Any Interest in a 15" MacBook Air?

[rambo47]

I've always considered the 15" Mac laptops to be the sweet spot in the lineup. It's all about personal preferences and the compromises between portability vs. usability. One thing that has me totally smitten with my MBA is the insanely great battery life. I originally went to my local Apple Store with the certainty I was walking out with the 11" MBA. However, after using both in the store, I walked out pleased as punch with the 13" model. It's awesome for my uses. I'm the Recording Secretary for our lake association and my MBA picks up my Wi-Fi signal from across our small lake! As long as I'm line-of-sight with my house I get a strong signal from my home network at a range of maybe 250-300 meters with my AirPort Extreme Base Station (the tall tower model). But I do hunger for that additional screen real estate a 15" model would give me. Anybody else thing a 15" MacBook Air would be a spiffing addition to the lineup?

Of course I'm assuming the bigger screen wouldn't kill the battery life that's so important. But perhaps a *slightly* larger battery could be used. The weight penalty for stretching the battery wouldn't be that great going from a 13" case to a 15" case. I'd be shocked if it added even a 1/4 pound, and even that would be acceptable to me.

 

[Boyd01]

Not me. I went from a 2008 15" MBP to a 2011 13" MBA to a 2013 11" MBA. The 11" is my favorite Mac ever, and I have owned almost all of them since the 512k "Fat Mac" in 1985. #

Nothing wrong with 15" screens - when I replaced the 15" MBP in 2011 I even considered the 17" MBP as an alternative. But I'm fine with keeping the larger machines in the "pro" category.

 

[Mrbobb]

No interest here in what I call "ten commandment tablets." Folks who carry these things around reminds me of Moses ^).

 

[rambo47]

I figure that with something as small/light as even the 13" MBA there is room for a little more screen size before it gets ridiculous. But that's just me.

 

[0983275]

It kind of exists in the form of a 15" rMBP, it's thin, and it's lighter than most laptops of that size.

What they could do is to make the bezel of 11"/13" Air thinner so they can fit in a 12"/14" screen without changing anything else.

 

[flowrider]

Heck No

Lou

 

[rambo47]

It kind of exists in the form of a 15" rMBP, it's thin, and it's lighter than most laptops of that size.

What they could do is to make the bezel of 11"/13" Air thinner so they can fit in a 12"/14" screen without changing anything else.

Edge to edge screen on the 13" MBA frame would get it very close to 15". I'd go for that even more than expanding the frame for a 15" screen. Best of both worlds!

 

[ezekielrage_99]

If you asked me 2 years ago, the answer would be yes.

I think a 15" iPad is where the money is

 

[big samm]

Nope i just bought a 13' MBA because i was tired of my big and heavy 2008 macbook pro...
The battery in the mba is phenomenal

 

[maflynn]

I don't see it happening, you're not going to gain too much space/weight savings. The cost will be close to the MBP, it will be slower presumably because they'll use the ULV version of the intel chips. Of course that will make for better battery life.

All in all, I think for an inexpensive light, portable computer the 15" MBA fails most of the metrics needed (not inexpensive, light and very portable)

 

[rambo47]

Ya know, for a minute or so I was actually thinking Apple might show a 15" MBA at WWDC. "Da-Nile is not just a river in Egypt," huh?

 

[HarryWarden]

Never going to happen as I expect Apple to go to a single MBA 12-inch model as rumored. I just hope that if they go retina, it somehow isn't plagued by the image retention issues that the Pro models are (fat chance, right?). A single Air model will make marketing easier and give them fewer SKUs/simplify their product lineup.

 

[Saturn1217]

Nope.

I don't think a 15inch air could be light enough to be considered in that category. A 15-inch air would probably be ~3.5-4lbs. At that point going to 4.5lbs really doesn't make much of a difference. If I'm going to have an ultraportable I want it to feel like I'm not carrying a laptop and anything over 3lbs will feel like a laptop in my bag.

I'm sure that over time even the 15" rMBP will have MBA like battery life so if that is all you want you probably just need to wait a few more years.

 

[rambo47]

Nope.

I don't think a 15inch air could be light enough to be considered in that category. A 15-inch air would probably be ~3.5-4lbs. At that point going to 4.5lbs really doesn't make much of a difference. If I'm going to have an ultraportable I want it to feel like I'm not carrying a laptop and anything over 3lbs will feel like a laptop in my bag.

I'm sure that over time even the 15" rMBP will have MBA like battery life so if that is all you want you probably just need to wait a few more years.

I'm not good at waiting a FEW MONTHS. And you're saying I should wait A FEW YEARS??? Oh, I don't see that going very well at all.

 

[gmanist1000]

If they can keep the same weight as the 13" then I'm all for it.

 

[rambo47]

I'm not good at waiting a FEW MONTHS. And you're saying I should wait A FEW YEARS??? Oh, I don't see that going very well at all.

Don't get me wrong - I'd LOVE an MBP with the battery life of the MBA. And I could deal with the extra weight. But I'd prefer the ultra slim MBA form factor and light weight if I could have it.

 

[savetheunstable]

I'm in the minority I guess, I think the 11 is perfect. Super portable when I need it to be, otherwise a perfectly sufficient machine when hooked up to an external monitor as I have it the rest of the time.

Interesting poll though!

 

[DiscardedPacket]

same weight / form factor.... but with an almost bezel-less screen....

they could fit a 14 - 14.5 in there....

Or even if they did this and made it slightly bigger to fit in a 15, would be good.

----------

and, the retina 15 is not an air....

not even close. Yes, its thinner than most laptops, but its weight is not in ultra book territory. I have a rMBP 15, and an air... and I notice a massive difference.

 

[BIS2]

I have a 15 mbp pro now but can't afford to get a new one at the retina prices, so I'm stuck going to a 13" air. I would kill for a 15" air!!

 

[SmOgER]

Out of interest I just measured it and gotta say that by making the bezel narrower, current 13 MBA could fit at least 14.5 inch display without any problems...

14.5'' = ~36.5cm
total diagonal including bezel = ~38.5

The only downside tho is that the laptop would become marginally thicker on the edges, but it would be still obviously way way thinner than rMBP.

 

[SMDBill]

I wouldn't own one. I moved from an 11.6" Chromebook to a Macbook Air 13" because my laptop needed replacing and I wanted a Mac again. The 13" Air is as large as I wanted to go because a 15" laptop feels too large in my lap, which is literally where I always use my computer. My eyes don't require larger than 13" and I would stick to 11.6" if it were a bit more user friendly (fitting stuff on the screen with easy readability for my 40+ eyes).

 

[SmOgER]

The 13" Air is as large as I wanted to go because a 15" laptop feels too large in my lap

How come this is even an argument after everything I just wrote?

 

[SMDBill]

How come this is even an argument after everything I just wrote?

It's not. It was an opinion in response to the OP since I just went through the considerations to ultimately decide on the 13" MBA. I would have quoted yours if I were disagreeing.

 

[Hildegerd]

Yes, please. Thank you, a 15" would be my dream machine.

 

[rambo47]

Yes, please. Thank you, a 15" would be my dream machine.

Mine too! My favorite Apple laptop was my 15" G4 PowerBook in terms of size. My wife had the 17" and it was unwieldy - an aircraft carrier of a laptop. 13" is nice, but for me the 15" models are the sweet spot. So putting. 15" screen (retina display if possible) in the flyweight MBA chassis would be ideal.