Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

What are the chances we'll see a Haswell Retina MacBook Air?

E

EmmaBeth

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 11, 2014
42
0
Here's my situation: I'm currently using a MacBook Pro mid-2010 13", which has been a great system for my (light) uses, and honestly I could limp along with it until it dies...but I do have a relative who offered to buy it, so I'm tentatively looking for a new system.

I visited the store to check out the latest generation and fell hard for the MacBook Air 11.6". I could see being a lot more productive with it just because of the incredible portability, and I don't have a need for extreme power--mostly I'd use it for word processing, blogging, web surfing, some very casual editing of personal photos. I use Garageband now and again, but not for anything pro level. And honestly, the screen looked pretty good to me: way better than the 13" Air sitting next to it. On the rare occasion I need more real estate, I have an external monitor.

But I admit, Retina is gorgeous, even in scaled resolutions. I covet it. But I don't think I covet it enough to override my love for the Air form factor. An Air with Retina would be SWEET.

So my question is...do you think there's any likelihood Apple will release a Haswell Macbook Air with Retina, or there pretty much no chance we'll see such a thing until Broadwell comes out?

And a tag-on: do you think the 12" will have about the same footprint as the current 11 when they do release it, or will it be noticeably bigger?
 
Boyd01

Boyd01

Moderator
Staff member
Feb 21, 2012
7,689
4,572
New Jersey Pine Barrens
Of course, nobody really knows the answer to your question, but have you seen the MacRumors roundup article below? I had a 13" MBA for two years and switched down to an 11" last summer. Best thing I ever did. Personally I wouldn't want a retina screen, the dot pitch is already quite high on the 11" MBA. I would have concerns that adding retina would increase the price, slow the machine down or reduce battery life. Of course, we won't know about any of this until it becomes a real product. I use a big external screen when I need more room.

https://www.macrumors.com/roundup/macbook-air/

Apple is rumored to be working on a 12-inch MacBook with a new ultra slim design and a high resolution Retina display. The first hint of such a product appeared in October of 2013, with KGI securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo indicating the company would produce a 12-inch MacBook slimmer than even the existing MacBook Airs.

According to Kuo, such a product would boast the portability of the 11-inch model with the productivity of the 13-inch model, with a high resolution display and an improved clamshell structure. His reports were confirmed by NPD DisplaySearch, which indicated Apple was sourcing 12-inch displays for a MacBook Air.

The rumors were further enforced in March of 2014 with a second rumor pointing towards the same ultra thin 12-inch MacBook, which may come without a fan assembly for silent operation and with a revamped trackpad design that doesn’t incorporate a mechanical button.

Digitimes also suggested Apple plans to release a Retina MacBook Air in 2014, but the site did not specify whether the rumored Retina Air was the 12-inch model or an existing 11 or 13-inch model.

It is unknown how the 12-inch MacBook will fit into the MacBook Air lineup, as Apple already produces 11 and 13-inch versions of the portable notebook. It is possible it will coexist with those products, but it could also replace one or both. Either way, the company is expected to release the new MacBook Air product later in 2014, possibly in September or October. Mass production on the new MacBook is expected to begin in the third quarter, according to rumors.

It is unclear when Apple might launch a significant update to its existing MacBook Air lineup, as Intel's next-generation Broadwell chips are said to be significantly delayed and unable to ship until February of 2015.
Click to expand...
 
K

Kurso

macrumors 6502
Sep 10, 2013
304
3
Pretty close to zero I would guess.

I don't think we are going to see new designs without Broadwell. In fact, if Intel keeps slipping Broadwell we might only see refreshes of the existing designs with Broadwell and any redesign will wait for Skylake. I think that scenario is unlikely.


What I expect to happen is MBA will get a redesign with Broadwell and the Macbook Pro line gets a redesign with Skylake.

The real question is with the gap between Broadwell and Skylake narrowing to 6 months would you buy a redesigned MBA in Q1 2015 (Soonest a Broadwell MBA would ship).
 
leonw

leonw

macrumors member
Mar 20, 2011
68
0
at home
Kurso said:
Pretty close to zero I would guess.

The real question is with the gap between Broadwell and Skylake narrowing to 6 months would you buy a redesigned MBA in Q1 2015 (Soonest a Broadwell MBA would ship).
Click to expand...

What makes you think Skylake won't be delayed? Even if they don't have production troubles there as well, they might just postpone it a bit to sell enough Broadwells?

I don't expect a Haswell 12" retina mba either. It would drain the battery in no time.

But a 12"could fit in todays model. There's plenty of space to take from the 11,6" bezel!
 
K

Kurso

macrumors 6502
Sep 10, 2013
304
3
leonw said:
What makes you think Skylake won't be delayed? Even if they don't have production troubles there as well, they might just postpone it a bit to sell enough Broadwells?
Click to expand...

Intel is a machine that works on a regular schedule. And the whole point of the tick-tock paradigm they employee is to keep the machine moving even if there are delays in a generation.

The Broadwell slippage is a great example of why tick-tock is so important for them. The 14nm process (tied to Broadwell) is significantly delayed but the Skylake architecture is not. Keeping Skylake on time gets them back on track.

