Apple MacBook gets newer processors, Air gets 8GB RAM as default

Apple has updated the MacBook, its thinnest laptop, with the latest generation of the family of processors used in them, from Intel Corp., improving speed, graphics and battery life, the company said in a press release late on Tuesday. The laptop is now also available in “Rose Gold” colour.

MacBook Air, a more mainstream laptop popular across many types of users, also got a useful refresh, with 8GB of RAM becoming the default capacity, instead of 4GB that most people would typically buy it with.

It is the MacBook, however, that Apple sees as representing the company’s obsession with design — the laptop has one USB Type-C port, and that is it. The same port does duty for data transfer, charging and video output, and with the introduction of the USB-C in the laptop, Apple is seeing a growing number of accessories on the market from various vendors, according to the press release.

The laptop has Apple’s 12-inch Retina display, a full-size keyboard, Force Touch trackpad, which adds more options to how the trackpad is used by varying the pressure while pressing on it, and all-day battery life in a computer notebook that weighs in at 2 pounds (less than 1kg) and measures 13.1mm in thickness. It has no moving parts — using semiconductor memory (like in a smartphone) — or fans and cooling vents either.

“MacBook is the thinnest and lightest Mac we have ever made and it’s our vision for the future of the notebook,” Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president for marketing, said in the release.

For those who want the most elegant notebook out there, be prepared to pay either Rs 1,06,900 or Rs 1,29,900, depending on the configuration preferred. Configure-to-order options are also available online, and the new laptops go on sale starting today.