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What to expect for the 2013 MBA?

M

MacPat333

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 16, 2012
140
0
Dubai
Hey guys,

I am patiently waiting the launch of the iMac 27" which I will mostly max out.

Currently running everything from a 10" Asus Eee PC and can't wait for an upgrade. I will however keep the Eee for the daily surfing on the web in the living room while my wife will enjoy her iPad. I don't want to sit in the bedroom with the iMac while my wife will be in the living room, therefore I am thinking about an MBA for next year.

I won't need it now, so I think about waiting for the updated 2013 MBA, but wonder how the update will look like!

What do you guys expect?

Thx
 
MacPat333 said:
Hey guys,

I am patiently waiting the launch of the iMac 27" which I will mostly max out.

Currently running everything from a 10" Asus Eee PC and can't wait for an upgrade. I will however keep the Eee for the daily surfing on the web in the living room while my wife will enjoy her iPad. I don't want to sit in the bedroom with the iMac while my wife will be in the living room, therefore I am thinking about an MBA for next year.

I won't need it now, so I think about waiting for the updated 2013 MBA, but wonder how the update will look like!

What do you guys expect?

Thx
Click to expand...

Pretty much just a CPU upgrade (Haswell)
 
Well we know that retina is at least possible, just the battery issues.. I think retina will be implemented, I know there will be a lot of doubters though..
 
MacPat333 said:
I would hope for a better battery and bigger SSD.
Click to expand...

Highly doubt that. Or if it happens, it will be extremely expensive.

Now, to go from 256 to 500 SSD costs 500 US Dollars, which is an insult to human intelligence.

----------
GrandPhrase said:
Well we know that retina is at least possible, just the battery issues.. I think retina will be implemented, I know there will be a lot of doubters though..
Click to expand...

I would much likely prefer a 1600x1000 IPS display. I think retina is too much. I very much like my Air's display. A 10%-15% increase in pixel density and better viewing angles/color reproduction/saturation would be 'magical'. :rolleyes:
 
Calot said:
Highly doubt that. Or if it happens, it will be extremely expensive.

Now, to go from 256 to 500 SSD costs 500 US Dollars, which is an insult to human intelligence.

----------



I would much likely prefer a 1600x1000 IPS display. I think retina is too much. I very much like my Air's display. A 10%-15% increase in pixel density and better viewing angles/color reproduction/saturation would be 'magical'. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Well I do agree retina is too much, but if they could have 2 types of MBA like the cMBP and rMBP they could have the cheaper one with just upgraded CPU etc. and the higher end with retina, Haswell with a price of like 1700-1800 (similar to 13" rMBP)

And usually retina comes with IPS (more viewing angles etc.) from evidence of 13" rMBP, retina iPad, iPhone 4 retina, etc. as they all have IPS

And also there is competition rising - Samsung displayed a 2560x1600 retina 13" ultrabook at an event, so I think retina has to be included (in the higher end 1700-1800? MBA at least while the lower end remains)

Have your thoughts changed, or remained?.. #
 
Last edited:
Calot said:
Now, to go from 256 to 500 SSD costs 500 US Dollars, which is an insult to human intelligence.
Click to expand...

It definitely is. But I had to do it. My MBA 13" is strictly for use on the go. I have an SD card (128GB) for media files, but just need a large capacity drive to run all my applications and still have room to save files.
 
Haswell CPU/GPU, which should result in somewhat better performance but also much better battery life for the ULV chips. I've read that the TDP on those chips is going from 17W to 10W for Haswell.

Maybe we'll see IPS displays, but at the same resolution.

I don't think we will see a pixel density increase until they eventually go retina in a couple of years. Increasing the pixel density slightly will just make text smaller. Going all the way to the ~220dpi of the retina Macbooks lets you do the UI scaling without noticeable artifacts.
 
MacPat333 said:
I don't want to sit in the bedroom with the iMac while my wife will be in the living room
Click to expand...

Why not. That way no fight for the remote! :D

Incremental upgrades me thinks.

Seeing how expensive the 13" Pro Retina is, I don't expect one soon for the Air. They are trying to position the Air to compete with the Ultrabooks.
 
It will just be haswell. Retina is too new and it just made it to the pro line so apple probably wouldn't put it in the air especially since it a huge drain on battery. Furthermore, it a differentiator and keeps the prices of the air down.
 
Retina display wouldn't make it to MBA. The rMBP is thinner than the cMBP, retina MBA would be very close to retina MBP 13". Makes no sense imo.

The next MBA will get the usual upgrades, Haswell CPU, Intel HD 5000, hopefully 128GB SSD standard in the base-model and 8GB RAM standard in the higher-end models.
 
GrandPhrase said:
Well I do agree retina is too much, but if they could have 2 types of MBA like the cMBP and rMBP they could have the cheaper one with just upgraded CPU etc. and the higher end with retina, Haswell with a price of like 1700-1800 (similar to 13" rMBP)

And usually retina comes with IPS (more viewing angles etc.) from evidence of 13" rMBP, retina iPad, iPhone 4 retina, etc. as they all have IPS

And also there is competition rising - Samsung displayed a 2560x1600 retina 13" ultrabook at an event, so I think retina has to be included (in the higher end 1700-1800? MBA at least while the lower end remains)

Have your thoughts changed, or remained?.. #
Click to expand...

