"MacBook Air" Whispers...

[MacRumors]

I've heard various whispers about the new thin MacBook. Here are a few additional tidbits and confirmations about what might be coming from Apple on Tuesday.

- A slim notebook, but not a "sub notebook"
- 13.3" screen
- Not a "Pro" machine
- External Optical Drive
- It will be called the MacBook Air

A reminder, though, that Apple has been known to seed people with false specs/designs, so these whispers may not be accurate... but we believe they are.

Article Link

[Eidorian]

What does this mean for the regular MacBook then? Is it going to be another model or a replacement?

[Sky Blue]

Sounds like a shoe.

[Brianstorm91]

But the current MacBook is 13.3" and not a Pro model

I call fake.

[xUKHCx]

Leads nicely on from "There's Something in the Air".

If you ask me it is not a very good name.

[Sbrocket]

Interesting name, corroborates with the poster that came out earlier.

It also, obviously, fits with what's sure to be a very light product. Get it? Something in the air? Hah, I bet we can all tell who was the brainchild behind this...

[elppa]

Intriguing.

Maybe the “Air” branding is taking a que from the sucess of one of Apple's international partners, O2.

It's certainly something different from the obvious nano/mini/thin branding that people are expecting.

[Bern]

Maybe Apple's poster actually says more but we can't see the bottom?

Something like: "There's something in the air... blow it out your ass Microsoft"

[aswitcher]

I am starting to think we will see both a Macbook and a MBP "lite" versions...that would really rock and force me to make a difficult decision about which one to get.

13.3" MB
12" MBP touch

[adhesiv]

like i submitted and you ignored completely...they are of the aluminum build which would make it appear to be on the PRO side. Why would they build something identical to the current macbook???

[dukishdary]

i highly highly doubt they are calling it the "macbook air." that's borderline laughable. i am willing to bet the phase "there's something in the air" is referring to the soon to be announced rental service, not a piece of hardware. apple is making an obvious attempt to eliminate physical mediums altogether, first cds with mp3s and now dvds with downloadable vids (both via the itunes music store). everything will be available "in the air" or "up in the cloud," if you will. i'll be damned if they name their next product the "macbook air." c'mon people...

[MistaBungle]

There's something in the air...


planes shipping iPhones to Canada?

[aswitcher]

Originally Posted by adhesiv

like i submitted and you ignored completely...they are of the aluminum build which would make it appear to be on the PRO side. Why would they build something identical to the current macbook???

Because its not going to be identical.

Neither will have built in superdrive, but will have the same external model.

Pro machine will have additional stuff like backlit keyboard, FW800, graphics card. Probably be even smaller and lighter. Maybe have a touch screen.

They will be quite clearly different and $ differences as well.

[iDAG]

I would love a Mac like that if it was the same price as the current MacBooks.

[Sbrocket]

Originally Posted by dukishdary

i highly highly doubt they are calling it the "macbook air." that's borderline laughable. i am willing to bet the phase "there's something in the air" is referring to the soon to be announced rental service, not a piece of hardware. apple is making an obvious attempt to eliminate physical mediums altogether, first cds with mp3s and now dvds with downloadable vids (both via the itunes music store). everything will be available "in the air" or "up in the cloud," if you will. i'll be damned if they name their next product the "macbook air." c'mon people...

You may want to retract that...

Why do you assume that the information was based off the posters, rather than simple coincidence or MR waiting for some corroboration? That's a bad assumption if I had to say so.

[bdj21ya]

I think the "Air" more likely refers to over the air rentals.

[elppa]

Originally Posted by adhesiv

like i submitted and you ignored completely...they are of the aluminum build which would make it appear to be on the PRO side. Why would they build something identical to the current macbook???

Just like the "professional" iPods are all aluminium, and the "professional" iMac, not to mention the "professional" iPhone.

Apple is going Alumium across the product line, for environmental reasons. The MacBooks will be the last plastic Macs made.

Also, anyone who has paid any attention during physics will know that if you want to make a laptop thinner than the current MacBook, then plastic just won't cut it for build quality. You'll need a stronger material to get the strength.

[adhesiv]

Originally Posted by aswitcher

Because its not going to be identical.

Neither will have built in superdrive, but will have the same external model.

Pro machine will have additional stuff like backlit keyboard, FW800, graphics card. Probably be even smaller and lighter. Maybe have a touch screen.

They will be quite clearly different and $ differences as well.

Sorry aswitcher i wasn't referring to your post but to the initial post. While my findings, i won't go into details on that but it's related to private advertising, show the new model is based on the aluminum build which would suggest PRO affiliation. i don't think they'd blur the line between PRO and non-PRO by releasing a product that has the PRO build but is not in the PRO line. that would only hurt the brand identity of both and confuse consumers. this holds true regardless of external optical or not. current design technology should be able to shoehorn a higher class video card and firewire 800 into a smaller form factor, especially with apple's prowess in this field.

