MacBook Air

Apple’s M1 MacBooks bring some major performance gains and at first glance, the new MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro seem quite similar. They have the same CPU/GPU, same ports, same FaceTime camera, and more. However, let’s take a closer look at the M1 MacBook Air vs Pro to see what differentiates the two to help you decide which to buy.

Apple has released macOS Big Sur 11.2.2. to the public today with a fix for MacBook Pro and MacBook Air users. Apple says the update “prevents” certain models from “incurring damage” when they are connected to third-party USB-C hubs and docks.

One day after it started selling the refurbished M1 MacBook Pro, Apple has also now started selling the M1 MacBook Air via its Certified Refurbished store. The M1 MacBook Air starts at $849 in refurbished condition, a savings of $150.

Apple already makes a titanium Apple Watch, but a patent granted today could pave the way for titanium MacBooks, iPads, and iPhones too.

The patent describes how Apple could overcome the challenge of giving titanium an aesthetically pleasing finish, and follows a patent granted last month regarding a method of making a true matte black MacBook …

On the whole, Apple’s M1 MacBooks and Mac mini have been a hit with big improvements across the board. However, the improvements never end and Apple has been asking early M1 MacBook customers a list of questions in a new survey including what they would change about the new generation of computers. How about you, what would like to see with the next iteration of M1 MacBooks?

If you’ve ever wished Apple made matte black MacBooks, a new patent shows that the company is at least considering the idea.

Apple begins by explaining the likely reason it hasn’t yet done it: it’s really hard to get a true black, rather than a dark grey …

Reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is out with a new investor note today in which he focuses on Apple’s planned transition to mini LED display technology, as well as the possibility that Apple will release “2 or 3 new chargers in 2021.” Kuo reports today that the mini LED transition will happen faster than initially expected.

Has the transition from Intel to Apple silicon on the Mac surpassed all expectations? Watch our hands-on video as we discuss what makes Apple’s M1 MacBooks so special in our MacBook Air and MacBook Pro review.

Apple’s switch from Intel processors to Apple Silicon is the most significant change to the Mac lineup in many years, and yet the exterior design of M1 Macs has been left almost completely unchanged. A few function keys aside on the new MacBook Air, there is no clue that the new machines are radically different from the old ones.

Some believe this is a very deliberate move by the Cupertino company. I agree, but not for the reason that has mostly been suggested …

Apple has quietly included a 128GB M1 MacBook Air in the Apple Store for Education, priced at $799. This is $100 cheaper than the education deal on the standard entry-level 256GB model. It is not, however, available in the higher education store aimed at students.

Apple offers discounted prices to educational institutions like schools and colleges, but sometimes also adds in lower-specced models at even cheaper prices …

We continue to learn more about Apple’s new M1-powered MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. This afternoon, the folks over at iFixit have published their full teardowns of the new MacBooks, and things are incredibly similar to the Intel-powered predecessors.

Last year I picked up a very expensive computer — a top of the line 2019 16-inch MacBook Pro upgraded to an i9, 1TB of storage, and 16GB of RAM. But I just couldn’t wait to see how these M1 chips actually perform, so I decided to pick up the base $999 MacBook Air to see how it would hold up side-by-side with my 16-inch behemoth. The results are incredible.

Coming off record-breaking earnings for its fiscal Q3, Apple did it again for Q4. At the time, the company highlighted that new all-time records for Mac and Services were big factors in its September quarter success. Now we’ve got a look at how many Macs Apple may have shipped during its Q4 from Strategy Analytics.

Yesterday’s Apple event was the latest in a series of much snappier, more focused, pre-recorded presentations. The new MacBook Air was the undisputed star of the show. If it lives up to the promises Apple made – and there is every reason to believe that it will – it’s all the Mac most people will need.

That’s long been true of the MacBook Air through the generations, of course. When the average Mac user does nothing more demanding than email, web-browsing, and word-processing, they don’t need much of a machine to do it. But the new MacBook Air takes us into whole new territory …

A number of people commented on what appears to be a comical difference in the new MacBook Air specs, between the $999 base model and the $1249 version.

Both models have an 8-core CPU with 4 perform­ance cores and 4 efficiency cores, along with a 16-core Neural Engine. But while the higher-spec model has an 8-core GPU – also seen in the new MacBook Pro and Mac mini – the base model only has a 7-core GPU …

A detailed analysis by AnandTech says that Apple’s M1 chip can indeed credibly claim to be the fastest laptop CPU in the world. Apple made the claim during yesterday’s Mac event.

While the piece does level a couple of criticisms at Apple’s presentation, it says that a comparison of A-series and Intel chip trajectories tell a very clear story: Apple has long been on-track to overtake the PC chipmaker, and has now done so …

Today Apple released its M1 chip for the 13-inch MacBook Air and Pro and Mac mini. Currently, for the MacBook Air, Apple is only offering the M1 chip starting at $999. But for the MacBook Pro and Mac mini, Intel processor models are still available from Apple for the time being.

As Apple launched its new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro powered by its M1 custom Apple Silicon, we learned about the big performance gains to expect. Beyond processor and graphics performance, Apple says battery performance is seeing massive improvements giving them the “longest battery life ever in a Mac.” Here’s what Apple is rating battery runtime for the new MacBook Air and Pro.

Apple has made a small but notable tweak to the MacBook Air keyboard alongside its transition to Apple Silicon processors. The function row on the MacBook Air keyboard now features dedicated keys for Do Not Disturb, Dictation, and Spotlight.

Apple has unveiled its first Macs with custom M1 chips. For its notebooks, those include the 13-inch MacBook Air and MacBook Pro and they come with what looks like some huge performance upgrades thanks to Apple’s custom M1 chip. While they also include improved FaceTime cameras, unfortunately, they’re still 720p.