Just bought mine. Like the weight. I don’t like the fact that both USB-Cs are on the left. Would really like one on the right. Bought the blue. Great color… but it shows my fingerprints.
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15-Inch MacBook Air Demand Reportedly 'Weaker Than Expected' So Far
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But not the same convenience. You're looking at specs only, and not including usability. It depends on your use, too.
I'd stick my OneDrive files on it, so it would need to always be connected. Not a huge issue but something to connect/disconnect when being mobile and it takes up a port and space.
It is all about the transistors because that is where the displayport sources come from. There are two subsets to the displayport standard. 'regular' DP and 'embedded' eDP. If Apple is making a hyper custom display controller there is no good reason that the eDP that is hooked to the display is also hooked into the pipeline for the embedded Thunderbolt controllers' feed for their DP.
Apple can tweak the eDP subset of the display engine only to do with the display sizes of that generation set of displays ( the 16" MBP panel on down threw the evenutal iPad Air deployment). In contrast, the article you are quoting notes that Apple goes through gyrations to optimize for the > 5K+ for the Thunderbolt ones because they are trying to maximize 'fit' to spur more XDR ( 6K ) displays.
It is likely why the Mini is still 'kneecapped' even when it has no eDP output to drive ( there is some shared resource between eDP and the 2nd external ** ). It is because Apple is super focused on lowering the power consumed to drive the embedded display to a maximum amount (peak perf/watt) that it isn't immediately useful for non Apple panels and/or external displays. The 'plain' Mn SoC has to go into iPads and that factors into its design. The bullk of the M-series is are sold into laptop. That makes laptop (and their embedded displays) are major driver of transistor allocation.
Is TSMC N3's pragmatically larger transistor budget going to 'solve' that? Maybe , maybe not. As noted in that comment by Hector Martin one reason the Display Engines are so big is that they have a huge cache ( which in part is used to save power in special modes on a static screen). Caches do not shrink much with N3 ( N3B somewhat but not as much as the logic does. for N3E not at all versus N5). So the bigger than all the other competitor implementations cache probably isn't getting a huge revolutionary change for N3. And if Apple is 'warming up' to targeting 8K displays.... even less so.
So the transistors that go into all of that DO matter. How the display output streams is all internally implemented on fixed transistors INSIDE the die. Apple isn't routing DP output after it comes out of the SoC.
There is a decent chance that Apple's support of Ultrawide displays will get some incremental improvements as Apple's focus is more so on single, large displays as opposed to 3-4 4K (or smaller ) ones. That is true more so than trying to get Thunderbolt 4 (or 5) certification on the basic 'plain' Mn SoC. TBv3 is 'good enough' and external display gap just pushes a small subset of folks to higher priced models. ( the MBA 15" with bumped up RAM and SSD isn't all that far from a base MBP 14" . If primarily NOT interested in the screen size versus external display numbers... just pay the 'extra' couple hundred $. Supposed 'crisis' solved. )
The Pro ( and of course the Max) are much bigger dies. Once get to multiple Display Engines, then there is 'extra' regular DP output for the also larger Thunderbolt controller subsystem.
** P.S. There is no guarantee that clamshell will be permanent until the 2nd display is removed. Does the system abandon the 2nd external display or simply implode/crash. There is likely a 'hack' in there that is leveraged for the Mini because Apple knows the 'clamshell' mode is effectively permanent. ( And Apples' fanless laptops in clamshell mode ... probably have increased cooling issues. Apple tends to use design that don't have much room for cooling abnormalities from their baseline usage assumptions. )
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The 15" Air also does scaling, so you’d get significantly more screen real estate. The question is really whether you need it - I, for example, do not - I’m totally happy with 13.6 inches and don’t need or want more.
I bought my 13" Air after lugging around a 15" MBP (Late 2013) for almost a decade. The Air has been happily deployed in all of the settings you describe and continues to serve well; I have all the portability and battery life that I need and so am able to spend all day (and most of the night when necessary) on a single charge doing what I need to do.
I really cannot understand how a 15" laptop can be called an "Air" - the whole point of that product line (or so I thought) was portability.
Over the course of this thread I have come across people who do seem to genuinely want a 15" Air; I would be curious to know exactly how they plan to use the device and how it works for them. I would also be curious to know (as I have posted earlier in the thread) how often the 15" Air pushes people to buy either the 13" MBA or the 16" MBP.
