Apple Predicted to Release Ultra-Slim 12-Inch MacBook with Retina Display in Mid-2014

[Xerotech]

Stevy?

Yeah, a poor, small company with a few employees shouldn't tray to make than a couple of products.

Have you seen the demand for laptops drop? Tablets in general are eating into the laptop market. Apple already has the cMBP and the rMBP in different slots. The iMac, mac pro, etc. While people are waiting on something that seems like a straightforward update (Haswell MBPs) that hasn't been delivered and yet a rumor of a 12" retina air being released.

I'm not saying they shouldn't release brand new products. A new form of technology is nice, but investing into a dead market is going backwards. Laptop demand will continually drop. Today's laptops are more than powerful for the average user. There isn't really a reason to buy something new in this area.

Making too many of the same product means measuring the demand for this 'new' market and potential buyers of your other products swapping over, 'eating yourself.'

they're the most profitable and successful tech company in history. totally doomed.

anyway, if this *rumor* is even true! what makes you think they won't eliminate existing products. remember what happened to the 17" MBP? ain't dere no mo.

Correct, they could eliminate other products. But, again, I don't see a point in investing into a dying market area. Apple is usually leading other companies to copying them. We already have an over-saturated market for light-weight laptops. Intel's ultrabooks, macbook airs, retinas, etc.

 

[animatedude]

where is the 12' mockup girls?

 

[smulji]

Exciting but Haswell retinas have to come out soon so this is going to be an odd product step especially as the new air has just come out but i suppose next year could be time for retirement of the air brand as all macbook laptops are now super thin there is no need for the moniker anymore.


I think the future line up will be as follows or even just three of the following

10 inch macbook
12 inch macbook
13/14 inch macbookpro
15/16 inch macbookpro

With current mac models they all have room for a larger screen in the same or smaller body, and it would be lovely to see a simpler line up of their offerings.

I see it a little bit differently. In a year or two I think the line-up will look like the following;

Mainstream Consumer - iOS / iPad (8" / 9.7" / 12.9")
Pro User - OSX / rMBP (13" / 15")

I don't see the MBA, MB, MBP (non-retina) sticking around longer than a couple more years.

 

[fertilized-egg]

I hope the new Retina MBA's screen resolution (despite the size of the panel) will be 2880x1440 (1440x900 desktop size, same as today's MBA 13" or rMBP 15") so it won't be a step back.

I'd really hate it if this rumored 12" laptop gets a 2880x1440 (1440x900 effective). I already feel the current resolution on the 11.6" MBA is too high and things look too small. With the Retina at least you'll be able to use the intermediate resolution trick if you need a larger working area.

 

[wigby]

THINNER? What will it be made of, diamond? Or... I don't want to be another one of those people blasting this buzzword... graphene? I'd be afraid of it snapping in half.

I'm also afraid that it will have zero connections except for a Lightning port in the back to charge.

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No, they could just have it not be ridiculously thin but keep the nice quality and good OS. The RMBP is perfect.

So you want nothing to change? Sorry but the tech industry doesn't work that way. Everyone has thin ultra books. Everyone has the latest Haswell specs. Everyone is getting retina display resolution. Apple has all of these things but is priced much higher. You really expect consumers to get excited over the quality build of a Mac when PCs half the price look and do the same things?

Apple's differentiating factor has always been they're attention to design details. That attracts a certain type of customer. If you take away that edge, you take away that appeal for me and probably you too. I have sacrificed several features for thinness and beauty in the design. I am willing to give up even more to get closer to the ultimate piece of art and technology.

 

[KevinMac]

Wow! Even thinner than MBA would be cool!

 

[willcapellaro]

Oh Oracle that is Kuo, how many thunderbolt ports will it have?

Seriously, that is a big determiner of the value of this proposition. Minimal ports could satisfy those who want the low end mac laptop. Maximum ports enables people to actual push their computer (connect to multiple displays, use ethernet).

How will they fit any ports at all if it is super slim?

 

[deputy_doofy]

I do hope Apple isn't going for a confusing line of products (again). I know they don't need to follow everything Steve would have done, but this is absolutely one thing they *NEED* to continue. Simplified line. That said, as 12", if done right, could replace both the 11 and 13 airs.

However, Steve also wasn't afraid to try certain things, like 12/14 iBooks, as well as the white/black Macbooks. As long as they kill what's not working immediately, they'll be ok.

 

[cmanderson]

Remember before Jobs came back, he said Apple had gotten too complicated. They had a TON of models that confused the consumer because the bean counters ran the company...we're definitely getting back to that time unfortunately.

You're confusing what Jobs did when the company was 2 months away from going OUT OF BUSINESS to where they are now. Which is at about $150 billion in the bank.

His move had far less to do with SKU's and consumer "confusion" than it did cleaning house, simplifying their product lines (he chose four quadrants so they would focus on those particular things), and getting rid of everything STEVE JOBS wasn't involved in creating.

Much of that (necessity) went out the window when they transformed from a COMPUTER company to a CONSUMER ELECTRONICS company.

