Apple Finally Updates MacBook Air with Retina Display, Touch ID

Re:Apple Finally Updates MacBook Air with Retina Display, To... by berbec on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @10:48AM (#18336966)

Pros: Thinner, lighter, better display, thunderbolt, 8th-generation chip, headphone jack(!)

Cons: Still dual core, no USB-A, no magsafe.

Would buy, and I'm a Lenovo fanboy. I just love the Airs.

Does anyone know if you can install Linux onto the newer Macs with the T2 chip? Or is it locked to osX^H^H^HmacOS?

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Re:Apple Finally Updates MacBook Air with Retina Display, To... by danieldk on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @10:59AM (#18337099)

Cons: Still dual core, no USB-A, no magsafe.

And still the butterfly mechanism. And apparently, specks of dust also affect the latest iteration:

https://theoutline.com/post/6409/the-new-and-improved-macboo...

I have been waiting for a good replacement for my MacBook Pro 2016. But this is not it. Still too few ports, still the risk of sticky keys. And given that the base model with 128GB is $1199, after the upgrade to 256GB and adding the Europe tax, it's not going to be that much more affordable than the MacBook Pro (assuming that they update the MBP Escape as well).

It's great that they have finally updated the Mac Mini though! The pricing is a bit steeper than previous models, but they stuck with the nice old unassuming design, no wild experiments. Just the same old box with updated innards. Well done.

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Re:Apple Finally Updates MacBook Air with Retina Display, To... by mobilio on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @11:21AM (#18337403)

Everything is OK except keyboard...

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Re:Apple Finally Updates MacBook Air with Retina Display, To... by sometime on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @01:10PM (#18338892)

The Carbon X1 6G is 120 grams lighter and has much more ports. Gonna leave Apple for good. The MacBook Air was an amazing machine for the past 8 years, but Apple lost its way. Too many cargo cults (slimness, few ports, radical changes, secretiveness, to name a few) and too little closeness to their customers (poor repairability, high prices, unwanted features).

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Re:Apple Finally Updates MacBook Air with Retina Display, To... by eastbayjake on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @02:36PM (#18339966)

I just priced out the Carbon X1 with similar CPU/RAM/SSD and it costs $1331 (vs $1399) -- plus the Lenovo has a slightly larger screen with lower weight and normal USB ports. I don't think it moves the needle for Mac fans, but it definitely moves the needle for people who are ambivalent between the two.

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Re:Apple Finally Updates MacBook Air with Retina Display, To... by cauthon on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @11:44PM (#18343180)

Not sure the specs you're looking at, but Costco had a deal on the X1 with 16 GB RAM + 512 GB SSD for $1399 earlier in the month, and I think it's $1499 now

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Re:Apple Finally Updates MacBook Air with Retina Display, To... by jazzyjackson on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @07:20PM (#18342082)

Replacing at laptop after 2 years? I'm a fan of Macbooks specifically because they can last for 5+ years. Especially now that Moore's Law is burned out, I expect my 2017 Macbook Air to be just as useful in 2023.

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Re:Apple Finally Updates MacBook Air with Retina Display, To... by saagarjha on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @10:51AM (#18336992)

You can install Linux in them, just like you can on MacBook Pro. There is an option to disable this feature, though, in the name of verifying the boot process.

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Re:Apple Finally Updates MacBook Air with Retina Display, To... by danieldk on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @11:02AM (#18337133)

You can install Linux, if you can accept that a lot of functionality does not work. Even on most MacBook Pro 2016 models audio, suspend/hibernate, and WiFi don't work.

https://github.com/Dunedan/mbp-2016-linux

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Re:Apple Finally Updates MacBook Air with Retina Display, To... by Dunedan on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @02:35PM (#18339955)

Well, we don't know for sure that Linux will boot on the new MacBook Air as well, as nobody has tried it yet, but I think it's safe to assume we'll have the same situation as for the MacBook Pro 2018. In addition to the mentioned limitations the MacBook Pro 2018 doesn't even support accessing the SSD from Linux yet. A few seconds after activating the NVMe controller it just reboots, apparently because the T2 chip isn't happy (see https://github.com/Dunedan/mbp-2016-linux/issues/71 for details). Help to figure out what's the issue would be really appreciated!

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Re:Apple Finally Updates MacBook Air with Retina Display, To... by saagarjha on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @11:21AM (#18337392)

This has nothing to do with the a T2 chip; that MacBook Pro doesn’t have one.

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Re:Apple Finally Updates MacBook Air with Retina Display, To... by Dunedan on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @02:31PM (#18339890)

The MacBook Pro 2016 and 2017 have a T1 chip, the MacBook Pro 2018 has a T2 chip, the same which debuted in the iMac Pro last year and is now in included in the new MacBook Air as well.

The linked repository covers Linux support for more all MacBook Pro's (and some parts of the 12" MacBook) released since 2016, even though Linux support for the 2018 MacBook Pro is very dire.

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