It's important to realize that if Intel just slipped everything it gives competitors a chance to catch up and it irritates Intels partners (all future products have to be pushed). By keeping Skylake on track Intel keeps the competitors at bay and partners confident in their own long term roadmaps.

Broadwell is delayed but the band needs to keep marching on.

The Intel CEO has made it clear that Broadwell will not impact Skylake's schedule and the recently leaked roadmap showing Broadwell in Q1 2015 shows Skylake in Q3/Q4 of 2015. Broadwell will be short lived.
 
Y

yosemit

macrumors regular
Jul 19, 2013
167
0
EmmaBeth said:
So my question is...do you think there's any likelihood Apple will release a Haswell Macbook Air with Retina, or there pretty much no chance we'll see such a thing until Broadwell comes out?

And a tag-on: do you think the 12" will have about the same footprint as the current 11 when they do release it, or will it be noticeably bigger?
Click to expand...

I think it is definitely possible. Samsung has a Haswell-based retina ultrabook (ATIV Book Plus 9), and so does Lenovo (Yoga 2 Pro). Both have a screen resolution of 3200x1800. Their Haswell processors are actually slightly inferior to the ones used in Macbook Air, so CPU/GPU performance is not the concern. Apple has the pressure to match, so motivation is also there.

However, the weight may increase by about 0.3 lbs (my best guess). The concern with Haswell-based retina MBA is battery life. The Samsung ATIV BP9 has a battery life of about 7.5 hours. Apple wants to maintain a 9-hour battery life, I believe. So the battery weight has to increase, plus some weight increase from the retina screen.
 
R

Rileyx2

macrumors member
Jun 20, 2012
34
0
I believe that a Haswell-based MacBook Air with Retina display is unlikely. Broadwell should bring the power savings required to offset the Retina display without having to shave off the "all-day" battery life in the MacBook Airs using the same chassis we have now. (This all day battery is a large selling point of the Air and I don't think Apple would sacrifice it.) If Apple redesigns the chassis soon, I doubt they would put all that time/research into a new design and carry over an older microarchitecture with a newer/better one coming in a few months.
 
capathy21

capathy21

macrumors 65816
Jun 16, 2014
1,418
617
Houston, Texas
I'd say slim to none. They just refreshed the Air's in April and as well as they currently sell, I just don't see them spending more to manufacturer a retina displayed model right now. They have been using virtually the same panel in the Air for years so I am sure they have a huge stock of them and want to sell as many as possible.

I'd say Broadwell would be the soonest we could see a retina MBA and even then that's not guaranteed. I'd recommend going ahead and getting the 11.6 MBA. It's a great machine and if you are coming from a 2010 MBP, the lack of retina shouldn't bother you at all.
 
E

EmmaBeth

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 11, 2014
42
0
Thanks for the input, all! Sounds like I may as well pull the trigger on a current generation as soon as I sell my old MBP.
 
K

kapalua12

macrumors 6502
Jun 20, 2010
300
1
United States
So are you saying the soonest we could expect a Retina MBA would be Q1 2015 as in as late as March 2015 or April 2015 at the earliest?

I have a 2010 13" MBA maxed out and miss the backlight keyboard and better display that I have on all my other Macs and really want to upgrade. I don't HAVE to upgrade, but want to, but if something much better is right around the corner (less than 6 months) should I wait?
 
K

Kurso

macrumors 6502
Sep 10, 2013
304
3
Personally I'm going to wait for Skylake. Right now I have a 13" Late 2011 MBP and a 15" 2013 rMBP from work.

I sold my 2010 MBA over a year ago and have regretted it ever since. Since I have two laptops at the moment I can wait for Skylake without any impact.

I'm really looking forward to a 14-15" rMBA. I hope Apple delivers sometime in the next 18 months.

----------
kapalua12 said:
So are you saying the soonest we could expect a Retina MBA would be Q1 2015 as in as late as March 2015 or April 2015 at the earliest?
Click to expand...

Yep. Note happening on Haswell IMO and Broadwell laptops won't hit the street until March most likely.

The good news is if you are looking for a Windows tablet there will be some awesome Broadwell based tablets in Dec/Jan!

Apple could always open up preorders in Dec.
 
mtneer

mtneer

macrumors 68040
Sep 15, 2012
3,179
2,714
Kurso said:
Pretty close to zero I would guess.

I don't think we are going to see new designs without Broadwell. In fact, if Intel keeps slipping Broadwell we might only see refreshes of the existing designs with Broadwell and any redesign will wait for Skylake. I think that scenario is unlikely.


What I expect to happen is MBA will get a redesign with Broadwell and the Macbook Pro line gets a redesign with Skylake.

The real question is with the gap between Broadwell and Skylake narrowing to 6 months would you buy a redesigned MBA in Q1 2015 (Soonest a Broadwell MBA would ship).
Click to expand...

I believe that would go against Apple's positioning in the PC market. Every other maker is a generic manifestation of whatever Intel/ Microsoft puts out and are dependent on those companies for their refresh cycles.

Apple does not even mention Intel on its computers and goes as far as it can to push the processor supplier back away from its products.

So why would Apple delay its own hardware releases because of Intel? Apple strives to drive home the point that what's inside does not matter and people should look away from specifications and suppliers. The hardware and software should be capable of running on current Intel hardware and that is what Apple rides the most on any new product.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom