Apple MacBook Air Retina 2019 – Still good in 2020?

Hi guys and welcome to 123myIT. In this video, we take a look at the Apple MacBook Air 2019.

MacBook 2019 vs MacBook 2018

The 2019 MacBook Air is pretty much the same as the 2018 MacBook Air, However the 2019 version brings a lower price tag at $1099 USD for the 128GB storage model. An updated True Tone display and some small SSD changes and a butterfly keyboard which uses the same updated materials as the 2019 MacBook Pro.

Other included features are Retina Display, Force Touch trackpad, Touch ID, Great Speakers, the MacBook Air compact form factor. Modern eighth gen processor as well as Thunderbolt 3 ports. The colour that we have today is space grey. However, the MacBook Air also comes in the colours silver and gold. Now the MacBook Air only comes with one processor this is dual core 8th generation i5 clocked at 1.6 GHz.

Accessories

On to the accessories and it we take a look at the paper work first. We have the quick start guide, a set of colour matched Apple stickers and guarantee information. Next, up we have our charging Adapter. This is a 30-watt USB C charger. The model I have here is the Australian New Zealand version. However if you are in the US you will have the US version. You can actually remove the adapter prongs and add in an extension cable or an international wall adapter.In addition, the last accessory in the box is the USB C Charging cable.

Touch ID

Apple MacBook Air
Touch Id – A great feature on the MacBook Air

Although the MacBook Air did not get the touch bar it did get touch ID.  When you start the setup process, you will be prompted to setup touch ID.  Now you can use this to unlock your MacBook Air as well as authenticate payments and authenticate passwords. Along with the 13.3-inch Retina display, you also get a true tone screen. I hope that you can see the difference as I toggle true tone of and on.

The display is fantastic with a resolution of 2560 x 1600. This is the most affordable retina display on the Mac and it produces 40% more colour than the older design. You also get four million pixels, which is up from one million on the older models. The display is a IPS display now instead of a TN display, which means it has truer colours and better off axis viewing angles. IPS panels have a slower refresh rate than TN panels. Therefore, it means that this display is more suited to design work over gaming. The older models also had a wider display bezel. Which was aluminium right up to the glass. Now we have an edge-to-edge glass panel which is also more anti reflective than the old glossy panel.

Butterfly Keyboard

The Apple MacBook Air also has a butterfly keyboard which was the same one that debuted on the 2018 MacBook Pro. The great thing about this Keyboard is its quitter, but it also has a membrane under each key, which keeps dust out. This keyboard is a nice upgrade from the old keyboard as the keys are wider so that makes them easier to strike. Wider and more stable and they do not wobble like they did on the old MacBook keyboards. Because the keys do not move around so much you can type much faster. Improvements in backlighting because each key gets its own LED light, which means there is much less light bleeding around the side of the keys.  In addition, each key is brighter.

In terms of a Trackpad on the Apple MacBook Air, you get the force touch Trackpad that replaces the mechanical Trackpads on the older versions. So now, we have larger Trackpad surface that responds to pressure thanks to a haptic motor. The Trackpad is a little bit smaller than the one on the MacBook Pro, so there is more room on either side. This is good because it helps with palm rejection meaning that the mouse does not move around when you are typing.

Audio

On both sides of the keyboard, you have a set of front facing stereo speakers. Which are a massive improvement over the older keyboard design. The speakers are 25% louder and have twice the base with a much wider stereo sound. There are more immersive and less muffled. Take a listen.

Ports

If we look at the left side of the MacBook Air, we have two Thunderbolt three ports. These ports, which can be, used for charging as well as up to 5K displays. On the right side of the Mac Air, we have 3.5 Headphone Jack for your earphones. To plug in an external display you might need a USBC to HDMI adapter like this one. You just plug it into the USBC port on the left and plug the other end into your external display. Once done you should be good to go. Along the top of the MacBook Air, we have the FaceTime HD camera, which still records at 720p. You also get an LED indicator and ambient light sensor.

On the underside of the Mac Air, you have a single panel, which is held together by Pentalobe screws. In addition, they are matched to the colour of your Mac Air we also have plastic feet on each corner which protect the underside of the MacBook Air. Again, the ventilation hides in the hinge of the MacBook Air and this time the hinge is integrated into the Aluminium unibody. Gone is the black plastic of the old design. On top of the MacBook, you get the standard polished inset Apple logo. The Apple logo is colour matched along with the MacBook Air text on the front of the display.

Benchmark

Now I mentioned the Touch ID button before but here is the button in action. The Mac is locked and with a press of the Touch ID it unlocks itself and it’s very fast in doing so. For those that are interested in the Geekbench scores the MacBook Air brought a single-core score of 3510 and multi-core score of 6957.

The battery life is really very good considering its smaller than the old MacBook Air and they were to do this by Adding the more efficient 1.6 GHz dual core intel i5 Processor. So you can expect about 12 hours of wireless web browsing.  Which is good among the MacBook range.

So if you are looking a portable laptop that will be good for doing some video editing and designing then this MacBook Air would be a good choice. However if you wanted to do some gaming you might be better off looking elsewhere. 

Also guys don’t forget to check out my other videos such as Official Pixel 4 Cases + Eco Cases. And do me a favour hit the subscribe button and smash the bell icon.

Create Custom Voice Commands on iPhone iPad iPod Touch

Stop Pop Up Ads on iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch