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Apple MacBook Air (2020) review: The best MacBook Air yet

By Kenny Yeo - 7 May 2020

Introduction

Note: This review was first published on 9 April 2020.

The latest MacBook Air has significant updates.

The Air you have been waiting for

In the middle of last month, Apple revealed a new MacBook Air. I wrote about it here first and then did a hands-on here. If you haven’t read them, here’s the quick low-down:

  • The design and dimensions are largely unchanged. It’s roughly 0.5mm thicker and that’s because of its new keyboard.
     
  • Ah, keyboard. It now has a Magic Keyboard – the same in the 16-inch MacBook Pro. It uses a more traditional scissor-switch mechanism that has more travel and, thus far at least, seems to be more reliable.
     
  • It features Intel’s new 10th generation Ice Lake-Y processors. These are relatively low-power processors built more for efficiency than performance. However, there are quad-core variants for more demanding users.

Now that I’ve spent a few weeks with it, here are my findings. But first, some photos of the new MacBook Air. As you can see, with the exception of the keyboard, it’s almost visually identical to the model it replaces.

The Retina display is brilliant even if the bezels are quite conspicuous.

The newest MacBook Air still comes with two USB-C Thunderbolt 3 ports.

The latest MacBook Air retains its iconic wedge-shape profile.

Apple has gone back to a more traditional scissor-switch mechanism for the MacBook Air's keyboard. The trackpad is huge.

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9.0
  • Design 8
  • Features 8.5
  • Performance 8.5
  • Value 9
  • Mobility 9
The Good
Good performance
Great battery life
Excellent keyboard, large trackpad
Great speakers
Class-leading build quality
USB-C Thunderbolt 3 ports
More storage as standard
The Bad
No support for Wi-Fi 6
Display could be brighter
Not the thinnest, lightest notebook around
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