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Apple's Rumored MacBook Air Successor Said to Use Intel's Kaby Lake Refresh Processors
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In fact, I'll be covering the Apple logo with stickers in any new Macs I buy (while they continue their political party agenda).
It is remotely possible that they delay from introducing this computer at WWDC (rumored a while back), is the additional engineering to make it fanless. There is precedent for 15w CPUs and fanless (Huawei Matebook), but Huawei had thermal issues and performance suffered.
I would rather Apple decided to wait for the Whisky Lake U-Series (Intel Core i5-8265U, Intel Core i7-8565U) that leaked recently - https://www.firstpost.com/tech/news...nline-reveal-4-5-ghz-clock-speed-4696981.html - as opposed to Kaby Lake-R that has is going to be a year old very shortly.
Lots of rumors about those upcoming U-series 15w parts - https://www.firstpost.com/tech/news...nline-reveal-4-5-ghz-clock-speed-4696981.html
The rub is that that GPU is not going to be Iris-anything and Apple only has one non-Iris in its lineup, the 12" MacBook, so maybe Apple doesn't care about UHD 620. The current MacBook Air is sporting HD Graphics 6000, so they may be stratifying Iris Plus into the 13" MacBook Pro moving forward.
Either way, 4-core 15w parts in a 13" MacBook would be sweet.
I'm pretty sure it will replace the non-touchbar 13" MacBook Pro, as it was not refreshed together with the touchbar MBPs. MacBook Air will most likely be phased out, it's not really "air" anymore, compared to 12" MacBook.
Pricing of the entry-level MacBook is an interesting question, and its configurations.
Pricing of the entry-level MacBook is an interesting question, and its configurations.
Unfortunately, Apple just does not work that way. Especially, since they haven't touched it in 3 years. New chassis, new ports (USB-C and/or Thunderbolt 3) are where they are headed and have been since the 215 MacBook was introduced. The one thing from the MacBook Air that I hope they DO carry over is the battery life. If they can do that, I think they have an instant winner on their hands.All's Apple has to do is take the current Macbook Air, put a edge to edge Retina display in it and update the internals. THATS IT. Macbook Air is seriously amazing form factor even today.
Also space grey option would be nice.
I actually like the glowing logo, but I don’t care either way. It’s totally useless. MagSafe on the other hand...
Let it go. This refresh will have Thunderbolt 3/USB-C ports. MagSafe is gone.
Well, if they release them according to the plan, for the price of the nTB 13" MBP I was planning to purchase (with 16GB of RAM and bigger SSD) Wich is near of 1800€, I will be able to buy a 13" MacBook, and a gorgeous new Mac mini with good specs.
Okay, I know. I can dream right?
The only things I'm afraid of the cheaper MacBook are the quality cuts to lower the price. A low quality screen (lower than the MacBook Pros), a lower quality SSD with TLC or worse, QLC NAND technology with fewer write cycles (much lower lifespan, and I don't know if Apple will change my SSD if I ask for that repair), worse keyboard (I Know it is difficult, but hey...)
Okay, I know. I can dream right?
The only things I'm afraid of the cheaper MacBook are the quality cuts to lower the price. A low quality screen (lower than the MacBook Pros), a lower quality SSD with TLC or worse, QLC NAND technology with fewer write cycles (much lower lifespan, and I don't know if Apple will change my SSD if I ask for that repair), worse keyboard (I Know it is difficult, but hey...)
I would like to see what specs they will be shipping with.
Probably, as always, the entry level Macbook will ship with 8gb Ram and 128HD. Which in todays digital world is kind of obsolete.
An iPhone has more internal space than a Macbook.
No Mag safe and probably 2 USB-C...
Apple hardware design has become so out of touch with users' needs...
Probably, as always, the entry level Macbook will ship with 8gb Ram and 128HD. Which in todays digital world is kind of obsolete.
An iPhone has more internal space than a Macbook.
No Mag safe and probably 2 USB-C...
Apple hardware design has become so out of touch with users' needs...
The article is written in a way that leads you to believe that intel doesn't has anything Apple could release when in fact we usually have Apple's offerings lagging intel generations and regular PC vendors offering each intel generation soon after launch.
The MBA itself is using a 5th generation processor when intel launched the 8th generation last year...
The MBA itself is using a 5th generation processor when intel launched the 8th generation last year...
Because the MBP actually needs USB-A back into it? Alongside, you know, all the other useful ports? MagSafe, SD card reader, HDMI, the lot?
Apple needs a solid entry in the education market. Laptops/Chromebooks rule the day there. They need something for individual and institutional buyers. The current MacBook lineup, except for the dated MacBook Air, do not meet the needs of that market for many reasons. iPads meet those needs even less, but Apple may stubbornly try to force education users into that product for longer because it historically takes Apple a long time to admit to themselves and others when they are doing it wrong. (Hockey puck mouse, anyone?)
Assuming that the Air branding is dead, if Apple sticks with familiar branding for this space, I would expect it to be called:
MacBook SE
MacBook Edu
MacBook Mini
We'll see soon.
I think it's a toss up at this point. But Y-series seem too "exotic" for this computer. Apple needs a serious 13" MacBook Air successor at this point, because the 12" MacBook is not it. If they have learned anything (fingers crossed), it would be that this is going to be their volume laptop and they can't skimp on value for the dollar. This needs to be their next 5-7 year chassis, top seller, get people in the door and dump that Surface Book or crap Dell laptop. It is also that laptop that can serve as the transition to A-Series CPUs should Apple move in that direction.
That being said, the 12" MacBook was supposed to replace the MBA and it didn't, otherwise, Apple would not still be selling the 13" MBA today or have given it a (pathetic) update last year. Hopefully, this means that Apple management got the message that while the iPad has it's niche and the iPhone is more of a PC replacement than the iPad, people still buy Macs (and PCs). Hopefully, reality has set into the executive suite that money is money and maintaining leadership in one area at the expense of another is not a sound business plan. Perhaps, the numbers bear out a reversing of the "halo" effect. At the end of the day, Apple wants you in their ecosystem and it can't do it with a couple a boutique form factors.
However they decide to merge or brand the MacBook and MacBook Air, etc. at this point isn't really relevant. Apple needs to and should essentially update the 12" MacBook (the 11" Air is really too small) and introduce a 14" MacBook. I think many non-pro consumers who want something larger than the 13" MBP or MBA would buy a 14' Apple laptop rather than a 15" MacBook Pro. I for one don't need a 6-Core video editing rig or want a 4 lb computer but would like a bit more screen space than you get in the 13" laptops.
