Apple announced a new MacBook Air on March 18, 2020 (Japan time) (Apple official). Pre-orders are already open and the model can be purchased online. Orders placed today are scheduled to ship as early as March 28.
Pricing starts at 104,800 yen (excluding tax) for the entry-level configuration.
The exterior is unchanged, making this a minor refresh. In addition to Core i5, the CPU options now include Core i3 and Core i7. With the latest 10th-generation processors on board, a performance bump over the previous model is expected. The CPU in the i3 model appears to be the Intel Core i3-1000G4 — a dual-core processor manufactured on a 10nm process, with 2 cores and 4 threads, running at 1.1GHz (up to 3.8GHz). Along with the new CPU, memory has been upgraded to LPDDR4X for further speed gains.
Maxing out the configuration brings the price to 229,800 yen (excluding tax). Weight and performance are a trade-off, so for performance-focused users we'd recommend the MacBook Pro 16-inch instead. Customizing via CTO pushes the estimated delivery date out to April or later, so if you want one quickly, picking a default configuration looks like the better option.
