- This right here is the brand new MacBook Air
and I am really excited to check it out
because the last model I actually liked a lot.
I kind of considered switching to it
for a little bit actually,
but it had two really big problems.
For one, it only came with a dual core processor.
So like multitasking, you can basically
just write it off, you know
like you go to screen record something
you guys probably don't try and do that,
but I try and do that all the time
and it just doesn't do it.
You open too many tabs
and the whole thing gets kind of bogged down
in general multitasking, just not a great time.
It's also has their new magic keyboard,
which apparently solves the problem of the last one,
which for one it was just bad
no one liked it.
And for two it was really unreliable
and like, you know a speck of dust
gets in there and it breaks.
So let's take a look at this one.
We ended up going for the i5 model,
so that's a quad core.
The entry is at $1,000
which is going to be tempting for a lot of people,
but I think you should stay away from it
cause you get an i3 that's only a dual core,
which you know you can do it,
but you're going to have such a better experience
if you just go with the quad core.
So here it is.
I believe that this model right here costs us $1,400 U S.
We also went with the 16 gigabyte upgrade
and 512 gigs of storage.
So it should be a very competent little machine
assuming you know it's cooled well
and lives up to my expectations.
Let's check it out.
So we have this little tab here.
I was actually hoping to slay this open with a knife,
but that feels good too.
I don't normally have to actually
take the wrapping off of these things.
Normally the shipping and receiving guys do it.
It's a real treat.
(paper wrapping)
(box shaking)
Oh that smells really good.
I don't know what it is,
but certain like materials that different manufacturers use
for their laptop packaging.
This one just smells fantastic.
Got the lock.
Actually, let's leave that for a second.
Laptops, they're designed by Apple in California.
Welcome to your MacBook Air.
MacBook Air automatically starts up
when you lift the lid.
Set up assistant helps you get up and running.
I believe that this is just 30 Watts,
which at the same time
this thing is just going to sip power anyway,
so I imagine it's fine.
USBC, I quite like that they've gone with USBC for these.
Like they've done it for a really long time,
but you know it's always nice
that they keep on doing it.
MagSafe was of course awesome,
but it's not standard so
take your battles where you can win on my guess
One of those things that Apple just really nails
like the feel of this cable is just so good.
Like there's just some rubber on it really like it.
It's probably my favorite.
Well it's my favorite since the HP Spectre.
That one was braided and also really good.
Get this plugged in.
Actually probably don't even need to plug it in.
This thing probably has battery already in it.
Apple just always absolutely
nails the look of their laptops.
I don't know what it is about this.
There's like really nothing going on with the design,
but it just really exudes like premium quality.
All of the metals are so solid.
Like you can press here,
you can press up here.
It's not moving at all no matter what you do.
I think that they even patented
the type of unibody design that there is on this.
So you actually can't get that kind of build quality
no matter what you do.
Can you one hand it, yes
(upbeat music)
Some in here it's already starting up.
Oh, just look so good.
The bezels are a lot larger
than what you'd find on like the x360
or the new Dell XPS 13
it's not a deal breaker
and I actually kind of like the slightly more bezel,
not because of the look of the bezels
but because of the amount of wrist rest area that you yet.
So like if we look here actually...
- Choose english as the main language
- hey press the return key actually.
- okay I guess we're setting it up.
Okay, well we'll be back in a second
when this is a set up laptop.
To run a setting up touch ID,
which is one of those things where I really like it,
but also I kind of don't.
So on windows machines,
the best that you can get right now is IR face detection.
So you open it up,
it's sees your face and then boom, you're in.
Like on the new XPS 13
it has both touch and IR
and I've never used the touch at all.
Like maybe once that said touch ID
does have some stuff that windows machines just don't have.
So like if you're using Apple Pay
you can just hit touch ID,
you don't have to enter a password
or anything like that
or say that like you have
several people using the computer,
one of them can just go up,
touch the touch ID
and next thing that you know you're logged in,
you don't have to worry about
actually signing in and out.
It's a pretty awesome system.
I just wish that they also had facial recognition.
The stiffness of the screen is great.
Like in one of the videos that I did recently,
I kind of moved the screen like this and it was like,
it's really wobbly, but who does that?
And I saw it in the comments someone was like,
why do you even do that test?
