Depends on sales. Replacing something that sells X with revenue of Y/unit with something that sells 3X with revenue of .7 Y/unit is likely still a larger net revenue.
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Apple's Rumored MacBook Air Successor Said to Use Intel's Kaby Lake Refresh Processors
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Depends on sales. Replacing something that sells X with revenue of Y/unit with something that sells 3X with revenue of .7 Y/unit is likely still a larger net revenue.
Theoretically, Apple would do it with something analogous to Rosetta... emulation of the X86-64 environment on an ARM chip.
This is the thing, It won't be enough, one of Mac Book Airs selling features is the fact that it has a variety of ports. I really don't think Apple gets it, users often don't have a options when it comes to the ports they need. I fully understand that USB-C is the future, but that future will be slow to get here simply due to the inertia in the world of third party hardware.
it's possible, but there's performance overhead when using translation layers. When Apple went from PPC to x86, it wasn't noticable because at the time x86, especially in mobile severely outperformed PPC. You could emulate the whole PPC layer without too much slow down.
ARM so far isn't faster than x86. So throwing on top Emulation could have severe performance impacts. I Know Microsoft is currently working on such technology, but currently due to the performance limitations, it only works with 32bit applications.
this i a very large hurdle Apple will need to contend with.
I think picking FCPX as an example for a low-cost laptop is not a good example. We should be comparing every day programs used by regular users, such as Mail, Safari, Messages, iTunes, Facetime, etc. They would probably be the exact same programs we're using today but "fat compiled" for both macOS x86 + ARM instead, kind of like the programs in the PowerPC-to-Intel transition era.
There's also "legacy apps" to take into account. If Apple does release an ARM-powered low-cost MBA replacement, it will need to have a "Rosetta 2.0" to be able to run x86 programs. And then speed becomes a matter of how much time is spent calling APIs which would be native code for macOS ARM and how much time is spent emulating x86 program logic which is where the slowdowns would occur.
Then again, we don't know how many ARM cores the laptop would have, maybe a quad-core ARM can emulate a low-end dual-core x86 intel processor in real time? And since Apple can put quad-core ARM processors in smaller things like an iPad, maybe this ARM-powered laptop could have more than four cores.
Less than four weeks ago, Apple registered five new model numbers, making a release imminent: A1931, A1932, A1988, A1989 and A1990. The last two are the MBPs with TB which were refreshed a week later.
Surprisingly, Apple didn't update the non-TB MBP (which would have been expected to be the A1988), meaning it still has the failing keyboard.
Is it possible that the MBA-successor referenced today is the A1988, and actually is a (slightly cheaper) replacement for the non-TB MBP? This would leave A1931 and A1932 to be refreshed MacBooks. If Apple manages to lower the MB entry price to $999, they could terminate the MBA.
https://www.macrumors.com/2018/07/05/apple-registers-new-macbooks-ipads-eec/
Surprisingly, Apple didn't update the non-TB MBP (which would have been expected to be the A1988), meaning it still has the failing keyboard.
Is it possible that the MBA-successor referenced today is the A1988, and actually is a (slightly cheaper) replacement for the non-TB MBP? This would leave A1931 and A1932 to be refreshed MacBooks. If Apple manages to lower the MB entry price to $999, they could terminate the MBA.
https://www.macrumors.com/2018/07/05/apple-registers-new-macbooks-ipads-eec/
Agreed, October is the likely time period, as this also means that they're able to sell older models for the "back to school" period, which is typically right about now (August).
FWIW, I'd not be too terribly surprised if the non-Touchbar 13" MBP and the MacBook are going to be affected by this report ... I can easily see Apple ditching those two models (along with the current MBA) to replace them all with just a single MBA configuration ... shades of even more product line streamlining by Cook.
EDIT ... on naming, I'd kind of expect that they'll continue to have "Air" in the name (somehow). Basic rationale for this is that I believe that the MBA has a better reputation than the MB, so they'll want to go with a name that has a more positive reception (attitude).
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i WAS JUST picking FCPX as an example. just looking for some piece of software that is more workflow based so that testing isn't done by some arbitrary number, but by actual real world times. Any software really can do, as long as the features and capabilities are the same between the two platforms. (Like any real scientific testing, there needs to be control variables.)
but whole heartedly I agree. and Until Apple actually releases something, we can only speculate. But Apple's chip design team has probably been their strongest asset in recent years so i'm not judging yet what they can or cannot do. Just, so far there's been no ARM chipsets released that really keep up with anything other than mobile x86 chips. But tomorrow might bring something completely different.
