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Apple Working on 15-Inch MacBook Air and 12-Inch MacBook for 2023
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Then if I have to, I'll get a dongle so I can connect to more displays. I love the Air's design. I can put up with buying an adapter.
Darth Tulhu
macrumors 68020
You are correct. As it turns out, I fell into the "you can't triple-stamp a double-stamp" hole.
I can see both sides of this.
On one hand, I can appreciate what you're saying, the MBA perhaps has the horsepower to do basic work on 3 screens.
One the other hand, Apple might want to restrict the MBA to one external display so that it always performs well on those two screens. If they allowed for more than one extra screen, it might give people the impression that it's more capable than it is, and next thing you know people are whinging about it under-performing. Of course, Apple like to make money and I fully appreciate the business side of this as well.
All in all, I'd say that you're in a very small minority of people who are needing an Apple laptop for professional use, to in turn earn money out of, and need the screen output capability of the MacBook Pro but don't wan't to lay out the extra dollar for it. But I do appreciate what you're saying.
If you go into the offices of non-technical office workers at large companies and universities (account managers, HR, accountants, etc,), you'll see two external monitors is SOP at many of them. That means if they want to issue their employees work laptops, Apple laptops may be too expensive because the lack of dual display support rules out the Air and 13" MBP (which is prosumer in name only).
…but I rarely see fanless notebooks with only 2 USB-C ports issued to them either (though honestly, considering my work laptop‘s fans even on dual-1080p, I wish they did).
If we’re talking account managers, HR and accountants in corporate environmenta, they’re mostly using Windows anyway. And so do their software applications. Same if a company is very price-sensitive about their tech.
I do somewhat agree that 2000$ is a bit steep an entry price for dual-monitor support - but it’s not MacBooks filling that role - it’s Pros.
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What because it’s12”? Apple keyboard have sucked for a while anyway. The butterfly keyboard was excellent but reliably a nightmare.(i had 3 replaced). The new keyboard on the 16” mbp sucks. Its like Typing in a sponge and you can press the key s and it will only register gable m the time. You need to press them really firmly. The arrow keys suck beyond belief and frankly the trackpad is too big
The butterfly keyboard was terrible to type on. Between the keys being sensitive to the slightest touch, they keys were too close together and it was too each to hit the key next to the one you wanted. I have used lots of keyboards over the years and adapted to all of them but I could never get used to the butterfly keyboard. Too many typing mistakes. The newer keyboards are much better. They have more travel than the butterfly keyboard but less than the pre-butterfly keyboards. My typing accuracy is much improved.
Complete opposite for me. Butterfly light, responsive fast and accurate. Latest keyboards are hard to type on feel like mush and i make far more mistake and missed letter than any other kb. The most annoying is when you press the key it doesnt register unless you press it exactly in the middle. I suspect this preference is based on hand size, and typing technique ie light touch or heavy bash
Or they’re changing it on purpose. In the iPad line up, Air is the mid-range. I could see a return of the 12” MacBook (but probably closer to 13” now with the new design language) and the addition of a 15” Air to structure the laptop line up more like the iPads. I’d love the return of a two pound laptop, and a lot of people would dig a 15” Air methinks.
because it would not be wide enough, the 11.6" MBA had a massive bezel, the New 12" would not and the keyboard would be too cramped.
If I were the one naming things at Apple, I wouldn't allow the 12 inch to be the MacBook and the 15 inch to be an Air, because there was already an 11.6 inch MacBook Air while the pre-Retina MacBook was 13.3" exclusively. I can see a 15" Air, but the 12" should be an Air for sure.
Air should be 12 and 13.6” flavors, and 15” should be MacBook or MacBook Studio.
I'd say it depends on the product design. If it's just a smaller version of the Air, then they're going to call it an Air. But if it's a qualitatively different design, then they'll call it something else—most likely a MacBook, particularly if it's lower-end than the Air.
Alternatively, Apple could use even numbers for the "Pro" moniker, and leave the odd sizes as Air's. 12/14/16 Macbook Pros, and 11/13/15 Macbook Airs. They basically already do this, they just need to add a larger size to the air, and a smaller size to the pro.
The simplest solution is just to come out with an ultra-thin MacBook Air 12 and 15, and rebrand the MacBook Air M2 as "the MacBook," which is what they should have called it in the beginning IMHO.
They shouldn’t make that mistake again. They confused the product line once by calling the smaller, lighter 12 inch laptop the “MacBook” while keeping the heavier 13-inch as the “Air.” Hopefully, they find a way to correct this by introducing a thinner and lighter 12” and rebranding the current M2 Macbook Air as the MacBook.
@transpo1 Personally, if any of these hypothetical laptops should be the "MacBook", my pick would have to be the 15" -- the 13" Air is pretty much a staple and expected, and it paired historically with an 11" Air, but a 15" I dunno if I'd call particularly small and ultraportable.
Not that I'd imagine it would be at all hard to carry around, I manage bringing my 15" PowerBook G4 around places just fine, but it would probably be a bit big for the Air moniker if we're dead set on introducing a third MacBook line. It would be IMO the ideal candidate for "didn't need the hyperportability of the Air, wanted a bigger and nicer screen, but didn't need the power or price of the M2 Pro/Max" that a suffixless MacBook to my mind suggests.
Not that I'd imagine it would be at all hard to carry around, I manage bringing my 15" PowerBook G4 around places just fine, but it would probably be a bit big for the Air moniker if we're dead set on introducing a third MacBook line. It would be IMO the ideal candidate for "didn't need the hyperportability of the Air, wanted a bigger and nicer screen, but didn't need the power or price of the M2 Pro/Max" that a suffixless MacBook to my mind suggests.
Yea if the 15Air will really be $2k, I might as well find a nice refurb 16Pro for same or less.
And the thing that will make it worse is if it is priced too high, I might as well just get a refurb 16Pro
I disagree completely. The Air was already an established, iconic product. It would have been far more confusing to call the new MacBook the Air, and rebrand the Air as something else. Imagine sales people trying to explain to customers who want the Air that the Air is no longer the Air, what's now the Air is this entirely different laptop, and if you want the what used to be the Air it's now called the [whatever].
Plus when you've got this great branding already established for your best-selling product, why completely screw that up by calling it something else?
But nomenclature-wise, he is right for the most part, wil explain in a sec.
Even though, the problem that you presented is valid and would be confusing for the masses a.k.a. everyone else who isn’t like us in this forum. But, at the end of the day, as someone who had 3 12” retina MacBooks in the family, the 12” and 13.6” need to be Airs, and the MacBook for the rumored 15”-ish with a fan. MacBook is bigger and more powerful (in this case, M2 with a fan) than the Air, but less than a Pro.
I agree it would be confusing in the short term (and Apple probably will never do it), but in the long term it would actually be a LOT LESS confusing.
Perhaps a better approach would be to just come out with a ultra-portable 12” Air and allow the 13” to stay the way it is. But for God’s sakes, don’t call a thinner machine the “MacBook.” 😄
Yeah, I could see that happening. And eventually we will get our ultra-portable 12” Air or whatever but it may take some time.