New MacBook Air Announced as First Apple Silicon Mac With M1 Chip and Fanless Design
Apple today introduced a new MacBook Air as its first Mac with a custom Apple Silicon processor known as the M1 chip. The new MacBook Air is up to 3.5x faster than the previous-generation MacBook Air, with up to 5x faster graphics performance.
Key features of the new MacBook Air:
- Apple-designed M1 chip with 8‑core CPU and 8‑core GPU
- A completely silent, fanless design
- Up to 3.5x faster CPU, up to 5x faster graphics, and up to 2x faster SSD
- Up to 9x faster machine learning
- 13-inch Retina display with True Tone and P3 wide color gamut support
- Up to 2TB of SSD storage and up to 16GB of memory
- Up to 18 hours of battery life
- Two Thunderbolt 3/USB4 ports
- Magic Keyboard, Force Touch trackpad, and Touch ID
- Wi-Fi 6
The new MacBook Air along with new 13-inch MacBook Pro and Mac mini models are available to order now on Apple.com and through the Apple Store app, with the first deliveries and in-store availability to begin November 17. The new MacBook Air continues to start at $999 in the United States, with $899 pricing available for students and other educational customers.
The first three Macs with M1 chips mark the beginning of Apple's transition away from Intel processors in Macs. Back in June, Apple revealed its plans to begin using its own custom Apple Silicon processors in Macs, promising industry-leading performance per watt. At the time, Apple said that the transition would take about two years to be completed.
In the interim, Apple teased new Intel-based Macs in development, including an updated 27-inch iMac released in August. Apple said that it will continue to support and release new versions of macOS for Intel-based Macs for years to come.
Popular Stories
Apple is not expected to release a standard iPhone 18 model this year, according to a growing number of reports that suggest the company is planning a significant change to its long-standing annual iPhone launch cycle.
Despite the immense success of the iPhone 17 in 2025, the iPhone 18 is not expected to arrive until the spring of 2027, leaving the iPhone 17 in the lineup as the latest...
Language learning app Duolingo has apparently been using the iPhone's Live Activity feature to display ads on the Lock Screen and the Dynamic Island, which violates Apple's design guidelines.
According to multiple reports on Reddit, the Duolingo app has been displaying an ad for a "Super offer," which is Duolingo's paid subscription option.
Apple's guidelines for Live Activity state that...
Apple is planning to release a low-cost MacBook in 2026, which will apparently compete with more affordable Chromebooks and Windows PCs. Apple's most affordable Mac right now is the $999 MacBook Air, and the upcoming low-cost MacBook is expected to be cheaper. Here's what we know about the low-cost MacBook so far.
Size
Rumors suggest the low-cost MacBook will have a display that's around 13 ...
Govee today introduced three new HomeKit-compatible lighting products, including the Govee Floor Lamp 3, the Govee Ceiling Light Ultra, and the Govee Sky Ceiling Light.
The Govee Floor Lamp 3 is the successor to the Floor Lamp 2, and it offers Matter integration with the option to connect to HomeKit. The Floor Lamp 3 offers an upgraded LuminBlend+ lighting system that can reproduce 281...
Now that the calendar has flipped over into January, steep discounts on popular Apple products have become more rare after the holidays. However, if you didn't get a new pair of AirPods recently and are looking for a model on sale, Amazon does have a few solid second-best prices this week.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a...
Belkin today announced a range of new charging and connectivity accessories at CES 2026, expanding its portfolio of products aimed at Apple device users.
UltraCharge Pro Power Bank 10K with Magnetic Ring
The lineup includes new Qi2 and Qi2.2 wireless chargers, magnetic power banks, a high-capacity laptop battery, and USB-C productivity accessories, with an emphasis on higher charging...
With the release of iPadOS 26.2 and macOS Tahoe 26.2, Apple has improved the Wi-Fi speeds for select Macs and iPads that support Wi-Fi 6E. Updated Wi-Fi connectivity specifications are listed in Apple's platform deployment guide.
The M4 iPad Pro models, M3 iPad Air models, A17 Pro iPad mini, M2 to M5 MacBook Pro models, M2, M3, and M4 MacBook Air models, and other Wi-Fi 6E Macs and iPads now ...
Apple plans to introduce a 12.9-inch MacBook in spring 2026, according to TrendForce.
In a press release this week, the Taiwanese research firm said this MacBook will be aimed at the entry-level to mid-range market, with "competitive pricing."
TrendForce did not share any further details about this MacBook, but the information that it shared lines up with several rumors about a more...
