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

For the most part, the industry still looks like this:

1. Processing power
2. High resolution display
3. Cool/Fanless
4. Inexpensive

Pick any two at the expense of the other two. It's all about your priority.

#3 is very important to me. For productivity, I'm inclined to give up retina to get decent processing power that runs cool and has better battery life (which is why I bought a Macbook Air over rMBP).

For reading and media consumption, retina trumps processing power but I still want cool/fanless - so iPad fits the bill.

If they can somehow pull off retina and fanless with a powerful Intel processor and decent graphics performance, it will be a game-changer. Unfortunately, I think it will either be sluggish, run very hot, or both.
 
ctyrider said:
Right - if it doesn't make sense to YOU - it has no reason to exist.

I love my 11" Air - it's top specced and is my primary and only computer. The combination of portability and power cannot be beat. The screen real estate is only a tiny bit smaller than 13". And most of my heavy duty work is done white Air is docked to my 2 Thunderbolt displays, where 11" vs 13" size doesn't matter.

11" Air is a perfect computer and I can hardly wait to see what this 12" upgrade will bring.
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Well I didn't say it shouldn't exist. I just thought that it was likely to not sell nearly in the same numbers as the MBA 13". And that most folks
I suspect you are in the minority of MBA 11" that use it as their only computer. It seems that others have the luxury of using the 11" just for travel and they have another computer that they use most of the time. Or they have another fairly expensive solution, like you have implemented, with two large and expensive displays.
If the 12" weighs nearly the same amount as the current 11", will the 11" still be unbeatable to you? Is there a point where dropping additional weight just doesn't make enough of a difference? Certainly in form factor, I'm pretty sure I've never carried a bag that I could fit an 11" into but not a 13". So the volume size difference seems meaningless to me. The weight difference might make some difference. It seems to make a difference to you.

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Wombat-man said:
Well, it makes sense to me, and also some other people as well. It all depends on your needs. It's just the right size for my international travel, and it's still big enough for me to do real work - either creating presentations on it directly, or connecting via VPN to my Linux work machine.
I would hate to have a bigger machine.
12" would be OK if it had almost zero bezel.
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Is it the volume of the MBA 11" that makes it so good for travel or is the weight? I just don't get how the volume makes a difference. Any laptop, briefcase, backpack or nearly any other bag I can think of will easily hold the MBA 13".
But weight is weight, and the more that can be shed the better I suppose.
I suspect Apple can decrease the bezel on the next generation of laptops. So I wouldn't worry too much there. But shedding another few millimeters of thickness isn't going to allow me to fit the device into a bag that it wouldn't fit into before. Again though the weight decrease that comes from thinness is nice.

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Michael Scrip said:
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?
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I don't know. I suspect that folks buying PCs at best buy are buying for home use as their sole computer. I believe that enterprise use is the vast bulk of PC usage at this point in the US. I'm only saying what folks did in my office. We connect our laptops to docking stations and screens, so we get extra real estate that way.

I don't know what Best Buy is doing with its PC sales anyway. Pretty much everyone I know uses Macs for home use. I think I have one friend who sometimes uses a PC. He also uses an Android phone. But many folks I know use a PC at work, and that work PC gets replaced every two to three years; while their home Mac gets replaced every five years or so. And when my friends buy Mac laptops it seems that they buy the 13".
 
PatriotInvasion said:
While the iPad is great, it still isn't nearly as capable at traditional computing tasks as Mac. If Apple can make an entry level Mac in the $799-$999 price point that carries over the familiarity of the iOS device look and feel for the masses (space gray, silver, gold) than they would probably sell like hotcakes.

Leave the MacBook Pro line for people who need more power and specs. Right now the difference between the 13" MacBook Air and the 13" Retina MacBook Pro is too small. It's almost silly to buy a 13" Air when you can get a much better machine for only a few hundred more with the Pro.
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Agree 100% iOS is a joke for any level of actual productivity. I will always use a Mac.
 
redheeler said:
Skylake will be late 2015 at the earliest.
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If they release in Q2 the new Air base on Broadwell, you wait 3 to 6 months and you have a brand new architecture.

Besides, the indications from Intel is that they will probably scrap Broadwell in favor of Skylake since they have again said that , contrary to the numerous delays of Broadwell, Skylake wont be delayed for 2015.
 
I can see the market for this product, but I don't think that that market is willing to pay a lot for the product. I see this as being the entry level MacBook under the11" Air. I'm guessing low specs (1.2 GHz) and only 4 GB of RAM. For some this is plenty and others it is not, and that's why this would be targeted at a very specific market in need for a cheaper laptop
 
Gasu E. said:
Do you really need a USB port without a dongle on a non-pro laptop?
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Yes...

How many non-pros (aka average consumers) would think to buy a dongle for something as simple as transferring files with a usb stick? This would be much less an issue for professionals who have money to throw at adapters and already are in the habit of having adapters for everything else apple leaves out (video connections, ethernet etc.)
 
TallManNY said:
If the 12" weighs nearly the same amount as the current 11", will the 11" still be unbeatable to you? Is there a point where dropping additional weight just doesn't make enough of a difference? Certainly in form factor, I'm pretty sure I've never carried a bag that I could fit an 11" into but not a 13". So the volume size difference seems meaningless to me. The weight difference might make some difference. It seems to make a difference to you.
Click to expand...

It's not just about the weight, to me it's mostly about the footprint. 11" MBA is substantially smaller than 13", and that makes a huge difference in many situations.. For instance, while flying and using a laptop in a seat tray.

The way I look at my 11" MBA - it gives me a full computing power while offering portability and mobility of an iPad. That combination cannot be beat by any other computing device on the market.

My only gripe about MBA (which applies equally to 11" and 13" models) - lack of retina and relatively large besels. If both of these can be addressed in 12" update (while preserving current 11" footprint) - that would result in a perfect mobile computer to me.
 
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I bought a 13 inch Retina Macbook Pro last month as I couldn't wait another 6 months for these..but if these turn out as good as current Airs (with Retina screen of course,and not a lower power,touch screen enabled gimmick),I'll selk the Pro and buy one.
 
pearvsapple said:
This is the "ipad pro."
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iOS, OS X, and their apps run on two very distinct forms of user input. They also run on very different CPU architectures and are designed for very different hardware configurations.

For these reasons a hybrid device is unlikely.

The reason I would like a 12'' iPad Pro over a 12'' Retina MBA is because I want a 12'' touchscreen device designed specifically for iOS and iOS apps. I already have a Mac that was designed specifically for OS X and has a mouse and keyboard for input.
 
The size difference matters!

TallManNY wrote in Post 128:

"[...] Certainly in form factor, I'm pretty sure I've never carried a bag that I could fit an 11" into but not a 13". So the volume size difference seems meaningless to me. The weight difference might make some difference. [...]."

I have two favorite bags that involve just this problem, the 13" being a tiny bit too big for the bag. I also much more prefer the 16:9 ratio - but that is of course just a subjective thing.
 
AlecZ said:
Was 11" too small and 13" too big for some people?
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No, but the MBA 13" overlaps too much with the re-designed MBP 13", and the MBA 11" is way behind in sales. Therefore, it makes sense to consolidate the MBA 11" and 13" into one single Air offer: the 12".

I totally understand the move from a business, logistics and marketing point of view.
 
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