MacBook Air 2019 review - beautiful and durable laptop

Proposing to use a MacBook was easy because the original MacBook Air was suitable for everyone. However, that is no longer simple, because PCs are gradually getting better and Apple product prices are also rising.

This year's MacBook Air (starting at $ 1,099 / 25,471,000 VND, testing machine at $ 1,299 / 30,107,000 VND) is $ 100 cheaper (2,300,000 VND) cheaper than last year's model. Also, the MacBook Air's Intel Y series CPU will be great for some, but not as fast as the U-series chips in PCs and the new 13-inch MacBook Pro.

However, the new MacBook Air provides a solid overall experience. Battery life is good for a high-end laptop, the MacBook Air's bright, sharp Retina display now has Apple's True Tone display technology and a yellow shirt that makes this laptop look glossy. trap. For these reasons, the MacBook Air is one of the best 13-inch laptops, especially for college students.

Daily users will probably find the Air to be very good, and those who need to get the job done seriously might be better off opting for a 13-inch MacBook Pro priced at $ 1,299.

Pricing and configuration options for MacBook Air 2019

The MacBook Air is much more expensive than 13-inch PC laptops, but is still considered the most affordable MacBook, when released on July 9, 2019, at $ 1,099, or $ 100 less than. with the previous model. The base model comes with 8th Gen Gen Core i5-8210Y CPU, 8GB of RAM and 128GB SSD storage. The article tested a 256GB SSD model (which increased the price by $ 200 / 4,600,000 VND).

Other upgrades include 16GB of RAM for $ 200. Sorry, there is no CPU upgrade option.

Design

The latest MacBook Air is very similar to the iconic (but no longer manufactured) laptop that inspired it. And while this iterative design is gradually becoming 'traditional' of the MacBook Pro, the gold version of the MacBook Air looks quite fancy. MacBook Air is also available in silver and space gray options.

Weighing 2.8 pounds (1.25kg) and 0.2 ~ 0.6 inches thick (0.5 ~ 1.5cm), the 13-inch MacBook Air is a little heavier than the Dell XPS 13 (2.7 pound / 1.2kg; 0.3 ~ 0.46 inch / 0.8 ~ 1.2cm) and HP Specter x360 (2.8 pound / 1.25kg; 0.6 inch / 1.5cm), but lighter 13.9-inch MateBook X Pro (2.9 pounds / 1.3kg, 0.6 inches / 1.5cm) The new 13-inch MacBook Pro (3 pounds / 1.4kg; 0.6 inches / 1.5cm) is a bit heavier than the Air.

Gate

The only USB-C of Apple is aimed at the future. The MacBook Air has dual Thunderbolt 3 ports on the left, and you'll use one of those ports to charge the MacBook Air.

There is also a headphone jack, because what's good for the iPhone isn't the best for the MacBook. 13-inch MacBook Pro also starts with this port option, but it can be upgraded to 4 Thunderbolt 3 ports.

This port layout suggests you own - or are willing to buy - a USB Type-C hub for additional ports like SD memory card readers and USB Type-A ports that many people still need.

The MateBook X Pro and Specter x360 have both Type-C and Type-A ports, while the XPS 13 gives you three Type-C ports, all of which can power and two of them are Thunderbolt 3. XPS 13 also includes a microSD card slot.

Keyboard

The MacBook Air offers the same keyboard you'll find on Apple's MacBook Pro, providing a good typing experience. In the 10fastfingers typing test, the author achieved a speed of 73 words per minute with a 96% accuracy.

The Air's keys are 0.7 mm apart, quite close (it would be better if the minimum distance is 1.5 mm). The MacBook Air keyboard provides a good typing experience.

Apple has equipped the MacBook Air with a fourth-generation Butterfly switch. The previous generations received poor feedback. The fourth version of this Butterfly switch keyboard uses a different material designed to increase reliability, but many feel it is not much different. XPS 13, Specter x360 and MateBook X laptops have a scissor-shaped key structure, so there's no problem that many MacBook owners have reported.

Touchpad and Touch ID

While pinching and zooming on the MacBook Air's 4.6 x 3.1-inch (11.7 x 7.9cm) touchpad, you'll find the surface provides fairly smooth zooming and zooming.

Apple's Force Touch trackpad also provides accurate click and click tracking, though many people still remember the old trackpads actually moving when you clicked them, instead of the tactile feedback that the Mac had. Currently used to simulate clicks.

MacBook Air gives you Apple's best touch interfaces. Instead of being stuck with the MacBook Pro's OLED Touch Bar screen, you have a Touch ID biometric scanner along with physical F1 - F12 function keys. That Touch ID button allows for an extremely fast system unlock, confirms your identity for Apple Pay and also functions as a power button.

Screen

When watching the trailer for Midsommar, you will notice the wonderful color reproduction from the high-resolution screen of the MacBook Air. From bright white sheets to bright yellow sunflowers, colors are accurately represented throughout the clip. The 4K Tears of Steel movie looks especially sharp on the MacBook Air's screen, seeing even tiny pieces of cloth torn on clothing to scratches on the giant robot.

The MacBook Air also features Apple's True Tone display technology, which adjusts the color temperature based on ambient light. True Tone looks a lot more stable on the Air.

A colorimeter rated the MacBook Air's screen to produce 100% of the sRGB spectrum, a respectable number, though still below the average of high-end laptops (129%). The MateBook X Pro is only slightly higher (104%), while the displays in Specter x360 (150%), MacBook Pro (165%) and XPS 13 (4K: 119%; 1080p: 126%) all have ratings much higher.

