the second year model was very inexpensive, had 900p instead of 768p screen, slim, light, and ssd... was the best model for university students for a few years, took a few years to get the same thing with windowsaakash_sin - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
True that!++ 12hrs battery and back-lit keyboard
just6979 - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
They can afford the upgrade, it would just eat into their enormous margins on storage upgrades. Rather you pay 4-8x the retail cost of a bigger SSD just to have it installed at the factory.olafgarten - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
Why is the battery smaller?PeachNCream - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
That's so the 2020 model can use the 2018 model's battery and Apple can boast about better battery life than the 2019 model.GreenReaper - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
Perhaps they're still using the ones you ordered last year, only they degraded. Or they don't want to charge them so much, so that they *don't* degrade.Devo2007 - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
Still only dual-core when most Ultrabooks are using quad-core CPUs now.