Look again at their computer lines...they're really not complicated. They give consumers a little bit of choice (and there's more choice in BTO than what you get at retail.)

Consumer Portable:

- MacBook Air (11" and 13")

Consumer Desktop:

- Mac Mini (including Mac Mini Server)

Consumer All-In-One Desktop:

- iMac (21" and 27")

Professional Portable:

- MacBook Pro Retina (13" and 15")
- MacBook Pro Classic (13" and 15")

Professional Desktop:

- Mac Pro

 

[halledise]

all rumours and speculation - guess that's why we love this place

my $2 worth says there will be a refresh later this month of the existing MBPro line and mid-next year there'll be a 12" Air and a 12" and 15" MBPro - with the 12" Pro still available with or w/o retina display, or whatever they're going to call IGZO.
w/o retina for the edu and 3rd world countries markets.

Apple tend to skinny things down in terms of hardware range and also software, rather than bulk them up which is why I think they will simplify the choices going fwd.

 

[Aidan5806]

I hate to say it but between the iMac and now the macbook, apple is turning me off with all this need to be the thinnist out there, it gets to the point where it starts hampering performance, it does'nt always have to be the thinnist

The latest iMac has the option to ship with one of the fastest Intel i7's, an Nvidia GTX 780M, 32 GB of user upgradable RAM, and a 1 TB PCI-e SSD. Where in that equation is performance being hampered by the design. The Macbook Air is supposed to be a product for the average consumer, so performance is not the biggest factor in appeasing that target group. Battery life on the other hand, is very important to average users. The Macbook Pro with Retina Display is top of the line as far as performance goes and the upcoming refresh should further prove my point that there isn't any performance being lost with Apple's new designs, which by themselves are impressive.

 

[willcapellaro]

And again not even a rumor about a 17'.

I won't even consider buying a new laptop until there is a new 17' rMBP. Laptops have enough drawbacks as it is, if they also have a small screen I'll just keep using my 30' screen / Mac Pro desktop, thankyouverymuch.

Apple, don't listen to snipper... Give us super powered thin/small laptops or even portable workstations and let us plug into externals. For laptops, don't let size determine quality.

Or you could still be perfectly profitable if you serve everyone what they want. This is not iOS, one size does not fit all. Acknowledge that you make a steady margin off power users.

(snipper, I'm kidding, sort of... I also want a product that Apple will somehow overlook as a thing power users may need (that would be a powerhouse rMBP 13 or smaller, with dGPU--even less chance of this than a 17 redux). On this side of the fence it seems so easy as to what they should make.)

 

[Pyrrhic Victory]

It's hard to tell whether you are a complete idiot or just sarcastic.

It's hard to tell whether you are flaming or just ignorant.

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I had the impression that Jobs was also interested or obsessed with marketing and having things "thinner-smaller-lighter."

Do you remember the "1 inch" Powerbooks that were marketed as being "incredibly thin" laptops?

That was Phil Schiller's idea probably, Jobs just ignored him because he was more interested in the iPhone and iPad development.

 

[Acorn]

a 12.1 inch screen would fit in the 11.6 mac air frame (its actually quite larger) so im all for it. however how this will work out in terms of real screen space because of resolution is a little over my head. I will wait and see. id love to see and edge to edge screen though.

 

[yanksrock100]

Apple is eating itself. They're making too many models of things. This is exactly opposite of what Stevy wanted.

I usually don't agree with the whole "Steve wouldn't like this!" comments....but Steve's philosophy was a simple line-up, so I 100% agree with you.

 

[cgk.emu]

We are getting back to that because there is a rumor about the Airs getting thinner and the 13 and 11 will be replaced by just one 12 ? C'mon...

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Look at the current 13" rMBP. It is fantastic !

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Or how about:
12" Retina MacBook Air
14" Retina MacBook Pro
16" Retina MacBook Pro

Would make more sense to me.

No, we're getting to that point because there are thousands of configurations possible. We have tons of models, and your update at the bottom of the 3 different kinds of macbooks, which would be in addition to the standard models they sell now, would most likely confuse customers. Thanks for kinda proving me right.

 

[Milquetoast]

Now, the Apple laptops' desktop size is as follows:

MBA 11: 1366x768 (16:9)
MBA 13: 1440x900 (16:10)
rMBP13: 1280x800 (16:10)
rMBP15: 1400x900 (16:10)

Slightly different tack here:

What do people here feel about the utility of a retina display (in these size ranges) to someone ~60 years old (e.g., my wife - who's in the market for a new MacBook) with naturally-decreasing visual acuity? She already has an iPhone 4 w/retina display.

If it doesn't make much difference (think reading glasses...), maybe a current, non-retina display is the right approach for her.

What do folks here think?

 

[deconstruct60]

The rumored resolution for the 12" ( 2304x1440, desktop size of 1152x720 (16:10) ) can't be true

Now, the Apple laptops' desktop size is as follows:

MBA 11: 1366x768 (16:9)
MBA 13: 1440x900 (16:10)
rMBP13: 1280x800 (16:10)
.....

