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.

late 2020 macbook air
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.

Related Roundup: MacBook Air
Related Forum: MacBook Air

Popular Stories

A18 Pro Chip

New MacBook With A18 Pro Chip Spotted in Apple Code

Monday June 30, 2025 8:05 am PDT by
Apple is developing a MacBook with the A18 Pro chip, according to findings in backend code uncovered by MacRumors. Earlier today, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported that Apple is planning to launch a low-cost MacBook powered by an iPhone chip. The machine is expected to feature a 13-inch display, the A18 Pro chip, and color options that include silver, blue, pink, and yellow. MacRumors...
iPhone 17 Pro Lower Logo Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 14 New Features

Monday June 30, 2025 1:08 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are less than three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max in September this year. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an...
iPhone Car Key WWDC 2025

Apple Announces 13 Automakers Planning to Offer iPhone Car Keys

Friday June 27, 2025 11:42 am PDT by
In 2020, Apple added a digital car key feature to its Wallet app, allowing users to lock, unlock, and start a compatible vehicle with an iPhone or Apple Watch. The feature is currently offered by select automakers, including Audi, BMW, Hyundai, Kia, Genesis, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, and a handful of others, and it is set to expand further. During its WWDC 2025 keynote, Apple said that 13...
maxresdefault

Five Features Coming to AirPods Pro 3

Friday June 27, 2025 10:52 am PDT by
Apple hasn't updated the AirPods Pro since 2022, and the earbuds are due for a refresh. We're counting on a new model this year, and we've seen several hints of new AirPods tucked away in Apple's code. Rumors suggest that Apple has some exciting new features planned that will make it worthwhile to upgrade to the latest model. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Heal...
macbook air spacegray purple

Apple Planning to Launch Low-Cost MacBook Powered By iPhone Chip

Monday June 30, 2025 3:20 am PDT by
Apple is planning to launch a low-cost MacBook powered by an iPhone chip, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. In an article published on X, Kuo explained that the device will feature a 13-inch display and the A18 Pro chip, making it the first Mac powered by an iPhone chip. The A18 Pro chip debuted in the iPhone 16 Pro last year. To date, all Apple silicon Macs have contained M-series...
anker power bank recall

PSA: Anker Recalls Multiple Power Banks Due to Fire Risk

Friday June 27, 2025 4:16 pm PDT by
Popular accessory maker Anker this month launched two separate recalls for its power banks, some of which may be a fire risk. The first recall affects Anker PowerCore 10000 Power Banks sold between June 1, 2016 and December 31, 2022 in the United States. Anker says that these power banks have a "potential issue" with the battery inside, which can lead to overheating, melting of plastic...
Chase Sapphire Reserve Apple Perk Feature

Chase Sapphire Reserve Card Introduces New Perk for Apple Customers

Wednesday June 25, 2025 2:08 pm PDT by
Chase this week announced a series of new perks for its premium Sapphire Reserve credit card, and one of them is for a pair of Apple services. Specifically, the credit card now offers complimentary annual subscriptions to Apple TV+ and Apple Music, a value of up to $250 per year. If you are already paying for Apple TV+ and/or Apple Music directly through Apple, those subscriptions will...
replay all time playlist apple music

Apple Music Debuts All-New Personalized Playlist

Monday June 30, 2025 7:16 am PDT by
As part of its 10-year celebrations of Apple Music, Apple today released an all-new personalized playlist that collates your entire listening history. The playlist, called "Replay All Time," expands on Apple Music's existing Replay features. Previously, users could only see their top songs for each individual calendar year that they've been subscribed to Apple Music, but now, Replay All...
iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching in a Few Months With These 12 New Features

Thursday June 26, 2025 2:00 am PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are around three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max in September this year. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an...

Top Rated Comments

neuropsychguy Avatar
61 months ago
Macrumors is degenerating into a bunch of whiny users again. 2020 has been the most impressive year for new Apple products in a long time. This is a great start to a new era for Apple.
Score: 30 Votes (Like | Disagree)
edwrap Avatar
61 months ago
Wow, can’t believe they switched from expensive Intel chips to their own ARM chips and kept the price the same. The profit margin on these must be insane, even for Apple.
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheYayAreaLiving ?️ Avatar
61 months ago
I'm going to miss the Fan : Now we won't know if the Mac is working hard or not.
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ericg301 Avatar
61 months ago

Wow, can’t believe they switched from expensive Intel chips to their own ARM chips and kept the price the same. The profit margin on these must be insane, even for Apple.
uh apple had to pay for all the R&D alone for the new chips...instead of just buying them from intel.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
profets Avatar
61 months ago
Low end of the Silicon SoCs, yet tremendous performance improvement, significant power savings, and to top it off fan-less design. Honestly quite impressive.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
FranApple Avatar
61 months ago

"We took at the fan. That is just nuts."

Yes. I agree. When things get heated, you cannot remove the heat from the case.
So then why isn't heat an issue on iPads? :)
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)