The MacBook Air hasn’t gotten much love from Apple over the past few years, but that could finally change this autumn. A new report from popular Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo (via MacRumors) claims we could get a cheaper MacBook Air in the next few months, and, until that happens, you should probably hold off on buying any new Apple laptop.
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Kuo doesn’t go into any details beyond the price, which would drop below the current $US999 ($1499 in Australia). It’s also unclear if this means Apple will bring back the smaller 11-inch Macbook Air (discontinued back in 2016) or simply slash costs for the current 13-inch laptop.
Either way, it could also be an opportunity to upgrade some of the hardware. Last June, Apple gave the MacBook Air a slight refresh, bumping up its processor speed but ignoring the ageing screen – it still can’t display at full HD quality. We might also get a USB-C port, but personally I still prefer the old MagSafe charging method.
The simple truth is, despite years of neglect, the MacBook Air is still a great laptop. It represents a peak moment in Apple’s design history, just before the company decided that the best way forward was to remove the features people actually liked (MagSafe, the iPhone headphone jack, a decent laptop keyboard and so on).
If you care more about flashy features, such as the useless MacBook Touch Bar or the actually-pretty-handy MacBook Pro Touch ID, then you probably shouldn’t wait around for this new MacBook Air. But if you want an incredibly solid laptop that won’t let you down, the MacBook Air is the way to go. Hopefully in a few months we’ll see the Air make the leap into 2018 with better hardware or, at the very least, a lower price tag.
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