Apple Announces New MacBook Air With Retina Display, Touch ID and Sketchy Keyboard (cnet.com) 137
At an event on Tuesday, Apple announced an update to one of its most popular laptops, the MacBook Air. The 13.3-inch laptop now has a 13.3-inch Retina display with four times the resolution with thin bezels, but moves to two USB-C ports only. Other features of it include: T2 chip for TouchID, three-mic array for better voice recognition, new butterfly keyboard (the same module the company used in this year's MacBook Pro lineup -- which as you might remember are not reliable), eGPU and 5K display support, 8th-gen Intel Core i5, up to 16GB 2333MHz memory, up to 1.5TB SSD, 2.75 pounds. It is made of 100 percent recycled aluminum. It starts at $1,199 and ships starting November 7.
I will get one (Score:2, Interesting)
I will get one, along with whatever new iPad they announce, for my wife for Christmas. She will get to keep the one she wants and return the other one.
Re:I will get one (Score:5, Insightful)
Or you could just ask her what she would want?
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Indeed. Why can't there be more sensible people like you. Honestly I don't understand a lot of Americans. It's all about fake smiles and then hoping no one notices that you regift.
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Yes, I could. And eliminate all surprise.
I mean, fuck, why not just give her some cash?
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Why not grow up and buy presents just for children? Adults buy whatever they fucking want.
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Why not grow up and buy presents just for children? Adults buy whatever they fucking want.
You sound like a great guy.
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...Gifts should be created, not be mass-produced junk designed to become e-waste after 3 years...
Meh...her current computer is from 2011. That's 7 years.
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Yeah...but not much better. The SSD is removable, but the memory is not.
Nevertheless, whichever one she gets is probably going to last her a lot longer than 3 years, provided she doesn't destroy it (wine, water, dropping it, etc.). I wish they advertised the new iPad as waterproof - that would seal the deal for sure.
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SSD is more critical: you can remove a removable SSD, stick it in a USB sled, and recover the data. Good luck if it's soldered. Yeah, yeah, more secure, but something like a LUKS volume encrypted with a strong key and passphrase is almost as good if not better.
And, no, backups don't always happen on time, and not everyone wants to cloudfuck all of their personal data.
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SSD is more critical: you can remove a removable SSD, stick it in a USB sled, and recover the data.
Which is exactly what I have done, since she watered her machine.
But I don't see what any of this has to do with buying her a new iPad - or a new laptop for that matter. Yeah...sure....I could buy her some older Mac from 2012 or earlier (like I use) - so that one day, maybe, if her machine crashes, I can take the drive out of it. Sure. I could do that. I suppose I could also buy her some new Dell or something, and find a way to make it run MacOS, one way or another. Sure. I could do that. Or hell, I cou
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My wife's iMac is the iMac8,1 from 2008 with 4 GB of RAM, and an external Firewire SSD, which she boots from only when remoting into work. Otherwise, she boots from the very slow internal hard drive (running an out-of-date MacOS compatible with software we're not in a rush to replace).
She also has a second monitor, in portrait mode.
This is surprisingly usable for most purposes.
BUT, now that you need 2 GB to open 10 tabs in your web browser, because of
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I'll try to build her an MacBook Pro next Christmas by hand then. Good idea!
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Used. Going on 7 years. If you can't ethically source, at least reuse and use till it drops, don't buy into the American model of planned obsolescence.
Oh please. Her current laptop is 7 years old and she finally destroyed it (water). I have zero qualms about buying her something new.
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You are a far superior human being than all of us b0s0z0ku. Thank you for coming here and sharing that.
I'm guessing from your post that Apple doesn't sell much in Europe? And that most people have 7+ year old electronics? I mean you did feel the need to call out America so I assume you are stating that is unusual.
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From an environmental standpoint, I try to be superior, unlike the average sheepsumer that doesn't give a flying flip.
Apple is in fact less popular in Europe and people tend to keep devices longer. Tariffs are a great thing for enforcing environmental responsibility. (no sarcasm, it's true)
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And even worked in sheepsumer! I wish we could all be like you
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Apple is in fact less popular in Europe and people tend to keep devices longer.
That is total bollocks.
Ever ride a train? In the restaurant wagon?
90% of the laptops and "pads" there are Apple.
Some countries have up to 50% Apple market share, as e.g. France.
The only french guys I know having a PC, have a Mac, too!
I live in Thailand, when I'm not working ... go into a air coned coffee shop, what do you see on the tables: Macs ... iPads ... sometimes an Android Pad. Most definitely you only see a windows lapt
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Yes, I could. And eliminate all surprise.
