Apple Expected to Release New MacBook Air at End of Third Quarter: September or October

[Tech198]

dam.. and i just got an Air... The only things i wish Apple could is if they are gonna introduce a Retiina screen in the new Air, the also move the Thunderbolt port to the their side of the machine next to the Megasafe port (like a Macbook Pro's)

The port, being on the opposite side, is just inconvenient. and now i need a longer Ethernet cable for the times i do use eithernet while using the laptop.

 

[David G.]

Nope, people were clamoring for Touch Bar.

Ive heard newer MBP owners clamoring for function keys, I’ve not heard this!

 

[pier]

The MacBook Air is the only MacBook line that has an TN Screen. And they are cheap. Even if Apple does 1080P Res, which arguably is not Retina for Apple would still be much better

I have a 2 year old Chromebook that cost me $200 and has an IPS display. Honestly, 1080p at 13'' is not retina but it's more than decent and it blows away the current Air.

It's absolutely ridiculous that Apple still sells a laptop without IPS. The display on the current Air is like 6 years old at this point.

 

[Jimmy James]

Yep, and it'll still have the "Industry Standard" (as of about 2007) resolution of 1280x800.

My fairly standard laptop purchased in 2007 had 1440x900

 

[drewyboy]

Whatever Apple has in store, I have a gut feeling they're going to disappoint their most die-hard base by neutering the MacBook Air or rebranding the current MacBook as the All-New "Macbook Air". And of course, Tim or Phil will say something like, "... they're the best Apple computers ever!"

Strictly focusing on the hardware design, the 13" Razor Stealth is what I envisioned an all-new "Macbook" would look like in 2018. (You can see it here: https://www.razer.com/gaming-laptops/razer-blade-stealth?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=Keywords&utm_content=886&utm_campaign=Blade Stealth_Keywords_Brand&gclid=CjwKCAjwns_bBRBCEiwA7AVGHq-FGQNENdDMekFxNrCrtfi2_chZicVU9_TDuz7zDss_birLBfp7_hoCohgQAvD_BwE )

It reminds me of the Black plastic Intel Macbooks from circa 2005 when Apple was "Apple". It would be so easy for them to do something like this and they would sell faster than crack cocaine at a Rick James concert in Detroit.

Those were the days.

That is an insanely reasonably priced laptop. Dead serious, if Apple could roughly match those specs and sure, a $100 or so more, I'd buy it instantly. Quad core 8th gen, 16gb ram and 512Gb SSD for $1500. An Apple comparable costs me $1900 and is using the 7th gen slow dual core. New Macbook Pro's with the new quad with similar specs is $2200.

Apple did have a period of being comparably priced, but Tim has brought back the Apple tax and it's larger than ever.

 

[unagimiyagi]

Dear Apple, it's come to this. We would now be happy if you stopped taking away stuff we need and want. The current MacBook Air only lacks a retina screen. Of course we would want more modern ports, but we know you now only take away, so we aren't going to even ask. Please keep literally everything the same except for one thing: add a retina screen. We'll even let you charge an extra $100 for it.

Everyone would be really happy even though you've delayed this for six years when it could have been done in a month. Please listen to your customers. No one is happy with the direction of your laptops. No one is happy with how you have overthought and over designed for something few people want. We know what we want, because you've told us what we need and we have rejected it. You've tried it your way for six years. Can you not just try it our way this once? We are asking you to just take the easy money. You won't be compromising your corporate principles in any way.

 

[Roadstar]

Dear Apple, it's come to this. We would now be happy if you stopped taking away stuff we need and want. The current MacBook Air only lacks a retina screen. Of course we would want more modern ports, but we know you now only take away, so we aren't going to even ask. Please keep literally everything the same except for one thing: add a retina screen. We'll even let you charge an extra $100 for it.

Actually at least I’d like to see the TB2 port replaced with USB-C/TB3 to futureproof the machine, but other ports would still be nice to have there.

 

[Sodium Chloride]

It doesn't make sense to keep using the Air moniker

It's either Pro or non-Pro

MacBook - MacBook Pro
iMac - iMac Pro
iPad - iPad Pro
iPhone - iPhone Pro
Apple Watch - Apple Watch Pro
Apple TV - Apple TV Pro
iCloud - iCloud Pro

Simple!

Even worse is they call 13" 3 pounds MacBook Air while the thinner, lighter 12", 2 pounds just a MacBook. If anything, the thinner, lighter MacBook should have been called MacBook Air. The names are confusing.

 

[antonis]

Don't screw this again apple. I know many people holding up with their next purchase, waiting to see your next move on the 13" laptops, especially regarding mb air.
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All anyone has
Ever asked for is a MacBook Air with a retina screen.

That's all there is. Such a laptop would be so popular that it'd just kill the most part of the MB Pro line. Sometimes, a company's interest is not aligned with our (consumers) interest.

 

[tardegrade]

So what would Apple Watch Pro, Apple TV Pro and iCloud Pro give me?

