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What's old is new again, and what's new is old. Has just released a new version of the old MacBook Air, a beloved laptop that hasn't received any real love in years. I've been using it for the past four days—traveling with it, typing on it, editing photos, wearing its battery down.

Staring at its gorgeous new Retina display, which is not unlike the display on my own personal MacBook Pro. That's the thing: A lot of the components in the brand new MacBook Air are not actually new. Like the display—I have stared at some version of this Retina display for a long time now. But for true MacBook Air lovers, that won't matter. This is a machine that grew stale and cruised solely on its reputation for a long time.

Now, it's ready for reinvention. Well, sort of. It's more accurate to say that it has caught up with the times. Apple has heard the calls for a newer, better MacBook Air, and it has answered. The starts at $1,199 for a configuration with 128 gigabytes of SSD storage. It creeps up to $1,399 for a model with 256 GB of storage, which is the Air most people will want to get if they have a moderately full library of local photos, music, or videos. At its base, the new MacBook Air is $200 more than the old MacBook Air, which was the only Apple laptop to sneak into the lineup at just under $1,000.

Apple is still selling the old Air for $999, but that one runs on a processor that hasn't seen a speed bump since June of last year. Plus, when you look at the old MacBook Air versus this new one, there are obvious physical differences.

The 2018 model is somehow thinner and lighter than the first MacBook Air, with a slightly shrunken footprint. It's the sushi knife of laptops, honed on one side and impeccably precise. The Air is still made of aluminum, but Apple has made a point to say that this new chassis is made of 100 percent recycled aluminum—most of it culled from the shavings generated during the manufacture of other Apple products.

It also now comes in three colors: silver, space gray, and gold. Pixel Party The display on the new MacBook Air is what stands out most. The old laptop had an LED-backlit, 13.3-inch glossy display with a resolution of 1,440 by 900 pixels and a pixel density just under 128 pixels per inch. Its silver bezels matched the rest of the wedge.

The new Air has a 13.3-inch 'Retina' display, with four times as many pixels and black bezels that are much slimmer. It's not a touchscreen—Apple appears to believe putting a touchscreen on a laptop will summon the devil—but the display is so rich-looking that you kind of want to touch it anyway. The more expensive has a Retina display, too. There is a difference between the two screens: the display on the MacBook Pros has a wider color gamut than the display on the new Air, which is something that multimedia professionals who edit photos and videos care about. The keyboard on the new Air now matches the keyboard on the newest MacBook Pros, the ones released this summer.

When I put the new Air side-by-side with my 'old' 2017 MacBook Pro, there were obvious differences, including larger function keys. The keys on the Air are also quieter. This is due at least in part to a thin, silicone barrier that lives under each key. Apple's butterfly keyboard, which it first introduced in 2015, has been plagued with issues; most famously, some keyboards have after specks of debris found their way into its workings. Apple's only real acknowledgement of the problem has been to offer to repair broken keyboards for free, and to put this protective silicone barrier in its newer keyboards. As such, the Air has this third-generation butterfly keyboard. So far, I haven't had any problems with the keyboard on the Air.

I like that it's quieter. I don't miss the TouchBar, a touch-sensitive strip of shortcuts, emoji, and apps that floats above the keyboard on MacBook Pros. The new Air's trackpad is also larger than its previous incarnation, and is the recipient of Apple's unfortunately-named pressure-sensitive touch technology, Force Touch. Lock Up Like Apple's newer MacBook Pros, the Air ships with a fingerprint sensor. It can also be unlocked with an. The fingerprint sensor is quick and responsive, and works well both with Apple apps and third-party apps like 1Password. The Air doesn't include any kind of, which many newer Windows laptops include.

We're getting to the point where not having facial bio-authentication in tech products could lose you points; however, Windows Hello hasn't always worked for me, and the tech has been spoofed by security researchers in the past, so I'd rather use something secure than just check another log-in method off a list. Speaking of security, the Air ships with Apple's, which also lives in the iMac Pro and 2018 MacBook Pros. This is a co-processor that operates separately from the laptop's main CPU, ensures a secure boot process, and handles encryption (including on the TouchID fingerprint sensor). This chip also includes a 'hardware disconnect that ensures the microphone is disabled whenever the lid is closed,' according to about the chip. The CPU in the Air is a 1.6-GHz, dual-core, eighth-generation Intel Core i5 processor. This is not the absolute latest processor—Intel announced its in early October—but it was the newest one available for this machine. As you might expect, the new Air's processor is an obvious improvement over the chip in the 12-inch MacBook (a 1.2 GHz, dual-core, seventh-generation Intel Core m3) and not nearly as powerful as the new MacBook Pro with its 2.3 GHz, quad-core, eight-generation Core i5 processor, and with Turbo Boost up to 3.8GHz.

