MacBook Air now comes with a faster Intel chip, but that’s about it

It is now definitely clear that MacBook Air is, sadly, on its way out. First and foremost, Apple hasn’t really updated its design following the 2010 debut. And while Apple continues to update MacBook Air with faster Intel chips and graphics, the latest hardware refresh to the popular notebook leaves a a lot to be desired.

The notebook now ships with a faster 1.8 GHz Intel Core i5 processor from Intel—a step up from the previous 1.3 GHz one—but that’s about it in terms of hardware upgrades.

It didn’t even get Intel’s Kaby Lake chips, introduced in March.

The tech giant briefly mentioned the update during the keynote and made only a passing one-sentence mention in the press released announcing other Mac updates. “Apple today also updated the 13-inch MacBook Air with a 1.8 GHz processor,” reads the release.

Here’s the updated MacBook Air lineup.

$999 MacBook Air

  • 13-inch non-IPS LCD 1,440-by-900 display
  • 1.8GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost up to 2.9GHz
  • 8GB 1600MHz LPDDR3 memory
  • 128GB SSD storage
  • Intel HD Graphics 6000

$1,199 MacBook Air

  • 13-inch non-IPS LCD 1,440-by-900 display
  • 1.8GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost up to 2.9GHz
  • 8GB 1600MHz LPDDR3 memory
  • 256GB SSD storage
  • Intel HD Graphics 6000

Apple hasn’t given the notebook faster SSD storage, nor has it updated built-in graphics, like with today’s updates to other Mac notebooks. It still ships with the pixelated non-Retina display and does not include support for the USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 standard.

The 11-inch MacBook Air models were discontinued last October.

I love all Mac notebooks, but that MacBook Air has a special place in my heart and I’m saddened that Apple has decided to phase it out, slowly but surely. Until that slim 12-inch MacBook Air gets a decent CPU, I’ll be sticking with my Air.

How about you?