I think Apple would sell more laptops if the stores carried more than just the base bones models in inventory.
Lots not folks getting 8gb ram and a 256 MB SSD can be really clueless on what the laptop can not do. At least in 2020, the M1 MBAir had the 16GB and 1TB SSD option in the store which is what I bought.
No amount of Magic will turn the 1TB SSD into a 2TB SSD. I have about 350GB of free space with the files and programs that are installed. It is a great casual use computer. For my more compute complex work, I have the BTO 14" MBPro Max 64GB and 4TB SDSD and my desktop is a BTO MacStudio Ultra maxed out with 128GB Ram and 8TB SSD and most cores.
I am keeping my dinosaur 2019 16" MBPro Intel i9 with 64GB and 8TB SSD. It is over a pound lighter then the 16" M series MBPro.
Lots not folks getting 8gb ram and a 256 MB SSD can be really clueless on what the laptop can not do. At least in 2020, the M1 MBAir had the 16GB and 1TB SSD option in the store which is what I bought.
No amount of Magic will turn the 1TB SSD into a 2TB SSD. I have about 350GB of free space with the files and programs that are installed. It is a great casual use computer. For my more compute complex work, I have the BTO 14" MBPro Max 64GB and 4TB SDSD and my desktop is a BTO MacStudio Ultra maxed out with 128GB Ram and 8TB SSD and most cores.
I am keeping my dinosaur 2019 16" MBPro Intel i9 with 64GB and 8TB SSD. It is over a pound lighter then the 16" M series MBPro.
Mini proves that M2 can drive two external displays of any make. The same chip could do it just like the Mini can do in a laptop. It's a conscious restriction, not a hardware limitation.
Uhm, what about not turning back the internal display until one external is removed? It's so revolutionary they should register at least 10 patents around this solution.
You are presuming that this is in firmware/software. If the hardware switch that indicates 'permanent clamshell' mode is used by the same pins as the eDP out then there is no way to have the panel and also indicate that 'permanent clamshell' are both in play. The physical connections on the Mini are different on the eDP pins. It doesn't have to be a software mutable thing at all.
Yeah it's really strange. And they refuse to bring back an 11" or 12". I don't get it. I'd buy an 11" or 12" Air for sure.
This! Plus, now that MBA have an M1 they’re not going to age as badly before so people will keep for donkey’s years.
'Air' has not been about hyper portability since Apple first dropped the MacBook. 'Air' has been the 'most affordable Mac laptop for over last 10 years.
mid-2010 Macbook go dropped in Feb 2012 ( Over 11 years ago).
MacBook "Core 2 Duo" 2.4 13" (Mid-2010) Specs (Mid-2010, MC516LL/A, MacBook7,1, A1342, 2395*): EveryMac.com
Technical specifications for the MacBook "Core 2 Duo" 2.4 13" (Mid-2010). Dates sold, processor type, memory info, hard drive details, price and more.
everymac.com
The 'hyper portable , ultra lightweight' role was temporarily slapped onto the MacBook in 2015 but disappeared in 2019 (with the aging 2017 MB )
MacBook "Core i7" 1.4 12" (Mid-2017) Specs (Mid-2017, BTO/CTO, MacBook10,1, A1534, 3099): EveryMac.com
Technical specifications for the MacBook "Core i7" 1.4 12" (Mid-2017). Dates sold, processor type, memory info, hard drive details, price and more.
everymac.com
'Air' has never switch back from being the 'affordable' role. Could Apple have 'flipped' the Air back to it very old , legacy role in the 'Big bang' Apple Silicon transition? They could have , but they didn't. They drove the affordable angle. ( the aging MBA M1 being lowest price Apple has offered in long while).
Relative to most of the 15" laptops in the more general PC market the MBA 15" is portable. It is also more portable (and affordable ) than the MBP 14". ( and all of the even older Intel MBP 15" )
10-11" screens are not coming back. Those don't sell relatively well over in the general Windows PC market either. Apple did the 2010 MBA 11" primarily to get to 'cheaper' more so than 'lighter' . The MBA started out as 13" , that smaller option kicked in about the same time Apple pushed 'Air' into the 'affordable' role.
It is better margins to sell two year old M1 MBA 13" than to try to pinch pennies selling a smaller screen that no other system vendor is buying ( i.e, relatively very small economies of scale). The primarily role of the 11" in the line up was to be more affordable. Apple justed moved their "sell 1-2 generation back , older stuff" as playing that role now.