That's a lot of chip speak, but here's what it really means: If you're someone who builds graphics, edits 4K videos, or processes large photos for a living, the Air isn't going to cut it. It will, however, handle 15 to 20 browser tabs at once, let you edit photos in Lightroom without any hiccups, and keep ten apps running smoothly at once. I know because I'm doing all of this right now as I type. The memory can also be configured up to 16GB, which gives it twice as much memory capacity as the previous MacBook Air.

By now, we're supposed to be used to this cruel, port-less computing world. It's the future. But I'm still allowed to miss ports. Of course, what you're gaining in power and memory you're losing in. The old MacBook Air had a dedicated power connector, a Thunderbolt 2 port, two USB 3 ports, an SD card slot, and a headphone jack.

This MacBook Air has two USB-C ports, which double as power and Thunderbolt 3 ports, and a headphone jack. I know, I know: By now, we're supposed to be used to this cruel, port-less computing world. It's the future. But I'm still allowed to miss other useful ports. For some reason, one of my multi-purpose dongles that works just fine with my 2017 MacBook Pro didn't want to work on the new MacBook Air (Apple couldn't really explain this either; it says the USB-C ports on the new Air should offer the same functionality as last year's Pro). Which meant I was without an SD card reader this week, and actually needed one. On the upside, the speakers on the new Air are louder.

How good they sound will depend on your source material; a movie more than 10 years old didn't sound quite as voluminous as a new, well-produced YouTube video. And the Air has a three-microphone array now, so you can shout at Siri. When I asked the MacBook Air's Siri what time it was back in California, a cacophony of gadgets around me responded, which really made me question both how useful this feature is and also the number of devices I carry with me. What might push you towards the Air, though, more so than any other Mac laptop, is its battery life. The MacBook Air has long been known for its 'all-day' battery life.

(On a recent five-hour flight from Atlanta to San Francisco, my 2017 MacBook Pro barely lasted through the time period in the middle of the flight when Wi-Fi was available.) Could the new MacBook Air maintain this nebulous claim? If your work day is around eight-hours, then sure. I cycled through the laptop's battery life a few times. All of theses tests involved me shutting the laptop at some point to sleep, the waking it up and resuming, rather than running it down for many hours straight. Not surprisingly, the laptop drained much more quickly when I used the MacBook Air to charge my iPhone, something I do often. But in another recent test—browsing in Safari, running Slack and iMessage, editing a few photos in Lightroom, all with the display between 60 to 70 percent of maximum brightness—it lasted just under eight hours.

Up in the Air There are a few ways to look at the new MacBook Air. One way is from the perspective of someone who's never owned a Mac before—maybe she was too young when the first Air was released—and is looking for an entry-level laptop. This MacBook Air comes with the lure of world-class industrial design and the continuity that exists between iOS and macOS. But to call the machine 'entry-level' at $1,199 is a stretch, and some customers are almost certainly going to go with a lower-cost Chromebook or Windows laptop instead.

The second way to look at this new MacBook Air is to view it as an upgrade option. Maybe you had an earlier version of the MacBook Air, you loved the darn thing, and you've been waiting for Apple to update it. You do a lot of web browsing, and some light photo editing, but you're not tackling heavy multimedia projects. If that's the case, and you have the extra money to spend on a laptop, then the decision takes little thought.

You will really like the new MacBook Air. I'm very tempted to get one myself. But it's also important to consider the MacBook Air as it relates to its competition. The computer is not particularly innovative. Its chiseled build, high-resolution display, eighth-generational Core i5 processor, long-ish battery life, quiet keyboard, larger trackpad, and fingerprint sensor are not breaking any new ground.

