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Apple Working on 15-Inch MacBook Air and 12-Inch MacBook for 2023

transpo1 said:
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.” 😄
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Tyler O'Bannon said:
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.
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Is your issue with what Apple's done either:

a) The Air name should always be used for the lightest/smallest laptop, and that if they introduce something lighter/smaller/cheaper than the Air (like the last MacBook), then that should be the Air?
---In that case, I'd disagree because you're ruining the Air branding by moving the Air name to a cheap, low-end product.

or:

b) The laptop that's smaller and lighter than the Air shouldn't be called the MacBook, because the MacBook name should connote a larger, more powerful product than the Air, not a cheaper, smaller, less powerful one?
---On this, I'm agnostic. I don't have a strong view either way on whether they call their cheap, small, low-end laptop a MacBook or something else.

In sum, I think the Air name should stay attached to the Air, and that any new ultrabook should have a different name.

If you don't like MacBook, and like the Air name for this hypothetical ultrabook, I'd suggest a way to satisfy all your concerns while not messing up the current Air branding (and to also avoid consumer confusion) would be to keep the Air name on the current Airs, and call this ultrabook either the Air Mini (as they do for the smallest iPad and iPhone) or Air SE (as they do for the lowest-end iPhone).

And of the two, I'd prefer Air SE because it sounds cooler, and avoids confusion with the Mac Mini. But if they want to be really consistent, they should use Air Mini if it's of the same quality as the Air, just smaller, and Air SE if it's both smaller and lower-end.
 
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theorist9 said:
Is your issue with what Apple's done either:

a) The Air name should always be used for the lightest/smallest laptop, and that if they introduce something lighter/smaller/cheaper than the Air (like the last MacBook), then that should be the Air?
---In that case, I'd disagree because you're ruining the Air branding by moving the Air name to a cheap, low-end product.

or:

b) The laptop that's smaller and lighter than the Air shouldn't be called the MacBook, because the MacBook name should connote a larger, more powerful product than the Air, not a cheaper, smaller, less powerful one?
---On this, I'm agnostic. I don't have a strong view either way on whether they call their cheap, small, low-end laptop a MacBook or something else.

In sum, I think the Air name should stay attached to the Air, and that any new ultrabook should have a different name.

If you don't like MacBook, and like the Air name for this hypothetical ultrabook, I'd suggest a way to satisfy all your concerns while not messing up the current Air branding (and to also avoid consumer confusion) would be to keep the Air name on the current Airs, and call this ultrabook either the Air Mini (as they do for the smallest iPad and iPhone) or Air SE (as they do for the lowest-end iPhone).

And of the two, I'd prefer Air SE because it sounds cooler, and avoids confusion with the Mac Mini.
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My concern is that the smallest, thinnest laptop should be called the Air, as that was the whole concept of that machine to begin with. Remember when Jobs pulled it out of the envelope?

As mentioned in my other posts, the MacBook Air SE would be a perfect solution. Put an underclocked M1/M2 (perhaps 3nm M3) in a 12 inch wedge shaped MacBook enclosure with great battery life, call it the MacBook Air SE, and call it a day.
 
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theorist9 said:
Is your issue with what Apple's done either:

a) The Air name should always be used for the lightest/smallest laptop, and that if they introduce something lighter/smaller/cheaper than the Air (like the last MacBook), then that should be the Air?
---In that case, I'd disagree because you're ruining the Air branding by moving the Air name to a cheap, low-end product.

or:

b) The laptop that's smaller and lighter than the Air shouldn't be called the MacBook, because the MacBook name should connote a larger, more powerful product than the Air, not a cheaper, smaller, less powerful one?
---On this, I'm agnostic. I don't have a strong view either way on whether they call their cheap, small, low-end laptop a MacBook or something else.

In sum, I think the Air name should stay attached to the Air, and that any new ultrabook should have a different name.

If you don't like MacBook, and like the Air name for this hypothetical ultrabook, I'd suggest a way to satisfy all your concerns while not messing up the current Air branding (and to also avoid consumer confusion) would be to keep the Air name on the current Airs, and call this ultrabook either the Air Mini (as they do for the smallest iPad and iPhone) or Air SE (as they do for the lowest-end iPhone).

