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Warming-up for the all-new redesigned retina 2014 (2015?) MacBook Air

Not trying to stir the pot (I don't really care either way) but it should be noted.

Apple has gone backwards on battery life in their notebook line before.

If I remember correctly the 2010 MBA's had significantly better battery life than the 2011 MBAs (especially the 13") due to the Core 2 Duo to Sandy Bridge ( or Ivy bridge?) transition. Same thing happened with the 2010 13" MBPs vs the 2011 13" MBPs. And reviewers did note it but the sacrifices were ok because ultimately increased performance trumped the decrease in battery life. NOTE: Apple still quoted approximately the same time on their website but reviews that actually tested the different models noticed differences of hrs in battery life ~10hrs vs <7hrs real world usage for the 2010 vs 2011 13" MBA.

So IMHO (as someone who actually isn't all that enthusiastic about retina displays but loves my battery life) I think Apple will not have an issue with going backwards slightly in battery life in order to add retina screens to the MBA. Eventually the technology will catch up and they'll get the battery life back (Just as the 2013 MBAs finally surpassed the 2010 version while maintaining better performance) but if they come out with a redesigned MBA without a retina display no one will let them hear the end of it.

Now as to when this redesign is supposed to happen? I have no clue.
 
SmOgER said:
As for the LCD, I know that it's very likely true according to the rumours, but I still don't see 12inch as a good option. Looking at 13inch MBA, I see the new model maintaining the same case size but having smaller bezel around the screen thus achieving some 14 inch. Why should they make it smaller?
Click to expand...

The 12-inch should be basically the 11-inch MBA with a smaller bezel and a taller frame. Just like you described your desired 14-inch. They probably want to make it smaller to be more portable. Apple already has a 13-inch and a 15-inch laptop and, while a 14-inch would be great, I do not think it would fit Apple's roadmap.

2304x1440 for 12 inch? You joking right?
If this becomes true, customer is the only one who loses. Bigger resolution = more power and bigger battery needed, and you won't see the full benefit of such enormous resolution on 12 inch lcd ultra portable laptop. So to sum this up, for abit better lcd quality, yet smaller screen size, you need bigger battery and more powerful CPU as well as GPU to archieve the same performance current MBA has.
That means it will be way more expensive but practically won't be more powerful, and best case scenario battery life will be the same.
Click to expand...

Of course not. 2304x1440 would mean a sharper display. however, the screen area will also be scaled to "look like" a smaller resolution.

As for battery, Apple is probably going to use IGZO or some other battery-saving technology to keep it stellar.

Thinner and lighter? I guess sky is the limit, huh?
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Pretty much. But there is still room for improvement in this department.

Touch screen? Possibly indeed, but it might be secondary lcd which will be TS, not primary.
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Why if OS X is not optimized for touch? And Yosemite is not made for touch as well?

New materials? I don't really see how you could improve this, Apple failed to do so for 4 years for a reason. But they could introduce dark model and change the shape a bit I guess, just to make it look different.
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There are materials which are lighter and stronger than aluminum. The thing is, they do not look as good.

Cheaper? If it's gonna be MAC OS X device like it is now, I certainly don't see it being any cheaper.
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I do not think it would be cheaper either. But a US$ 799 price point is the lowest I could see Apple putting on an Air, and it is cheaper than the current offerings. There is room (although small) for reducing prices. However, I do not know if Apple will choose this path.

Battery life, already discussed that.

There are many big rumours floating around, but all in all, it's really hard to think about something revolutionary when talking about MBA and I don't think Apple wants to lose it's 'ultrabook' spot on the market by doing something extreme like merging top of the line iPad with MBA or releasing MBA without physical keyboard.
Click to expand...

I do not think Apple will do anything revolutionary here either. The retina MacBook Pro was revolutionary in some senses, but I guess the Air will be evolutionary.
 
