Apple could (they probably wont' but they could) give an upgraded M2 Pro version of the 15" Macbook Air, with Pro pricing. Many would happily buy this. We don't care about the price. We don't want a 4.8 lb laptop just to have a larger display. It is physically possible to have a wonderfully lightweight and yet powerful and cool laptop with Apple Silicon. And yet, Apple's only large display offering weighs significantly MORE than the 16" MBP (2019) that it replaces. That is why people want the 15" MBA to be more pro. There is a missed opportunity here to have a redo of the 4lb 2016-2019 15" MBPs with chips and a keyboard that don't suck.
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Gurman: Apple to Announce 15-Inch MacBook Air at WWDC
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Apple could (they probably wont' but they could) give an upgraded M2 Pro version of the 15" Macbook Air, with Pro pricing. Many would happily buy this. We don't care about the price. We don't want a 4.8 lb laptop just to have a larger display. It is physically possible to have a wonderfully lightweight and yet powerful and cool laptop with Apple Silicon. And yet, Apple's only large display offering weighs significantly MORE than the 16" MBP (2019) that it replaces. That is why people want the 15" MBA to be more pro. There is a missed opportunity here to have a redo of the 4lb 2016-2019 15" MBPs with chips and a keyboard that don't suck.
Probably no fan at all . The MBA 13 doesn’t need one. An incrementally bigger screen is not a huge heat source ( and nor even in same ‘half‘ of laptop as the fan . Bigger battery is not a big source either .
if the M2 , max RAM , ports , and SSD stay the same the thermals don’t change much . GPU works incrementally harder In several cases , but the thermal sink provided by the case is larger too .
Pretty good chance two of the objectives here are to lower the weight ( no fan weighs less ) and cost less ( simple heat pipe versus fan) .
There was some speculation that because it was bigger , Apple would try to stuff more inside ( Mn Pro ) . If system has cost control objective that doesn’t make sense .
If Apple holds anto the MBP 13 in its current ‘ paid for’ enclosure then folks who really want a fan can buy that. But the gap between plain Mn and Mn Pro will be a decent enough segmentation gap regardless of screen size; 13.1 , 13.6 , 14.9 , etc . Not just shifting CPU / GPU core counts , but max memory capacity as well .
Given the size of the MacBook Air 15", I do think an improved cooling system for the SoC is likely possible.
Is there any reason to think this won’t simply be a larger MBA, similar to the current iPhone 14 / 14 plus paradigm? There is the question of its starting specs, but nothing stopping users from simply paying more for the desired amount of ram / storage. Otherwise, I expect it to others be identical to the current M2 MBA in terms of capability and limitations.
It will definitely be improved to take advantage of the additional surface area of the MBA but unlikely to have a fan.
My next laptop will probably be the M3 variant of this, and I’m hoping along with you
Wrong, not a pretty big blunder. MBA is the low end, so users should not expect high end features. To drive multiple displays buy the superb M2 MBP Max like I did.
Wanting M3 is just silly when MBA is Apple's low end and M2 will easily max out its performance. M3 will be earlier in its chip yield evolution and will therefore cost more while not being needed for the lower end performance of MBAs.
Apple's own product segmentation & the MBA itself demonstrates your statement is only true for a fraction of MBA users (and a only a fraction segment of Apple's intended market).
First, the Intel models of the MBA the M1 replaced supported dual monitors. This is a feature-function regression, @Allen_Wentz.
Second, the MBA has low end options but itself is not "low end". There are options with more RAM and more GPU cores that are highly portable machines with some fair amount of power. Are you really trying to claim a 13" M2 MBA with 24GB of RAM, 2TB of SSD, and a 10 core GPU is a "low end" machine? At $2,499? Because that machine is available today and even with its 10-core GPU will not support multiple external monitors. Are you trying to suggest that this is because it is a "low-end" SoC in there? It's actually physically capable of it. Quite easily.
Nevertheless, congratulations on having a very powerful machine, but there are many, many people who don't need the extra weight, power draw, etc who regularly use two monitors in a portable machine, and in fact, don't *want* to.
I'd easily buy a 15" MBA that can drive multiple monitors and leave my monster maxed out M2 MBP Max at home when I travel and end up at offices/workspaces that have multiple monitor set ups that I want hook into. The 15" MBA fits in way more sleeves, packs, etc than even the relatively svelte 16" MBP and is much lighter, and the battery lasts longer.
If you look at the MBA from where began to what it is now, it's actually Apple's mainstream laptop and the Pro continues to move into niche (which is a good thing for those of us who want true Pro machines, because they won't try to make it the mainstream machine for everyone at the expense of more niche features).
Definitely a pretty big blunder to take away functionality in a product for no technically valid reason.
That is flat silly commentary when you are talking about the low end of Apple's laptops. M2 is far stronger than MBAs require, and less expensive than chips built on some new process. Battery life on M2 is already superb, and I am driving a loaded M2 MBP.
Again, not a blunder IMO. The MBA is the low end of Apple's laptops, by definition. The fact that it is powerful is beside the point. Sure lots of folks want the low end to have features of the high end, but Apple has to position its products.
