Apple's Ultra-Slim 12-Inch MacBook Air Rumored to Enter Mass Production in Early 2015

[Serban]

like i said before it will be a 12" with retina, and yes the trackpad will touch only, no mechanical anymore. It will be just a little bit lighter than 11" macbook air
you will have standard 1.6ghz i5 dual core, and in our tests, battery last on web browsing almost 10 and a half hours Yosemite

 

[Moonjumper]

If it gets much thinner they're going to lose the USB ports..

What does ultra thin mean? It can only be as thin as the I/O will allow.

USB 3.1 is a new, smaller connector. It can also be used for power up to 100W, so can replace Magsafe. And apparently it can also work with the DisplayPort protocol, so replace the Thunderbolt ports.

A line of small, identical, do-anything ports sounds great. As long as they replace those other ports with more USB, rather than combining, then it will be a big improvement.

 

[2457282]

Rumors of a thiner Mac Air with a 12" screen. Rumors of an Ipad Air plus with a 12" screen. Hmmm....

At some point if either of these rumors is true, the two lines encroach on each other. The only difference being the OS and the physical keyboard. Add a beyboard cover to the ipad and you are down to only the OS being different. And they are starting to blend there as well.

I guess my thought is that if they ever improve iOS to have true multi-tasking, the need for a laptop goes away.

 

[acctman]

Apple should have just upgraded the 11" and 13" model with the new specs and colors. Why introduce a 12" kind of silly but Apple has done its research to warrant it.

 

[thekeyring]

What do Supermodels and Apple have in common ?

It's become an obsession.
There's nothing wrong with the MBA design of the last 4 years.
Akin to the iPhone 6, I'm voting for longer battery life instead of ever thinner devices.... that could bend

I just hope they don't pull a MacMini'14 refresh and degrade the current specs in the new MBAs for the sake of thinness and silence. Or does the fan in the current MBA's bother anybody ?

Some might argue that the "there's nothing wrong with" line of thinking is what let Microsoft catch up with Apple twenty years ago.

The iPad Air 2 is thin but hasn't sacrificed spec. At it's thickest point, the MacBook Air is over twice the thickness of an iPad Air 2. Clearly, since 2011, Apple have learned more about making things thin, and could apply this to their ultra-thin laptop.

Also, the current MacBook Air "bulges" underneath. This could be removed without loosing USB ports or the MagSafe 2 port.

 

[kazmac]

I just want Apple hardware and software that works. Not thinner, not a rush job and burning the candle at both ends: just a smooth working product as I had before Mavericks/iPhone 6/iOS 8.

 

[Michael Scrip]

In the U.S. the 13" laptop size is the default standard it seems.

I was always under the impression that 15" was the standard laptop size in the US. Which size sells the most?

In a recent Best Buy ad I counted 21 Windows laptops. Here are the models separated into size classes:

11" – 2 models
13" – 2 models
14" – 1 model
15" – 14 models
17" – 2 models

This is just one retailer... and they don't represent enterprise sales. But clearly something is going on.

Why would Best Buy offer so many models in an unpopular size?

 

[StrangeNoises]

Gold? Ooh!

----------

I find my 13" MBP the smallest one can get without sacrificing too much screen estate for reasonable notebook work. But of course, that depends on the job.

I would personally love to have something like 14" or 16" to choose from. 17" is too big, less than 13" probably too small.

I love my 11" MBA; I find it great for work primarily for its portability; it's the machine I take everywhere, thus finding I never use my iPad. BUT it probably matters that I also have a nice big desktop box as well for *real* work. The MBA is a satellite, secondary system.

Also BUT - it's more than three years old now, but no current MBA replacement seems like enough of a step up to feel like it would be worth getting, as long as this one still works (it seems bulletproof). Current ones are identical in appearance, screen, etc., will just be a bit quicker a bit longer batter life, etc.

So I'm *waiting* for this. A Retina screen is a must; even lighter, even more portable, even silenter (that's not a word!) also much to be desired. But oddly I don't especially need it to be much *faster*, which is probably just as well...

 

[heimo]

Thinner than air? Could it be helium? MacBook Helium.

 

[litmag01]

Will this version be fanless? Also will they reduce the bezel?

Both would be cool. But where would the antenna cables and iSite camera go? Without EMI shielding might be hard to run across back of LED.

 

[robjulo]

A budget HP laptop from 5 years ago had a clickless trackpad. It's nothing new or revolutionary.

It just suddenly occurred to me about the click-less trackpad.

The Watch has a pressure sensitive screen that you can press harder to get more effect.

Well that could be the same tech they're using on the new Macbook Air trackpad to make the click unnecessary and it not be as annoying as when you put it into "Tap to click" mode.

 

[divideby]

I hope it has a touch screen. I would rather a 12" surface pro type deal than a 12" air and 12" iPad Pro.

I think this looks awesome:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LXKA0UQcGY

The handwriting aspect would win over business IMHO. The senior and executive level at my work are always using iPads with the pogo stylus, which is awful in my opinion.

I recently had an "ah-ha!" moment when I played around with the Surface a couple weeks go, it definitely wrote like a real pen (at least being used to the iPad). I'm a staunch Apple fan but I'm ready to merge iOS and Mac even if they said it would never happen

 

[StrangeNoises]

Rumors of a thiner Mac Air with a 12" screen. Rumors of an Ipad Air plus with a 12" screen. Hmmm....