Mkay, I actually more extensively tested today 13" rMBP with Iris Pro in the store , and I can't say I like how it performs. Certain tasks, like scrolling in Safari, are certainly less smooth than they are on my 2011 Air, even when I'am running buggy Yosemite. So unless broadwell turnes out to have a really powerful intergated GPU, MBA might lose it's status for fast and exceptionally snappy machine if it gets retina. My fear is that given the fact that MBA is now supposed to be "low end", Apple might actually benefit from preventing Air being any faster than other MacBooks. So far the SSD and non-retina display meant that for general daily tasks (not gaming or video editing, etc) it was performing faster than at least half of other MacBook models. Therefore, having a desktop PC or iMac at home, it didn't make any sense to choose another non-retina MacBook over Air.

skaertus said:
There are materials which are lighter and stronger than aluminum. The thing is, they do not look as good.
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You mean like that flexing carbon fiber Sony is using?
No thanks.

On paper there might be a "better" materials, but in practice they don't turn up to be that great for laptop chassis. IMO if we don't want to make any compromises, we will always come back to aluminum. I've yet to see a laptop which feels in my hands better than aluminum one, and I doubt I ever will, I don't think it gets any better than this.
 
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SmOgER said:
Mkay, I actually more extensively tested today 13" rMBP with Iris Pro in the store , and I can't say I like how it performs. Certain tasks, like scrolling in Safari, are certainly less smooth than they are on my 2011 Air, even when I'am running buggy Yosemite. So unless broadwell turnes out to have a really powerful intergated GPU, MBA might lose it's status for fast and exceptionally snappy machine if it gets retina. My fear is that given the fact that MBA is now supposed to be "low end", Apple might actually benefit from preventing Air being any faster than other MacBooks. So far the SSD and non-retina display meant that for general daily tasks (not gaming or video editing, etc) it was performing faster than at least half of other MacBook models. Therefore, having a desktop PC or iMac at home, it didn't make any sense to choose another non-retina MacBook over Air.



You mean like that flexing carbon fiber Sony is using?
No thanks.

On paper there might be a "better" materials, but in practice they don't turn up to be that great for laptop chassis. IMO if we don't want to make any compromises, we will always come back to aluminum. I've yet to see a laptop which feels in my hands better than aluminum one, and I doubt I ever will, I don't think it gets any better than this.
Click to expand...


Well, I don't know. The MacBook indeed feels very good as no Sony laptop has ever felt.
 
skaertus said:
Well, I don't know. The MacBook indeed feels very good as no Sony laptop has ever felt.
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That's what I'am saying. Other companies are trying to battle "on paper" (thinner/lighter), cause they can't beat Apple in any other way when they don't have so much developed manufacturing process like Apple has. How can you build a premium class laptop (comparable to MB) which would have reasonable price, when 90% of your products are made from plastic? There is no way all the designing process and manufacturing costs will pay off when they gonna sell such small amount (in comparison) of them.

Now Apple seems to be smart enough to set that price just below the one which would entice others to compete, yet their profits would still be very big. After so many laptops being made using the same (yet sophisticated) technology, the price to build one (*for Apple*) obviously went way way way down.
 
skaertus said:
What to expect?

12-inch IGZO display?
2304x1440 resolution?
Thinner and lighter?
Touch screen?
New materials?
Cheaper?
Better battery life?

Let's share our thoughts...
Click to expand...

Cheaper with a touch Retina display is not going to happen.
I would be sold for a Surface-Pro-3-like machine.
 
jmazzamj said:
Cheaper with a touch Retina display is not going to happen.

I would be sold for a Surface-Pro-3-like machine.
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Apple could release an Air with a retina display keeping the same price. The retina display is probably the only pricer component of the forthcoming Air, and retina displays are cheaper now than what they were two years ago.

Apple will not release a Surface 3 Pro or something similar. It would be nice, but not happening. iOS 8 and Yosemite do not support such hybrids.
 
Some news to revitalize the thread, it seems that u-series is coming in Q3 according to the newly released Intel roadmap, that's if they sick by it as they failed to stick to their old roadmap...see
m.hexus.net/tech/news/cpu/70961-intel-roadmap-leak-broadwell-k-cpus-arrive-early-2015/
 
Some people's obsession about thickness makes me smile.