Well, I can't and won't try to talk you out of your own opinion or your own definitions, @Allen_Wentz , and I fully agree that Apple has to position and segment its products. I've already pointed out that they've done exactly that and it decidedly is not on (just) the low-end as you claim. That assumption is about as old and obsolete as the click-wheel iPod (literally, it was released in 2008 as a low end machine, but it is not marketed as such anymore).
On the other hand, Apple's definition of the machine is markedly different from the one you've chosen (which is fine, I'm not being passive aggressive, you are surely entitled to view the machine however you'd like, but let's have a look at what Apple says about the MBA).
The hero image on apple.com for the M2 MBA shows multi-track video editing in Adobe After Effects.
It says "Supercharged" in enormous text.
Scroll down.
The text *literally* says "Don't Take It Lightly".
They're touting the ProRes encoding speed (not a low-end codec or workload by any means).
Guess who are users who frequently use dual external displays? Video editors/content creators! Apple is DIRECTLY marketing this to people using Adobe After Effects, clearly. Guess who those are? Video editors/content creators! And not just hobbyists using iMovie, these are actual professional tools!
You are, of course, more than welcome to "take it lightly" and your attendant opinion and I won't try to convince you out of it, I simply give Apple's direct marketing language more credence about the intention of their machine over your (or, hell, even my own) opinions on the matter.
Like I said above, you're right that Apple must segment and position their products, and they're doing so very intelligently. In the post-Ive era the MBP is a low-volume, niche true Pro machine without the compromises needed to be a mainstream product selling tons of SKUs to the general user. The MBA has moved up to the mainstream in mid-2014 and is solidly been there for 5-6 years.
They're smart: they can now sell Pros two machines. One enormous no-compromises box, one portable one that still gets 90% of their work done and is a joy to travel with, and they can do it off pretty much the same piece of silicon/SoC as the building block. I also don't know this for sure, but I suspect they'll move people out of the low-end pro and into the high-end MBA with much better margins even if top line revenue is incrementally lower (although at $2,499 I am not even sure that's true, but margins on an MBA are no doubt higher than an MBP, esp at the scale they're pushing on that SKU, not to mention the BOM).
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It has a better ring to it than "MacBook High Margin Does Everything Most People Need" and "MacBook Lower Margin For The People Who Really Need It Or Just Want It All To Know/Say They Have It".
That being said, it's actually really good product segmentation. If you recall the days of Ive's MacBook Pro, it was anything but Pro, because they moved the MBP into the mainstream laptop they sold. With a high volume, mass market SKU by a public company comes all the craziness of product management...you can't reach the Pro market and the mainstream market, and they proved that.
Here, the MBA is higher margin product (almost assuredly) and now, they can keep only a few production lines dedicated to a much more niche SKU (the MBP) with specs that actually make it Pro, and still turn an OK margin on it because those lines build out the volume and move back to making the MBA at much higher margin.
It's quite possible without a "more Pro" MBA the MBP wouldn't have any margin period given the numbers there.
Of course, this is all guessing since this data isn't broken out, but looking at the sales numbers, the BOMs, and the product cycles, it's pretty clear.
And, in this regard, the consumer wins, too.
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This bad boy will be priced out of making no sense. Prepare to buy a 14“ MacBook Pro.
M2 with color Airs. Pocket billions. I know so many people, myself included, that bought iMacs just for the color and “fun” of it. Wife wanted one, then I wanted a blue one, I installed an office that bought 15 of them to be more modern “artsy” with their open layout room.
Just like the G3, clamshell, don’t underestimate fun. PC does business excellent. Nothing will beat a 4090 monster gaming machine. Don’t make that the competition.
Just like the G3, clamshell, don’t underestimate fun. PC does business excellent. Nothing will beat a 4090 monster gaming machine. Don’t make that the competition.
It's basically for people who want a MBA with a larger display. I also assume it will be thinner and lighter than the 14" MBP, and presumably cheaper than one.
Nonsense. The concept of "make their computers obsolete faster" is total nonsense. My 2011 MBP drove a graphics workflow for 6 years and my 2016 MBP drove a graphics workflow for 6 more years. Buyers who think, and plan for future needs do not see their "their computers obsolete faster."
The 2016 MBP won't run Ventura, but it still gets regular OS updates to Monterey.
I am still using my 2013 Mac Pro and 2012 Retina MBP and just upgraded a 2009 iMac for my wife's folks.
Fans allow system designers to make more power available. Folks who do not drive their MBPs hard never have the fans kick in. The MBP is a better machine, by a lot; partially because that in-reserve power is there when necessary.
I reckon in the UK at least the base 15" Air will be around £1349.
Add 512GB of storage £1549.
Add 16GB of memory £1749.
The 10 core GPU 512GB option while still being 8GB £1749.
Now add 16GB to the above option £1949.
That's alot of money for a well specced 15" MacBook Air, & putting it very close to the price of the Base M2 Pro.
Add 512GB of storage £1549.
Add 16GB of memory £1749.
The 10 core GPU 512GB option while still being 8GB £1749.
Now add 16GB to the above option £1949.
That's alot of money for a well specced 15" MacBook Air, & putting it very close to the price of the Base M2 Pro.