It's not the logical device for the anti-tablet crowd because it's practically a tablet itself. It's too close. It now competes with iPads, and even worse, Surface Pros. When the Air laptop is no longer a superior laptop to the Surface Pro, there is a problem. At least the iPad is still a superior tablet to the Surface Pro.
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Apple Ramping Up Production of 12-Inch MacBook Air for Q1 2015 Delivery
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I would be fine with this if they redesigned the retina macbook pro to have a smaller footprint and have a IZGO edge to edge screen. They could shave off almost 1.5 inches to make the 15 inch fit in the size of a current macbook air.
I think this product makes some sense in the context of the other laptop offerings from Apple and as a replacement for the 11in Macbook Air:
1. Ultra Portable Macbook Air 12in - $899
2. Entry Level Consumer Macbook Air 13in - $999
3. Macbook Pro 13in - $1299
The ultra portable will be marketed as a secondary computer that is an alternative for folks considering a tablet. This is Apples answer to the windows hybrids.....even though it isn't really a hybrid, since Apple doesn't believe in combining touch and desktop UIs.
The Macbook Air 13in will be the everyday computer priced at the magical $999 point for home and students. It will also be popular with professionals that want a lightweight laptop that has more ports and screen real estate at a value price. This laptop will not get bleeding edge technology upgrades, but it will see evolutionary improvements.....perhaps smaller bezel, better display, and improved internals as technology marches on.
The Macbook Pro will have the latest technology and will serve the needs of higher end users.
This line-up would allow enough differentiation to not confuse the consumer. There is some chance that over time the Macbook Air 13in and Macbook Pro will converge (i.e the Pro gets thinner and lighter and the Air gets retina display), and I think Apple would be wise to retain some type of $999 priced "everyday computer" either in the Air or Pro form factor. There is still a big consumer market for this type of workhouse computer.
1. Ultra Portable Macbook Air 12in - $899
2. Entry Level Consumer Macbook Air 13in - $999
3. Macbook Pro 13in - $1299
The ultra portable will be marketed as a secondary computer that is an alternative for folks considering a tablet. This is Apples answer to the windows hybrids.....even though it isn't really a hybrid, since Apple doesn't believe in combining touch and desktop UIs.
The Macbook Air 13in will be the everyday computer priced at the magical $999 point for home and students. It will also be popular with professionals that want a lightweight laptop that has more ports and screen real estate at a value price. This laptop will not get bleeding edge technology upgrades, but it will see evolutionary improvements.....perhaps smaller bezel, better display, and improved internals as technology marches on.
The Macbook Pro will have the latest technology and will serve the needs of higher end users.
This line-up would allow enough differentiation to not confuse the consumer. There is some chance that over time the Macbook Air 13in and Macbook Pro will converge (i.e the Pro gets thinner and lighter and the Air gets retina display), and I think Apple would be wise to retain some type of $999 priced "everyday computer" either in the Air or Pro form factor. There is still a big consumer market for this type of workhouse computer.
Dont care about ports and stuff. If its ultraportable, with a great display, battery life and performance Im all in.
USB ports and Ethernet port are too old school for Apple. All is wireless now and in the cloud. Get use to it! Printers, mouses, keyboards, even storage, everything. There is not a single reason for Apple to keep the standard USB ports.
When Apple showed the first Air without CD/DVD drive all got crazy again on how they use disk almost every day. The same people that still complain that there is no card slot in the iPhone/iPad and no removable batterry.
USB ports and Ethernet port are too old school for Apple. All is wireless now and in the cloud. Get use to it! Printers, mouses, keyboards, even storage, everything. There is not a single reason for Apple to keep the standard USB ports.
When Apple showed the first Air without CD/DVD drive all got crazy again on how they use disk almost every day. The same people that still complain that there is no card slot in the iPhone/iPad and no removable batterry.
How is it not a superior laptop? It will have a better keyboard (yes that keyboard on the surface pro is ok, but that's it). and a way better trackpad.
It also has no fans
This product would have been a sales leader at $500-$700 range which I was hoping for, but Intel's Broadwell-U series is around a ridiculous $300-$450 alone, which means that's not going to happen.
Apple really needs to get their OS X for ARM ramped up so that they can start selling cheaper laptops that don't have to rely on Intel's expensive CPUs.
The CPUs need to be in th $50 range.
Apple really needs to get their OS X for ARM ramped up so that they can start selling cheaper laptops that don't have to rely on Intel's expensive CPUs.
The CPUs need to be in th $50 range.