Surprise. I hate the gift, but I'll smile and return it.
Surprises are great and should be reserved for genuine situations rather than breaking a combined bank account open to buy some expensive utility devices and hope that it meets a specific use case all while conforming to the expectation that on the day she needs to get something.
Honestly American definitions of surprises are crappy.
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You could almost believe msmash might have an agenda.
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What we really need is an update of the 2 pound macbook of 2015.
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That's what the old one had. The article is written terribly, the new one probably has a better display.
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Re:1440x900? (Score:5, Funny)
when Apple's official website adds tech specs
They are working on writing them up. But it's slow going on that damned keyboard.
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They specified in the keynote that it had "four times as many pixels", so the new display should be exactly 2880x1800.
However, when you look at the MacBook Air page they write "13.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit display with IPS technology; 2560-by-1600 native resolution at 227 pixels per inch with support for millions of colours."
So either they lied in the Keynote, or said "almost four times as many pixels" and I didn't catch it, or the specs page is lying.
who cares (Score:1)
seriously. they haven't had a new idea in 10 years.
Re: who cares (Score:1)
They had.... to be honest .... but Google is seriously on fire with AI.... Apple may find it hard to compete if they don't do some catching up with AI other than criticising Google's business model.... say what you will about Google abusing your privacy.... but with the data they have and the AI prowess, Apple find it tougher and tougher
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That's perfectly fine since goolge does not exist and therefore has no products for you.
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Well for the Mac Laptop market. They all seem to still look like the 2002 G4 Powerbook. Thinner, a few new ports, less old ports, and general technical improvements. I haven't seen any new ideas in laptops in general for a long time.
Re:who cares (Score:5, Funny)
New ideas:
(1) Thinner keyboard that's virtually unusable
(2) Glue/solder in everything so it becomes recyclable (or e-waste) after 3-4 years.
(3) Remove any useful ports. Yes, the world still runs on USB-A.
COURAGE!
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Granted the Scissor/Membrane chicklet keys arn't that bad. Compared to the 1980's Chiclets keys, where you had to be very precise (or hard) on your button pressing, with wide spacing, and lack of feedback. The new chicklet are just a diference face to the key, without the bevel to make it look like a mechanical keyboard.
Wow! Unpressive! (Score:1, Troll)
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Look on the bright side: It is made of 100 percent recycled aluminum now!
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What? Used aluminium? Do I get the refurbished price??
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I use my MBP for work and I find no reason to use a dongle to the point where it would become something I would endlessly complain about.
What are you guys doing that requires regular use of dongles to get your jobs done?
Re:Wow! Unpressive! (Score:4, Insightful)
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An USB -> ethernet adaptor costs $10.
If you want the thunderbolt one, it costs about $30.
You could buy a used mac with build in ethernet.
But you can also simply stop complaining about a product you don't want to use.
Complaining about a mac while you are actually not using one makes you look rather idiotic.
It is like me complaining why all the gays have so sexy female friends.
Re:Wow! Unpressive! (Score:5, Informative)
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I have two monitors connected to my macbook.
I have an ethernet jack because I need to work from multiple VLANs.
I have a USB3 hub with an ergonomic keyboard, trackball and external drives.
I literally have every every port full on my 2015 MBP.
At least with the 2015 I still have *some* normal ports so I can plug in USB devices and my HDMI monitor.
If I used one of the newer MBPs, I would need multiple port replicators to cover all the stuff I plug in. And I would have to buy spares in case one failed or got fo
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We are not an Apple-centric shop. Out of 130+ employees, we have less than 10 on MacOS.
We use ClickShare for screen sharing in meeting rooms which support AirPlay.
I work in analytics (Data Engineering/ETL) and am just fine with the Retina display. I don't have a keyboard, mouse or monitor at my desk--since I largely am not at my desk during the day anyway.
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I didn't say that I didn't EVER need to use a dongle; I just don't find it to be as much of an annoyance as those on the Internet seem to, knowing I only use it every so often.
In the case you present--which is a handful of times a year--is way less than my annoyance threshold for these sorts of things.
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I never "needed" that.
Why would I?
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Literally any situation where you need to share data from one device to another and a network is unavailable?
Must be nice living in a perfect environment where nothing ever fails and you are never under time pressure to get something done no matter what.
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The point is *need*.
So, no I never *need* that.
And all devices that have a USB port also have a WLAN card, so: I open my own network and transfer anything I need via ftp etc.
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Bought a (second) refurbished 2015 MacBook Pro from Apple several months ago. Every product announcement reinforces my conviction that I made the right decision.
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IMO you did.