At some point if either of these rumors is true, the two lines encroach on each other. The only difference being the OS and the physical keyboard. Add a beyboard cover to the ipad and you are down to only the OS being different. And they are starting to blend there as well.

I guess my thought is that if they ever improve iOS to have true multi-tasking, the need for a laptop goes away.

I've been wondering about that slightly too - but the user interface issues wrt tablets and OS X would remain. One wild thought I had - there's an MBA in the base with the keyboard/trackpad/usb etc.; and there's an iPad in the detachable screen...

Would be first to admit that's unlikely, but would be cool.

 

[litmag01]

I was always under the impression that 15" was the standard laptop size in the US. Which size sells the most?

In a recent Best Buy ad I counted 21 Windows laptops. Here are the models separated into size classes:

11" – 2 models
13" – 2 models
14" – 1 model
15" – 14 models
17" – 2 models

This is just one retailer... and they don't represent enterprise sales. But clearly something is going on.

Why would Best Buy offer so many models in an unpopular size?

Could be wrong, but maybe is has to do with the fact that that form factor was popular 5 years ago and the assembly processes is already in place. That makes them very cheep to make and presents a potentially higher profit margin.

 

[mortenandersen]

11" is perfect - 13" is for me too big

I think not much chance there. In the U.S. the 13" laptop size is the default standard it seems. My office uses Window PCs and we can pretty much have IT order whatever we want. Everyone picks out a 13" as the best combination of screen size and portability.

But I've read that in some other countries the 12" size is popular.

The 11" is the one that doesn't make sense to me. Too large to cary around unless you have a bag. And once you have a bag, there is little point in not carrying a 13" and getting much more screen real estate. Also price difference between the two is trivial.

The Pro is the way to go in the U.S. anyone now since you get the retina screen.

I disagree. For me the extra centimetres of the 13" machine's footprint (compared to the 11") are just too much to be ultraportable and ultralight. The bigger screen and SD-card slot of the 13" are for me not important enough. Further, I prefer the 16:9 display ratio of the 11", while I think I am in a minority on this point.

 

[PowerBook-G5]

If it gets much thinner they're going to lose the USB ports..

Pha! They'll probably find a way to make the Lightning connector/port the standard on the laptop and then sell you $29 Lightning-to-USB adapters.

 

[Davidglenn]

Further, I prefer the 16:9 display ratio of the 11", while I think I am in a minority on this point.

I agree as I prefer my 11"MBA for travelling. I have a MBP with a separate screen for my main work but for traveling the 11" MBA is perfect size. I looked at the 13" but preferred the 11". Maybe a 12" will fill the voids of the too big and too small arguments for everyone.

 

[wizard]

Broadwell? What happened to Skylake in 2015?

Skylake is apparently headed for the MBP around July.

----------

I expect the 11" and 13" Air's to be phased out by middle of year with this model.

I really hope not as this machine will be a huge performance regression. There is just so much performance you can get out of 14 nm. Further the current MBA could really use a 15 watt Broadwell based processor. MBA have so much potential and frankly they are just starting to become compelling.

 

[LordQ]

Let's hope they've doubled down on secrecy and there's also a 14" we don't know about.

 

[rdlink]

Was 11" too small and 13" too big for some people?

My opinion, the 11 was too small for most users. I have only seen about 3-4 11 inch models in the wild in the 4 years the current form factor has been around.

On the 13" side, I think that the MBA and the 13" rMBP are fighting each other (I know I am looking hard at going with the rMBP when I replace my MBA). The rMBP only weighs half a pound more than the MBA, has more power in the proc, and more memory available. I think Apple is trying to position them a little further away from each other.

 

[Zxxv]

Panorama reports it will cost $12 to make

 

[MH01]

Hmm....I never see the Surface out in the wild in my neck of the woods. And the Microsoft store right across from the Apple store is usually empty while the Apple store is full of people.

How many of the people in the Apple store are looking at the MBA? I recall apple launching a new awesome phone recently? maybe that is driving a few people into their stores? Apple stores should be busy, they launched everything for xmas time!

 

[MH01]

Panorama reports it will cost $12 to make

Apple reports its the most environmental product ever!

 

[wizard]

I wonder if this to try to blunt the increasing popularity of Microsoft's Surface Pro 3?

What increasing popularity?

Beyond that Apple has access to the same product pipeline everybody else has. They have known for years where Intel would be at power and performance wise. The capability of Broadwell will drive product design.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

The current gen MacBook Air is already thin enough.

Until you look back in 10 years and say WOW! that 2014 MacBook Air seemed so thin but it was really quite thick.

The original iPhone was thin in its day too but by today's standards its a brick. I'd never buy the 2007 iPhone in 2014.

I would agree at some point a product can become too thin -- where it looses too much functionality for the sake of aesthetics. I'm not sure the Air is at that point yet, but also not sure how much thinner Apple can make it given the size of a regular USB port (goes back to my functionality point -- a thiner machine requiring dongles is a setback, not advancement IMHO). I think fast, reliable, secure wireless connectivity to peripherals is the key to making thinner computers. Then optional dongles on consumer devices like the Air become more acceptable.