They're not new on Apple products, and they're not new on laptops in general. In the time since Apple first released the MacBook Air, the whole PC industry has tried to push the boundaries on what 'thin and light' means for laptops. Sure, there have been some awkward results (does anyone actually bend their laptop back into a tablet?) and aggressive marketing pushes (see: Ultrabooks). There have also been some really nice premium laptops launched in the non-Apple PC world. Apple has heard the calls for a newer, better MacBook Air, and it has answered. Thank goodness for that.

But one might get the sneaking suspicion, as she stares at the gorgeous, liquid-looking display of this new machine, that such a laptop could have arrived two years ago. The new MacBook Air is not pure innovation; it's an incantation composed to make you think it is.

John Burek The Best Mechanical Keyboards for 2019 Ready to 'switch' things up on your desktop? A mechanical keyboard can make everything click again. Here's a guide to the most common mechanical key types, as well as the top performers in our testing. Your Next Keyboard: Why Go Mechanical? If you're a computer user of, shall we say, 'a certain age,' you remember a time when a room-filling cacaphony of clicking was synonymous with typing as words appeared.uh, on a sheet of paper.

Typewriters were, in a sense, the original mechanical, and generations of 20th-century office workers and aspiring novelists honed their typing chops on them. But as the hardy, ribbon-based machines gave way to computers, a different kind of mechanical keyboard came to the fore: the battlewagon keyboards of the early days of computing.

And they were beasts. They used keys that clicked and rattled, and many of them felt like they would last forever. (Indeed, some of them are still in service.).

That's the appeal of today's mechanical computer keyboards: They feel like products built for the ages, in these days of disposable tech. Even throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, mechanical keyboards were as common a part of computer setups as floppy disk drives—because the people who were creating and using them knew what typing could, and should, be. Sadly, with the explosion of the home PC market in the 1990s and into the early 2000s, sturdy mechanical boards fell out of favor, as manufacturers looked for cheap, mass-market ways of getting tens of millions of people on their machines and online. Typing, that most basic of computing activities, became something you and your fingers had to endure, not enjoy, on subpar gear. Luckily, the keyboard-quality pendulum has swung back in the other direction over the last decade. Mechanical keyboards are once again viable, even popular, alternatives to the bundled cheapie.

They cost more, but they are far more rugged than a run-of-the-mill model. And keyboard makers now make them in lots of flavors to serve most major subclasses of buyers: productivity-minded users (with plain models), gamers (with keyboards replete with LED bling), ergonomically minded folks, and more. A mechanical keyboard is a bit of an investment, though, so here's what you need to know in order to make the right choice. At the Heart of Mechanical: The Key Switch First and foremost, the thing that defines a mechanical keyboard is the key switch it uses. Most budget keyboards today use dome-switch technology, which registers a keypress when you type and push down a silicone dome and connect two circuit-board traces. (This technology is also sometimes referred to as 'membrane switch' or 'rubber dome,' with minor variations in the essential design.) Though this style is easy and inexpensive to manufacture, pressing the keys requires a relatively large amount of force, which can result in a heavy, mushy feel to the fingers and a lack of either tactile or auditory feedback when you type. Plus, after a fairly 'short' time (five million keystrokes, give or take), the domes can lose their springiness and either work less well or stop working altogether.

So you'll probably have to replace the keyboard at least once or twice over the life of the computer that you use it with. Mechanical switches, by contrast, get rid of the silicone altogether. Pressing down on the key activates a real, physical switch, usually involving a spring as the pushback mechanism, that registers what you type.

Because the parts used are much more substantial than those in dome-switch keyboards, mechanical keyboards typically have a much longer life span. (Many boast ratings of 50 million keystrokes or more per switch, and may well outlast the first—or fifth!—computer you use them with.) The typing feedback also creates a more direct relationship between your fingers and what appears on the screen.

Because of the hardware involved, mechanical keyboards tend to be thicker, heavier, and more expensive than their dome-switch counterparts. They are more of an investment, but one that will pay off in sheer satisfaction if the quality of typing really matters to you. When shopping for a mechanical keyboard, you will want to pay attention, above all else, to the kind of switch it uses, and whether it offers auditory feedback (in other words, a click you can hear) or tactile feedback (a 'bump' you can feel), or both. Also important is the amount of pressure that the switches require to activate (the 'actuation force'). That will greatly affect its functionality and the possibility of finger fatigue. The Classics: Cherry MX Switches The best known and most frequently encountered mechanical key switches come from a company called Cherry Industrial.

