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12-Inch MacBook Air to Begin Production in 3rd Quarter 2014
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What's the Point?
I don't understand the point of having both 12 inch and 13 inch computers in a single family.
I don't understand the point of having both 12 inch and 13 inch computers in a single family.
Well, any software built by Apple will surely support an ARM architecture. As for other developers, it would be relatively simple to create builds for the new CPU if they were built with Xcode & Objective C.
You'd also gain the ability to run games / Apps built for iOS if you so desired.
Hopefully that report is true. It is about time to ditch my old late 2010 MBA 11 and a retina 12 inch would be the perfect replacement, especially if it is even slimmer. Don't need high performance as i usually just do office stuff, web browsing and so on.
Fanless systems will still have cooling...
For those concerned about the lack of a fan -
Apple did patent a system of "ionic breeze" cooling, which may be the option that they turn to instead of a fan, since it would be quieter, as well as real-time configurable, dependent on which components were generating the most heat at the time:
Apple Reinvents the Ionic Wind Generator Cooling System
Seems quite cool to me - until it gets gummed up ...
For those concerned about the lack of a fan -
Apple did patent a system of "ionic breeze" cooling, which may be the option that they turn to instead of a fan, since it would be quieter, as well as real-time configurable, dependent on which components were generating the most heat at the time:
Apple Reinvents the Ionic Wind Generator Cooling System
Seems quite cool to me - until it gets gummed up ...
If 8 ounces make that much of a difference to you, I suggest more time at the gym and less time on the web.
That is the type of "thinking" that knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
I don't think these are ARM macbooks
This will probably utilize the Intel Broadwell M processor, which will also be used for fanless windows 8 hybrids
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/06/03/intel-broadwell-reference/
This will probably utilize the Intel Broadwell M processor, which will also be used for fanless windows 8 hybrids
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/06/03/intel-broadwell-reference/
Agreed, this news story seems confusing. I hope its just a mix up and its a 12.9" or something and its still going to be the 13". I don't see them having a 11", 12", and 13". I will be watching closely, the macbook air line is my favorite right now!
And even if all your "if's" come true, you'll find some other reason to not buy it. "Oh, it's not light enough," or "it's not thin enough," or "well, 14 hours isn't decent battery life," etc., instead of telling the simple truth: "I can't afford it."
There's no question that the Air line is in need of a shakeup. One, it's the only line that still doesn't have retina display, and clearly Apple wants to move everything over to that. Second, the current 13" Air is kind of a hard sell over the 13" rMBP. It also doesn't make sense that the model designed for portability has a larger footprint.
What I see happening is that this 12" Air (which will probably be closer to 13" in actual screen size) will replace both the 11" and 13" Airs. It will keep the same unibody design but add in a retina display. It will probably retail for $899 or $999.
What I'm not sure of is if this will be the first macbook to use ARM chips. Apple wants to ditch Intel and design everything in house eventually, but I don't know if the technology is at that point yet.
What I see happening is that this 12" Air (which will probably be closer to 13" in actual screen size) will replace both the 11" and 13" Airs. It will keep the same unibody design but add in a retina display. It will probably retail for $899 or $999.
What I'm not sure of is if this will be the first macbook to use ARM chips. Apple wants to ditch Intel and design everything in house eventually, but I don't know if the technology is at that point yet.
Possibly, but not necessarily. The MBA would have a 16:10 or 16:9 aspect ratio. The iPad 12 inch would probably be different.
They could, but it would cannibalize sales of the 13" MBP. They can sell a 12 inch for less and make it much smaller and lighter.
No chance whatsoever of this happening. Not enough potential sales to justify the development cost. You don't exactly see a lot of 15" rMBPs out in the wild. You'd see far, far fewer 17-inch ones.
Perhaps the plan is:
Introduce the 12 and drop the 11. Introduce a 14 a few months later and drop the 13. Keep in mind the 13 inch rMBP is smaller (length and width, not thickness) than the 13 inch MBA. They could probably make a 14 inch MBA retina that's similar in size to the existing 13 inch model.
Current rMBP: 12.35 in (314 mm) wide × 8.62 in (219 mm) deep
Current MBA: 12.8 in (325 mm) wide × 8.94 in (227 mm) deep
No way.
I agree with the rest of your post; the Air just doesn't look remotely competitive with the rMBPs.
I think their lineup will be 12" Air, 13" and 15" MBP.
My eyes don't hurt. Love my MBA. Don't want a clunky iMac.
Personal preference.
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My MBA never leaves the house. iPad for that.
I think this will be it.
I also want to mention that the 11" Air never looked like a proper Macbook to me, what with it's weird netbook like proportions and cramped keyboard and trackpad. Hopefully the new 12" Air can keep the same display aspect ratio as the other Macbooks and retain a full size keyboard and trackpad.
Apple is not all about profit, its all about what you need, and yes 17" will sell worse than 15" macbook pro but the mac pro sells even worse but that not stop Apple to rethink and make a new mac pro
My iBook was wonderful in it's day. Now when I boot the iBook it is so cumbersome with the tall display. Hope they don't do that. Widescreen is much better.
It's your kind of thinking that would have us using 8lb "notebooks" circa 1992 because the difference between that and a 6lb notebook shouldn't be noticeable.
We carry more and more devices. Every ounce counts as far a I'm concerned.
