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15-Inch MacBook Air Rumored to Launch in April as Display Production Begins

Hopefully it has a better screen than the M2 MBA. I don't hate mine, but it doesn't hold a candle to my MBP14. It's one of those things you wouldn't notice unless you use them both. But once you notice it, it's hard to unsee.

Also pulling for it to have an M3 (although that seems highly unlikely to me if it comes in April). Want an M3 13" for massive battery life. That's where the Air shines.
 
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Kylo83 said:
just get a MacBook Pro better value, what's the point in this one, whole idea of the air was slim light but the 13 one isn't really anymore
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Ya, but lots of people miss the Johny Ive MBPs, which had no ports or cooling, and they regularly complain about the current “fat” MBPs that don’t fit their lifestyle esthetics.

This will be a good option for them. Options are always good.

As long as Apple keeps making things like the current MBPs, which are actually functional, I don’t care what else they make for other people.
 
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Always disliked the fact that Apple has for a long time correlated size with high end while at the same time occasionally doing smaller high end.

What they always seem to lack is large entry level.

So this MBA 15 is right up my alley. I'm extremely OK with the MBA, I just like bigger screens.
 
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DHagan4755 said:
As I've said before, it wouldn't surprise me if this is the proper replacement of the 13-inch MacBook Pro — and thus this would instead be a MacBook Pro.
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Or, better still, how about just "MacBook"? Something between the smaller, lighter 13" Air, but not so full-tilt "Pro". Just a simple, mid-range MacBook...more than Air, less than Pro. And priced accordingly ($1,499 or so?). Apple used that name on those little 12" models a few years back, so they're not averse to selling something simply called "MacBook", letting this upcoming model sit right between the 13" Air and the beefier, pricier Pro models.

The word "Pro" should mean something, and those current 14" and 16" models actually do (all their processor options, the ports, the display specs, etc.). Replacing the current oddball 13" Pro (which really isn't) with a new size and calling it Pro, but having it positioned/priced lower than the proper 14" Pro is just needlessly confusing...a 14", 15" AND 16" MacBook Pro lineup? No. 🙂

As with "Pro", I also think the word "Air" should mean something. I think calling a 15" model "Air" would be odd. It's automatically going to be a bit larger/heavier, just owing to its screen size, than anything we've ever known as the MacBook Air. So I'd leave off such descriptors and just have it be the mid-range notebook for the mid-range crowd, with a larger display. Just simply "MacBook". Isn't trying to be small and light, isn't trying to be full-on "pro".

To further differentiate itself from the Air, it could even have a fan?

Take the current Air, enlarge it to house a 15" display, add a fan, leave the ports as is (so as not to eat into the Pro lineup's array of ports; maybe putting one on each side for maximum convenience) and play up its "not too small, not too expensive...just right" attributes? I think there would be a market for that (me, for example). And, for the first time in a while, Apple wouldn't have an innacurately-named notebook on their hands.

But you're right: it could/should replace that odd-duck 13" MacBook Pro that's still hanging around. It just doesn't need to further muddy the waters by being called "Pro" (or "Air"), IMO. Make it its own thing...it'll be a size (15") currently not used by any other MacBook, so that makes sense. And all Apple notebooks would now have MagSafe, further unifying the 2022-2023 portable lineup.

Maybe it gets a few more BTO options (this or that core count, etc.).

Whatever it winds up being, one thing I'm certain: it'll still be 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD (the single kind too), at its base price. 😛
 
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WilliApple said:
Why would it matter to you? You just don't have to use it. I know quite a bit of people who won't buy a Mac until they have touch screens.

And if Apple does, I just want an option to turn it off in Settings.
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It matters, because then UI is gonna be touch centric rather than mouse/trackpad centric. Whenever someone caters to the touch based input, everything gets dumbed down to make stuff easier.

Take for example Menu Bar on Mac, that would be nightmare to use on touch screen, because it was created with mouse/trackpad in mind.
 
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Nsully59 said:
Or, better still, how about just "MacBook"? Something between the smaller, lighter 13" Air, but not so full-tilt "Pro". Just a simple, mid-range MacBook...more than Air, less than Pro. And priced accordingly ($1,499 or so?).

I remember that short-lived 14" iBook years ago, but I don't think it did as well as the little default 12". It was just blown up in size, but I don't even think the resolution was increased, so it was as though it was hit with a growth ray, and scooted up about 15-20% in size. I don't think it sold all that well, and most people don't even remember it.

I think calling a 15" model "Air" would be odd. It's automatically going to be larger/heavier, just from its screen size, than anything we've ever known as a MacBook Air. So I'd leave off such descriptors and just have it be the mid-range notebook for the mid-range crowd, with a larger display.

But you're right: it could/should replace that odd-duck 13" MacBook Pro that's still hanging around. It just doesn't need to further muddy the waters by being called "Pro" (or "Air"), IMO. Make it its own thing...it'll be a size (15") currently not used by any other MacBook.

Maybe it gets a few more BTO options (this or that core count, etc.).

Whatever it winds up being, one thing I'm certain: it'll still be 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD (the single kind too), at its base price. 😛
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Plain 'ol MacBook would work for me. Heck, a 15" MacBook Air would be the absolute best! It's just that Apple seems to have shied away from just plain 'ol MacBook branding since the 12" MacBook.

In interviews following the M2 MacBook Air announcement, Apple execs stated that if you need to eke out sustained performance from M2 but don't need a 14" MacBook Pro, it's low-end pro territory and the 13" MacBook Pro would be ideal because of its active cooling. Rumors of this 15" MacBook having the option of an M2 Pro SoC means the whole enclosure is designed around active cooling thus that would tilt it more into a pro notebook category per Apple's previous thinking. You know Apple is!

Edit: It wouldn't surprise me if Apple knows that people generally liked the overall size & thinness of the Intel 15" MacBook Pro (sans the butterfly keyboard BS) & want to appeal to those customers. In my anecdotal experience there is a sea of people who want this 15" MacBook.
 
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