The Apple Watch Pro will come with Adobe Premier and X Code pre-installed, to facilitate your on the go work flow.

Apple TV Pro will focus on what's really important by only connecting to Blomberg TV and TED Channels.

iCloud Pro will support terminal access from your Apple Watch Pro or Apple TV Pro, to your VPC iCloud storage repository.

Simples.

 

[Sinfonist]

Will be the best thing to come from Apple for four years SAY NO TO USB-C

We've been buying Airs in preference to Pros precisely because they have USB-A (and magsafe is also nice).

 

[ValO]

People are expecting way too much for the rumored price point.
Prepare to be disappointed again.

Perhaps it will be like the current 12 inch MacBook , but with a custom Apple designed cpu/gpu , it could even be arm based, and feature arm based Mac OS . Without touchscreen of course, because a new iPad Pro with keyboard would be more expensive , so they have to justify the price.

 

[Steve121178]

Can't wait to see the update to this solid, classic design. It will be hard to top!

The MBA design was already topped & trounced by the 12" MacBook in 2015 & MacBook Pro from 2016 onwards.

The MBA has been using a very dated design that's now over 8 years old. Don't get me wrong, it served it's purpose but it won't be hard to beat when Apple has already done it twice with other models.

 

[baryon]

I just don't understand where the MacBook sits in the product line. It's expensive and underpowered. So the Air is meant to be cheap and underpowered, and the Pro is meant to be expensive and somewhat more powerful. Why would anyone buy a MacBook instead of a MacBook air? They're both ultra portable, they're both slow, but one is super expensive.

 

[Falhófnir]

If they are going with a $999 price tag, I can see them re-using the chassis to keep costs down, all they need to do is swap the TB2 port for a TB3, put a retina panel in and update the chip options to 8th gen

 

[lllfyc]

if I think like apple and guess about the coming macbook air renewal

The form factor of the MBA is aged and its form factor is too big for today standard. I don't think apple will keep it and if they do, they will not release the Macbook 12". The old MBA 11" was discontinued and Apple released the Macbook 12". Therefore, I guess they will again release something like this and discontinue the MBA 13".

Macbook 14"
design
same as Macbook 12" but bigger screen (unify the product line), butterfly keyboard, no magsafe, not sure about touchbar but I think TB+touch ID will only be on the Pro. and i don't think face ID will be on the Macbook line yet, as Face ID is the new feature of Apple they will only put it on the Pro maybe 2019 or 2020.

port
single USB-C port (i know a lot of people want the USB-A but if you think like Apple, they will never come back to old peripheral. And unless it is a Pro, they will not include more than one usb-c port)

form factor
as it uses MB 12" design, the size will be bigger than it but of course smaller than MBA13" so it allows to fit in a bigger 14" screen and also retina. this also makes people feel like new as 1 inch larger screen than MBA 13".

spec
similar to Macbook 12"

with Macbook 12" and 14", the whole MBA line will be discontinued. maybe the MBA 13" will be kept for a while until they sold out all the stock.

this is only my guess. As Apple also think differently and everytime they release a new product, it makes me feel like oh why they don't this and they should do that... so a Macbook 14" will also give me the same feeling ...

 

[jellyjeff]

My 11 inch macbook air is favourite "spare" machine. That wedge shape and the lack of virtually everything makes it ideal as a "do a bit of admin in my lunch hour" machine.
Can't really see the appeal of the 13 inch to be honest. If you're going to carry something that size, you'd get the proper laptop wouldn't you? Not entirely sure i need a retina in it if it pushes the price up, but have to admit it'll look out of place without one.

 

[curtvaughan]

Just release something called the MacBook Retro, with Magsafe, SD-card slot, a few USB ports of varying alphabet, adequate cooling for top-of-the-line CPU/GPUs, and non-soldered SSD/RAM. It would be a huge seller.
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You can do web development on a toaster, so yes.

A toaster has more ports ...

 

[NoIdentity]

Except for FaceID, you just described exactly the $1,299 MacBook Pro that has been available for years. The problem has been how to get the price to $999 without removing $300 worth of profit.

This exactly!
I do not understand the AIR rumours, they have said clear and loud that the entry level MBP replaces the AIR. It is an OK powerful machine and it is very portable. The MacBook being the new ultra portable device, sacrificing performance for portability.

The only thing that makes sense for Apple to make is a budget laptop. There is no way for them to make a device that would somehow sit in-between the MacBook and MBP at the moment; any device that would outperform in portability and performance would cannibalise the market of the other two. A budget laptop on the other hand makes a lot of sense. We have seen a lot of the same happening in the iPad, iPhone segment. They have just introduced a cheap version of iPad, that is lacking in some regard, but it makes it for it in price. So I would guess the only thing that could come out is some sort of MacBook analogue in a bigger shell along the lines of MBP. Probably either improving battery life or disk space. The screen on the other hand seems a mystery, for sure it would have to be a retina or something close. They just can introduce in 2018 the same type of screen that the current MBA has.

