2018 mac pro keyboard vs 2018 macbook air keyboard

The iPad lineup has seen meaningful updates on a regular basis not because Apple cares more about iPads than MacBooks, but because Apple controls the system architecture of iPads and they don’t control it on MacBooks - Intel does. If there’s a blessing in the long wait for this new MacBook Air to appear, it’s that it debuts with the third-generation of Apple’s butterfly keyboard. It is faster, smaller, thinner, and lighter, with a terrific retina display ( finally), vastly improved speakers, Apple’s terrific Force Touch trackpad, and more. The new MacBook Air is a meaningful update. The days of “speed bump” updates are largely over. One thing I was told is that Apple wants to focus on “meaningful updates”. Even before they’ve moved away from Intel chips, Apple is boasting about the performance of their own custom silicon, not Intel’s.īehind the scenes last week in New York, I asked a few folks from Apple for any sort of hint why these two Macs - the MacBook Air and Mac Mini - went so long between updates. In fact, when Apple did spend time bragging about the performance of the new MacBook Air’s chips, they were talking about the T2, the Apple-designed “security chip” that does a hell of a lot more than just manage security features.

On the other side, Intel has missed deadlines, and what they have shipped often isn’t impressive. On the one side, Apple’s custom silicon team is firing on all cylinders, delivering new A-series chips year after year with ever-more-incredible performance and efficiency. What we’re seeing here is a double whammy. When compared against the iPad Pro, it doesn’t look good at all. Performance is actually pretty good for the price and for the intended audience of the MacBook Air - but only when compared against other Intel-based notebooks. They spent almost no time talking about the performance of the CPU or GPU in the new MacBook Air. Apple spent an entire segment talking about the A12X chip in the iPad Pro and the performance it delivers. Look no further than the other product introduced at the same event, the new iPad Pro. But Apple’s frustration with Intel as a partner is palpable at this point. Macs are Apple’s products, not Intel’s, and it’s ultimately Apple’s responsibility that both of these products went so long between updates. The CPUs in the new Mini were simply described as 4-core and 6-core “8th generation” processors.Īpple is not going to throw Intel under the bus - they’re taking an “ If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all” approach, as they should.

In the presentation of the new Mac Mini, “Intel” never appeared in a slide and wasn’t mentioned.

She also spoke the word once, saying the new Airs have “the latest Intel integrated graphics”. The word “Intel” appeared on a single slide during VP of hardware engineering Laura Legros’s presentation of the new MacBook Air. The elephant in the room at last week’s Apple event was Intel.Īpple introduced two products based on Intel chips - the new MacBook Air and new Mac Mini - but barely mentioned the company’s name. The 2018 Retina MacBook Air Tuesday, 6 November 2018

2018 mac pro keyboard vs 2018 macbook air keyboard