Accessory Manufacturer Claims 15-Inch MacBook Air Coming in April

[JohnDoe98]

I think Apple sees Thunderbolt as the gateway to making even thinner products. Anything that you only sometimes need can be excluded but added externally via Thunderbolt.

Exactly, and I for one welcome the change. And yes, for the record, I often find the need to use Ethernet cables. I'll happily use an adapter for those occasions though.

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Not really sure how this would be a problem for the pro.. still poor graphics, little memory/no expandability and a much less powerful ULV CPU... this isn't for professionals.

Removing the Optical drive allows for quite significant redesigns that would allow for thinner and lighter laptops. They could easily maintain user replaceable ram and the high-end CPUs and dedicated GPUs. Now, if in the end they must maintain a certain minimal size that allows for ethernet ports, sure throw one in. But if they can get it to the size of the MBAs while keeping the dGPUs and quad core CPUs, I say chuck out the bulky ports.

 

[cult hero]

I would have picked up the 13" Air on its last release cycle if the RAM weren't limited to 8GB. So, here's to hoping we get über displays on the next refresh.

 

[Ironduke]

Still the best thing is that optical obsolete DVD drives are OUT!! Finally!
If you want play with them, you surely can use external DVD/BR for that and with ThunderBolt/USB3 it will be fast too.

DVD out --> more batteres in. THANK YOU

And we dont need too may expensive ports either, USB3 and TB is enough if there is 1gb WiFi as rumored...

SD card reader? Useless too. USB SD Card reader is about 5 dollars and size of post stamp and my Canon came with an USB SD reader.

Retina? Perhaps, as Samsung showed off year ago 2560x1600 display on tablet.

But 1920x1200 would be enough too for 15" screen.

It will only be good enough if mac os scales everything properly or things will just get stupidly small

 

[ANinjaPeanut]

Still the best thing is that optical obsolete DVD drives are OUT!! Finally!
If you want play with them, you surely can use external DVD/BR for that and with ThunderBolt/USB3 it will be fast too.

DVD out --> more batteres in. THANK YOU

Obsolete DVD Drives??? Hardly!
DVD drives are far from obsolete, maybe where you are if you have good internet, but not for the majority of people. The max internet speed I get in my area is 3 Mb/s. Can you imagine downloading & installing a program such as Logic Pro over an internet connection that slow? It would take days! With a DVD it's a few hours.

 

[s2h2golf]

So now Apple should factor in people's negligence into their design of products? I hope your post was intended humorously.

What? Hopefully you're just trolling here. It's not negligence, it's just dealing with people that travel a lot, do field work, etc. We've had laptops come back from being out in the field with broken cases and hinges before from accidently dropping equipment on the laptop bag. The point is the functionality is currently in the 13" and 15" MBPs as they stand now.

 

[xinu]

Obsolete DVD Drives??? Hardly!
DVD drives are far from obsolete, maybe where you are if you have good internet, but not for the majority of people. The max internet speed I get in my area is 3 Mb/s. Can you imagine downloading & installing a program such as Logic Pro over an internet connection that slow? It would take days! With a DVD it's a few hours.

And you cannot use an external DVD drive ? it is about 29 dollars

 

[JohnDoe98]

What? Hopefully you're just trolling here. It's not negligence, it's just dealing with people that travel a lot, do field work, etc. We've had laptops come back from being out in the field with broken cases and hinges before from accidently dropping equipment on the laptop bag. The point is the functionality is currently in the 13" and 15" MBPs as they stand now.

Loss of adapters is negligence. That shouldn't be a factor as far as Apple is concerned. You might tolerate it in your line of work, but you haven't explained why Apple should care. If anyone is trolling, I fear it might be you. We are talking about a 15" MBA and whether or not it can successfully replace a MBP. You enter the discussion complaining about people dropping their computers and losing their adapters. Way to push the discussion forward.

 

[JGowan]

About the MacBook Pro....

Personally, I think optical drives are used so infrequently by the masses that making the few have to buy the $79 external SuperDrive so that the product improves IS the right choice. Personally, I'd buy the SuperDrive and I have no problem having to shell out the money... I won't use it often but it'll be there when I need it. In the meantime, I'll be enjoying my super-thin MacBook Pro whenever they decide to go that route!

 

[ANinjaPeanut]

And you cannot use an external DVD drive ? it is about 29 dollars

Cos' it's totally convenient to drag a DVD drive about with you everywhere.

