Redesigned MacBook Air Reportedly Planned for 3Q 2013 Launch, Possibly with Retina Display

I can't imagine Apple making more lineups for their Macs. It's already confusing enough for most people having to choose between a "classic unibody" MacBook Pro and the new MacBook Pro with the Retina display. What next after a split of the MacBook Air line? iMacs?

I'll buy THAT!

Sorry for the short entry.

Builddesign said:

Available in all black.

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And Liquid Metal. Now that would be sweet!

No thanks, too many performance compromises. The air already has a rear screen.

syd430 said:

If it gets any thinner and lighter I will have to find a Surface Pro to use as a weight so it doesn't float away

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LOL! Love this response!

Jack Delgado said:

To the naysayers who say the retina macbook air can't happen without a discrete GPU: lets not forget that the Haswell chip has processing comparable (somewhat) to a 650M card:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6600/...rformance-compared-to-nvidias-geforce-gt-650m

There's some nuances there, such as different SKUs of integrated GPU, but it's definitely all on the table.

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That video comparison is on a very forgiving game FPS wise, the intel HD4000 plays it decently right now. Also the report doesnt report any actual data from the game just that "it looked like it ran the same".

smiddlehurst said:

Nah, the 13" rMBP doesn't have a discrete GPU and it manages just fine.

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I've heard the rMBP's are laggy because the GPU can't keep up pushing all those pixels. If the Pro can't handle it - how the heck is an Air gonna handle it?

jrswizzle said:

Apple won't sacrifice battery life simply for retina.....it will likely keep the battery life it has now.....what product has gotten a retina screen and subsequently gotten worse battery life?

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uhhh... the iPad 3 and 4 are thicker, heavier, take longer to charge (bigger battery), and has worse battery life than the iPad 2..... Apple cannot defy the laws of physics (no matter what their ads convince you).

Sure maybe Apple could create a rMBA that achieves the same battery life (due to improving battery tech and power reduction on haswell), but that only means they could keep the same screen and improve battery life by an hour or two. Plus the rMBP have some performace/graphical degradation because the processor has to work so hard to push that many pixels. Tradeoff isn't worth in IMO for an entry level, consumer device. Especially one that prides itself on being thin and light.

Bubba Satori said:

Why do you want to bash Apple?

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Insanely great has been replace by works fine.

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I don't bash apple. Some of the people here do

rumplestiltskin said:

The standard MBA 13" screen is fine and the Hi-Res 15" MBP screen (non-retina) does the job perfectly. The Retina display really is an answer to a question nobody is asking but Apple is pushing nevertheless.

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Maybe other people have different requirements to you? I didn't know what to make of the Retina display until I saw how it rendered the photo and video thumbnails in iMovie and iPhoto ( and hopefully Aperture). Now I want a Retina Air ( An Air to complement my i7 MBP as I fly a lot)

808? said:

So you would have to somehow make the keyboard smaller if you want to reduce the bezel size.

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Not if you brought the keyboard right to the physical edge of the laptop. You'd have to figure out how to make the ports/keyboard travel all work on top of each other though.

No way does the MacBook Air get retina this year. The performance would be laughable, unless they tripled the thickness and weight. It would be like the underpowered first generation Air all over again, when playing a youtube video caused the computer to overheat, video became choppy, and the machine wasn't good for anything more than internet surfing. No way would Apple release such a shameful product.....oh, wait.

All thats great news, but how are they going to keep the battery life the same? Battery technology doesn't keep up with the leaps and bounds of the processors or displays.

Mmmmmm, Retina Air with touch-screen that attaches magnetically. Remove the screen and voila! - it becomes an iPad...

Haswell chart attached.

Two notable lines are 35W TDP processors.

Core i7 476ST, 2 Ghz, 4/8 cores/threads, etc.
Core i5 457OT, 2.9 Ghz, 2/4 cores/threads, etc.

