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Any Interest in a 15" MacBook Air?

Should Apple Make a 15" MBA?

  • Yes, definitely! Bring it On!!

    Votes: 49 32.7%

  • No Way! It's all about portability with the MBA.

    Votes: 62 41.3%

  • Don't care. My 11" is perfect for my needs.

    Votes: 13 8.7%

  • Don't care. My 13" is perfect for my needs.

    Votes: 26 17.3%
  • Total voters
    150
Honestly, the 13" MBPr is sooo similar to the 13" air in terms of portability but so many more times more powerful, I don't see why I'd get the 13" air.

But the 11" is def way more portable.
 
rambo47 said:
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.
Click to expand...

Bring it on.
 
Nope. I'm already looking to sell my 17" (last model before discontinuing) and move down a couple screen sizes.
 
Since I use my 13" connected to a 27" Apple Cinema Display when at home (which is most of the time), a 15" model really doesn't matter to me much, but I can certainly understand why those who use the MBA as their only computer and do not use an external monitor would like it.
 
I'm looking for a 15in laptop under 3lbs.

I don't need the power of the rMBP. Neither the CPU or discrete graphics. I love the screen, size and resolution, of the 15in rMBP.

What I want is a 14.5-15in screen, retina quality resolution (developing iPad apps with MBA resolution is painful), 16GB RAM, and the performance of the i7 in the current MBA.

What holds this back technically is two fold:

1) The additional power requirements of the larger screen
2) The additional GPU overhead of the higher resolution

Broadwell probably gives the system enough power savings and a big enough GPU boost to solve both problems, without eating into the current battery life too much.

The larger problem is a non technical one which is a 15in MBA would significantly eat into 15in rMBP sales. By attaching premium features to the 15in form factor Apple is pulling in additional revenue from those that simply want a 15in screen.
 
Raffi said:
15 inch laptops are a dying breed. No one is buying them.
Click to expand...

I believe there's still a healthy market for 15" computers. But 17"-21" notebooks have fallen by the wayside. I could understand the appeal of 17" despite the fact that I'd never want to carry around something that big, but I always thought the 20+" Windows notebooks were pretty ridiculous. Crap battery life and atrociously heavy. No thanks.

EDIT: On topic, I don't have any desire for a 15" MBA, I almost worry it would feel too fragile. I also think Apple would rather push their retina display in the 15" rMBP.
 
Raffi said:
7 out of the top ten are 13 inch and smaller. 14 out of the top 20 are smaller than 15 also. I know there is a market for 15 inch but it isn't huge.
Click to expand...

3 of those machines in the top 10 are three different configs of the same Windows convertible. Pull in two unique machines and you have 5 of 10 in the top 10 are 15.6" displays.

In fact 11" and 15" are the market. There is only 1 13" screen in the top 10. 13" is the one that is dying.
 
Kurso said:
3 of those machines in the top 10 are three different configs of the same Windows convertible. Pull in two unique machines and you have 5 of 10 in the top 10 are 15.6" displays.

In fact 11" and 15" are the market. There is only 1 13" screen in the top 10. 13" is the one that is dying.
Click to expand...

Doesn't matter they are on the list and that list is conducive to the market. Those 15 inch laptops are for the most part cheap laptops. Other than the rMBP their really isn't very many good 15 inch laptops that aren't built for sitting on a desk in a office. 15 inch will stay around but will probably never be ultra portable like a air.
 
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Raffi said:
Doesn't matter they are on the list and that list is conducive to the market. Those 15 inch laptops are for the most part cheap laptops. Other than the rMBP their really isn't very many good 15 inch laptops that aren't built for sitting on a desk in a office. 15 inch will stay around but will probably never be ultra portable like a air.
Click to expand...

Sure, they are 'cheap' laptops but 15in laptops non the less. Making a definitive statement saying nobody is buying a class of product when it is still one of the most popular classes is just silly.

And I don't believe anyone is expecting a 15in Air to be as portable as a 13in air. It will be bigger. it will weight more... I would call that less portable. But can't a 15in Air be more portable than say a 15in rMBR? Without a doubt yes.