You want it to become a knife? Well it's a already a knife in a sense. :D
 
SmOgER said:
Some people's obsession about thickness makes me smile.

You want it to become a knife? Well it's a already a knife in a sense. :D
Click to expand...

A balance should be good. It is nice to have a thin laptop, as it is very light and easy to carry around. However, power and battery life are important as well.
 
I'll be selling my rMBP in anticipation of this. The only thing holding the MBA back is a retina display!
 
chleuasme said:
... or if
Click to expand...

Of course we cannot be 100% sure that Apple will release a retina MacBook Air. But do you realistically think that there is a reasonable possibility of Apple not releasing a retina MacBook Air, given Apple's strategy so far, the laptops already launched by the competitors and the rumors that have been circulating?
 
Well, to answer :p
skaertus said:
But do you realistically think that there is a reasonable possibility of Apple not releasing a retina MacBook Air, given Apple's strategy so far, the laptops already launched by the competitors and the rumors that have been circulating?
Click to expand...
Yes sure, I will repeat what i said few pages ago.

Broadwell is a tick, it’s mainly Haswell with a die shrink. This gives Apple two opportunities for its laptops: as fast but less power/heat or faster with same power/heat.

I stand by the idea it could be the right time to merge the two lines of laptops, with only one line of ultrabook designed for prosumers running OS X.

You propose 2304x1440 as the resolution for the screen of a 12" Air.
An height of 720 px would suck for OS X. The current 11.6" Air is already a pain to use with only 768 px. Even the iPad has 768 px vertically in landscape.
Yes, you can use scaled resolution on retina screens with OS X. But that’s not really great. The base resolution would still be a very constrained environment and a bad experience for the random user not changing the scaling. The default would suck.
I don’t see Apple releasing any laptop with less than 768 px vertically.

The 13.3" Air and 15.4" Pro share the same 1440x900 resolution. Merging the two lines of laptop could be the occasion to match pixel density across the line and sizes, and offer more screen real estate: 11.8" 2560x1600, 13.3" 2880x1800, 15.4" 3360x2100 look much more appealing to me.

That new prosumer line could, say, start at $1099.
And it still would leave room for another line of cheaper laptops for home usage, running iOS on ARM :D


I don't see a logic in giving the Air a retina screen.
 
chleuasme said:
Well, to answer :p

Yes sure, I will repeat what i said few pages ago.

Broadwell is a tick, it’s mainly Haswell with a die shrink. This gives Apple two opportunities for its laptops: as fast but less power/heat or faster with same power/heat.
Click to expand...

Intel says Broadwell will be 30% more power efficient than Haswell.

Apple can also use an IGZO display to help increase battery life.

I stand by the idea it could be the right time to merge the two lines of laptops, with only one line of ultrabook designed for prosumers running OS X.
Click to expand...

According to the latest rumors, that is not what is happening, even though you may find it.

You propose 2304x1440 as the resolution for the screen of a 12" Air.
An height of 720 px would suck for OS X. The current 11.6" Air is already a pain to use with only 768 px. Even the iPad has 768 px vertically in landscape.
Yes, you can use scaled resolution on retina screens with OS X. But that’s not really great. The base resolution would still be a very constrained environment and a bad experience for the random user not changing the scaling. The default would suck.
I don’t see Apple releasing any laptop with less than 768 px vertically.
Click to expand...

I do not propose it. In fact, I thought it very weird and unlikely at first. Then, I saw that all the rumors pointed out in the direction of a 2304x1440 resolution and then I ended up accepting it.

The 13.3" Air and 15.4" Pro share the same 1440x900 resolution. Merging the two lines of laptop could be the occasion to match pixel density across the line and sizes, and offer more screen real estate: 11.8" 2560x1600, 13.3" 2880x1800, 15.4" 3360x2100 look much more appealing to me.
Click to expand...

That would be nice. However, at least according to the rumors, that is not in the cards. No rumors about different screen resolutions...

That new prosumer line could, say, start at $1099.
And it still would leave room for another line of cheaper laptops for home usage, running iOS on ARM :D
Click to expand...