The Macbook 2015-2017 was a play as lighest possible weight. There isn't much of a gap there with the iPad Pro looming in that zone now with the exact same SoC as lowest end Mac laptop. The iPad Pad is also a 'one port wonder' system.
P.S. the iPad Air is also now pragmatically playing the role of "more affordable iPad Pro". It isn't about ultimate 'lightness' (lowest weight) either.
P.P.S. in the overall PC laptop margin the !5" models are high volume sellers (even though many have 'not so great' screens, there are many folks who want bigger pixels because they are easier to see and don't have a > $900 budget.). The MBA 15" isn't going to hit the same price point, but relatively to average "Mac laptop" selling prices it is a substantively more affordable option than the MBA 14" and 16".
It may have fallen below Apple's expectations , but without pricing the same as the general PC market average 15" laptop , it is not going to sell at quite the same higher volume. Throw on top somewhat 'late' in the M2 cycle and results are not all that surprising. Long term it should do better.
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If Apple's looking for economies of scale, they could repurpose the screen in the 12.9" (or 10.5") ipad on a smaller macbook. I just want a very small (and dockable to at least one screen) Apple Silicon laptop.
They just need to merge macOS and iPadOS into one so we'll all be free to have our 11", 13", 15", 17" convertibles.
Maybe for the next generation...
I wanted a 15 inch Air since the very first Air was launched. So I got it, it’s great and I love it but I must say it doesn’t feel like an Air… it’s more like a non-Pro 15 inch if that makes sense. It’s not light enough or slim enough for an “Air”. Having said that, great battery and all round performance, huge improvement in sound and the display is gorgeous. So no regrets!
Precisely why it should’ve just been called “MacBook”
It is touch screen and Apple doesn't want to do touch screens on a Mac. Yeah could be manufactured slightly different to leave the touch layer off , but also at that point different.
And if you add touch to macOS then you are adding expensive to macOS and probably throwing any economies of scale savings on the panel out the window with more software costs.
Attaching a keyboard to an iPad Pro already aligns up with the iPadOS cost structure. No they won't scoop up all of the old MB 12" and MBA 11" fans , but all they need to so is enough to make the keyboard accessary profitable.
And the iPad keyboards don't have to be full sized. ( the keyboard aspect ratio has to match up to the screen and leave room for Apple out-sized Mac trackpads. ).
There were two groups of people that Apple herded into the MBA 11" camp. Those looking for least expensive Mac laptop and those looking for lightest mac laptop top. The bigger subset was very likely the first. When they walk away they talk the bulk of the economies of scale with them. The 'lightest Mac' group isn't the big 'economies of scale' group. It is why the 'Air' got shifted out of the role over time in the first place.
If the MacBook 2017 had been selling like gangbusters , then Apple probably would have slapped a M1 into it the beginning of the transition. They had the case and could probably have kept the screen on 'pause' is threw some money at it.
As you, I work IT with Windows and Apple devices and have no issues with neither of them. Both platforms have advantages and disadvantages. IMO, neither of them is better over the other. Is just a matter of preference. Windows has a big advantage with their enterprise / business ecosystem, that no other company comes close, even Apple.
Regarding Windows devices, you cannot compare all of them to Apple devices. If you purchase a cheap Windows laptop, you'll have a poor experience. On the opposite side, there are many high end Windows devices that are as good or better than Apple devices. In my experience with customers, ThinkPad notebooks are excellent devices. And while Apple has a better trackpad, Lenovo has a better keyboard. Also they are well built, with no flex at all. The same can be said of HP Elitebooks and Z-workstations.
And while is nice to have an Apple Store to bring a device for service, I prefer the on-site service HP and Lenovo devices offer. And there is a benefit of repairable devices a part of upgrades. One of my customer had a motherboard failure, and they replaced it without data loss, since they could pass the drive to the new motherboard. If that happened to a Macbook Pro, you'll have to restore from a backup.
My point is that Apple does great devices, but other Windows PC manufacturers have excellent products too. Same as Windows and macOS, both are excellent, at least in my opinion.
I've been asking for the 15'' MBA for years now, but I have decided to wait, for these reasons (in order of importance to me):
- Too heavy. I tried one at a shop, and holding it on one hand felt not comfortable. If you tend to suffer pain in your back, as I do, every gram is important. We are in 2023, and Apple should innovate in weight. The current MBA offerings (13'' and 15'') don't show any weight innovation for more than a decade now: the current 13'' has in fact the same weight as the late 2010 13''.
