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  • - This is the 2020 MacBook Air,

  • and it is a very very good laptop.

  • Is it enough to make you switch from Windows?

  • Maybe not, but it is in my opinion

  • the best Mac they've made in years.

  • For a very very long time, when someone would ask me

  • which premium laptop they should buy,

  • the MacBook Air was the default answer for me.

  • And the reason this became the default

  • is actually really straightforward.

  • Apple absolutely killed it

  • with this second generation MacBook design.

  • Not only was the actual design itself

  • incredibly thin and light but it really nailed

  • the fundamentals of a laptop.

  • So the build quality, top-notch.

  • Battery life was some of the best

  • on any laptop you could get.

  • Keyboard was good, Trackpad was world class,

  • performance was decent, the SSDs were snappy.

  • I mean really even here in 2020,

  • this old MacBook Air really only falls flat

  • on the screen side and well it's a little slow now

  • but it's really not that bad especially considering

  • this is seven years old now.

  • So when Apple finally decided to put the old MacBook Air

  • out to pasture and instead replace it

  • with an all-new model in late 2018,

  • it was a big step forward,

  • but this laptop still has its fair share of issues.

  • So there's a lot of things I really like here.

  • The Retina display is an absolutely massive leap

  • over the last generation MacBook Air,

  • Retina, 2560 by 1600, 16:10, I mean there's a lot

  • that's good with this display.

  • Some of the things though, not so hot.

  • I will say given the fact that most Windows laptops

  • have definitely switched to touchscreens at this point,

  • that the lack of a touchscreen feels a little bit odd

  • on the MacBook Air these days, although to be fair

  • Apple's pretty much making the iPad Pro a computer now,

  • so I guess that's kind of irrelevant.

  • But there are actually some legitimate criticisms

  • of this 2018 MacBook Air.

  • First and foremost, the butterfly keyboard.

  • So I will freely admit that I am in the camp

  • that I actually don't think the butterfly keyboard

  • was that bad.

  • While yes, there's not a lot of travel,

  • and while yes, it was absolutely plagued

  • with many many reliability issues.

  • But for me, it wasn't the worst keyboard in the world.

  • Something that actually did bother me a lot more

  • than that however, was the performance.

  • This MacBook Air was, I don't wanna say slow

  • because it certainly wasn't,

  • but it was a little bit pokey, right,

  • you only had a single dual-core processor as low-wattage,

  • it just didn't give me a lot of confidence

  • in the performance.

  • But it was of course a very expensive laptop.

  • Which brings us to this, the 2020 MacBook Air

  • which claims to solve pretty much all of those

  • major downsides of the last gen model.

  • Here we go.

  • All right, so we have the MacBook Air.

  • Of course it only comes in 13-inch size.

  • I know that they used to sell the 11,

  • and that was always my favorite.

  • But I feel like the 13 is probably the better option

  • for most people.

  • So physically, especially on the outside,

  • this is basically completely identical

  • to the last generation model.

  • But, it smells fresh.

  • Oh, I forgot, the new MacBook is always

  • just immediately turn on the second you open the lid.

  • Wait, here comes the real test.

  • Oh, that's like a real keyboard.

  • So this does take advantage of the magic keyboard,

  • something we'll take a look at a little bit later.

  • But it's pretty much the same as on the 16 inch MacBook.

  • Feel like I haven't done like a legit unboxing

  • of a Mac in a long time.

  • You still get Apple stickers, right.

  • - [Ken] Yeah, you literally just dropped them.

  • - Where?

  • Oh, okay, you know put this

  • on your Samsung Galaxy S20 ultra.

  • - [Ken] Wait, they're silver.

  • - Oh, see, we would have completely missed this.

  • Normally, I just skip by the unboxing 'cause who cares.

  • We get Silver Apple stickers.

  • - [Voiceover] It's a built-in screen reader

  • called Voiceover.

  • If you know how to use Voiceover, press Command--

  • - Then we do still have the same

  • tiny 30 watt USB-C power adapter

  • as well as our USB-C cable.

  • Now of course, it should be no surprise

  • that this MacBook has exactly two ports.

  • Pair of Thunderbolt based USB-C port

  • or Thunderbolt 3 based USB-C ports.

  • We do still have the headphone jack but hardware-wise,

  • the MacBook Air is not really all that different

  • besides that sweet keyboard.

  • Isn't that cool?

  • Josh can you like when I do that,

  • can you like play a harp sound

  • like Mighty Car Mods.

  • (harp music)

  • Probably the most noticeable change with a 2020 MacBook Air

  • is the return of the magic keyboard.

  • Although return is not quite accurate,

  • and as you can see here,

  • I have all three of the most recent MacBook Airs.

  • The 2020 model with the magic keyboard,

  • the 2018 model with the butterfly switch

  • as well as the older school MacBook Air

  • with the much-loved old school keyboard.

  • What did they call the old one?

  • They just call it the keyboard.

  • - [Ken] Yeah, no, there was no name for them.

  • - I don't think they had a name for it.

  • Okay, cool, good, I'm not crazy (laughs).

  • So it's the original keyboard.

  • Yeah man, this thing absolutely holds up.

  • So it has just sort of good key travel, good feel,

  • that thing is solid.

  • I mean, I'm definitely biased here.

  • This one still feels okay to me

  • but again I never really mind these keys that much.

  • However, this is gonna be the real test.

  • I like this a lot.

  • You know what, I actually think I like

  • the 2020 MacBook Air keyboard most.

  • The magic keyboard feels good,

  • it feels like a nice blend honestly

  • of the old-school MacBook Air keyboard

  • and the butterfly switch.

  • It's kind of in the middle,

  • it's certainly a lot closer to the old school.

  • But you know what, let me give them a big thumbs up here.

  • This feels a lot better, I think everyone can agree,

  • even me was a little bit biased than the 2018 MacBook Air.

  • Yeah, I mean just, it's so much more travel.

  • And of course you have to keep in mind

  • that the 2020 MacBook Air does have Touch ID,

  • you also have the inverted T layout,

  • really, I think two things that most people appreciate.

  • And what you don't have is a touch bar.

  • I again, I think I'm a little bit biased here

  • 'cause I don't really mind the touch bar

  • but I do feel like most people will prefer

  • the full-size Escape key and everything

  • being sort of as you remember it.

  • Especially if you're upgrading from an older MacBook Air,

  • this should feel right at home.

  • So when it comes to the webcam on the MacBook Air,

  • it is fine, I don't think anyone would consider this

  • to be high quality but it's good enough for a video call.

  • But what they have improved this year

  • are the actual microphones.

  • So the MacBook Air has three microphones built in.

  • And as you can hear, well, it might not sound amazing,

  • and actually is pretty significantly better

  • than most laptops.

  • I mean quite as good as the 16 inch MacBook Pro

  • but they're definitely doing some really good work here

  • on the audio front.

  • Speaking of audio, according to Apple,

  • these speakers are not only 25% louder

  • but deliver double the bass.

  • - [Austin] I'm Austin.