Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Discusses 15-Inch MacBook Air's Design in New Interview
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I didn't know it was fanless. The Intel MBAs had a fan, yet they had the same weight as the 13inch M2 MBA, so they could have added a fan to the 15inch MBA without making it heavier. I was almost decided to buy it, after my first disappointment when learning about its weight (explained by the aluminum preference discussed in the interview, but my wish is lightness, not aluminum). But now, knowing that it's fanless and it throttles (unlike my old 2010 Intel MBA, which triggered its fans instead of throttling), I think I'm passing at least until next year, and I'm keeping my mid-2018 i9 MBP 15inch (which BTW weighs 1.83kg, only 300gr more than new the 15inch MBA).
If Apple won't release a 15inch Macbook with fan and with a weight less than 2kg, I'll need to wait for a long time.
If Apple won't release a 15inch Macbook with fan and with a weight less than 2kg, I'll need to wait for a long time.
I shouldn't be surprised at the lengths people will go to to argue, and yet somehow I am. I was suggesting a modest quality-of-life improvement to the way ports are distributed. Not really needing your snarky-ass response, thanks!Nothing new, when Apple went back to using MagSafe, they also went back to only having a charging port on one side. It had been that way for a long time before USB-C charging. Keep your battery charged and don't plug it in
It‘s actually 43% bigger battery (100/70) and only 25% (wireless web) or 22% (video playback) better battery life. Assuming a constant ratio, that translates to the pixel count contributing 40% or 45% of the power consumption ((1.43/1.3 – 1) / 25|22%). Interesting data point. Thanks for having me do the math.
I agree with you, but a few points: in laptops I don’t see Apple ever bringing back USB-A. Unfortunate because a single USB-A port would’ve been handy. MagSafe has returned with an led on it and if you want additional internal storage you have to add that on during online checkout ($200 per upgrade step), or you can opt to use external storage (not ideal on a laptop). On the other hand Apple did bring back SD Card on the pro laptops and added HDMI, so for them to bring those to a future generation of MBA is not impossible. My 2015 Air has SD Card.
Really shows the people who actually UNDERSTAND engineering talk vs the people who insist that whatever they don't understand must be BS...
What he's saying not only makes sense, it's backed by patents. These SoCs are designed with four levels of feedback on the SoC (and probably at least one additional level outside the SoC operating at the level of the OS).
The shortest feedback loop is based on Digital Power Estimation and operate at a timescale of a few cycles.
A slower feedback loop is based on not instantaneously exceeding the power stored in capacitors all over the SoC and package.
A yet slower feedback loop is based on not exceeding the max power draw the battery can supply (which changes as the battery ages).
The slowest feedback loop is based on thermals and not exceeding a particular temperature.
This stuff is not only non-trivial (no-one else, certainly not Intel, appears to have the DPE based fastest feedback loop), it's also exceedingly important to making the devices both as low power and small as they are -- rapid accurate feedback means the SoC can extremely rapidly swing from almost zero power to maximum performance and back again.
It doesn't have to have the latest fastest chip (if you want that, go for the MBPs), and people are getting them 4 months earlier.
Apple can have my upgrade money (from an M1 MBA) when they put a 15" display inside a current 13" chassis. Those relatively chunky bezels look so out of place in 2023.
Definitely nothing new in the design. Just a bigger MacBook Air. But was good to read the article.
Apple is a master at marketing. The Steve Jobs Reality Distortion Field isn't a joke!
Hi...I'm writing this from my 12" MacBook....I'm hoping as well....I think this won't happen until M3 comes out and that will allow for a thinner notebook due to its core efficiency....the Magic Keyboard will not fit inside the current chassis, thus it will probably need to be a bit thicker and I don't think they want to release a sequel product which is bigger than the ultra-light 12 MB. However, if they can beat the 2.02 lbs weight of the 12" MB and keep it under 2 lbs.....now that would be very impressive. There are only so many risks one company can carry, and with all the drama of the butterfly keyboard in the past and then the manufacturing drama of China last year; I don't think they want those risks at this point. They are just slowly releasing major models and once some of this manufacturing reorganization settles down; perhaps then they will expand the product lines. I'm convinced there's a market for the ultra-light notebooks/laptops; it's just a matter of time. For now, the biggest focus will be making sure they can pump out enough 13" & 15" MBAs and iPhone 15's in the fall without any issues. I seriously think this is the biggest thing on their plate right now; and unfortunately we are caught in the midst of an odd timing issue being that a sequel to the MB12 hasn't been released in six years now. The transition to Apple Silicon, reorganization of manufacturing in Asia, and keeping up with demand are major issues.