These 'Cherry MX' switches come in a range of styles that offer different operation and feedback to better match with your own personal preference, and the work or play you plan to do most on them. (Note that most have an actuation point of 2mm.). The different types of Cherry MX keys are named for colors. This rundown of the most common Cherry switches will help you better match what you need with the mechanical keyboards you can buy. Keep in mind that some keyboard makers use switches of a similar style, made by companies other than Cherry. But almost every manufacturer maintains the same basic 'color' scheme and related traits to help keep confusion down.

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(So, for example, Cherry MX Blue switches, and Blue-'style' switches from other makers, both tend to be clicky.) Cherry MX Blue A close approximation of the old-school buckling-spring switch (see below), but with a new-style mechanism, Cherry MX Blue switches are both tactile and clicky. With Blue switches, you feel as well as hear the completion of a keystroke (via a bump when it activates, and a distinct click). These switches are ideal for serious typists (many of whom insist that the switches deliver a turbocharging bounce you can't get anywhere else), but they are not best for gaming applications, as they have a rather higher actuation force (50 centi-Newtons, or cN) than you might prefer for a fast-twitch gun battle.

Another potential downside of the Blues: Some people find the keys' audible click quite loud (and possibly, annoying), which may cause problems in close quarters, whether at the office or at home. An office full of Cherry MX Blue keyboards will sound suspiciously like a big-city newsroom, circa 1935. Cherry MX Black With the highest actuation force of the standard Cherry varieties (60cN), the Cherry MX Black switch can come across as stiff. This type is thus less suitable for the kind of nimble key work most speed and touch typists depend on, and fast-fingered gamers tend to shun it. But this makes Black an excellent switch for cases where precision is paramount: entering mission-critical data (say, for an accountant or at a point-of-sale terminal) or for certain kinds of more deliberate gaming, as you will seldom have to worry about accidentally striking a key twice.

Cherry MX Black switches are also neither tactile nor clicky. Cherry MX Red.

Similar to MX Black, Cherry MX Red switches lack both tactile and auditory feedback. But they have a lower actuation force (45cN), so they can be hit more quickly and more often, giving you the edge in any game demanding ultra-quick input. MX Red keyboards tend to be favored by gamers who play games that require fast-twitch actions.

These same qualities, however, keep them from being a good choice if typing is your primary activity, as they make it easier to register more keystrokes than you intend or to trigger typos on a slightly stray stroke. Certain highly precise typists, though, will appreciate their light touch. Cherry MX Brown If you spend about as much time scribing emails and Word documents as you do mowing down charging zombies in first-person shooters, the Cherry MX Brown switch may be for you. Its 45cN actuation force is identical to what you get from the Red switch and, like it, the switch isn't clicky, but it gives you the same typing-boosting tactile bump you get from Blue. It's often cited as a good balance for gaming and typing between the clicky MX Blues and the 'fast' MX Reds. Cherry MX Speed Silver Much like MX Reds, Cherry MX Speed Silvers demand the same 45cN actuation force, albeit with a shorter actuation point of just 1.2mm.

(Reds have a 2mm actuation point.) The total travel distance is shorter too, at 3.4mm as opposed to the 4mm travel distance of the Cherry MX Reds. Having to press down less of a distance contributes to these switches' namesake trait: speed. As a result, the delay between pressing down a key and performing an action is kept to a minimum, making Speed Silvers a refreshed favorite for gamers. Other Cherry MX Switches The above switches are the kinds you're most likely to find in a keyboard you purchase today, but Cherry's rainbow does extend a bit further, to a few much less common types. Cherry Clear switches are tactile like Brown, but possess a higher actuation force; Green switches can be considered stiff Blues, both tactile and clicky; and White switches are quieter Greens. Several other types have specialized uses (such as just for space bars), but they will seldom be identified as such on any package or marketing material.

The Non-Cherry Brigade A number of companies make switches that either mimic or try to improve on the Cherry MX switch functionality. Some gaming-keyboard switches, for example, have shorter actuation points to register your keypress action more quickly. Razer, for one, recently developed a hybrid 'Mecha-Membrane' variety that uses mechanical means to activate a silicone dome switch.