 

[curtvaughan]

This for me is the most intriguing Apple release in a long time. Could be a very compelling product, but Im scared about how they are going to cripple it as to not cannibalize all the 13 inch Pro sales/12 inch MacBooks. 1 usb-c port? 4 gb ram base?

It is hard to see where this is going to fit in their ecosystem of laptop lines.

There is no Apple laptop ecosystem other than thin, portless, undercooled, and overpriced.

 

[PickUrPoison]

This exactly!
I do not understand the AIR rumours, they have said clear and loud that the entry level MBP replaces the AIR. It is an OK powerful machine and it is very portable. The MacBook being the new ultra portable device, sacrificing performance for portability.

The only thing that makes sense for Apple to make is a budget laptop. There is no way for them to make a device that would somehow sit in-between the MacBook and MBP at the moment; any device that would outperform in portability and performance would cannibalise the market of the other two. A budget laptop on the other hand makes a lot of sense. We have seen a lot of the same happening in the iPad, iPhone segment. They have just introduced a cheap version of iPad, that is lacking in some regard, but it makes it for it in price. So I would guess the only thing that could come out is some sort of MacBook analogue in a bigger shell along the lines of MBP. Probably either improving battery life or disk space. The screen on the other hand seems a mystery, for sure it would have to be a retina or something close. They just can introduce in 2018 the same type of screen that the current MBA has.

Right, the Air follow-on needs some type of screen upgrade.

It does make sense for the nTB MacBook Pro to be discontinued and merged into this rumored MacBook Air replacement. MBP then has at least 28W quad-core, Touch Bar and Thunderbolt 3 as differentiating features, and starts at $1,799 for 8GB/128GB.

But the problem is then the cannibalization you mention if Apple were to release a retina 8GB/128GB at $999. What makes the same config in MBP worth $800 more? I’m not sure a faster CPU, Touch Bar and TB3 are enough.

That’s why I don’t think the $999 entry level is retina 8GB/128GB. I think something like 1920 x 1200 is more likely. Retina available at a more expensive tier, starting around $1,199.

The CPU is something of a mystery. I can’t see quad-core across the board for a product line that starts at $999. So is there a new dual-core SKU from Intel in the 8x50-U series? Or it could use an older 7x60-U part but that would be kind of weird since it would have faster base clocks and better GPU performance than the more expensive quads.

So maybe 7x60-U using 9.5W cTDP-down, which would give better battery life and have CPU/GPU performance that would slot in below the quad-cores. The 8x50-U quad-core tier could start at maybe $1,399.

So you’d have something like:

$999 1920 x 1200, dual-core (max 8GB RAM)
$1,199 retina, dual-core
$1,399 retina, quad-core

 

[Dave245]

Right, the Air follow-on needs some type of screen upgrade.

It does make sense for the nTB MacBook Pro to be discontinued and merged into this rumored MacBook Air replacement. MBP then has at least 28W quad-core, Touch Bar and Thunderbolt 3 as differentiating features, and starts at $1,799 for 8GB/128GB.

But the problem is then the cannibalization you mention if Apple were to release a retina 8GB/128GB at $999. What makes the same config in MBP worth $800 more? I’m not sure a faster CPU, Touch Bar and TB3 are enough.

That’s why I don’t think the $999 entry level is retina 8GB/128GB. I think something like 1920 x 1200 is more likely.

That would make sense as to why Appel hasn't updated the none Touch Bar MBP when it updated the rest of the line a few weeks ago. This new 13" MacBook Air/Macbook could START at $999 but have other configurations that go over the $999 one, just like how the MacBook Pro has a starting price point and so does the 12" MacBook, they can all be configured to include more ram, SSD and so on.

 

[pika2000]

I love USB-C, but the market’s adoption of it is very very slow. It’s so slow that most lay people think of USB-C as Samsung’s phone charger plug.

So i wouldn’t mind a mildly spec MacBook with a mix of USB-C and USB-A, and maybe HDMI as well. I mean Apple’s bet on USB-C is the right bet, but imo it will take a while before it totally replaces USB-A.

 

[Howard2k]

The problem with using the 'Pro' moniker is that Apple can claim its products are 'pro' but there is really nothing 'pro' about their 'pro' products.

No. The problem is that Apple use the Pro moniker but too many people have no idea at all what “Professional” means and then grossly misunderstand it.

 

[dazzer21-2]

They need a bog-spec £699 version of the Air as a hook into the Mac portables range. In the same way, a Mini range should start at £499 with 8GB. Even the basic iMac 21.5" starts at over a grand at the moment! If Apple shifted the current focus to chipping away into the lower end market (previous gen specs are good enough for the basic tasks that people would use these for - they could still be very useful). As long as you can plug stuff into them - a display, external storage etc, I'd see a lot of people jumping into the Mac ecosystem on the back of this. Like houses, at the moment, the notion of 'an affordable Mac' is way off!