MacBook Air updated with a little more conversation and a little less cash

Anyone keen to grab one of Apple’s thin and light machines has just been given a new reason, and that’s a new chip has come along to make things better, while Apple also cuts the price a bit.

Arriving overnight, the news is good for people who like to save money without succumbing to Moore’s Law of the impossible task of buying an up-to-date computer. That’s still pretty much impossible — because by the time you buy a computer, it’s already out of date — but at least you can make it easier this week with a more up to date Apple.

And this week’s MacBook Air is just that — more up to date — but only barely.

Last year’s upgrade to a fourth-generation Intel Core i5 processor is still there, but the new models of Air sport a newer model of chip, raising it from 1.3GHz to 1.4GHz across the board.

For those counting at home, that’s an extra 100MHz of power for your chip. While that’s not a tremendous amount of speed to upgrade, it is an upgrade regardless, and given the fifth-generation chips codenamed as “Broadwell” will likely arrive mid this year, it’s at least something to provide would-be buyers a little more confidence ahead of the new models.

Adding to that confidence is the starting price, which has dropped around $50, bringing the 11 inch starting price to $1099 for a 1.4GHz dual-core Intel i5 with 128GB SSD and bringing the price to $1299 for a 256GB model.

If you need a 13 inch, that’s been updated too, with $1199 fetching 128GB and $1399 grabbing the 256GB model.

As previously mentioned, we could be looking at a minor bump ahead of a full refresh, especially given the new Intel chips in the pipeline.

That said, if you were thinking of buying an Air yesterday, well, just be glad you waited a day.