Maybe in the next redesign but that sounds like a feature for the pro not the air.
I’d be curious to see a reviewer who actually tests the battery life on the 15” vs the 13”. In some products, Apple sets the battery life listed at a certain level even though the device is capable of a longer run. The Watch is one, it has been listed as having 18 hours battery life for the last several models but in reality is gets much more than 24 hours. I wonder if they list the 15” the same as the 13” just to not favor one model over another.
The M2 13” is slightly lighter (2.8 pounds) vs the Intel ones (2.96 pounds). I don’t know if the fan matters in the weight difference but is probably does in the thickness and the M2 is definitely thinner than the Intel case.
The M1/M2 Airs are so much faster than that Intel MBA that the question of throttling hardly matters. The M2 MBA slows down about 10-15% when it hits its thermal limits. That puts it at about the same speed as an M1 MBA operating at a low temperature. You also need to really push the M2 MBA to get it to that point, usually but pushing both the CPU and GPU at the same time. this throttling is not a failure, it is just how the device is designed to operate to keep within its limits. It doesn’t do any damage and you are unlikely to notice much difference in using the device. The Intel MBA would also throttle and much more even though it had a fan.
For both the 13” and 15” MBA being fanless is a major benefit that extends battery duration and keeps the device absolutely silent.
Why would they not want to favour the 15" if it had better battery life? After all the 15" is an upsell compared to the 13".
Honestly they need to FIRE who ever was the lead designer for this 15" Macbook Air. They FAILED miserably in delivering the WOW factor to the consumers. If they hired me I know I could have done alot better by going through all the Mac forms and creating the perfect thin and light laptop with all the top features that are mentioned over and over again and that alone would have gave them a massive profit margin!!
Apple's hardware design has never been more boring.
I love the M class chips, they absolutely rock, but the visual design has gone downhill fast - from ginormous 16" MPB, to a fat 13" MBA, and now this 15" - I wanted this but it's so meh it's very hard to get excited about.
Apple got an entire Intel chip which is basically a room heater, plus a sophisticated cooling system into a MBP15 that was not much bigger or heavier than this MBA, back in its "thin" era... people were complaining with the obsession of thinness back them but ... it sure looked good!
MBA 15 is the mediocre model everyone was waiting for... must be difficult to introduce a product without even a single wow factor, middling performance, middling thermals (no fan), middling battery life, middling price... (being much cheaper than MBP mainly because it starts at 8/256 configuration, and not much cheaper at a usable 16/1TB....)
I love the M class chips, they absolutely rock, but the visual design has gone downhill fast - from ginormous 16" MPB, to a fat 13" MBA, and now this 15" - I wanted this but it's so meh it's very hard to get excited about.
Apple got an entire Intel chip which is basically a room heater, plus a sophisticated cooling system into a MBP15 that was not much bigger or heavier than this MBA, back in its "thin" era... people were complaining with the obsession of thinness back them but ... it sure looked good!
MBA 15 is the mediocre model everyone was waiting for... must be difficult to introduce a product without even a single wow factor, middling performance, middling thermals (no fan), middling battery life, middling price... (being much cheaper than MBP mainly because it starts at 8/256 configuration, and not much cheaper at a usable 16/1TB....)
The Vision Pro releases early next year with the M2. Something tells me we won’t be seeing the M3 until at least June next year.
I think adding an SD card slot would be pointless but only 2 USB ports isn't enough for me
Also, the minimum storage should be at least doubled. 256GB is pitiful. Doesn't macOS take up like 50% of that?
Also, the minimum storage should be at least doubled. 256GB is pitiful. Doesn't macOS take up like 50% of that?
No it doesn’t.
I’ve got a work laptop with 256GB of SSD. I have documents for all of my projects on it and I tend to collect lots of apps. I have almost 100GB free on that machine. What i don’t have is personal photos, music and video. Those are on my home laptop with a 1TB SSD.
I think whether the base storage is is enough or not really depends on your needs. Someone who doesn’t keep a lot locally, either because they don’t have a lot of files or they use a cloud service to offload their file, will not need much storage and may not want to pay extra. Certainly it would be nice if Apple were to offer more storage at the same price but if it comes at a price increase, that is going to be a problem for some people.
Last edited: