15-Inch MacBook Air Rumored for 2023, But New 12-Inch MacBook Now Unlikely

[lewchenko]

Another product only to exist to increase the price of the Pro Models further 🙃 the Air feels hardly more portable since they removed the thin part (forgot what it’s called in English) tbh

I saw an M2 air recently in the Apple Store. Some kind of dark blue colour. Covered in finger prints. Looked awful. Felt thick as well without the tapered wedge.
I’m told the starlight colour doesn’t suffer from the fingerprint residue issue like the blue one does.
Either way, the old Air design (shape wise) was better from a look and feel perspective.

 

[lewchenko]

My wife still uses her MacBook 12”. For her needs (Netflix, browsing, email & basic office) she says it works fine still even if I’m sure it’s about to turn legacy and lose support (if not already!) and I’m amazed the keyboard hasn’t stopped working.

A 15inch air would be nice but the current air design is getting chunkier so not sure it will have the same appeal for me.

 

[rkdiddy]

Please Apple do this. This would be the perfect device. Just increase the storage and I will be all over it.

 

[MiloCody]

Forget the 12". Who cares about that size. 15" MBA give meeee.

 

[MikeSmoke]

I love my 2016 12" MacBook and was hoping Apple would bring it back with Apple Silicon under the hood. It's such an elegant and portable design.

 

[DMG35]

Hopefully the only Apple item I buy all year.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I don't even need the +60hz stuff, I don't play fast FPS games on my laptop and that's about the only time it'd be meaningful for me.

We'll have to agree to disagree there
I've been on 120hz with my Hack for a year and it's really hard to go back, even for just normal desktop usage.

Everything is so smooth and just feels "better"

Apple used to be a company that would have recognized how great high hz is (ProMotion) and instead of segmenting their lineups to drive upsells ... put it everywhere as fast as they practically could.

Apple used to identify what's the "best" .. and get it across their lineups.
That was somewhat a function of Steve and his idiosyncrasies and it's sorely missed by some of us.

Now everything is a lemon squeezing operation ... thx Tim /s

 

[turbineseaplane]

Either way, the old Air design (shape wise) was better from a look and feel perspective.

Agree 100%
I loved the wedge and found the m2 MBA to be a very generic feeling downgrade on form factor.

 

[Matt Leaf]

Bummer, but good to know re: the 12".

13" it is then.

 

[fdarby82]

I will be shocked if any version of the Air comes with a "Pro" or "Max" chip. So far, those chips have required a fan, and being fanless is a notable part of the MacBook Air since the M1 came out. If there's an M2 Pro as an option, then will that version of the 15 inch MacBook Air have a fan, and the regular M2 version be fanless? That would seem super weird to me.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

It did cost so much because it "bleeding edge" AND Apple decided it could do big margins on it.

Today everything has a Retina display and modern touchpad and the engineering to make a M1/2/3 MBA work in in slightly smaller case is minimal.

It’s very much not that simple.
That level of portability is very much a luxury, and requires a lot of expensive engineering, certainly much more expensive than the current M2 MacBook Air which is already $1199.
This video goes into much more detail on how the 12 inch MacBook was put together, and how much more complex and different it is to build than Apple‘s current MacBook Air.

Apple absolutely would not be able to just downsize the current MacBook Air and all of a sudden come up with a 12 inch MB that’s only 2lb and as compact as the 2015 MacBook. It very much would not be that simple and it very much would not be that cheap.
Anyone who would think that a 12 inch MacBook would come out and be cheaper than the current MacBook Air is kidding themselves

 

[vegetassj4]

Does Apple think everyone has hands the size of Michael Jordans? WTF is wrong with them killing off small devices?

Why are you picking on MJ? (that's a 21" iPad BTW)

 

[0lf]

I will be shocked if any version of the Air comes with a "Pro" or "Max" chip. So far, those chips have required a fan, and being fanless is a notable part of the MacBook Air since the M1 came out. If there's an M2 Pro as an option, then will that version of the 15 inch MacBook Air have a fan, and the regular M2 version be fanless? That would seem super weird to me.

Yeah, the 13’’ MBA is not able to maximize the M2 potential, so I don’t see much benefits to M2 pro in a fanless design similar to MBA.

 

[AppliedMicro]

Shame I’d have bought a 12 inch MBA to use as a travel machine instead of my iPad Pro

That's exactly why there won't be one:

They're positioning 10" and 12" iPads with Magic Keyboard Covers as notebook replacements.

 

[3xBoom]

I used Macbook 12 2015, and if not for the funky keys, it was a wonderful, light, and capable friend. Would love to see it back with M2+ and decent keys, cellular, and HD video cam. iPad is simply not my kinda device.

 

[jetjaguar]

Hope this is true. Been waiting for a 15" air for a long time.

 

[tstafford]

Was hoping to upgrade my 2019 MBA w/ a 12" MB. Maybe I just bite the bullet and buy a refurb M1 MBA before it's too late. I hate the idea of paying that kind of money for the exact same form factor. Urrg.

 

[Bug-Creator]

It very much would not be that simple and it very much would not be that cheap.

Yeah because noone neverever did a small laptop at reasonable price.....

If Apple wanted to that they could do it and sure it wouldn't be just the M2 Air but also not something completly alien.

Just think about it, the can put M1/2 level chips in iPads (12" and smaller) so why should a 12" laptop be such a problem.

Now as I already said elsewhere, the fact that the M2 13" exists and is a new design means that there won't be a 12" anytime soon, but with the next redesign and a "M5" it wouldn't surprise me if the put the small Air (assuming they will also do a bigger one) on a diet to the point where it is the 12" in anything but the name.

 

[bradman83]

I will be shocked if any version of the Air comes with a "Pro" or "Max" chip. So far, those chips have required a fan, and being fanless is a notable part of the MacBook Air since the M1 came out. If there's an M2 Pro as an option, then will that version of the 15 inch MacBook Air have a fan, and the regular M2 version be fanless? That would seem super weird to me.

I was thinking the same thing. The 15" laptop could be simply billed as "MacBook" and be an in between to the thin, light, fanless and M2-only Air and the beefier 14" and 16" MBPs. The current 14" base model MBP uses a binned 8 core variant of the M1 Pro found only in that model; it's possible Apple uses a similar lower core variant for this consumer focused laptop. That would both reduce TDP and provide a performance differentiation between that model and the higher end Pros.

 

[Shalev Lazarof]

once you hold a 2 pound notebook everything feels like a TANK... my dream machine? 2 pound 14' MacBook Pro.

 

[AppleTO]

Come to think of it, a 15-inch MacBook Air would kind of be like the iPhone 14 Plus. Larger screen with the less powerful CPU. Maybe we will actually get it. I’m sure it would sell better than the iPhone 14 Plus.

 

[C00rDiNaT0r]

If true, prospects sees 13/15" Air's, then if they consider stepping up from the Air to Pro, they get an extra inch of screen real estate, which they immediately see and feel before any benchmarks, as they toy with it or check the specs, they find a more performant chip inside. Is that an easier sales pitch?

 

[lJoSquaredl]

We'll have to agree to disagree there
I've been on 120hz with my Hack for a year and it's really hard to go back, even for just normal desktop usage.

Everything is so smooth and just feels "better"

Apple used to be a company that would have recognized how great high hz is (ProMotion) and instead of segmenting their lineups to drive upsells ... put it everywhere as fast as they practically could.

Apple used to identify what's the "best" .. and get it across their lineups.
That was somewhat a function of Steve and his idiosyncrasies and it's sorely missed by some of us.

Now everything is a lemon squeezing operation ... thx Tim /s

Feels counter intuitive at least when on battery, but I get why some like it if you're doing a lot of swipes/etc or anything that can use it. I personally can barely see it on my phone or laptop, just doesn't do much for me, but I can definitely tell when something is eating my battery faster.

30fps when something is supposed to be 60fps, THAT I can feel lol (and it'd be nice for my screen to switch over to 24fps for movies to save battery as well)

 

[BarredOwl]

i will buy a 15" air. i dont need the beef of a macbook pro but dont want a small screen.

this will be the perfect device for me.

Same here. A day-1 purchase.

 

[Beautiful Opinion]

I have wanted a non-Pro (and non-Pro priced) 15 inch screened Mac laptop since probably 2006. This is great.