I'm going to continue using my 2015 at work until it either dies, or until software no longer supports whatever maximum version of MacOS I can get on it.
And if by then Apple hasn't pulled their head out of their ass, I may well end up switching to a Linux laptop.
My home machine is a Macbook Pro 2010 for the same reasons.
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I have two monitors connected to my macbook.
I have an ethernet jack because I need to work from multiple VLANs.
I have a USB3 hub with an ergonomic keyboard, trackball and external drives.
I literally have every every port full on my 2015 MBP.
I have a desktop machine for all of that stuff. My laptop is a laptop, which means that it usually isn't plugged into anything -- not even power -- when i'm using it. I do keep a single adapter in my laptop bag, which gives me Ethernet, HDMI, SD and four USB-A ports, and I have a couple tiny USB-C to USB-A adapters as well. But I rarely have to use any of them.
So I don't mind the port situation on my new MBP at all... and I quite like the fact that I can plug power in from either side. I'm torn on the t
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Indeed, i sometimes use ethernet or hdmi and require dongles but not often... I actually prefer having more ports (4x usb-c) than one each of several types of port as i would often find myself running out of one type of port while having others empty.
In the vast majority of cases i don't actually have anything connected at all.
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Ethernet.
USB hub. 2 ports isn't enough, you need one to charge and the other for Thunderbolt stuff like an external monitor (because there is no separate HDMI/DP port).
Wouldn't it be great if we could use wireless mice/keyboards without taking up a USB port too? Bluetooth is crap for those and every manufacturer has proprietary dongle.
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Dual monitors, and apples dongles are flaky to begin with. So my usual work setup is 2 usbC->DP adapters, one for each monitor, and then power in to a third usb port. At home I have a usb hub/switch, so I can switch my kb/m between my desktop and work laptop when Im working at home. I plug the switch in to one apple dongle that also does HDMI output to one monitor, then a second apple hdmi dongle for a second monitor. Then I still need to supply power because for some reason supply power through the dong
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I remap keys to make them more reachable when using vim; have you tried that route to make it better for you?
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I currently have 4 things plugged into my rMBP+TB:
Yeah, yeah, of course I could do all that with one connector to a dock, but outside of spending over 3k of my employer's money on the computer itself I'm a little cheap when I work from home. I could also do away with many of these various bits if I, oh I don't know, didn't care about productivity. The new rMBP keyboard SUCKS to type on. For those hunt-and-peck or 4-keys-per
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Virtual +5 Funny.
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What are you guys doing that requires regular use of dongles to get your jobs done?
Complaining about Apple, while never actually have used a Mac.
Wow, that was easy :D
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Re: Sketchy - adjective (Score:2)
Apple is preparing us for a virtual keyboard future. With sufficiently refined haptics, it could actually be pretty cool.
FFS (Score:3)
Why are they still pushing that POS keyboard? Is it not bad enough that they can't make a mouse to save their lives, but now they have to ruin keyboards too?
That thing is an ergonomic nightmare.
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Why are they still pushing that POS keyboard?
Because part of maintaining the cult of Apple is never, ever admitting that they made a mistake. That's why they delete knowledge base articles that make them look like assholes, and why iPhone users who got poor reception were holding their phones wrong.
"Real" work done on external keyboard ... (Score:2)
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I basically never use/used an external keyboard on my Mac laptops. ...
Albeit my newest one is a MacBook Air from 2014
I tried to use my old Mac SE keyboard with an Adapter to convert ADB to USB under windows 98, was kind of fun, but failed regularly for no apparent reason and you needed to reinstall the drivers.
Perhaps I try it on my laptop soon.
BTW: does anyone have a MacBook Pro 17" for sale?
Clever apple (Score:1)
they had to do something with the warehouse full of defective keyboards.
"Sketchy" keyboard, eh? (Score:2)
I would have thought the inept hater that wrote the summary would have been stoked it still had a real Esc key. But I guess Haters gotta Hate.
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I'm sorry but the keyboard is shit. Period. It is uncomfortable and so un-ergonomic that I may as well be using one of those laser projection keyboards and ramming my fingers on my desk.
The fact that it is so poorly engineered that a fragment of dust requires a several hundred dollar repair is just icing on the cake. The keyboard is the single most idiotically designed peripheral Apple has produced since their legendary hockey puck mouse.
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The keyboard is the single most idiotically designed peripheral Apple has produced since their legendary hockey puck mouse.
As I was reading this, I began to scream about that fucking mouse, and then there you were.
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The fact that it is so poorly engineered that a fragment of dust requires a several hundred dollar repair is just icing on the cake.
