It looks like Apple’s recent MacBook Air (2019) refresh might have also been a quiet downgrade in one respect.
While the new version of the laptop features a True Tone display and a roughly $100 CAD cheaper price point, the laptop also includes slower SSD storage when compared to its 2018 counterpart.
According to French publication Consomac, Apple’s new MacBook Air features an SSD with a 1.3GB/s read speed and 1GB/S write performance, while the 2018 MacBook Air tops out at 2GB/s read and 0.9GB/s write speeds. This means that while the new SSD features slightly faster write speeds, its read speeds are also slower.
With all this in mind, it’s unlikely that the average MacBook Air user will really notice the difference in read/write speed when compared to last year’s version of the laptop.
Apple likely included the slower SSD in the laptop to justify the roughly $100 price drop. As of right now, the base model MacBook starts at $1,449 CAD. Students can get the base model for $1,319.
Apple also didn’t opt to update the new Air’s CPU to Intel’s latest generation processor from its current Y-Series dual-core 8th Gen i5 processor.
Along with a minor refresh to the MacBook Air, Apple also launched a new version of the MacBook Pro with an updated processor and killed the MacBook Pro ‘escape’ that doesn’t feature a Touch Bar. The company also discontinued the 12-inch MacBook.
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