I never thought they would put retina on the 13" to be honest.

I find it extremely overpriced. And you will never be able to run any game more complex than Plants vs. Zombies at native resolution, which is the reason I did not get a 15" rMBP. I would probably get a 15" rMBP when they get a much more advanced graphics card. At least 2GB vRAM.

So I guess no, my toughts remain. A 1600ishx1000ish resolution on the next Air, coupled with improved graphics should make a very capable machine, even more than the 2012 Air.

There seems to be a few variants of Haswell, starting at 10w but some of them I think go above 20+w, there being a 17w one, which would be awesome to get on the next Air as it would make it quite more powerful than this year's.
 
Calot said:
I never thought they would put retina on the 13" to be honest.

I find it extremely overpriced. And you will never be able to run any game more complex than Plants vs. Zombies at native resolution, which is the reason I did not get a 15" rMBP. I would probably get a 15" rMBP when they get a much more advanced graphics card. At least 2GB vRAM.

So I guess no, my toughts remain. A 1600ishx1000ish resolution on the next Air, coupled with improved graphics should make a very capable machine, even more than the 2012 Air.

There seems to be a few variants of Haswell, starting at 10w but some of them I think go above 20+w, there being a 17w one, which would be awesome to get on the next Air as it would make it quite more powerful than this year's.
Click to expand...

Yeah, agree about the overpricing. Guess it's cause Apple is the only one with purchasable retina laptops at this point and with the low yields, Apple has a sort of monopoly for now and has the "right" to raise prices (higher price for retina is definitely justifiable, but there is probably a premium in the cost somewhere)

Actually, the 13" rMBP proved to have much less lag compared to the 15" rMBP if you see tech reviews on prominent sites and YouTube channels, and in certain areas lag was not present. (tldtoday/jon4lakers 13" rMBP review showed 1080P video playing in an editing software while scrolling in Safari and switching between spaces while having minimal jitters) And remember.. the rMBP is a "Pro" machine - the Air is probably for those who want the most portable, so users purchasing will not use it mainly for Photoshop etc that even the next gen graphics will have stutters, but most likely use it primarily for word processing, mini games, web browsing, music, and the like where the next gen graphics will probably make basic tasks very nearly jitter free.

It's fine if you think retina isn't going in the next MBA - part of me agrees too, I guess my desire for retina is trying to keep justifying it being in the next revision.

Also, I don't think Apple will make a partial increase in resolution - only doubling. This is evident in all Apple products that have made some sort of movement for better displays. It will cause fragmentation and developers will have to update apps for 1600x1000 compatibility just for the Air (one device among many iNotebooks). Even the retina iPad doubled, though many doubted it and even the iPad mini is at the iPad 2 resolution. So even if retina is not in the next Air revision, I think the resolution will remain. (Double or nothing)

Just my personal opinion lol.
 
jmpnop said:
Retina display wouldn't make it to MBA. The rMBP is thinner than the cMBP, retina MBA would be very close to retina MBP 13". Makes no sense imo.

The next MBA will get the usual upgrades, Haswell CPU, Intel HD 5000, hopefully 128GB SSD standard in the base-model and 8GB RAM standard in the higher-end models.
Click to expand...

I agree with the upgrades you mentioned, but I think RAM and SSD will stay the same...stock 4gb and 64.
 
Stetrain said:
Haswell CPU/GPU, which should result in somewhat better performance but also much better battery life for the ULV chips. I've read that the TDP on those chips is going from 17W to 10W for Haswell.

Maybe we'll see IPS displays, but at the same resolution.

I don't think we will see a pixel density increase until they eventually go retina in a couple of years. Increasing the pixel density slightly will just make text smaller. Going all the way to the ~220dpi of the retina Macbooks lets you do the UI scaling without noticeable artifacts.
Click to expand...

2x GPU performance. Yeah that is 'somewhat' better.
 
If apple puts Retina display on MBA, then who will buy 13 inch MBP with retina Display?

There has to be some sort of difference between the two. The biggest difference between these two devices are only the DISPLAY.

Apple won't put retina on Macbook air for few more years.
 
jmpnop said:
Retina display wouldn't make it to MBA. The rMBP is thinner than the cMBP, retina MBA would be very close to retina MBP 13". Makes no sense imo.

The next MBA will get the usual upgrades, Haswell CPU, Intel HD 5000, hopefully 128GB SSD standard in the base-model and 8GB RAM standard in the higher-end models.
Click to expand...

With maybe a 16gb RAM option?
 
I hope there will be an discrete GPU for graphics performance. The HD4000 just sometimes isn't enough. There may be a chance of a redesign but I don't think thats gonna happen.
 
I would hope for a standard 128GB SSD, a faster processor and a bit more power for the graphics card. And I believe they should give more RAM as standard, cause 4GB won't be futureproof until 2015 or 2016.

And they should keep the price for te upgrade package.
 
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