MacBook Air is currently one of the most popular Mac’s that Apple offers. Portable and light is the name of the game now and it wasn’t long ago that the late Steve Jobs unraveled his MacBook Air from the manila envelope to show the world the thinest laptop. The design really hasn’t change significantly and the 2011 MacBook Air still remains one of Amazons top sellers.

Image Source: Apple

Well that popularity runs on an M1 chip, the MacBook Air now speeds through everything from editing family photos to exporting videos for the web faster than the previous generation. The 8-core CPU performs up to 3.5x faster than the last Intel model too. With up to an 8-core GPU, graphics are up to 5x faster which is a welcome change for a machine that has been stuck on Intel integrated graphics. Now, graphics-intensive games run at significantly higher frame rates. ML workloads are up to 9x faster, so apps that use ML-based features like face recognition or object detection can do so in a fraction of the time. The M1 chip’s storage controller and latest flash technology deliver up to 2x faster SSD performance, so previewing massive images or importing large files is faster than ever.

Image Source: Apple

With the industry-leading power efficiency of M1, MacBook Air also delivers this performance in a fanless design, which means no matter what users are doing, it remains completely silent. And the new MacBook Air features extraordinary battery life, with up to 15 hours of wireless web browsing and up to 18 hours of video playback — the longest battery life ever on MacBook Air.

Other new features in MacBook Air include Apple’s latest image signal processor in the M1 chip, it improves camera image quality with noise reduction, dynamic range, and auto white balance and ML-enhanced face detection so users look their best during video calls. Support for P3 wide colour results in an even more vibrant, true-to-life Retina display.

Image Source: Apple

The Secure Enclave in M1, combined with Big Sur, delivers best-in-class security with features like Touch ID, which makes it easy to unlock MacBook Air and make secure online purchases using Apple Pay with the touch of a finger. And Wi-Fi 6 delivers faster wireless performance, while two Thunderbolt ports with USB 4 support allow for connectivity to a wide range of peripherals.

With its sleek wedge-shaped design, finally a decent Retina display, Magic Keyboard and an Apple expected level of performance thanks to M1, the new MacBook Air once again redefines what a thin and light notebook can do.

It will sell at RRP $1,599 AUD inc. GST, and RRP $1,439 AUD inc. GST for education.