This is exactly what people said in 2008 when Apple released the original MacBook Air. And in 1998 when they released the original iMac with only USB ports and no floppy drive. There are no "native" USB 3.1 peripherals yet, so undoubtedly this will make use of adapters or a hub of some sort. I'm very interested in it.
If they keeping the 13" MBA, im wondering if it will be the same as the correct one but with better spec's, or redesign it by cutting the ugly bezel as well as cutting all the ports...
Also, i wonder how they will price the new MBA comparing the correct line...
Also, i wonder how they will price the new MBA comparing the correct line...
Arm just wont hold up to Intels Standard, because there is no 14nm fab like Intel has and also it would need to be much faster to compensate the needed emulation of x86 programs. Won't happen.
That seems to be missing reality... You can download apps onto the mac that do not come from the app store and there are tons of cloud based storage options out there beyond the one apple offers.
Yes apple would love for you to be exclusive to their products and services, but there are no restrictions as they actually support the alternatives. And you still do not need ports and dongles to use any of them. Let go of your 30-pin cable for your iPod Classic and join us in the world of virtual/wireless conectivity to everything.
In my opinion no. Unless Apple released something like the Surface, that can support a detachable keyboard. There will always be a place for the iPad. That and the fact the iPad can't run certain apps.
No thanks. I much prefer to pull my super-fast USB 3.0 128GB thumb drive from my pocket to get files or programs instead of having to pull it down though a much slower, inherently unreliable internet connection (assuming it even exists where I am). Wireless is a convenience, not a replacement for a wired connection.
You've got 2 kinds of people (in my mind)....
1. People who want tablets BECAUSE they are tablets. Because they want to read, like the form factor, like a touch interface. When they're using a tablet, it doesn't seem like a PC, a different experience - more like an appliance instead of a computer.
2. People who want tables BECAUSE they are small and more portable.
You'll lose people in the 2nd camp. People in the first camp is where I am - I find uses for both. I'm using my laptop at work, but at home I'm using my tablet, as it doesn't 'feel' like work lying on my couch using it. Unlike sitting at my desk using my laptop, that FEELS like work.
You're a dinosaur. I used to use USB thumb drives 5 years ago. There is no use for them in the cloud world.
But, again, I'm never in the boat of 'unreliable internet connection' or 'no internet connection' that you are. If I was in that boat, I think I'd use a USB thumb drive like you.
Because it's not a laptop! No ports. How do you sync your phone? Connect an external drive? No card reader. How do you transfer your DSLR photos? Tablet-sized screen (I also feel that the 11" Air is nothing but a price point gimmick; 13" or more is what's needed for productivity).
Those kinds of limiting / streamlined / focused trade offs are what define the tablet niche and its focus on consumption instead of production. What is a laptop that trades off the versatility that separates it from tablets? It's just a tablet with a really awesome keyboard experience.
Not to say it's a bad product, but it seems to serve an even narrower niche than an iPad or the existing 13" Air. I assume it'll also serves niche of cheapest portable OSX device; I wish it didn't sacrifice so much for that bullet point though. Apple used to be about the full experience.
Yeah, sure, for you and few others who use USBs on a daily basis Apple will keep a special port just for you. I also use flash drives and external hard drives with a certain frequency but that doesnt mean I have to demand from Apple to provide me additional ports. All I ask for is an elegant solution and Apple will have it for sure so chill.
Amazing how people are fine with no trunk on a bicycle, but give a family car the same treatment and everybody loses their minds.
One thing that Apple has been good at (and Microsoft et. al. have got wrong) is understanding that tablets and laptops are different animals. Tablets, with an interface optimised for touch-only and no keyboard are the ideal solution for truly handheld use while you're on the hoof or sitting back in the comfy chair - and for that, you don't want stuff plugged into them. Yes, you can put them at a desk and use a keyboard (and get gorilla arms) but if your tablet spends 90% of its time plugged in on the desk then you'd probably be better off with a laptop.
Conversely, a huge proportion of laptops - even ultrabooks - spend most of their time 'commuting' between desks, dining tables and meeting tables, only rarely get used (literally) as laptops and certainly don't get used standing up. People still hand round USB sticks at meetings, people still plug in to data projectors and people still want to charge their laptops while doing these things. Wanting this sort of connectivity is one reason they might choose a laptop over a tablet.
