M2 not surprising as M3 will be based off the A17 in September. The naming however… if it’s not a MacBook Air, what is it? 
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15-Inch MacBook Air Will Reportedly Have M2 Chip
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M2 (and the whole same design) is what I expect and makes business sense too - the size is the risk here, use what works first.
What I'm curious is how will the larger form be utilized - more batery, more air inside to cool M2 better (as in delay throttling a bit), or overall thinner body with the same performance/battery as 13.
Personally I think they'll prioritize the weight over some crazy additional battery life, it still needs to be Air. And if there's larger 'cooling air pocket' inside to cumulate the heat for a longer time, that's good too (but I'll add thermal pad anyway if I buy it).
What I'm curious is how will the larger form be utilized - more batery, more air inside to cool M2 better (as in delay throttling a bit), or overall thinner body with the same performance/battery as 13.
Personally I think they'll prioritize the weight over some crazy additional battery life, it still needs to be Air. And if there's larger 'cooling air pocket' inside to cumulate the heat for a longer time, that's good too (but I'll add thermal pad anyway if I buy it).
Since this is being dubbed as an air and airs only support one external monitor natively, it’s sinking in this 15 incher will support one external monitor. Then I’m more likely to pick up the new higher res 16 inch lg gram which supports multiple monitors natively.
That is a silly way of differentiating the products. Before M1 all MacBook Air had active cooling. A fan costs pennies, apple should differentiate products giving the ‘pro’ version some actual value (for example starting with more Ram and sad, more processing cores etc) rather than needlessly nerfing the ‘cheap’ tier.
haha thanks.
Always funny seeing all these web surfers commenting like theyre hardcore users, needing more power.
"I nEED 28 CpU CoREs tO CrOP My vACaTioN pHOtoS"
I’m still blown away how fast my wife’s Macbook Pro M1 Pro chip is. I can’t even imagine how fast the m3/m3 pro will be. A 15 inch air seems possible, but I’d imagine it will be heavier compared to the 14 inch pro.
Of course it does. The M-line is relatively big and does not suit initial bad yields, at least not as a first priority. Moreover, the M2 is more than competitive in the market it is put in.
The first 3nm chip will be in the iphone and it will be underwhelming for folks expecting the Intel to ARM kind of gain. That won't happen within the foreseeable future.
The first 3nm chip will be in the iphone and it will be underwhelming for folks expecting the Intel to ARM kind of gain. That won't happen within the foreseeable future.
On the other hand, the larger display could make users not need an external display as much.
This will be fine. Excellent, even!
Honestly, some people are never satisfied. Must be frustrating for them.
Honestly, some people are never satisfied. Must be frustrating for them.
While it's true for the iPads, the Mac seems pretty straight forward.
Small and big desktop. The Mini and the Studio.
Small and big base laptops. The 13" and 15".
Small and big Pro laptops. The 14" and 16".
The 13" MBP is the outlier. It's there for the people who still want the touchbar and/or Tim Apple still has too many touchbars to completely write them off. When we get the Mac Pro, it's going to replace the Studio as the big desktop machine. Especially when we now have the Mini Pro.
Now I really hope the iPads can streamline their lineup down to this simple small and big setup.
A small and big base iPad. The mini and 10.9"
A small and big Pro iPad. The 11" and the 12.9"
I won't be surprised if this is going to be "only" a bigger version of the M2 Air... I mean we just got a redesign a couple of months ago!
Another possible scenario could be a new MacBook-designation in the lineup, probably something like 15-inch MacBook Almost-Pro-But-Still-Kinda-Air 😁
Another possible scenario could be a new MacBook-designation in the lineup, probably something like 15-inch MacBook Almost-Pro-But-Still-Kinda-Air 😁
I'm fine not just using the screen size as the price differentiator. However they really should have just called the new 13" MBA M2 the MacBook. Then kept the previous MBA form factor around and update it every so often with new internals (like a MacBook version of the SE).
So you would have the
13" MBA < $999
13" MacBook $1199
15" MacBook $1499
14" MacBook Pro $1999
16" MacBook Pro $2499
Maybe that is their plan anyway and we will actually see the previous MBA form factor rebranded the MacBook SE at some point as keeping the iconic Air in "newer" models.
I think you’re quite overstating things. It’s actually quite simple.
MBA 13”
MBA 15”
MBP 14”
MBP 16”
The MBA is thin and light for normal consumers. The MBP is bigger, heavier, faster and with more ports for power users.
I don’t see the problem really. How simplified do you expect their lineup to be? Should they just make one laptop?
(The 13” MBP is just left over stock I’m sure, and will phase out when it’s all gone. Don’t expect any updates for that one.)
And I wish that I could give your comment 10 downvotes.
My home machine is a M1 Air. Like you, I have yet to find a task that gives it trouble. It's incredibly quick and handles everything I throw at it with ease.
But....
I am also waiting for my employer to get the 16" M2 Macbook Pro in stock, so that I can upgrade my work laptop. I know that however fast this machine is, it still won't be fast enough for my work tasks and I'll spend a long time waiting for it to complete them.
Just because a machine is fast enough for your needs, doesn't mean that it's going to be powerful enough for everyone. Some of us throw seriously heavy workloads at our Macs that even the fastest machines struggle with.
Having had both MBA and MBP, I recall delight in the MBP 15 (2017). I did consider that the MBA 13 M1 (2020) would probably have had sufficient umph for what I now do but as I have enjoyed having the large screen and so waited on the MBP 16 (2021). Were I to lose use of that then the MBA 15 M2 seems ideal.
I will be surprised if this is not going to be "only" a bigger version of the M2 Air.
Like you said you wouldn’t buy a Macbook air though? Which is what the original point was about.
The differentiator to the pro's is properly going to be a "crappy" screen and some neutered specs like 8GB ram/128GB disk as base.
Forecasts are a tricky business, but there's one aspect of this whole "Wait for the M3" thinking that I can't get my head around.
Current chip production requires neon gas.
~70% of global neon came from an area the Ukraine that is now...um...offline.
~30% comes from China, a country that can't manufacture a high-end chip, but would LOVE to have a political hammer over Taiwan and the US (who just denied China access to high end chips and the talent who knows how to make them)
Watch 18:50 through 21:10 of this video:
He could be completely wrong, but if there's a shortage...what happens to price and availability of the M3?
I fully expect this model to take the crown for longest battery life of any Apple portable. I’m highly intrigued by this product and expect to purchase at least three to replace our employees aging 16 inch Intel MBPs. Hope we don’t have to wait too long!
I’d buy a 15” Air, but I kind of wish it would be the older wedge shape design.