A wish: since Apple has rebranded the iBooks App as Apple Books, repurpose the iBook name in a forthcoming ARM-based laptop that can run MacOS (and of course, iOS). Continue making the MacBook Pro line with Intel's outpaced, outdated garbage chips while iBook "pioneers" help guide Apple through a somewhat painful transition to a future free of Intel's consistently delayed roadmap of mediocrity.
So, a 13" Retina MacBook Air utilizing the same class of CPUs that you'd find in the prexisting Air as well as the current 13" MacBook Pro with function keys, utilizing the same display that you'd find in said 13" MacBook Pro with function keys...only it doesn't carry the "MacBook Pro" moniker and is in the $999 range? What are people really expecting here?
You mean the one everyone hated when it came out, due to low specs, lack of ports and CD drive?
USB-C is a BUST
In the 3 years since the stupid-thin MacBook was introduced,
there have been no compelling products unique to USB-C
There is also no mass movement away from standard USB ports.
Meanwhile MagSafe is much more noticeable by its absence.
In the 3 years since the stupid-thin MacBook was introduced,
there have been no compelling products unique to USB-C
There is also no mass movement away from standard USB ports.
Meanwhile MagSafe is much more noticeable by its absence.
USB-C is moving slowly, but it's also moving steadily. There is no reason to believe Apple or Intel will abandon it any time soon.
Without question the Tim Cook era as totally screwed the pooch with the entire MacBook line, courage or no courage! The decisions are puzzling and leave even Apple loyalists (my self included) scratching their heads!
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The MacBook ist actually an iPad running MacOS. What a lot of people were crying for. So it is placed under the MacBook Pro and under the MacBook Air. It should have been called MacBook light or something like that. With its mobile CPU its just for surfing the web and doing emails. Its a Netbook if you remember those.
Too confusing compared to what we have now with MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro without TouchBar and MacBook Pro with Touchbar?
I believe MacBook Air still has weight with the Apple laptop community and right now when one hears "MacBook" one might hear that this is the entry-level machine, which it is not. By calling it the new "MacBook Air", it doesn't give the impression that it is the entry-level model and plays on it's smallness and lightness.
MacBook Pros become the models with 4 TB3/USB-C ports and Touchbars.
This would then allow the MacBook to the the model without a TouchBar and only two TB3/USB-C ports. Yes, it physically looks like a MacBook Pro with TB now with the lid closed, but Apple might change the chassis for the MBP in 2019 or 2020 (once the 10nm chips actually ship in volume) so that could allow a visual point of differentiation between the two lines.
They pretty clearly made the statement last March that iPads are for education.
Well this may be a chance to go back to the old "Four Product Matrix".
Mac Mini + iMac for "Consumer" | iMac Pro + MacPro for "Professional"
MacBook + MacBook Air for "Consumer" | MacBook Pro for "Professional"
(With the current 12" MacBook becoming the new MacBook Air and the 13" nTB MacBook Pro becoming the new MacBook)
Ive see some USB-C magnetic dongles as a Magsafe replacement, any ideas if they are any good?
The reason the MBA still sells is it’s price. Period.
Exactly. Let's also add MagSafe in all of them. Why is so hard for Apple to figure this out?
I’d be more than happy to accept less monetary value if it means that the gimmickbar stays as far away from my Mac as possible. I’d like TouchID, but a hardware Esc is too nice to give away for that.
When Apple introduced the 12" MacBook, they had all intentions of killing the 11" and 13" Macbook Air (Mid 2015) within 6-9 months, but between the keyboard, the single USB-C port and the price, they underestimated how people would respond to it, which is to say, they did not respect the legacy that the MacBook Air had created. People for months had been asking for Apple to upgrade the screen (50/50 Retina to "at least" IP-S), but Apple decided that they knew better and were going to thrill us with this tiny MacBook.
Here we are 3 years later and the MacBook Air just keeps on selling. Currently, Apple does not have a CPU to put in a new 13" MacBook quite yet, because they know they need to put the latest and greatest for this launch and Intel has not released Whiskey Lake CPUs yet. Or they have not released a 4-core U-Series CPU yet with Iris Plus Graphics.
Apple does not release computers the way PC manufacturers do, and probably never will, although they may make an exception for this launch.
I didn't mean Apple should make a router, but a USB hub that can connect to Macs via 802.11ad.
Well, if Apple genuinely thinks that the butterfly keyboards are an improvement over what they used to have, I might be willing to take a chance with whatever they consider worse.