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15-Inch MacBook Air Will Reportedly Have M2 Chip
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What about the 13" MBP? No ProMotion, extra ports or Pro/Max processor...
I am really hoping that the new, larger MBA will be announced at WWDC as the first M3 Mac (alongside a 13" MBA bump to M3) - this would be 1 year since the M2 Air was announced. However, with Apple being Apple, it wouldn't surprise me if we get an larger M2 Air in the Spring and then an M3 refresh in the Autumn so they can sell M2 and M3 versions to the same fanboys (I am assuming that the M3 refresh will just be a chip upgrade since the redesign happened last year).
My man, this whole discussion is about the MacBook Air here and whether people need the M3 instead of buying the M2.
I totally get that some people need a MacBook Pro with more processing power, more and faster GPUs and a cooling system that goes along with all of that.
0.0 arguments on that one.
But that's not what this discussion is about.
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It‘s time to retire the ”Air” name and just go back to “MacBook”.
I can’t believe people are calling this Mac lineup complicated.
Things were way more complicated in the last several years of Steve for the Mac, people just don’t wanna admit it.
In 08 There was a 13 inch MacBook Air, a 13 inch plastic MacBook, a 13 inch aluminum MacBook, and 15 and 17 inch MacBook Pro’s.
Three 13 inch laptops with pretty close specs.
and even when that aluminum MacBook became in a 13 inch MacBook Pro, it still stuck with specifications closer to the air and plastic MacBook then it did the 15 and 17 inch Pro.
Even in 2010 when the 15 and 17 inches got the fancy for the time new first gen I5 and I7 chips, the 13 stuck with the old Duos.
People call that easy to understand, but yet two MacBook airs (one big one small) and two MacBook Pros (one big one small) with identical specifications is complicated.
Things were way more complicated in the last several years of Steve for the Mac, people just don’t wanna admit it.
In 08 There was a 13 inch MacBook Air, a 13 inch plastic MacBook, a 13 inch aluminum MacBook, and 15 and 17 inch MacBook Pro’s.
Three 13 inch laptops with pretty close specs.
and even when that aluminum MacBook became in a 13 inch MacBook Pro, it still stuck with specifications closer to the air and plastic MacBook then it did the 15 and 17 inch Pro.
Even in 2010 when the 15 and 17 inches got the fancy for the time new first gen I5 and I7 chips, the 13 stuck with the old Duos.
People call that easy to understand, but yet two MacBook airs (one big one small) and two MacBook Pros (one big one small) with identical specifications is complicated.
Might be the best battery life in any of their laptops.
The MacBook Air isn’t aimed at developers so I doubt it will be introduced at WWDC. Spring is usually the time that Apple announces products aimed at education. A 15 inch MacBook Air will make for a great college machine and a great graduation gift for a college bound high school graduate. I won’t be surprised if it is announced in late March.
Completely agree.
Also the configurations sort of punish the more pro users. I need more than 64gb of ram I hit that limit with my i9 iMac quite often and to go up to 96 to 128 is very expensive.
Im not lacking from the power perspective I can get away with the pro chip as it's that good, but it's multi tasking and physical ram limits. Looking at my iMac now I currently have safari, outlook, music, Acrobat, Lightroom, photoshop, illustrator, indesign premier and after effects, word, excel, teams and messages. Ram usage is sat at 32gbs without any files open. Load a few of the programs up with projects and it hits the limit very easily.
It may seem OTT to have it all open but I use all these apps on and off all day jumping between projects and shutting them down to keep the machine useable isnt a solution as opening and closing multiple times a day takes time.
I tried working from home last week and forgot my 16" MacBook Pro with 32gbs of ram so used my 16gb M1 MacBook Air it handled it all admirably but it hit the limit almost instantly and the machine just fell over and became completely unresponsive. Shutting all the programs down sorted the issue and it was faster than my 16" at everything but multitasking without sounding like an aeroplane.
So its all horses for courses as a weekend content warrior maybe one project a week you can get away with an air and its crazy capable... but when your doing this stuff for a living and I output probably 6-8 projects per day, using a MacBook Air would be unbelievably inconvenient. So to say they are fast enough for everyone just isnt correct. They are great but for specific use case.
That being said the upgrade to the higher memory tiers 32gb to 96gb on the MBP is £800 and 32gb to 128gb on the studio is £1200!!! More than a base m1 air costs which is insane. Like £300 upgrade for my iMac.
Which is why I think they are squeezing the higher end. You use to be able to add all your own and the savings were huge. Which is why im hanging onto my i9 iMac, its a similar speed to the m1 pro which is fine and you get the 27" screen for free.
The lower end its never been a better time.
M2 Chip… really, what a surprise! 🤔
I eat a broom if they show the M3 while still having M1 Ultra in stock 🧹
I eat a broom if they show the M3 while still having M1 Ultra in stock 🧹
It seems like Apple is moving towards updating the laptops (Macbook Air, Pro) every year with the latest M series chips - which makes sense I guess. Maybe the Mac Mini will get this treatment as well. Other desktops, who knows
Hasn't this "Apple's totally gonna release a 15-inch MacBook Air this year, pinky swear guys, it's happening" rumor been going on for at least a decade now? 😅
The part about them putting an M2 chip in a first-half-of-2023 laptop is the only believable part. 🙃
The part about them putting an M2 chip in a first-half-of-2023 laptop is the only believable part. 🙃
Pro tip. You're not supposed to eat them. You're supposed to use them. That might be your issue.
Reallity is:
MBA 13.6"
MBA 15.5"
MBP 14.2"
MBP 16.2"
…just to get things right and make it more complicated 😎
So you pay extra for the MacBook Pro which has legacy ports, fatter, heavier and uglier design, cheap keyboard and no Touch Bar. Well it's weird but it's ok for me since I would have never bought such an ugly laptop. For those "pros" that use/"love" the current ugly model, I have never needed legacy ports, my machine (2016 MBP) is running complex models everyday for 12 to 16 hours and I have never had heat problems, and I love my Touch Bar, it replaces a row of F keys that were introduced 40 years ago at least, so for me not having legacy keys on a Apple product is actually good. PD I had 6 machines since 2002 and hands down the best one is the one I'm using.
Was hoping this would end up being a different model that stood between the Air and Pro with a single fan and M2/M2 Pro options.
Still gonna be a great computer. Just wish it was a MacBook or MacBook Studio, not an Air.
Still gonna be a great computer. Just wish it was a MacBook or MacBook Studio, not an Air.
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The new of the Mac Book Air has the finest and most puristic design Apple has ever thrown on the market with a laptop. This comment comes from a product designer and MBA owner
This 💯
There has got to be a MacBook line that gives us the same fun colors of iMacs and iPads.
That’s just an old model laying around. Will probably be phased out when the M3 arrives.
I would like to disagree but this does make sense from a back to school sales point. They are not going to want to offer a back to school deal on a new computer with the new M3. The same way back to school deals usually end right before the new phone is dropped.
Put an M2 in it and have it part of the back to school sale. Then upgrade the Air's to M3 shortly after the promotion ends.
Only Apple can pick the name.
If this computer is just a larger version of the Air, with the regular M2, then it is an Air not a MBP. The actual sizes are irrelevant, just think of them as the small/larger Air and the small/large Pro.
The large MBP has been 16" since 2019.