After more than three years of waiting, what has been rumored for some time has finally been confirmed. The new 2018 MacBook Air with Retina Display has finally been released . Its novelties compared to the previous MacBook Air model are numerous. In addition to the screen, Apple's ultraportable computer has been completely renovated both inside and out. Processor, keyboard, ports, trackpad ... Will it be enough to opt for this over other models of the brand such as the MacBook or the MacBook Pro? We will see it next.
Screen (finally) 13.3-inch Retina Display with 4 times the resolution
Surely one of the aspects that the MacBook Air was criticized the most was the resolution of its screen, which was limited to a scant 1440 x 900 pixels . With the new generation of Apple notebooks, this resolution grows to the well-known Retina Display. What does this mean? That now we will have up to four times more resolution , specifically 2,560 x 1,600 pixels.
Regarding the rest of the characteristics of the screen, aspects such as brightness and viewing angles have also been improved compared to those of the previous generation. Also the number of colors available, which is 48% higher than those of other Air models.
New slimmer design with more utilized frames
The design, like the screen, has also been renewed following the line of the rest of the American brand's laptops. Specifically, we find a computer 13% smaller than the previous generation and around 10% thinner (about 15 millimeters approximately). The fault of this is a greater optimization of the frames both on the screen and on the keyboard: now they are much more consistent with the design of the computer, which has a weight of only 1.25 kilograms .
But the case is not the only thing that has changed in this MacBook Air, also the keyboard, the trackpad and of course, the speakers. On this occasion, both the keyboard and the trackpad have the latest Apple technology: third generation butterfly keyboard and trackpad with Force Touch . Regarding the speakers, they are now much more powerful than the previous ones. Additionally, three microphones are included to enhance audio recording.
Hardware updated to the latest version from Intel
As it could not be otherwise, the hardware has also been updated, and with the latest presented by Intel in portable technology. Although Apple has not given the exact processor models, it is known that it has an eighth generation Intel i5 dual-core 1.6 GHz processor (up to 3.6 GHz in Turbo Boost) capable of supporting RAM memory capacity from 8 GB to 16 GB . Along with this processor, the well-known Apple T2, which will be in charge of processing the Touch ID security, because yes, the new MacBook Air Retina Display has a fingerprint sensor on the keyboard.
As for the rest of the features, the Apple computer has a 128 GB SSD hard drive in its base model expandable up to 256 GB . If we refer to its battery, Apple announces an increase to 13 hours of autonomy in video playback, numbers very similar to those of the last generation.
Last but not least, we find two USB Type C ports with Thunderbolt 3 technology , which will allow us to connect external graphics cards and monitors with up to 5K resolution.
Availability and price in Spain
Finally, we come to the section that matters most to us, that of price and availability. According to company data, the computer can be reserved from today in the Apple Store and will begin to be sold from November 7 .
And the price? About $ 1,199 in its base version, which in Spain is 1,349 euros in the 8 GB version and 128 GB of storage and 1,599 euros in the 256 GB version . The colors in which it will be available are Space Gray, Rose Gold and Silver.