And of the two, I'd prefer Air SE because it sounds cooler, and avoids confusion with the Mac Mini. But if they want to be really consistent, they should use Air Mini if it's of the same quality as the Air, just smaller, and Air SE if it's both smaller and lower-end.
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If they bring our a super portable 12” laptop, it definitely shouldn’t be a “MacBook”. That previous one was kind of an accident when they thought that they would just bring that out to replace the older Air But they could never get the price of the 12” down low enough to be a viable replacement. People kept buying the 13” Air. I think at that point Apple gave up on trying to redefine the Air and accepted that it was their portable but also cheapest model.

Now, if they bring out a 12”, they might just call it them 12” Air and the 13” Air just as they do with the MacBook Pro models. Then Air is not a model but a product line.

Otherwise, that super portable 12” Air could just be called the “Apple Air Max”!
Because “Max“ no longer means maximum. 😉
 
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@theorist9 There's historical precedent for two sizes of MacBook Air already.
11Air.001.jpg
It didn't destroy the MBA's reputation at all, people loved the 11.6" one and it started off with a Core 2 Duo, which is honestly about as much power as an 11.6" laptop really needs -- an M2 or M3, even underclocked, would be completely fine for someone who just wants a machine to reply to e-mails and write term papers on the go.​
 
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lepidotós said:
@theorist9 There's historical precedent for two sizes of MacBook Air already.
View attachment 2047518
It didn't destroy the MBA's reputation at all, people loved the 11.6" one and it started off with a Core 2 Duo, which is honestly about as much power as an 11.6" laptop really needs -- an M2 or M3, even underclocked, would be completely fine for someone who just wants a machine to reply to e-mails and write term papers on the go.​
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Sure, but that's not what I was opposed to. I was opposed to this:

"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."

So, to apply that to your example, it would be as if, when Apple brought out that 11.6", they didn't use the Air design, and instead made it more like the old MacBook. Then Apple proceeded to call that 11.6" the "Air", and removed the Air designation from the 13" Air, instead calling it the MacBook.

That would mess up the Air's branding—royally.;)
 
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@theorist9 Ah, yeah, then I would agree there. I'd say it'd not be as bad now as it would have been then, since nowadays it'd be reintroducing that line so at least there wouldn't be as much confusion. Still something morally wrong with branding a 15" laptop but not a 13" laptop an Air.
So yeah, we're at least at the same chapter here. However, I can't help but imagine the notch coming to the 12", where it can really make a difference in screen real estate, I don't imagine from a design standpoint it'd be a callback to the M1 days whether it's called a MacBook or MacBook Air.​
 
Tagbert said:
Rumors suggest that the 15” is still happening some time this year. A smaller MacBook Air seems less likely.

This thread is pretty old now.

Switch over to this one to get a more up to date conversation.
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I was thinking that if they did release a 15 inch and it was considered in the Air line, what a cringe decision it would be to limit it to one external monitor like the other airs, to maintain product segmentation.
 
transpo1 said:
My concern is that the smallest, thinnest laptop should be called the Air, as that was the whole concept of that machine to begin with. Remember when Jobs pulled it out of the envelope?

As mentioned in my other posts, the MacBook Air SE would be a perfect solution. Put an underclocked M1/M2 (perhaps 3nm M3) in a 12 inch wedge shaped MacBook enclosure with great battery life, call it the MacBook Air SE, and call it a day.
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I agree. I think the issue back then was the air should have had a redesign of some sort, making it “all new” and then 6-9 months later ‘re-release’ the MacBook (with a fan) to sit above the air
 
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An 11" or 12" MacBook (Air) would be an instant buy for me. It would be plenty fast and fanless with an M1 or M2 chip, have an edge to edge keyboard, and an OLED or miniLED display (with thin bezels, of course). I would also love embedded LTE/5G, but I don't think Apple would go there.

Seeing as though my 12.9" M1 iPad Pro + Magic Keyboard case feels heavier and bulkier than my M2 Air, Apple may feel this would take away from high-end iPad sales. So, if need be, they could widen the profit margin on this model and charge a bit more. I'd definitely pay a premium for an ultra-portable MacBook.
 
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nylon said:
M1 Max maybe but there are lots of people who's priority is screen size and have no other options than the 16". An MBA 15" has always been desired but I never thought Apple would go for it for fear of cannibalizing the 16" MBP sales. It'll sell well.
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Exactly one year later and seems that the Apple listened. Great machine.
 
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sirozha said:
Would be a perfect machine for me if I could connect two external monitors to it natively.
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Hoping they solve that with the M3 vers since I’m planning on that being my next personal laptop, but if not I’ll live with displaylink for side monitors
 
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