Originally Posted: February 3rd, 2020

2019 MacBook Air Review

The 2019 MacBook Air is the best mix of portability, price and power that Apple offers. The future holds a new keyboard and other updates, but if you’re looking for an Apple laptop now, this is the one most people should start their search with.

The MacBook Air was redesigned in 2018, adding two Thunderbolt 3 ports, a retina display, physical function keys and TouchID. It originally started at $1199 for 8GB RAM/128GB SSD. In 2019, the Air received a small update, adding True Tone to the display. Apple also dropped the price of by $100 for everyone and $200 for students, giving it a $999 starting price with an education discount. They also reduced SSD upgrade prices across the lineup.

With the new design and those small changes, the MacBook Air is now the best default option for a new Mac laptop. If you need a laptop for light tasks like email, web browsing and working on documents, the Air is perfect for that. If you you are planning on heavy work like photo and video editing or app development, you might want more performance, and should look at the MacBook Pro.

Design

The 2019 MacBook Air retains the same sturdy aluminum wedge design as its predecessor and comes in the same finishes: silver, space gray, and gold. The metal body's as dense and durable before — no flex whatsoever, which is great. On the left of the Air, there's two Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports, and on the right side a single 3.5mm headphone jack.

The Retina display is the same 13.3-inch (diagonal) size with 2,560 x 1,600 resolution at 227 pixels per inch (PPI), but now includes True Tone which helps keep the white balance neutral. The MacBook Air keyboard is noticeably quieter than any MacBook Pro keyboard released between 2016 and 2018 — and nowhere as clackety as the older butterfly keys.

The MacBook Air now has the improved third-generation butterfly keyboard first introduced on the 2019 MacBook Pros. These "3.5-generation" butterfly keyboards are quieter than previous keyboards and are supposedly made of an unspecified new material for better reliability. Like the butterfly keyboards that came before it, it is covered under Apple’s keyboard repair program for 4 years if something does go wrong with them.

The MacBook Air keyboard is not silent, but the silicone membrane below each key definitely helps to dampen keystrokes, while simultaneously adding a bit more key travel. Typing on the keyboard is not as nice as typing on a Magic Keyboard or any MacBook Pro with scissor-style keys, but I think Apple's inching closer towards a more acceptable middle ground. I have no problem adapting to the new style, but individual prefernces vary. I’d recommend trying one out before buying to make sure it’s something you’ll like.

Aside from the quieter keys, there's a row of real function keys instead of a Touch Bar, and Touch ID is integrated into the power button. The Touch Bar is mandatory on the MacBook Pro line now, but isn’t an option for the Air. A lot of people see this as a point in favor of the Air, but again, individual preferences vary.

Good-enough performance

It's just enough. The new MacBook Air is powered by a 1.6GHz dual-core 8th-generation Intel Core i5 (Y-series) processor with Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz and Intel UHD Graphics 617 and a base of 8GB of RAM and 128GB of SSD storage. These are the same specs as the 2018 MacBook Air, which means it should perform more or less the same.

If you’re the type of person who doesn’t care about specs, and just wants a thin and light laptop for general web browsing, light photo editing, writing, watching videos, and editing documents, the MacBook Air powers through like a champ. Even light video editing in iMovie won't choke the laptop to the point it's unusable. If heavy duty work like video editing or compiling code is what you plan on doing the most with your laptop, you should consider the 13-inch or 16-inch MacBook Pro.

Battery life

Battery life is adequate, but not great. I have been getting around 7 hours of battery life while using the MacBook Air at work, but less at home when I was pushing it harder with more tasks. The battery life isn't bad, but it makes me miss the old pre-Retina Air which was a battery champ and consistently lasted longer between charges. Apple definitely could improve in this area, and I hope they do on the next generation.

Comparing to the MacBook Pro

The biggest difference between the Pro and Air is performance. Obviously if you need more, get the Pro. The MacBook Pro adds the Touch Bar, which replaces the function row keys with small thin touchscreen. The base model MacBook Pro is $1299, but a higher end configuration with 16GB RAM and more internal storage costs well over $2000. Most people don’t need the performance or cost of the pro model, and they should set their sights on the Air.

As always, if you’re in the market for an Apple device, make sure you check their refurbished store. You get essentially a new device for a discount, sometimes saving hundreds of dollars. It's possible to buy a refurbished MacBook Air with 16GB RAM/512 SSD for around the same price of a new 8GB/256GB model. Keep that in mind while shopping. Amazon also has some great deals on used and renewed models, and is another vendor to get access to refurbished Apple products.

Overall

If you're looking for the least expensive MacBook and don't need the performance of the 13-inch MacBook Pro, the 2019 MacBook Air is a competent laptop for light computing like writing, web browsing, and watching videos. Just don't expect it to be a champ at heavy-lifting tasks like video editing or gaming.

The MacBook Air is on sale at Amazon right now, you can get the base model for $949, or the 256GB SSD model for $1099. Both are good deals, just be careful with buying enough storage for your needs.