Well, these screens are getting cheaper and cheaper. Amazon is currently offering the Samsung Ativ Book 9 Plus, with a resolution of 3200x1800, a Haswell processor and an SSD drive, for less than US$ 1,000. Very impressive, I had to say. I don't see why Apple could not offer a retina Air for less than US$ 1,000 before the end of the year.

I don't see a logic in giving the Air a retina screen.
Click to expand...

I do.
 
skaertus said:
According to the latest rumors, that is not what is happening
Click to expand...
I only see rumors about a new 12" laptop.
Speculations are it’s retina, and basing on its lightness it’s called an Air.
I haven’t seen leaked pictures of the screen bottom bezel where "MacBook Air" would be engraved.

skaertus said:
I do not propose it. In fact, I thought it very weird and unlikely at first. Then, I saw that all the rumors pointed out in the direction of a 2304x1440 resolution and then I ended up accepting it.
Click to expand...
Aren’t all rumors making reference to the same report dating back to oct. 2013?
Is there new and recent sources confirming this resolution?
 
chleuasme said:
I only see rumors about a new 12" laptop.
Speculations are it’s retina, and basing on its lightness it’s called an Air.
I haven’t seen leaked pictures of the screen bottom bezel where "MacBook Air" would be engraved.
Click to expand...

Most rumors are about a 12-inch model being retina. The only rumors about the resolution point out to 2304x1440, and they were out a while ago. I haven't seen any different resolutions being pointed out by supply chain rumors, so I suppose the best guess so far is still 2304x1440, as weird as it may sound.

As for leaked pictures, I guess we are not seeing them. We haven't seen pictures of the retina MacBook Pro prior to its release. Apparently, there is a whole industry of leaking new iPhone and iPad parts, but new Mac parts are much more difficult to find.

Plus, the retina MacBook Pro does not have "MacBook Pro" engraved in the screen bottom bezel. A retina MacBook Air may not have it either.

Aren’t all rumors making reference to the same report dating back to oct. 2013?
Is there new and recent sources confirming this resolution?
Click to expand...

No new rumors on this, only the same old ones. However, these are the only rumors so far. Perhaps we see more rumors on the screen resolution in the coming months.
 
How much thinner can it possibly get?

I just got mine last week and this device is amazing and wished I hadnt wasted my time on all those iPad versions when I could have gotten real work done on this thing.

The portability is top notch and yes I can use a more vibrant/clear screen but it isnt terrible and for what I use it for its an amazing device. When BB had their deal and I picked up mine for less than $650, I couldnt pass the opportunity to try it.
 
^^^^I guess we agree on the iPad. I hated the damn thing. My post from another thread:

flowrider said:
Ordered the MacBook Air Saturday from B&H. 2012model with the 11.6" screen and 64GB SSD. It will be replacing an iPad that I've used for the last 3 years. I guess I'm not a tablet person, as I really hated the limitations of the iPad. I used it with a ZaggMate cover and keyboard, 2 of them failed. I'm now using the ZaggMate as a cover only and using a Logitech keyboard. My home computer is a souped up Mac Pro. The iPad was used only on trips. I use my Motorola Droid 3 as a HotSpot.

I can't wait to have a real computer again when I travel:eek:

Lou
Click to expand...
 
What do people think about this? It runs contrary to rumors that the iPad was delayed for the sake of the retina...this article says the opposite..
christiantoday.com/article/macbook.air.2014.retina.release.date.12.inch.notebook.ipad.pro/38462.htm
 
psik said:
What do people think about this? It runs contrary to rumors that the iPad was delayed for the sake of the retina...this article says the opposite..
christiantoday.com/article/macbook.air.2014.retina.release.date.12.inch.notebook.ipad.pro/38462.htm
Click to expand...

So what is it? An iPad Pro or the MacBook Air Retina? It calls it one and then the other in pretty much consecutive sentences. Will it run OSX or iOS? If it runs iOS, I'm out. I want something that has all the capabilities and flexibility that OSX provides.
 
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