How could Apple improve the Macbook Air?

[Mrbobb]

* Lighter

I submit at some point, it maybe TOO LIGHT. Somebody here complained his Air was always airborne as he was working outdoors and a gust of wind...

* Thinner

Sum people are already complaining about flex and uneven-ness. As it, it feels just like a tablet to me. What's the point of going still thinner? I guess at some point something u can roll it up?

* Longer battery life
* Faster
* Improved display
* Improved storage

All uninspiring incremental improvements.

 

[jdechko]

I find that the 11" Air is near perfect in every respect. It's inexpensive, looks great, has good specs, great battery life and a better than average display.

Having said that, the only improvements I would make are the usual spec bumps (more RAM & storage space). The display is good enough for me, and while I don't think the sacrifices to go retina are worth it on the Air, I wouldn't complain if they put an IPS display in.

All uninspiring incremental improvements.

There's nothing wrong with this: it's pretty much the industry way. Occasionally you get a company that does something far out there.

Apple is content to come up with a great classic design and just upgrade the internals every year.

 

[user-name-here]

How could Apple improve the Macbook Air?

Lose the tapered teardrop design to increase the battery size, thus opening the door to many other improvements (such as retina display, integrated lte, etc).

 

[cedwhatev]

I personally love everything about the MBA, and after owning a 2010 and 2012, I'm sticking with the 2013. Its fits everything I've been looking for. The 2012 was near perfect, but then they accomplished the all day battery life for the 2013, which was the one feature I sought.

It doesn't matter what they do, people will always want more. But for the sake of the post.. I'll go with a Black MacBook Air and a 16GB RAM option.

 

[Cheffy Dave]

agree on the Bezel,Quad Core, i'd like a a Retina Touch Screen

 

[beautifulcoder]

Better screen and please don't ever, ever, ever add touch. I actually use this machine for productivity.

 

[hbksabhi]

black bezel with retina

although its still perfect for me

 

[Total Respray]

Kensington lock.

 

[BenTrovato]

1. The storage is a joke. It's 2013, it feels archaic that I have to "maintain" my space at 128gb.

2. The casing could be improved. I the brushed aluminum is cool but it would be nice if they used something even higher end. Or at least offered it for an incremental price difference.

 

[AXs]

1. The storage is a joke. It's 2013, it feels archaic that I have to "maintain" my space at 128gb.

2. The casing could be improved. I the brushed aluminum is cool but it would be nice if they used something even higher end. Or at least offered it for an incremental price difference.

1. There's an option for 512GB. Nobody is forcing you to buy 128GB
This is 2013, and that's why you should opt for SSD instead of spinners. Commercially speaking, SSD are still pretty expensive, but the more commercial they get the more economies of scale comes into play.

In 2008 when Apple first launched the Air, it was $1,000 to upgrade from 80GBHDD to 64GBSSD.


2. I agree they could maybe consider Duralumin, but then Apple has done a good job of lowering their prices by $100 each year... if they started producing new cases entirely, on the air, it may cost more.
However, it is possible next generation macbook Air may just come with Duralumin casing (what Samsung uses for series 9).

 

[robvas]

Fit a bigger screen in the body - the bezel is so giant.

 

[PDFierro]

1. The storage is a joke. It's 2013, it feels archaic that I have to "maintain" my space at 128gb.

2. The casing could be improved. I the brushed aluminum is cool but it would be nice if they used something even higher end. Or at least offered it for an incremental price difference.

Agreed. 256 is a good sweet spot these days.

 

[dazey]

Better screen. I don't care about extra resolution, the 13" is fine for me, I just want an IPS screen (no colour shift). Dreaming but a decent colour gamut would be nice too.

 

[venom600]

It sounds like what a lot of you are saying is that what you want is for them to rename the 13" Retina Macbook Pro a Macbook Air. It is slightly heavier than the Air, but has all the features everyone in here are asking for, including the ability to have 1680x1050 resolution.

 

[Nugget]

Lose the tapered teardrop design to increase the battery size, thus opening the door to many other improvements (such as retina display, integrated lte, etc).

Isn't that what the 13" rMBP already is?

 

[prism1212]

1. A must: IPS, IPS, IPS - once you've used an IPS display, you will never want to go back.

2. Optional: Antiglare/matte display

And if Apple is considering about adding a higher res display (1680x1050 or higher), please also have the current 1440x900 res still be available. The higher PPI due to the increase in res (without the ability to smoothly scale down like in the rMBP) will cause killer EYE STRAIN for some.

 

[Nugget]

Really the only thing I'd like to see is better (or at least louder) internal speakers.

 

[lostgear]

LOL.....I know they look real tasty, but marinating the battery? What did you have in mind......pesto?....garlic?

