New Apple MacBook Air: Retina display finally but suspect battery life
- A beautiful Retina display checks off customers’ biggest want, with Touch ID, better sound and lighter weight among other improvements
- But battery life is a disappointment
Think a major update to the MacBook Air was long overdue? The last time Apple bestowed this much attention on the notebook the company claims as its “most loved Mac”, Barack Obama was in his first term in the White House.
Sure, we’ve seen some specs bumps along the way, and my own lightweight MacBook Air – circa mid-2013 – has been a reliable workhorse. But the No. 1 feature fans of the Air have had on our wish lists for years is the kind of beautiful high-resolution “Retina” display that Apple previously reserved for the most expensive computers in its mobile line-up – notably the priciest MacBook Pros and also the most recent MacBook.
So you best believe the arrival – at last! – of Retina on the new MacBook Air I’ve been testing gives the faithful an excellent reason to cheer, along with other features that modernise the machine.
As with most of Apple’s computers, you will not get an Air without spending serious bucks. It starts at US$1,199 for a model with 8GB of RAM and a modest 128GB of storage, but the sum can climb to US$2,599 if you jack up the specs to 16GB and 1.5 terabytes, respectively. (Apple still sells an older non-Retina MacBook Air for US$999.)
Price aside, I found at least two other reasons to tone down the enthusiasm. I was disappointed in the battery life, and at one point while streaming a movie, the computer’s fan kicked into overdrive.
