Along with the release of new iPad Pros, Apple also announced a refresh of the MacBook Air and Mac mini. It has the same Magic Keyboard as the 16-inch MacBook Pro, faster performance, and is US$100 cheaper.
MacBook Air 2020
- The MacBook Air starts at US$999, and US$899 for education.
- Available to order today at Apple.com.
Apple says the new MacBook Air gives customers CPU performance twice as fast as the previous generation, and up to 80% faster graphics performance with Intel Iris Plus. It now starts at 256GB of storage, a 2x increase over the previous generation. Storage maxes out with a 2TB SSD.
That new CPU speed is thanks to its quad-core processor, a first for this model. It’s Intel’s newest 10th-generation Core i7 chip with up to 1.2GHz speeds and Turbo Boost speeds of up to 3.8GHz.
The Magic Keyboard is the same as the 16-inch MacBook Pro. It has a redesigned scissor mechanism with 1mm of key travel, with a new “T” arrangement for the arrow keys.
For security and privacy the MacBook Air has Apple’s T2 security chip, which checks software loaded during the boot process to make sure it hasn’t been tampered with. It provides on-the-fly data encryption for the SSD, and protects Touch ID data from the MacBook Air’s Touch ID sensor.
Mac mini 2020
- Starts at US$799 with 256GB of storage, and US$1,099 with 512GB of storage.
- Available for purchase today at Apple.com.
The new Mac mini has faster 2666MHz DDR4 memory and supports up to 64GB. It also has eighth-generation Intel Core i5 or i7 chips up to six cores, with Intel UHD Graphics 630. It can reach up to 4.6GHz with Turbo Boost, and up to 5x faster regular performance.
Further Reading
[Apple Announces New iPad Pro With LiDAR and Magic Keyboard]
[Official GitHub for Mobile App Launches on iOS]