Cupertino, California — Apple today updated MacBook Air, adding True Tone to its Retina display for a more natural viewing experience, and lowering the price to $1,099, with an even lower price of $999 for college students. In addition, the entry-level $1,299 13-inch MacBook Pro has been updated with the latest 8th-generation quad-core processors, making it two times more powerful than before. It also now features Touch Bar and Touch ID, a True Tone Retina display and the Apple T2 Security Chip, and is available for $1,199 for college students.
MacBook Air and MacBook Pro are also part of Apple’s Back to School promotion, which includes a pair of Beats Studio 3 Wireless headphones with the purchase of a qualifying Mac notebook or iMac. With their sleek, portable designs, Retina displays, great everyday performance, all-day battery life and running macOS, Mac notebooks have never been more popular in higher education, with Student Monitor data showing nearly 60 percent of US college notebook buyers own a Mac.
“College students love the Mac — it’s the notebook they rely on from the dorm room to the classroom, and the No. 1 choice among higher education students,” said Tom Boger, Apple’s senior director of Mac Product Marketing. “With a lower $999 student price for MacBook Air and the updated 13-inch MacBook Pro with faster performance, Touch Bar and Touch ID at $1,199 for students, there’s never been a better time to bring a Mac to college.”
Updates to Apple’s Most Popular Notebooks for Students
MacBook Air features a thin and light design in three beautiful finishes, the convenience and security of Touch ID, an 8th-generation dual-core processor, immersive wide stereo sound and all-day battery life. Its stunning 13-inch Retina display now features True Tone that automatically adjusts the color temperature of the display for a more comfortable viewing experience. MacBook Air is designed to power through daily tasks, from email and web surfing, to photo editing and FaceTime calls, and at an even lower price, it’s the do-it-all notebook for consumers and students alike.
The 13-inch MacBook Pro packs powerful processors, super-fast SSDs, all-day battery life and the best Mac notebook display ever into a portable 3-pound design. Today, the entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro adds the latest quad-core processors for up to two times faster performance, Touch Bar and Touch ID, True Tone to the brilliant Retina display, the Apple T2 Security Chip and immersive stereo speakers with wide stereo sound, all at the same great starting price of $1,299, or $1,199 for college students. With all these powerful features, MacBook Pro is the perfect choice for students heading into college and looking for the notebook that will help power them through graduation and beyond.
The updated MacBook Air and MacBook Pro are part of Apple’s Back to School promotion starting today.
UPDATED:
- Critics may want to note that Apple has told support staff the new Macs are eligible for its Keyboard Service program (cough:butterfly keyboard).
- Apple has dropped the price on storage upgrades cross all its Macs, not just the updated MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. The price change varies – for example, 1TB SSD upgrades are down by $200 on the iMac, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini.
MacDailyNews Take: Improved Macs at better prices? It’s hard to argue against that.
I am really going to miss the 12″ Macbook, no longer available on their site.
This is by far the best mobile laptop. It is bright, and even though the Air may have better performance (who buys an Air for performance?), its screen is dim. The macbook has 340 nits, the air, a paultry 234 nits.
I agree, the 12″ MacBook was a really nice size although the screen size was a bit small for me personally.
I’m hoping when they release the next generation of MacBooks with thinner bezels we’ll find the 13″ MacBooks won’t be far off the size of the 12″ MacBook.
The pricing is so much better now but $999 still feels like where the MacBook Air’s pricing should start.
Hopefully later this year or next year we will see a completely new generation of MacBooks with revised keyboards. I would like to see the TouchBar stay but with a hardware ESC key added.
These latest revisions, including dropping the 12″ MacBook seem to have brought back some sanity back to the MacBook product line, it’s simpler and a lot less confusing. I can finally give my friends and family simple answers when they ask me what MacBook they should get.
Wow! The 12″ MacBook is gone? That is a HUGE story. I am typing this comment on my 12″ MacBook right now. Such a great Mac. I wonder if I should grab an i7 version out of the refurb store while they have them. I only have a Core M5. An i7 should be a serious upgrade. That and the 16 gigs of RAM.
Still 128 GB base storage on the Air. Still $200 to bump it to 256 GB, when you can get an aftermarket 1TB PCIe SSD from a reputable brand for as little as $100. No wonder Apple doesn’t allow you to upgrade it afterwards.
I wouldn’t touch the machine with a 10 foot pole with that garbage keyboard. People better truly think about it before they buy it they could wait a year and hopefully get a keyboard that is warranted for the MacBook.
Oh please. Not everyone has had issues with the keyboard (I haven’t, with my 2017 MacBookPro), and Apple is extending warranty service for those who have.
Well good for you matters not to me keyboard is a piece of shit and I lived it to know it. The Apple tax is just too expensive to be spending $2000 on a machine that is made like a piece of junk. Shame on Tim Cook Shane on Jony Ive glad to see him go
With your attitude, why should anybody give a s… about you? You had a bad experience. Sorry, but that isn’t WriterGuy’s fault. Misdirected rage kills any semblance of civil society