 

[justperry]

I have to say, I'm still using a 2005 15" PowerBook G4. There's absolutely nothing wrong with it except that the battery lasts about 15 seconds so it's lost its "portability." However, it's still as blazing fast as the day I bought it. I haven't always taken great care of it (used to toss it on the floor and bed in college), but I honestly don't think it'll ever die. It's a quality machine in every sense of the term.

Now I need a new laptop for grad school, but I'm a little worried about the quality of these new Apple computers. From reading this thread there seem to be a lot of issues with MacBook Airs. I haven't bought an Apple product in years and they say you shouldn't buy a new car built during a recession - I'm starting to wonder if the same is true for computers. I need somebody to convince me to make the "leap"!

I am in the same boat and agree there is not much wrong with it, especially now that I removed all the non PPC code from library and binary files.
My battery last half an hour, which is fine with Me.
Thought about a new Mac many times but spending a lot of money for what, just to have a new shiny machine, if I had plenty of cash, hell yeah.

 

[pacalis]

Still the best thing is that optical obsolete DVD drives are OUT!! Finally!
If you want play with them, you surely can use external DVD/BR for that and with ThunderBolt/USB3 it will be fast too.

DVD out --> more batteres in. THANK YOU

And we dont need too may expensive ports either, USB3 and TB is enough if there is 1gb WiFi as rumored...

SD card reader? Useless too. USB SD Card reader is about 5 dollars and size of post stamp and my Canon came with an USB SD reader.

Retina? Perhaps, as Samsung showed off year ago 2560x1600 display on tablet.

But 1920x1200 would be enough too for 15" screen.

All seems reasonable to me. Don't know why people are voting down.

I find the MBA screen resolutions to be ridiculously limiting. The ability to have two applications side by side is perhaps the most important feature in productivity software, and unfortunately it's only really heavy laptops or the z-series sony that have the capabilities to deliver that.

I use a dvd drive once every 6 months, and even then it's not on the road - so whatever the next 15 is, I want it to have a minimum 1080p (pref 1200p screen) and no dvd. That's all I really care about.

 

[Fargard]

Cos' it's totally convenient to drag a DVD drive about with you everywhere.

You don't have to take it with you everywhere. If you know in advance you won't use it -> don't take it, save weight and space.

+ I want my updated 13" MBA with Ivy Bridge asap. 15" would be too big (for me!)

 

[ANinjaPeanut]

You don't have to take it with you everywhere. If you know in advance you won't use it -> don't take it, save weight and space.

+ I want my updated 13" MBA with Ivy Bridge asap. 15" would be too big (for me!)

I could offer some scenarios but I'm not trying to start an argument or anything, guess I did come off a bit aggressive ^_^ sorry lol.
I think it'd be a terrible move for Apple to replace the 15" Pro with a 15" Air, the 15" Pro is pretty much perfect IMO. Perfect balance between portability & power.

 

[lucasmonger]

There is Ethernet... sort of

No ethernet?

If they do drop the 13/15" pros, I guess i'm going to be replacing my works laptop with a Windows device.

I can (sort of) understand leaving the ethernet out of the Air, although there are still plenty of hotels with in room ethernet only. Dropping the smaller form factor Pros though would be a big mistake, IMHO.

I don't doubt Apple would, mind you. A simplified line-up with the 17" holding out on the 'Pro' label, and getting increasingly less updates and love, is what Apple are all about.

Although the 11" MBA I carry doesn't have an ethernet port, I have 2 USB to ethernet dongles - one for my desk and one for my travel bag. Small price to pay for the diminutive size that the MBA has. Since I rarely ever burn or watch DVDs anymore and there's always the Remote Disc feature to use another Mac or PC DVD, I really don't miss the lack of a Superdrive.

 

[Mojo1]

I Hope It Has A Better Display Than The Other MBAs

To put it succinctly: they suck!

 

[s2h2golf]

Loss of adapters is negligence. That shouldn't be a factor as far as Apple is concerned. You might tolerate it in your line of work, but you haven't explained why Apple should care. If anyone is trolling, I fear it might be you. We are talking about a 15" MBA and whether or not it can successfully replace a MBP. You enter the discussion complaining about people dropping their computers and losing their adapters. Way to push the discussion forward.

Not worth it. I expressed my opinion that a 15" MBA could not replace a 15" MBP successfully in our line of business, without having to add USB adapters that could be lost, broken or misplaced. My first post was that our contracts require a hard-wired network, that was it.