We have to do that test
because people like Apple get it right.
You can try and do as much as you can do this
and it's just not going to flex
the whole chassis no matter where you press.
There's no deflection at all.
This thing is just a freaking beast.
Well, it's really small.
It's not really a beast, but it's very solid.
(keyboard typing)
Based off like several seconds of typing,
I have to say actually like this quite a bit.
I do kind of wish that
there is a bit more than the one millimeter of travel,
but that's it, I'm pretty sure
that I could get used to it really fast.
The old switches that they had there were like snappy,
but in a way that made you kind of have to bottom out
and I found that my fingers
were getting tired really fast.
Whereas this right here,
it's a bit softer and I feel like that
I could really get motoring on it.
Again, Apple just always nails the build quality things.
So one thing that a lot of laptop manufacturers
don't quite get right
is the key consistency between
like all the different switches.
So maybe like say the J key
might move just a tiny bit more than like K or L
or whatever or the amount of force required to hit it
is just a tiny bit different.
From what I've seen here,
every single switch feels exactly the same
and that's the sort of thing
that you need if you want to like
really get typing fast without any errors.
As for the trackpad, it's just great.
It's absolutely massive and Apple
always pushes trackpads forward,
which I guess at this point the kind of have to,
because they don't have any touch screens,
which is pretty unfortunate these days.
Getting used to Mac OS just kind of sucks.
The last time that I did it,
I actually had no problems at all
after like three days.
It's one of those things where
you think it's going to matter
until you actually do it
and then you realize that it's just a computer.
You just kind of do your work
once you've gotten used to it.
Let's just take a look at the screen here.
I have the XPS 13
this has actually been
my daily driver for about the last week.
I'm going to really face these two off
in the full review
cause they both seem freaking awesome.
Looking at both of these screens
they both seem really awesome.
The one on the Dell
is not the highest end model that you can get
there is a 4K version for this,
but why do you need 4K screen on a 13 inch laptop?
I do really like
the tiny bit of extra crispness
that you get with the MacBook Air though.
So it's a 2560x1600 p display,
which is just a bit more than 1080
but not quite to 4k.
So it's a really nice middle ground
where you get that extra little bit of resolution
without it just being totally stupid
where you have to have your face like
here for it to make a difference.
The last thing that I want to
check out here are the speakers.
So according to Apple they kick ass
and if the MacBook Pro 16 inches,
anything to do off the probably really do.
Those ones in the MacBook pro are really good.
Let's just boot up some crab rave here,
the good old classic sound test.
Now try and sync these two.
(Dell classic music)
(MacBook Air classic music)
So those sound really good.
Just listening to it right now.
Let's switch it over to the XPS 13 Oh, those are just worse.
These aren't bad speakers,
but there's just so much more depth
and detail in the Macs going back.
(MacBook Air classic music)
(MacBook Air classic music) Oh yeah.
This just has a bit of refinement to it
that you really don't get on the Dell.
(MacBook Air classic music) There's the MacBook air.
(Dell classic music) Oh no, no, absolutely not.
Okay, the MacBook Air absolutely takes it for speakers.
Wow, that's crazy though,
there's just these little little speakers here.
How do they make that much noise with them?
It's amazing (MacBook Air classic music)
They're going to kill Bluetooth speaker sales
if they keep on getting this good jeez.
So I'm really excited to really put this through the paces.
I think that the one thing that
might be lacking is power,
but at the same time,
how much do you care
if like you're thin and light can blaze through,
I don't even know what you're trying to do on this.
That would need a whole bunch of power.
So I think it's going to be a pretty intense competition.
So I'm really excited to test out the new MacBook Air,
the new Dell XPS 13 the new Spectre x360
because really if any single
one of these had dropped a year ago,
it would have been without a doubt
the best thin and light on the market.
Yeah so yes, that's the one thing
that this might have problems with are just thermals.
I think it's entirely passively cooled.
So if it can't quite keep the CPU in check,
maybe you have to get the MacBook Pro 13 inch
depending on when that comes out
and if it has the magic keyboard and stuff,
it probably will, but we don't know yet.
Anyway, I'm really excited for this comparison,
so get subscribed to the Linus tech tips for that.
Get subscribed to short circuit for more of these
and I don't know, have a good day.
See you later.