Thing is, Apple has pushed the envelope on this sort of thing before and been right: but that doesn't mean it will always be right. When they dropped floppy drives, email was well established, CD-R was catching on, 1.4MB was getting unusably small anyway and Macs had plenty of USB ports to attach a floppy drive if you needed it (Actually ISTR they first dropped them as standard on the Powerbooks which had modular floppy/zip/battery drive bays). When they dropped optical drives, many people rarely used them and Macs had plenty of USB ports to attach a CD if you needed it. When they dropped Ethernet, WiFi was already ubiquitous and the MacBook Pros plenty of ports to attach an Ethernet adapter if you needed it. See a pattern here?
Even though USB C/3.1 is probably a safe bet long-term, the ink is still wet on the standard and it won't be ubiquitous for a year or two, so its going to be adapters for everything for a while. There are unlikely to be any affordable USB C hubs/power supplies to start with, unless Apple produce their own. Unlike, floppies, CDs, ethernet when they went away, can't honestly tell myself "yeah - I hardly ever need more than one USB port these days".
Nah - if this rumour is true, I think its a bridge to far/too soon. Put 2 USB Cs, or have one and keep MagSafe - maybe. Have a USB C hub/displayport in the power brick? Hmmm - but then the brick has to live on the desk and '2 tailed' bricks are a menace in luggage.
I get that Apple may market this as a "second" computer, but it's hard to see how this (if it is as described by the rumors, which is a big if) is going to be a lot more attractive than the current iPad with a keyboard, particularly if it does not have cellular data capability (and yes, I know that's what your iPhone is for...).
I've been using Apple's bluetooth Magic Mouse and bluetooth keyboards for years. Hands down the best way to connect to a computer. The Magic Mouse is probably my favorite peripheral device of all time. It's very ergonomic and programmable to do all sorts of advanced multitouch gestures with apps like BetterTouchTool. Also got rid of the pain I used to get in my hand from long time use of regular mice. Also NEVER have any connection problems with it.
Why 12" should really be a question of why 11" ? Other than "cheaper" there isn't a good reason to have an 11.8" screen. The "huge bezel" that many folks grumble about is necessary because the lid of the MBA is driven primarily by the size of the keyboard. Average human hands are only so small. So a better design would be to 'fill up' the lid with screen you have to have anyway.
Once flip the 11.6-12.6" screen to "Retina" have a different issue. There already is a 13" Retina MacBook.
Originally with the MBA Apple actually charged more than the normal Mac laptop prices for smaller and lighter. It would not be surprising for them to go back to that model.
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It makes sense but a decent chance that order is off. More like
1. Entry level consumer Macbook Air 13in - $899
2. Ultra Portable MacBook Air 12in - $999 [ maybe even $1099 ]
3. MacBook Pro 13 w Retina - $1199 [ maybe even $1099 ]
[ 4. Macbook Pro 13 'classic' nuked. ]
The cheapest possible laptop probably isn't going to get a Retina display. Moving the MBA 13" down will both make the "I want a bigger screen and less bezel" folks happier. Same (or Higher ) margins on the new 12in will make Apple happier. [ The switch to Retina is likely going to drive the bill of materials for the laptop higher. Every Retina change so far has been a move to a higher price. ]
Tablets and Chromebooks make for far better 2nd computers. Ultra portable probably should be primarily marketed as lighter, smaller, and more battery life. Hence it is more portable than other alternatives of roughly the same class. 2nd computer doesn't necessarily have anything to do with portable.
It may be the answer but I doubt they are going to chase them on price point.
For folks that are stretching to afford a Mac $899 is substantially better than $999. I agree that many in that class will want a 13in laptop. Classically that is where the "Macbook" (no modifier ) product was placed.
and Apple has a MacBook Pro model. It wouldn't hurt to move the Retina model down into the MBP 13in price point.
Intel is on a broadest, lower mobile first roll out strategy with processor/chipset updates. The biggest ( most expensive) technology isn't going to be the latest (earliest to introduction ) tech.... it is actually going to be more 'late' (closer to last ) than 'latest' .
Moving the 13in models farther apart in price will lower the confuse/tension between choosing between the two.
When 13in Retina displays get much more cheaper then Apple will have to come up with something to differentiate. At some point the whole Mac line up will be Retina ( except for mini and Mac Pro if still around). That's probably going to take another couple of years though.
I'm excited about this machine and also what it means for upgrades to the 13" if any. I've been trucking along on a 2008 Macbook Unibody Aluminum and have been dying to upgrade. This will help me decide if I want this new Macbook Air or spend the extra few hundred for a low end Macbook Pro. I wish they would announce it so I could decide sooner than later!