The MacBook Air's control panel produces 343 nit brightness, very close to the average for high-end laptops (346). The brighter indicators come from the XPS 13 (4K: 375 nit; 1080p: 357 nit) and MateBook X Pro (497 nit), while the Specter x360 (287 nit) is dimmer. However, many people still prefer the slightly brighter Air, like the 13-inch MacBook Pro, at 428 nit, because the super-saturated colors in Billie Eilish's "Bad Guy" video are a bit darkened when viewed from an angle. tilt 45 degrees to the left and right.

Sound and "Hey, Siri"

The MacBook Air continues Apple's power of sound, with speakers you can trust to play your favorite songs. But if you want, you can invest in a good pair of noise-canceling headphones.

Testing the Siri skills of MacBook Air in the newsroom shows that this laptop can easily analyze the voice of the owner. The virtual assistant has demonstrated the ability to make good requests, such as showing directions from the office to the park in a map, opening favorite apps and creating reminders.

Efficiency

Equipped with Intel Core i5-8210Y Series Y CPU with 8GB RAM, MacBook Air 2019 has "just enough" performance seen in MacBook Air 2018.

The author of the article didn't see any issues while multitasking in Chrome on Air. However, in the benchmark test, the MacBook Air scored a score of 7,880, only 53% compared to the 14,678 average of high-end laptops.

Higher scores from Apple's rivals came out, like 14936 from the XPS 13 (Core i7-8565U; 16GB RAM), 14,935 from Specter x360 (Core i7-8565U; 8GB of RAM) and 17,134 from MateBook X Pro ( Core i7-8565U, 16GB RAM). 13-inch MacBook Pro (Core i5-8257U; 8GB of RAM) scored 17,366 in the same test.

The 256GB SSD in the MacBook Air achieved a write speed of 1,011 MBps on the Blackmagic Disk Speed ​​Test, which is fast, but not the fastest. The MateBook X Pro's 1TB NVMe SSD reaches an incredibly fast 2,190 MBps, while the 13-inch MacBook Pro's write speed is 1,220 MBps.

In the Handbrake video editing test, the MacBook Air took 36 minutes and 6 seconds to transcode 4K movies to 1080p, which is much longer than the 21-minute average 55 minutes, 19 minutes and 20 seconds from the XPS 13, 14 minutes 42. seconds from 13-inch MacBook Pro and 22 minutes 50 seconds from MateBook X Pro.

Battery life

MacBook Air provides good battery life, so you may not need to bring a USB-C cable if you're only out for a day. In the Laptop Mag Battery Test (browsing via WiFi at 150 nits), the Air's battery ran out after 8 hours 51 minutes, half an hour longer than the average of a high-end laptop 8 hours 19 minutes. .

The battery of the Specter x360 (12 hours and 7 minutes), as well as the 1080p version of the XPS 13 (12 hours 22 minutes). The 4K XPS 13 (7:50) lasts much longer and the MateBook X Pro (8:19) has depleted in a shorter time. The MacBook Pro lasted longer, 10 hours 48 minutes.

Webcam

The MacBook Air's 0.7-megapixel webcam proves that practically every laptop, even Apple's $ 1,099 laptop, can be disappointing when you call Skype or take a selfie.

The photo taken by the Air test in the office is very bad and provides extremely little detail. Not clearly see the person behind. The color quality is also not good (the white shirt turns pink, possibly due to the warm color light in the room).

Heat

True to its name, MacBook Air is as cool as a breeze. After playing 15 minutes of HD video on a laptop, you'll see that the temperature on the touchpad (82ºF / 28ºC), the keyboard (91ºF / 33ºC) and the lower part (88ºF / 31ºC) still don't rise to near the threshold. 95ºF / 35ºC.

macOS Mojave (macOS Catalina beta if you take risks)

MacBook Air now comes with macOS Mojave, bringing a few new favorite features, including Quick Look Markup for quick image editing and Stacks to keep the desktop organized. Many users prefer dark mode throughout the system, but it's more about aesthetics than productivity or performance.

One thing to applaud Apple (though may be taken for granted) is the complete absence of bloatware on the Air. Many PCs can't claim the same thing about their preloaded apps, such as the Specter x360, which has five HP document apps that should be merged into one, plus a pair of Candy Crush, Fitbit Coach, Netflix. and LinkedIn.

You can install the macOS Catalina Public Beta to see what Music, Podcast and TV apps mean in a world without iTunes, and try Sidecar mode if you own an iPad. Just remember that the beta version has bugs and slows down your performance.

Conclude

The MacBook Air's good battery life, crisp screen, powerful sound and elegant yellow make it a basic, reliable laptop for Apple fans. If the processor is a bit more upgraded, you can freely recommend the Air to anyone.

For faster performance, you can spend an additional $ 200 to upgrade to MacBook Pro. If you're not tied to the Apple world (and still feel okay with a lower resolution screen), consider the Dell XPS 13 1080p that the article tested. The laptop is faster, has longer battery life and costs $ 100 less than the MacBook Air, at $ 1,199.

But for those who want to save some money, don't need the Touch Bar and have a modest workload, the new MacBook Air is a reliable option.

In short, the MacBook Air 2019 is a beautiful laptop with good endurance, but needs more speed.

Advantages

1. Sharp screen, high resolution
2. Powerful sound
3. No bloatware
4. Own elegant gold color

Defect

1. Excellent performance
2. Only USB-C port
3. Shallow keyboard