[MacBoobsPro]

Every Keynote people look WAY too much into Apple's advertising and come up with all these crazy ideas. MacBook Air Wow its made out of 100% oxygen and is invisible, has 16 cores, 4 BluRay drives, 2 HD drives and Windows Vista Pre-installed on a Bootcamp partition.

Every time people come away disappointed because they overhyped it themselves.

Apples advertising is done by a marketing company like anyone elses. Some of the adverts are good, some are not. There are no super secret cryptic clues. Its always quite obvious but no one sees it. There may be a little lateral thinking involved but if no one gets what they are promoting then no one will buy the products.

"There's something in the air" clearly means there's something in the air. It's either a PowerBook G5 that runs on unleaded fuel or something to do with wireless content streaming.

[adhesiv]

Originally Posted by aswitcher

Because its not going to be identical.

Neither will have built in superdrive, but will have the same external model.

Pro machine will have additional stuff like backlit keyboard, FW800, graphics card. Probably be even smaller and lighter. Maybe have a touch screen.

They will be quite clearly different and $ differences as well.

Originally Posted by elppa

Just like the "professional" iPods are all aluminium, and the "professional" iMac, not to mention the "professional" iPhone.

Apple is going Alumium across the product line, for environmental reasons. The MacBooks will be the last plastic Macs made.

Also, anyone who has paid any attention during physics will know that if you want to make a laptop thinner than the current MacBook, then plastic just won't cut it for build quality. You'll need a stronger material to get the strength.

while your argument is valid, those lines never had a PRO vs. non-PRO line like the notebook segment does. While it is possible that they may go aluminum across the board (makes sense with the aluminum features of the iphone and imac) they still need a way to differentiate their PRO line other than name badging and integrated graphics. this also doesn't take into effect the added cost of the aluminum materials that would cause a non-PRO line increase in cost. so i think this might debunk an all aluminum line.

btw, not everyone had to take physics.

[ZrSiO4-Zircon]

I really don't think Apple will come out with external optical drives... That is just too... complicated. Personally, and I think alot of people will agree, if you're going to have a small computer device, you don't want to carry another piece of equipment with you everywhere you go.
What's more believable (to me anyway) is the sub-notebook that syncs kind of like the iPod through iTunes.
Maybe iSync will handle that kind of syncing with what I have in mind?
I'm no fortune teller

[bdj21ya]

Originally Posted by ZrSiO4-Zircon

I really don't think Apple will come out with external optical drives... That is just too... complicated.

First time I've seen USB called complicated .

I see what you mean from a design standpoint though, inelegant might be a better word. But it just makes too much sense not to do it. I hardly EVER use my optical drive. Why am I carrying it everywhere I go?

[aswitcher]

Originally Posted by ZrSiO4-Zircon

I really don't think Apple will come out with external optical drives... That is just too... complicated.

<Sarcasm> Yeah...makes the development of the iPhone look easy... </Sarcasm>

Originally Posted by bdj21ya

First time I've seen USB called complicated .

I see what you mean from a design standpoint though, inelegant might be a better word. But it just makes too much sense not to do it. I hardly EVER use my optical drive. Why am I carrying it everywhere I go?

Actually I REALLY hopes its both USB and FW. FW will allow me to toss my OS disk in and force my disk driveless Mac to boot from it in FW mode.

Originally Posted by adhesiv

while your argument is valid, those lines never had a PRO vs. non-PRO line like the notebook segment does. While it is possible that they may go aluminum across the board (makes sense with the aluminum features of the iphone and imac) they still need a way to differentiate their PRO line other than name badging and integrated graphics. this also doesn't take into effect the added cost of the aluminum materials that would cause a non-PRO line increase in cost. so i think this might debunk an all aluminum line.

Differences will be like they do now:
Name/Badging
Pro has real graphics card
Screen size
Physical size (this time with Pro being smaller)
Pro has backlit keyboard
Pro is faster

New differences I see even through the all Alu design:
Pro is smaller
Pro has FW800 and maybe HDMI
Pro has a touch screen or a touch trackpad
Pro has no keyboard but a massive touch pad - although thats got big issues
Pro has more memory

And they could even do coloured alu (aka iPod like) for MBs and neked Alu for Pro machines

[Project]

Originally Posted by dukishdary

i highly highly doubt they are calling it the "macbook air." that's borderline laughable.

I said the same thing about the rumours of the Powerbook becoming the "MacBook Pro"

[sminman]

I don't see the benefit of a MacBook Slim.

Can someone pursued me or tell me why it would be better then just having a MacBook?