So, as we can see, in terms of desktop space, now, the screen of the MBA 13" is better that the one of the rMBP 13"

Are you smoking something? The nominal virtual resolution of of the rMBP13 is lower than the MBA 13. The results are better than the MBA 13". The MBA 13" does not have a better screen in terms of quality of image. If just arm flapping about number of pixels the rMBP 13 has 2560x1600 which blows the doors off the MBA 13.

Making a 12" screen of 2304x1440 -> 1152x720 (16:10) not only will make that potentially rMBA 12" to have less desktop space that the current MBA 13", but also less than the rMBP 13", and even less than the current MBA 11".

The MBA 11 is actually 11.6". It is quite close to 12" already. More likely this 12" screen is a replacement for the current 11.6" screen than trying to take the place of the 13". Apple already has a hi-res 13" screen. This 12" probably is less expensive and can hit the $999 system price point better.

Second the 11.6" screen isn't all that hot.

" ... The panel HP is using here actually looks a bit better than the non-IPS screen that Apple uses in the 11-inch MacBook Air, a computer that costs three times as much. The general build quality, performance, and versatility of the Air is otherwise superior to the Chromebook 11 in every way, of course, but the panel comparison shakes out the other way. ... "
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/10/review-hps-279-chromebook-11-raises-an-admittedly-low-bar/


This is why Apple needs a shift. Some Chromebooks will have better screens on them. Let alone stuff in the $999 price range in 2014.

 

[9000]

So you want nothing to change?

No, I just don't want to sacrifice useful features to make it thinner. No DVD drive, no problem, and the non-upgradeable RAM isn't a big deal, but what if they start taking away all the useful things or making the trackpad or keyboard worse? There's a point at which it becomes too thin for USB, and that's in the no-buy zone for sure.

The other PC makers can copy Apple all they want, but they're going to have a crappy OS, bad hardware-software integration, and lesser build quality. Dell and HP already have knockoff MacBook Pros that stink.

 

[Michael Scrip]

a 12.1 inch screen would fit in the 11.6 mac air frame (its actually quite larger) so im all for it. however how this will work out in terms of real screen space because of resolution is a little over my head. I will wait and see. id love to see and edge to edge screen though.

I'm all for putting larger screens into existing chassis.

But I'd rather them put a 14" screen into the 13" chassis.

I greatly prefer the 13" model's 16:10 aspect ratio over anything 16:9

 

[bobenhaus]

I do hope Apple isn't going for a confusing line of products (again). I know they don't need to follow everything Steve would have done, but this is absolutely one thing they *NEED* to continue. Simplified line. That said, as 12", if done right, could replace both the 11 and 13 airs.

However, Steve also wasn't afraid to try certain things, like 12/14 iBooks, as well as the white/black Macbooks. As long as they kill what's not working immediately, they'll be ok.

Yeah it looks like Mr. Cook is starting to think he is back at Compaq and will start to push out many different products to dilute the Apple brand name.

 

[deconstruct60]

If it doesn't make much difference (think reading glasses...), maybe a current, non-retina display is the right approach for her.

It should make a difference. The MBA 11" shrinks fonts. ( if can find a side-by-side 11" and 13" models in an Apple store this is trivial to see by putting 9-10 point text in TextEdit on both screens at the same time). It is harder to reader than the larger screens. There is enough "more" pixels to put more content on but not enough to bring the clarity improvements that Apple's "pixel double" scheme brings in to play.

Resolution is really more than just pixel count. It is number and ppi that impact the quality of the image actually looking at.

 

[racingbull]

Hmm...

Hmm, looking for your suggestions. I'm in for a new laptop, but now I'm not so sure which one to get and if it would pay off to hold another 8/9 months.

Option 1) maxed out MBA 13"
Option 2) rMBP 13" with 512 GB

Portability of both seems to be comparable: the rMBP is only a tad heavier with retina display, a better CPU+GPU (with haswell coming up) and, with haswell, comparable battery life. Plus, I prefer the design with the black bezel. All of this comes in at about 200 US$ more than the MBA. It is quite difficult to go for the 13" MBA.

I am still amazed and in love with the MBA form factor, though it might be plausible that a new form factor will come up in the MBA making it outdated in less than a year. So, I guess: or you can hold another 9 months for the new MBAs or you go for the 13" rMBP.

 

[smulji]

I'm all for putting larger screens into existing chassis.

But I'd rather them put a 14" screen into the 13" chassis.

I greatly prefer the 13" model's 16:10 aspect ratio over anything 16:9

agreed.

 

[9000]

It's hard to tell whether you are a complete idiot or just sarcastic.

He's been ranting about Ive a lot. Always the complainer.

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I'm all for putting larger screens into existing chassis.

But I'd rather them put a 14" screen into the 13" chassis.

I greatly prefer the 13" model's 16:10 aspect ratio over anything 16:9

Yeah, 16:9 is annoying on a PC. I bet everyone just does it so they can say the magical marketing term "1080p". I wish my monitor was 1920x1200 instead of 1920x1080.