- The M2. With the MBA being fanless, fully passive cooling, buying a M2 looks disappointing, because you want as much lack of heat as possible, and knowing that just in one year you'll have a jump from 5nm to 3nm makes you want to have 3nm, specially because it's fanless.
- The notch. These days Apple doesn't want to do something perfect: They brought Magsafe back, but it seems that somebody in the design team said. "Hey! Beware! We are getting close to perfection! Let's trash it". And somebody suggested the notch and the rest couldn't compete with a better idea to go away from perfection.
Not exactly, 15" models are popular because they are the entry level, cheap machines. Only Apple thinks that a bigger machine without justification in specs can be sold at a premium price compared to a smaller laptop.
Slim enough? The difference in height between the 13.6" and 15.8" MBA is 0.01 inches (0.02 cm ). . Talk about " the princess and the pea". It is ridiculous demarkation line. The height of the Intel MBA that the M1 is stuffed into is 0.16 inches (or 0.41 cm) taller. And yet 0.01 is horrendous.... please.
Is the depth ( does't fit on an airplane fold down tray ) bigger? yes. But 'slim'. Really????
As for weight. More glass weighs more. More aluminum weighs more. Apple capped the battery increase so that run time just exactly matched the sibling MBA 13". ( more battery than that would have been more weight). Apple has trimmed what was practically trimmable here without doing goofy stuff ( like bring back the butteryfly keyboard to trim of some micro sliver of aluminum in some fanatical move where less weight is better than a crappier keyboard. )
It is 0.3 lbs ( 0.11 kg) over the Intel era MBA 13" weight. Folks are going to throw there back out over a 0.3 lbs addition to the backpack? Probably not. Leave the old Intel era power supply cable at home on the daily commute and probably a net drop in weight being hauled.
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The demand for a 15" affordable laptop is big.
This model has only been available for a few weeks. Many laptop shoppers have been priced out of 15" Macbooks for years and never had this option. Those people don't need to buy a new laptop immediately.
People don't buy computers on a whim. The 15" MBA will be a big seller, but it needs time to fit in with people's upgrade schedule.
I also agree the base config is hurting sales. The base price is way lower than I expected, but when you make it a reasonable 16GB/512GB then you are looking at $1700 which is a lot for a laptop.
Then there's the issue that the base model has the slower SSD speeds. Not a huge problem, but a step down from previous models, which is weird.
I still prefer it over the $2,000 14" MBP. Bigger screen and lighter weight trumps the MBP features for me.
Another thing about the base config--it takes Apple *2 weeks* (even in Cupertino!) to get a 16GB machine to the store, while you can pick up an 8GB today. Probably turns off some potential customers that they don't have the 16G in stock. I imagine some walk out with the 14" MBP, others just skip the purchase.
I'll probably buy a 16GB 15" MBA next week to replace my 2015 MBP as its display is developing problems. Otherwise would hold out for the M3. Even then, I'm looking at cutting my storage space in half and losing the USB-A and SD ports (these were also on my old MBA!), which I'm not happy about.
This model has only been available for a few weeks. Many laptop shoppers have been priced out of 15" Macbooks for years and never had this option. Those people don't need to buy a new laptop immediately.
People don't buy computers on a whim. The 15" MBA will be a big seller, but it needs time to fit in with people's upgrade schedule.
I also agree the base config is hurting sales. The base price is way lower than I expected, but when you make it a reasonable 16GB/512GB then you are looking at $1700 which is a lot for a laptop.
Then there's the issue that the base model has the slower SSD speeds. Not a huge problem, but a step down from previous models, which is weird.
I still prefer it over the $2,000 14" MBP. Bigger screen and lighter weight trumps the MBP features for me.
Another thing about the base config--it takes Apple *2 weeks* (even in Cupertino!) to get a 16GB machine to the store, while you can pick up an 8GB today. Probably turns off some potential customers that they don't have the 16G in stock. I imagine some walk out with the 14" MBP, others just skip the purchase.
I'll probably buy a 16GB 15" MBA next week to replace my 2015 MBP as its display is developing problems. Otherwise would hold out for the M3. Even then, I'm looking at cutting my storage space in half and losing the USB-A and SD ports (these were also on my old MBA!), which I'm not happy about.