It does not take a several 100 dollar repair.
It is repaired for free
Idiot.
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Oh! I'm SO sorry.... I didn't know that Apple was finally forced to implement a special keyboard replacement program. Which I had to google myself because you were too lazy to provide a reference yourself.
And I'm sure helped all the people that had to pay several hundred dollars out of pocket before Apple finally coughed and admitted that the keyboard was bad enough to need a special program.
This of course ignores the fact that you need to have your machine shipped out and unavailable to you for however
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Yes, you are an idiot.
If you purchase a product and it suddenly stops working: the vendor pays the repair bill.
No idea why you think otherwise.
And if there would be a bill: how the funk do you come to the idea that fixing a keyboard in a $1000 laptop costs several $100???
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.....*facepalm*
Maybe you shouldn't be throwing insults around when you yourself are incorrect.
If you didn't get Applecare, your warranty is only 1 year. Something dies after one year? You're paying out of pocket unless Apple has a specific program that address that particular issue out of warranty. Even if you're still in warranty, if Apple deems the issue is caused by the user, you're *still* out of pocket. I don't know if the keyboard dust issue falls under this category.... I don't care enough to res
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If you didn't get Applecare, your warranty is only 1 year.
It is two years in Europe.
Even if you're still in warranty, if Apple deems the issue is caused by the user, you're *still* out of pocket. And which vendor actually does that? Apple certainly not.
You're paying out of pocket unless Apple has a specific program that address that particular issue out of warranty.
No, Apple usually fixes stuff for free, regardless how old your device is.
I'm an Apple customer since 1992.
all because they designed the keyb
New mac mini let's see TB3 to 10-gig-e $199 (Score:2)
New mac mini let's see TB3 to 10-gig-e $199
It has two Thunderbolt 3 ports (not USB-C) (Score:3)
/editmodeoff
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The ports are physical things. They're USB-C ports that support Thunderbolt 3. Thunderbolt 3 is a protocol that rides on top of PCIe and just wrangles together a whole bunch of other shit (from USB to video to networking) under one tent. I never saw the need for it. Just use external PCIe! Yes, the cables are short, but so are TB cables. Yes, the cable will either be thick or expensive, but TB cables are expensive too, so...? With External PCIe, ANY PCIe device works. No need to implement an extra ex
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Wait... what? (Score:2)
Usually the new product announcements are at 10am. And apple.com isn't updated to reflect any new kit. Was there a leak of the slide deck or something?
Too little, too late (Score:2)
It is made of 100 percent recycled aluminum. (Score:2)
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Too expensive, too close to the MBPro (Score:2)
Drop the Retina display. You don't need to cram a crapton of pixels into a 13" display.
Keep the old Air keyboard. It's perfectly cromulent, and doesn't come with Butterfly's crappy reputation.
Stop reaming your customers over storage. I can't find the base specs for the Air, but it's a pretty good bet the base SSD is 128 GB, same as the Pro. Upgrading to 256 costs $200. That's criminal. Just mak
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128GB PCIe-based SSD
Configurable to 256GB, 512GB, or 1.5TB SSD
My guess is $100, $200, and $500 extra for each step.
I checked the order page. It's $200, $400, and $1200 extra! LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!
Hey, Apple! Look at this! https://amzn.to/2DbTKBd [amzn.to]
High end NAND + controller + board + per unit pricing (not per millions like you contract for) + retail markup is less than 28 cents per GB. Even the most zealous Apple fanboi who believes your SSDs are magical, custom parts will have a time with you charging about 3 times the going (single-purchase, retail) rate for a compone
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Macbook Pauper Edition?
Trash (Score:2)
Processor
1.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5, Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz, with 4MB L3 cache
Intel ARK doesn't list such a beast. This is either something like an i5 9200Y or, if the ship date is anytime soon, a custom bitch based off of the i5-8200Y. https://ark.intel.com/products... [intel.com]
Either way, it'll be suuuuuuuuuuuuuuper slow. At least the 4MB cache implies that it has HyperThreading. Intel tends to give you 2 MB of L3 cache per core when HT is enabled, and 1.5 MB of L3 otherwise.
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Order page with pricing for config options confirms it's an 8th gen Core i5. (Not that it makes much of a difference, as the 9000 series "9th gen" products are barely any different from the 8th gen.)
So it's some variant of the i5-8200Y.
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Considering how much they were pimping the A12X they should have put it in the new MacBook Air along with Rosetta 2. Couldn't be worst for average tasks than this expensive, low-end CPU.
Keyboard. (Score:2)
Keyboard keyboard keyboard keyboard keyboard keyboard!
Anybody listening?