In fact there are laptops with bigger screens than the rMBR that weigh less. The Samsung ATIV 9 15.6" for example weighs a full half pound less than the rMBP.

So yes there is a market for it and it can be done.
 
I would order a 15" MBA immediately. I love my 13" MBA and would use it exclusively - in spite of the low voltage processor - except I need a higher resolution screen.

At work I'm tethered to an Apple cinema display but when working on the road/coffee shop/bookstore, I could never get by with the 1440 X 900 resolution.

Must support 16 gigs of RAM. A little lighter and a little thinner... would love it!
 
Since the 13" MBA has almost the same footprint as a 15"MBP a 15" MBA I think would have an even larger footprint.
 
sdimas said:
Since the 13" MBA has almost the same footprint as a 15"MBP a 15" MBA I think would have an even larger footprint.
Click to expand...

The rMBP was designed after the current MBA design. Even if Apple gave me a 15" MBA with the same outer dimensions of the current rMBP, just made it tapered and lighter, I would buy it in a heartbeat.

In reality I'd be happy with a 14" rMBA. They could likely keep the same form factor of the current 13" and keep the same weigh, assuming Broadwell allows them to reduce weight (smaller heat sink surface, smaller fans, etc...)
 
There might be interest in a 15" Air, but I don't believe it's in the cards.

The retina models have accomplished many of the same things the Air line was created for. A 15-inch "Air" form factor is unnecessary. I fully expect that we will have a 12" Air with Retina sometime next year and the wedge shape won't come with it. The 13" MBP will disappear (maybe sticking around for edu only). Then, once it's cost effective, the Air as we know it will be dropped, and we will only have the Retina line that keeps the same form factor as it currently has.
 
jdechko said:
There might be interest in a 15" Air, but I don't believe it's in the cards.

The retina models have accomplished many of the same things the Air line was created for. A 15-inch "Air" form factor is unnecessary. I fully expect that we will have a 12" Air with Retina sometime next year and the wedge shape won't come with it. The 13" MBP will disappear (maybe sticking around for edu only). Then, once it's cost effective, the Air as we know it will be dropped, and we will only have the Retina line that keeps the same form factor as it currently has.
Click to expand...

I don't expect to see a 15" Air either. Not because It won't improve over the MBP 15" but because it will eat to much into it's premium revenue and margins. I suspect they can make a 15" MBA at around 3.5 lbs. That would be a full pound under the current rMBP. It is more likely that we will see a 14" rMBA, possible in a slightly smaller (or same) footprint than the current 13".

The 14" screen will tie the performance and form factor together, which Apple loves to do, while protecting the rMBP revenue from to much canibalizarion.

Id love a 15" rMBA but will happily purchase a 14".
 
I'd buy a 15" rMBA in a second.

I currently have a late 2008 15" MBP (I love it, it's been bullet proof, but I'm secretly hoping it will finally! die so I can have the excuse to buy a new one 🙂 ) that weigh's 'at least' 5.5 lbs 🙁 I say 'at least' because picking it up after using my wife's 2013 11" MBA makes it feel as though it weigh's 50 lbs! I lug it everywhere from my music room out in the garage to the living room to the bedroom it rarely sits in one spot throughout the day. Besides being outdated the main thing I hate about it is the weight, and the HOT! bottom side that cook's my lap and leaves the touch pad almost unusable. When it's on a table I usually prop it up using something small just to keep air circulating underneath.

I'm older so I really like the larger 15" screen. The 11 and 13" displays just look small to me. When I zoom in on the 11" screen to where I like it much of the overall screen picture is gone. A sharp Retinal Display would be even better for me. I'm guessing a 15" rMBA would weigh about 3.5 lbs, at least 2 lbs less than what I'm lunking around now. That doesn't sound like much of a weight savings but it's huge by the end of the day. If I was carrying it with me around town then I'd agree that 13" would be a maximum size for portability reasons.

I'm hoping to have a new laptop by the end of the year. If it's not an rMBA then it'll have to be a rMBP. I just hope by then I'll have my choice of 15''er's 🙂
 
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