 

[xinu]

Cos' it's totally convenient to drag a DVD drive about with you everywhere.

pfffff

External DVD drive is about same size as dvd covers are?
You are willing to drag around a buch of DVD's but that tiny little external DVD player is too much? Even when the laptop itself, is smaller than before?

Again, no logic at all.. Not at all

well this is pointless anyway because the new MacBook models are already designed and they manufacture those as we speak, and there will not be DVD on those machines and I am so happy about it.

 

[lucasmonger]

Xcode for IOS, no way!!!

Agreed. Why spend all the R&D money on Pros when you can get bigger profits on Airs/iOS devices? I'm not saying I like it, just saying that that's how business works.

Something I wonder about: if/when Xcode is ported to the iPad, how long would Apple keep developing Macs? How do iDevices compare to Macs in terms of profit?

Having used Xcode in a Mac Mini with a 23" Cinema Display, I can't imagine trying to do code development on a 1024x768 display of the iPad. There is too much keyboarding, mousing, right mouse clicking, dragging and resizing, etc. to make using Xcode on an iPad a productive or enjoyable experience.

 

[xinu]

All seems reasonable to me. Don't know why people are voting down. .

Because the logical reasoning and truth hurts them. And I always slam the truth on peoples faces and they get upset and vote me down.

There is no need for optical drives anymore. They are bad for mother earth too, millions of tons plastic CD / DVD garbage everywhere and it is useless.

USB Sticks are best for installing everything they are cheap, ecological re-usable, durable, fast.

 

[garybUK]

Funny, my late 2007 MBP's battery lasts 3 hours on lion and is rumored to be much better in ML. I think you just need a new battery. As for the optical drive... Who really needs that nowadays anyway. I chucked mine out a while ago and added a second HDD in the laptop. Lion runs very smooth when you upgrade the machine to 4gb ram. I'm also always impressed how much faster my 2007 MBP is compared to my other family member's 2011 MBA.

As for lion eating up your HDD. Turn off Mobile Time Machine and everything will become normal again concerning HDD usage. I think you just need to optimize your MBP, not get rid of it.

I do need a new battery, in fact this thing has gone through 3 of them despite me following Apple's guidelines, shocking! Optical drives I do need as I burn DVD's, granted digital storage is the future, and infinitely easier to carry... but ....

I disagree, Apple sell Time Capsule but your telling me I can't back up my machine because it's eating up all my space, Lion is a joke, complete joke, i hate to think how 64gb SSD users get on!!

My Macbook is optimised, but truth is Lion = Vista!

P.S. I DO have 4gb ram!!

 

[jmgregory1]

Not worth it. I expressed my opinion that a 15" MBA could not replace a 15" MBP successfully in our line of business, without having to add USB adapters that could be lost, broken or misplaced. My first post was that our contracts require a hard-wired network, that was it.

Personally, I take the risk of losing the adapter, rather than changing the design to accommodate the network connector - but I'm only using it so very occasionally that it's almost pointless having it.

I'll say that I've had more times where I've been asked to run a presentation and the projector is a 5+ year old model that has usb (but it doesn't work right, because a lot of the projectors were just not made for anything but use by an old school pc using a vga plug) and I'm having to apologize for not having a vga plug.

 

[pkson]

If true: YESSSS!!!!

If not: I'm getting the 11" MBA for portability, and keeping my 15" MBP.

 

[bobobenobi]

Try video conferencing for one.

You can video conference just fine with a 100Mbps connection.

 

[benspratling]

...
3rd party has this solved. I realize some folks like OEM installed RAM (for things like Apple Care coverage), but it’s an option (and significantly cheaper).
...

All my crashed RAM came from Crucial, not Apple.
That said, can you provide a link to a 8 GB MacBook Air RAM upgrade? I didn't find one, but I did find this forum which said 'no'.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1232449/

 

[JohnDoe98]

I disagree, Apple sell Time Capsule but your telling me I can't back up my machine because it's eating up all my space, Lion is a joke, complete joke, i hate to think how 64gb SSD users get on!!

No, I didn't say turn off Time Machine. I said turn off Mobile Time Machine. Starting with Lion they added a new feature in Time Machine that does Local snapshots when you aren't connected to your time capsule. Those snapshots are added to your time machine backup later when you get home.

The problem is that it eats up your HDD. So you can turn it off and have Time Machine work exactly as it did in Snow Leopard. You will get hourly backups when connected to the network your Time Capsule is connected to, but when you aren't connected nothing happens and it just waits for your return.