After 1 year with Apple's latest MacBook Air, I remain convinced it's worth the high price tag

Macbook Air
The 2018 MacBook Air in "space gray." Hollis Johnson/Business Insider
  • The new MacBook Air is a gorgeous, incredibly thin device that feels extraordinary to use.
  • After spending the last year with the 2018 MacBook Air as my personal laptop (Apple gave it a slight update in 2019), I'm convinced it's still the best laptop money can buy.
  • Whether it's worth its high price tag is a personal decision, but for me the laptop is beyond worth what I paid.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
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Apple's flagship laptop — the MacBook Air — is a gorgeous, powerful, sleek device.  

It's absurdly thin, but it packs in a gorgeous 13-inch "Retina" display. It's got a smaller frame than ever before, but it's got the largest trackpad on any MacBook. Even the keyboard is brand new.

After one year of living with Apple's newest MacBook Air, I remain convinced: It's worth the high price tag. 

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First up: what I bought.

Macbook Air
Hollis Johnson/Business Insider

The base-level MacBook Air now costs $1,099 before tax — when I bought it, in late 2018, it started at $1,199. Apple has since dropped the price by $100, much to my chagrin.

If you add RAM, like I did, it costs an extra $200. I felt pretty comfortable with the CPU, and I refused to pay $200 for a measly 128 GB of extra internal storage, but I relented on the RAM upgrade.

I wanted this computer to last at least four years, and 8 GB of RAM simply wouldn't cut it. I upgraded to 16 GB of RAM, and if I could've added even more, I probably would've.

After tax, I paid just shy of $1,450 (remember: last year, this computer was $100 more expensive). That was on the high end of what I was willing to pay for a new laptop, but I'm glad I did. 

All that said, the base-level MacBook Air is more than capable. I got more RAM because it fits my needs. It's entirely likely you don't need to spend the extra cash.

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What's so great about it? For starters, the screen is insanely impressive.

Macbook Air
Details are gorgeous and 4K video is crisp on the new MacBook Air. Hollis Johnson/Business Insider

It wasn't until I handed my MacBook Air to a friend to use that I realized how impressive the updated screen is.

He was sitting next to me on a couch, and I was talking to him from the side while he used the computer. Despite the fact that I was looking at the screen from the side, no matter how thin I made the viewing angle, I could see fine details on the screen.

It might sound ridiculous, I realize — yes, I'm saying that the screen is so impressive because I can see it from the side.

But the screen acts like a piece of paper. Instead of doing what screens normally do when you look at them from the side — become a thin field of light with no discernible details — the MacBook Air Retina screen still manages to produce crisp details regardless of the viewing angle. 

It's something that doesn't feel immediately impactful. In reality, it's one of several crucial evolutions to the MacBook Air that make it feel so modern and fresh. The slightly newer MacBook Airs that launched in July have an even better display, thanks to the addition of Apple's True Tone technology that matches the screen's color temperature to your surroundings, making it easier on the eyes.

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Let's talk about that new keyboard.

Macbook Air
Hollis Johnson/Business Insider

No caveats necessary: The updated keyboard is a major improvement over previous MacBook Air models.

There's been a lot of back and forth over the latest version of Apple's long-running keyboard. Frankly speaking, a lot of people don't like it. Apple has even replaced the new keyboard in the latest MacBook Pro.

But, in my experience, the MacBook Air keyboard is a flawless update to the best keyboard ever made.

The shallow depth of each key enables me to type faster than ever before — something I care deeply about as someone who spends the majority of his time typing words on a computer — and I haven't run into any issues of crumbs/dust/etc. getting lodged underneath keys. One subtle, nice change from the last version of Apple's laptop keyboard is how clicky the keys are. It's not so loud as to be obnoxious, but it's substantial enough to provide a solid tactile response.

Don't believe the hype: The new keyboard is, indeed, a very good keyboard. 

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The new speakers and trackpad are also major improvements.

MacBook Air Keyboard 2018
Apple

The trackpad and the speakers are both obvious improvements over previous MacBook Air models.

They do exactly what you think they do, and they do it very well. 

The speakers are loud, and having one on each side of the keyboard is a really nice change. 

In the case of the trackpad, it's larger than ever and as responsive as ever.

The major functional addition to the trackpad is a novelty named "Force Touch" that first appeared on Apple's iPhones. On the latest MacBook Air, it remains just that: a novelty.

By clicking in deeper than you normally would on a mouse click, you get a few different contextual options depending on what you click. It's totally fine, but I rarely find myself thinking to use it. At the same time, it doesn't detract from the experience in any way. In my experience with Force Touch, it's a relatively needless gimmick that I could take or leave.

Force Touch is entirely ignorable, and I suggest you do exactly that.

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Touch ID is a game-changer.

MacBook Air (2018)
See that little blank-square key in the corner? That's Touch ID. Ben Gilbert/Business Insider

Passwords are super dumb. They feel antiquated in the modern era, like paper checks.

Every time the new MacBook asks me to enter my password — and simultaneously offers Touch ID as an option instead — I'm delighted to quickly tap my finger on the Touch ID button. It feels like the natural evolution of password entry.

Curiously, against all logic, there are times when the MacBook requires my password instead of my thumbprint. I have no idea why my password is somehow more powerful than my own fingerprint, and I kind of don't care. It appears completely illogical from a user standpoint.

Thankfully, the case far more often is that the laptop allows me to use my fingerprint to skip password entry — and it feels smart every time.

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It's the best-looking MacBook Air in years, and its diminutive size is a delight.

MacBook Air (2018) vs MacBook Air (2014)
The 13-inch 2018 MacBook Air on top of a 13-inch 2014 MacBook Air. Ben Gilbert/Business Insider

My wife has an 11-inch MacBook Air from a few years ago. It's the same length as the 2018 13-inch MacBook Air

Sounds weird, right? I promise it's reality.

Apple shrunk the bezels in the new MacBook Air's 13-inch screen so much that the same display fits into a far smaller laptop. Thus, the overall footprint of the MacBook Air is that much smaller — carrying it folded up feels like carrying a sturdy notepad. It's a genuinely small device, despite the large screen.

Everything about the MacBook Air feels tight and compact. The laptop is dense — no doubt a testament to the shrunken size.

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The elephant in the room: Yes, the MacBook Air costs too much money.

Macbook Air
Hollis Johnson/Business Insider

At $1,099 to start, the latest MacBook Air isn't cheap.

There are comparable Windows-based laptops with great screens and more powerful internals than the MacBook Air, and I could've bought those. I thought a lot about buying an HP x360 — they're quite nice! 

But my workflow is based around the Apple operating system, MacOS, and I've been using Apple laptops for over 10 years. I'm not buying a laptop to play games or to crunch 4K video edits — I'm buying it mostly for personal use and work. I keep a lot of tabs open in Chrome, I'm often listening to music in Spotify, and I regularly use Adobe's creative suite to edit images.

For me, getting the new MacBook Air with additional RAM is a perfect fit for how I use laptops. But yes, no doubt, it was an overpriced choice. Worse: Apple dropped the price by $100 just half a year after I bought my laptop. Not cool, Apple!

Still, I have no regrets — I'm outright glad I waited so long to buy a laptop, and then ended up with this one. But I can't defend the price tag. It's still too high, in my opinion, by around $100. Entry-level laptops shouldn't be so expensive.

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