As I said, if that's the case for you I suggest more time exercising and less on the web. Sorry, but 8 ounces is utterly immaterial. If someone is so weak that you can't handle that difference, they should work on improving themselves.
You might also reconsider trying to use such wide-ranging and ill-informed comparisons, such as your 1992 'example.' You have zero idea of my 'kind of thinking;' it is sheer hubris that makes you imagine your extrapolation has any value.
With more power efficient design and the space of a 15" air case we could see 18-20 hour battery life.
The range of responses, emotions, and misunderstandings in this thread is remarkable.
That having been said, I can't claim to be privy to Apple's plans more so than the next person.
1) Comparing the iPad to the MacBook line and saying "it can have all day power, no fan, and still power a retina display" is mostly useless from a technical standpoint. iPad benchmarks on Geekbench at 1/3 that of a MBA (mostly CPU and RAM throughput, though totally synthetic). The HD 4600 benchmarks anywhere from 1.5-5x faster than the PowerVR G6430 in the iPad Air in synthetic benchmarks (at full power, which the iPad Air is probably not pushing), according to notebook check (http://www.notebookcheck.net/Imagination-PowerVR-G6430.110717.0.html and http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-4600.86106.0.html). The Intel chips is far more flexible, as well, in terms of CPU and GPU features and instruction sets. As a platform, it is far more robust.
2) It is also staggeringly elitist and ignorant to claim your preferred platform is superior to another, or that another's feature set is invalid. It's baffling just how often this happens on these forums, where we're all ostensibly Apple fans. People like different things for different reasons. Get over yourselves.
3) It would be very surprising if Apple had a fully-prepared OSX platform ready for the ARM architecture. In addition to aforementioned architectural feature set "shortcomings" (I'm not bashing ARM, it just isn't as mature as x86 at this time), there would be a huge host of applications that are suddenly incompatible (think MS Office). Anyone virtualizing ARM on x86 knows how inefficient it is, and that's from a relatively robust architecture to a simpler one. Going in the reverse - particularly on a platform that is supposed to be low-power and efficient- would be an exercise in maddening frustration.
4) And now for some speculation without any technical information to back it up - the 2015 MacBook Lineup:
* MacBook Air (12") - The only MacBook Air, possibly just called MacBook. Broadwell ULV, 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD. Fanless maybe, retina probably. Starting at $899.
* MacBook Pro 13" w/ Retina. Quad Core and 8GB RAM (hopefully). Would not be too upset with a bump to $1399 for the Quad + 8GB, though I doubt Apple wants to increase pricing. So who knows.
* MacBook Pro 15" w/ Retina
That having been said, I can't claim to be privy to Apple's plans more so than the next person.
1) Comparing the iPad to the MacBook line and saying "it can have all day power, no fan, and still power a retina display" is mostly useless from a technical standpoint. iPad benchmarks on Geekbench at 1/3 that of a MBA (mostly CPU and RAM throughput, though totally synthetic). The HD 4600 benchmarks anywhere from 1.5-5x faster than the PowerVR G6430 in the iPad Air in synthetic benchmarks (at full power, which the iPad Air is probably not pushing), according to notebook check (http://www.notebookcheck.net/Imagination-PowerVR-G6430.110717.0.html and http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-4600.86106.0.html). The Intel chips is far more flexible, as well, in terms of CPU and GPU features and instruction sets. As a platform, it is far more robust.
2) It is also staggeringly elitist and ignorant to claim your preferred platform is superior to another, or that another's feature set is invalid. It's baffling just how often this happens on these forums, where we're all ostensibly Apple fans. People like different things for different reasons. Get over yourselves.
3) It would be very surprising if Apple had a fully-prepared OSX platform ready for the ARM architecture. In addition to aforementioned architectural feature set "shortcomings" (I'm not bashing ARM, it just isn't as mature as x86 at this time), there would be a huge host of applications that are suddenly incompatible (think MS Office). Anyone virtualizing ARM on x86 knows how inefficient it is, and that's from a relatively robust architecture to a simpler one. Going in the reverse - particularly on a platform that is supposed to be low-power and efficient- would be an exercise in maddening frustration.
4) And now for some speculation without any technical information to back it up - the 2015 MacBook Lineup:
* MacBook Air (12") - The only MacBook Air, possibly just called MacBook. Broadwell ULV, 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD. Fanless maybe, retina probably. Starting at $899.
* MacBook Pro 13" w/ Retina. Quad Core and 8GB RAM (hopefully). Would not be too upset with a bump to $1399 for the Quad + 8GB, though I doubt Apple wants to increase pricing. So who knows.
* MacBook Pro 15" w/ Retina
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guaranteed to be a retina version with no fan.
It's not like the macbook air is wanting for more power it's pretty much an iPad air with a keyboard right now so it'll be easy to dump the fan and gpu tech means that retina screen will do just fine.
It's not going to be arm but intel low power chips are close enough.
If you want more power you maybe need to think about a macbook pro, they're so thin and light it's already 50/50 between the two if price is no issue.
It's not like the macbook air is wanting for more power it's pretty much an iPad air with a keyboard right now so it'll be easy to dump the fan and gpu tech means that retina screen will do just fine.
It's not going to be arm but intel low power chips are close enough.
If you want more power you maybe need to think about a macbook pro, they're so thin and light it's already 50/50 between the two if price is no issue.
Yeah I'm a software engineer and still use my mid 2009 15" MBP5,3. The current airs are almost twice as powerful.