Apple today introduced its new MacBook Air powered by the new M1 chip with 8-core CPU offering up to 3.5x faster performance than the previous generation and the 8-core GPU is up to 5x faster. ML workloads are up to 9x faster, and the chip’s storage controller and latest flash technology deliver up to 2x faster SSD performance. Apple said that the MacBook Air powered by M1 is faster than the chips in 98% of laptops sold in the past year.
The 13.3-inch Retina display now supports P3 wide color results. It has Wi-Fi 6, two Thunderbolt ports with USB 4 support and retains the sleek wedge-shaped design and the Magic Keyboard. Thanks to the industry-leading power efficiency of M1, the MacBook Air features a fanless design so it remains completely silent even with heavy workloads. It also promises up to 15 hours of wireless web browsing and up to 18 hours of video playback — the longest battery life ever on a MacBook Air.
The MacBook Air has Apple’s latest image signal processor (ISP) in the M1 chip, which improves camera image quality with better noise reduction, greater dynamic range, and improved auto white balance and ML-enhanced face detection for better video calls.
Apple MacBook Air (M1) specifications
- 13.3-inch (2560 x 1600 pixels) 227 PPI Retina display with True Tone, Wide colour (P3), 400 nits brightness
- 8GB RAM (Configurable up to 16GB), 256GB / 512GB SSD storage (Configurable up to 2TB)
- Apple M1 chip 8-core CPU with 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores
8-core GPU (7-core GPU in 256GB model), 16-core Neural Engine - macOS BigSur
- Magic Keyboard, Touch ID, Force Touch trackpad
- 720p FaceTime HD camera
- Stereo speakers, Wide stereo sound, Support for Dolby Atmos playback, Three-mic array with directional beamforming, 3.5 mm headphone jack
- 2x Thunderbolt 3 ports for Charging, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt (up to 40Gb/s), USB 3.1 Gen 2 (up to 10Gb/s)
- 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 2.4GHz + 5GHz, Bluetooth 5.0
- 49.9‑watt‑hour lithium‑polymer battery with up to 15 hours wireless web, up to 18 hours Apple TV app movie playback, 30W USB-C Power Adapter
The new Apple MacBook Air with M1 chip comes in Gold, Silver and Space Grey colour, is priced at Rs. 92,900 for the 256GB Storage version, which is same as the Intel version that was introduced earlier this year. The 512GB version costs Rs. 1,17,900 which is even cheaper than the earlier model. It is already available to order from Apple online store and will be available from Apple Authorised Resellers offline and online retailers in India soon.