We've seen this used in the likes of the, as well as in the and its underglow-laden twin, the. But we'd consider these spinoffs as opposed to true mechanicals. (Cooler Master has offered similar 'hybrid' switches.) Razer also offers true mechanical switches, known as Razer Green (tactile and clicky), Razer Orange (tactile and silent), and Razer Yellow (linear and silent). Here's where one vendor goes off the color rails: The Razer Greens are most similar to Cherry MX Blue switches, Razer Oranges are closest to Cherry MX Browns, while Razer Yellows are congruent to Cherry MX Reds. Razer key switches exhibit unique travel distances and actuation points, too: Greens and Oranges are 4mm deep and actuate at 1.9mm, and Yellows are 3.5mm deep and actuate at 1.2mm. You'll want to try these before you buy as they are a world of their own. Logitech's mechanical keyboards, on the other hand, have become increasingly popular for their homebrew Romer-G switches.

These come in both Tactile and Linear flavors and are rated for a whopping 70 million keystrokes. Romer-G switches are outfitted with an actuation distance between that of the Cherry MX Reds and Silvers, and they require the same 45cN force to actuate.

Furthermore, Logitech now posits GX Blue switches as an alternative to Cherry MX Blues. You can find all of these options in variants of the. None of these has become quite as popular or as widespread as the Cherry MX switches, though, so for the most part they're not worth discussing in depth. If you come across a keyboard brand using an unfamiliar switch type, try to determine both its actuation force (explained above) and its actuation point (at which depth of the keypress what you type is registered). Compare these values with those of the Cherry switches, and you should get an idea of what you're in for. Trying them in person is also recommended; we've tried imitation Blue, Brown, and other switches, and noted some subtle and not-so-subtle differences in feel from the Cherry standard. One major, common maker of Cherry-like key switches is Kaihua Electronics, better known.

Kailh switches are often used in lower-cost mechanical models, and indeed, if you yank a keycap off a late-model mechanical keyboard and don't see the word 'Cherry' on the switch, 'Kailh' is the next most likely branding you might see. One of the most unusual switches you can find is, in fact, a quintessential mechanical example.

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The buckling-spring switch was used in the now-legendary IBM Model M keyboards that made such an impact in the 1980s—some of which are still in use today. It can still be found in keyboards from Unicomp, the company that acquired the manufacturing rights to it. (The definitely lives up to its name.) Buckling-spring keyboards use a genuine spring to activate the switch; when it buckles in the middle as you press it, it causes tactile and aural feedback (the latter from the spring hitting the wall of the switch enclosure).

Keyboards using this style of switch are rare these days, but they're prized for their unparalleled typing capability and psychological satisfaction. Additional Features Their switches aside, mechanical keyboards have the same feature considerations as other kinds of keyboards. You may want key backlighting, whether of one color or an entire spectrum you can program at your whim. ('Per-key' RGB backlighting, in which you can program each key across the whole RGB spectrum, is the ne plus ultra of key backlighting, but it adds to the cost.) Multimedia controls, whether they're activated by pushing separate buttons or using a Function key to access a secondary ability on one of the standard keys, can make it easy to adjust volume or move backward and forward in your track list while playing music. Look for convenience features such as a volume dial or roller. (Corsair is well known for nifty volume rollers on some of its high-end mechanical boards.) And dedicated macro buttons can be a real boon for gamers, saving you the trouble of executing tricky key combinations or menu manipulations every time you want to perform a common action. In any case, whatever you want from a keyboard, you can find a mechanical keyboard capable of making it a reality—with more heft, longevity, and style than you may have thought possible.

Mechanical keyboards are back and here to stay, and likely to only get better as more and more buyers realize the benefits they offer to laser-focused typists, hardcore gamers, and everyone in between. If you're not wedded to mechanical key switches, check out our overall roundup of the we've tested, as well as the. And if you're in the market for a pointing device to go with your keyboard, check out our looks at the and the. Pros: Highly ergonomic split keyboard. Cherry MX mechanical switches.

Braided cords. Eight programmable keys. Three key tiers.

Stores nine profiles. Cons: No dedicated media keys. Raised feet sold separately. Keys recessed within plastic frame. Poor macro options. Can't remap key to key.

Bottom Line: The price is high, and Kinesis' configuration utility needs more work if the company wants to compete for gamers' dollars, but the Freestyle Edge's ergonomics and Cherry MX switches are truly solid.