I would love it if the MBA got design inspiration from the iPad mini!!

I just hope they add more Thunderbolt ports. So I can plug in all my Thunderbolt accessories. The ones I use all the time.

100+ posts! Finally, I'm privileged enough to post in the political threads.

Love your signature

Gemütlichkeit said:

Call me crazy but the Air doesn't need retina or any of the performance hits when it comes to displaying that high of a resolution on a portable machine.

The pixel density is already good

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I agree, it'll be interesting to see unfold if this is true. Maybe they'll just make something like a +50% resolution bump rather than +100% as on the Retina MacBook Pro's as a compromise. They should get in the high-DPI ballpark even then. There is certain things that the MBA should not be (like heavier, thicker, more expensive, or shorter battery life), I agree about that.

Macbook air is the future. The larger models will eventually phase out. Nobody needs a larger and heavier computer these days. The Air can do everything you want.

If the MBA gets Retina, why not just merge the MBP & MBA lines? If Apple doesn't merge them, it would be confusing to a lot of customers.

Plus, if they pixel doubled the screen like they did w/ the MBP, the 13" MBA would have a higher resolution than that of a MBP (2880 x 1600 on the MBP vs 2560-by-1600 on the MBP).

Mad Mac Maniac said:

uhhh... the iPad 3 and 4 are thicker, heavier, take longer to charge (bigger battery), and has worse battery life than the iPad 2..... Apple cannot defy the laws of physics (no matter what their ads convince you).

Sure maybe Apple could create a rMBA that achieves the same battery life (due to improving battery tech and power reduction on haswell), but that only means they could keep the same screen and improve battery life by an hour or two. Plus the rMBP have some performace/graphical degradation because the processor has to work so hard to push that many pixels. Tradeoff isn't worth in IMO for an entry level, consumer device. Especially one that prides itself on being thin and light.

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Minimally thicker and heavier - sure they take longer to charge, but that wasn't what you said. You said you didn't want to sacrifice battery life.

Across the board for Apple products, the battery life either stays the same, or very slightly decreases when a retina display is added.....

Plus Apple isn't in the same place now as they were when they made the jump from the 2 to the 3. The next iPad is supposedly going to be lighter and thinner than even the 2.....

The rMBP gets the same battery life as the cMBP AND is lighter and thinner. AND was released more recently, giving you a better indication of what Apple is doing/can do with the battery tech they are using.

But relax, they've kept the cMBP around as a cheaper alternative, I'm sure they'll do the same for the MBA - at least to begin with. So you have nothing to worry about!

Cynicalone said:

We are headed to a point where the Air & Pro line's will be consolidated. The Air with Retina display would be one step closer to that.

Eventually you will just have the 11, 13, 15 inch MacBook with Retina Display.

I think this year it is more likely that we would see a 1080p IPS panel in the Air, at least the 13 inch model.

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There is always going to be a "Pro" laptop and it will probably only be the 15" MBPR from here out after this year

You have a whole class of individuals that need a discreet GPU chip and expanded memory/super drive. Unavoidable.

But Haswell will be enough to bring the 13" MBAR and 13" MBPR and merge them into the same machine. They are almost identical right now.

So

11" MBAR
13" MBAR
15" MBAR (Maybe but doubtful)

15" MBPR

Don't put retina in it, use a black bezel like the pros and use an IPS screen. That will be perfect for the airs.

guzhogi said:

If the MBA gets Retina, why not just merge the MBP & MBA lines? If Apple doesn't merge them, it would be confusing to a lot of customers.

Plus, if they pixel doubled the screen like they did w/ the MBP, the 13" MBA would have a higher resolution than that of a MBP (2880 x 1600 on the MBP vs 2560-by-1600 on the MBP).

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Because there is still a difference in the performance - the MBA will still likely use the more watered down versions of the i5 and i7 AND come with less RAM standard.....

Hasn't that really always been the main difference between the two machines....power?