If Apple can reduce the bezel and increase resolution while marinating battery life I think they'll have something special in their hands.

 

[theuserjohnny]

Really the only thing I'd like to see is better (or at least louder) internal speakers.

Yeah that's one thing I've noticed when switching between the 15'rMBP and the Macbook Air when watching videos on it. I think this would be an area of opportunity but I'm not sure if they'd be able to with the space? It would be a welcome improvement though.

----------

LOL.....I know they look real tasty, but marinating the battery? What did you have in mind......pesto?....garlic?

lol I did not notice that haha!

 

[Chuoexi]

I know I'm late to the party but I think this conversation is pretty interesting so here's my two cents.

I think it's inevitable that Apple will only have one line of MacBooks in the near future. I bet most of us could agree on that, and I think it's something to get excited about. Think about it:

We all know and love the current MBP design, but it's almost 5 years old. The MBA and rMBP have proven to Apple that they can still inject growth back into their Mac line by applying the design principles of their mobile devices: thinner designs, no moving parts, etc.

Their notebook line currently features many similarities between the highend-niche rMBP and low-pricepoint-niche MBA. And Apple knows that in the near future they need to see their most mainstream/practical notebook, the MBP, updated to gain its sexy back. Inevitably, then, they will be converging everything back into one as their niche features (namely SSDs, Retina, and lack of an ODD) are accepted as mainstream. Certain principles from rMBP (retina display, non-ULV parts, possibly still discrete GPUs on certain models) and certain principles from MBA (extremely thin, even in comparison to the rMBP) truly deserve to be featured in their Goldilocks product, the standard MBP.

So here it is, you heard it here first folks. The 2016 MacBook:

• 12.5" 2732x1536 (1366x768 real estate, pixel-doubled to 250 ppi)
• 14.1" 3200x1800 (1600x900 real estate, pixel-doubled to 260 ppi)
• 15.6" 3840x2160 (1080p real estate, pixel-doubled to 280 ppi)

The tapered design of the MBA is already starting to feel gimmicky; there's no question it'll be out in favor of a design similar to the current rMBP, but even thinner.

These will be priced starting at $999 and scaling all the way up into the mid-to-high-$2000s, not unlike the 13, 15, and 17-inch MBPs from just two years ago. They will of course have no moving parts aside from a fan, have fantastic IPS displays, feature Apple's own PCIe flash storage (with much more reasonable storage options, starting at 256 GB at the very least), feature all-day battery life, and will range in performance from ULV CPU and IGP to full-power CPU and discrete GPU.

Alright, I got a little carried away here. But seriously -- convergence of MBA, MBP and rMBP will be the name of the game in the next couple years.

 

[Matt78777]

I still have my 2009 15MBP. I'm tempted to get a new mac, but always end up spending money on an ipad or iphone or something else instead. Besides, the 2009 still does a lot of what I ask it to do four years later.

That being said, I know I'm in the minority here, but I would love a 15in air, even if it was a little heavier. If Apple were able to come out with a 15in Air with retina dispaly and a battery that lasted forever I dont' think I'd buy another laptop for ten years.

Actually, even a crazy battery + retina display at 13in would be enough.

 

[mizaco]

Retina. Battery. Quality.

 

[Saturn1217]

My ideal computer is sitting on my lap ;-P

BUT if I really had to pick something:

IPS display (no resolution change) with a matte screen option.

Move away from the tapered look and instead have a 13" MBA that comes in at ~2.5 lbs (not sure if possible) and has a footprint as close as possible to the 11" MBA and the same battery life haswell gives us now. They could consolidate back to one MBA model this way and people wouldn't have to choose between ideal portability and screen size/battery life. We could have our cake and eat it too!

8gb ram standard (for the higher end model atleast) and much cheaper option for 512gb storage.

At some point Apple will need to come up with another material besides anodized aluminum for their computers. Doesn't have to be soon but a sturdy yet much lighter material would go a long way towards decreasing MBA weight without sacrificing internals.

 

[Nugget]

But seriously -- convergence of MBA, MBP and rMBP will be the name of the game in the next couple years.

I don't find this plausible at all. It doesn't make any sense to me that Apple would compromise the two edges of their product line simply to unify down to a single flavor of portable. You end up removing the appeal of both the Air and the Pro products if you try to homogenize features.

About all I will agree with is that the non-retina MBP is not long for the world.

 

[Doublea6]

I don't find this plausible at all. It doesn't make any sense to me that Apple would compromise the two edges of their product line simply to unify down to a single flavor of portable. You end up removing the appeal of both the Air and the Pro products if you try to homogenize features.

About all I will agree with is that the non-retina MBP is not long for the world.

The thing is that the 13 Air and the 13 pro are getting very similar. If they get any closer in portability there will be no reason for the air.