The MacBook Air 2018 was released late last year in November, but Apple could already be planning a refreshed and slightly more powerful version with a new chipset under the hood. This is all according to Intel product change documentation spotted by a Twitter user, showing that the latest Apple laptop might soon pick up an option for a newer Intel Core i7-8510Y processor.
While this latest documentation doesn’t specifically mention a MacBook Air by name, it confirms a Geekbench leak from last year which suggested an incoming variant of the laptop with an Intel Core i7 Processor. As Notebookcheck points out, this chipset is being dubbed the Core i7-8510Y. Although new, it is still not quad-core and keeps the same two cores found in the current MacBook Air. It also keeps to four threads and support for Intel’s Hyper-Threading technology. The clock boost, however, is a bit different, seeing a jump to 1,800 GHz, an increase from the 1,600 GHz with the Core i5-8210Y.
The Leaked Geekbench 4 results for a MacBook Air with the new Core i7-8510Y had previously hinted it could deliver just slight improvements over the current Core i5 model. In multi-core scoring, the leaked Intel Core i7-8510Y was able to punch out a result of 8,553, a slight increase from the 8,064 on the current MacBook Air. That’s roughly a five-percent difference, which could be slightly noticeable in day-to-day tasks like web-browsing, and multi-tasking.
Still, since these scores are not final, it is best to treat them as a rumor. Additional parts of the documentation go on to mention a new Core i5-8310Y processor. It’s not certain if this will replace the Core i5 already found in the MacBook Air, but it remains unlikely. According to Notebookcheck, Intel only “distinguishes its processors in denominations of 10 rather than 100.”
Seeing as though many retailers such as BestBuy and B&H had been selling current version of the MacBook Air 2018 for up to $200 off, it wouldn’t be too surprising if Apple soon announces a refreshed lineup. There are still plenty of rumors going around, including talks of a redesigned 16-inch MacBook Pro, and new MacBooks with ARM processors inside.
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