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How soon are new Macbook Airs likely to come?

L

lumencreative

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 19, 2014
137
91
Lancashire
My wife is currently at university studying Computing and is looking for a new laptop. She currently has a 2011 15" Macbook Pro that's just had a new logic board fitted under the Apple recall (as her laptop packed in). While it was away, the company we bought the laptop from gave her a 13" Macbook Pro as a loan machine and now she's got her own laptop back she wants something smaller/lighter.

So, she's been looking at Macbook Airs and also looked at a HP Envy 13" which is about the same thickness as a Macbook Air and a bit lighter.

I'm trying my best to convince her to stick with an Apple laptop over the Envy but the Envy has double the ram and double the SSD for £70 cheaper than the MBA with student discount, so just wondering how soon the MBA's are likely to be updated. Are Apple likely to wait until WWDC in June or do we think they'll update the MBA sooner?
 
I personally don't think there will be new MBA's. I think we've seen the last of them. I think the next revision of the MBP will get even thinner and lighter and the MBA will go away. We'll be left with the MacBook and the MBP.
 
Thanks for the comments so far.

dangerfish said:
I personally don't think there will be new MBA's. I think we've seen the last of them. I think the next revision of the MBP will get even thinner and lighter and the MBA will go away. We'll be left with the MacBook and the MBP.
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I must admit, I do think she'd be better off with the Retina 13" Macbook Pro (I don't like the Macbook as I don't like the keyboard going right to the edge), but she's adamant she wants a MBA.

cerberusss said:
If you're just looking at specs, Apple will lose every time.
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Not strictly looking at specs - not bothered about CPU/Graphics/etc, but Ram and SSD capacity are important factors especially as they're no longer user upgradeable.
 
My guess is that the next retina 13 in Macbook Pro will have the same thin wedged profile as the MBA. Apple seems to have adopted this shape as their standard for MacBooks. It will probably be lighter than the current MBP, and might be offered in silver, gold, and space grey. Some folks expect the update in Spring....but, who really knows?

Of course, it will also have updated internals.
 
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Have you seen this? https://www.macrumors.com/roundup/macbook-air/
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"Rumors out of Asia suggest Apple does not have plans to discontinue the MacBook Air, instead continuing the line with new 13 and 15-inch MacBook Air models set to launch in the third quarter, perhaps at WWDC 2016 in June.

The new models are said to be slimmer in design with "fully redesigned" internal components. If the rumors are correct, the new MacBook Air will be available in 13 and 15-inch sizes, but it is not clear if an 11-inch model will also be released. Given that there's no secondary source for these rumors, they should be viewed with some skepticism until additional information becomes available."
 
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Boyd01 said:
Have you seen this? https://www.macrumors.com/roundup/macbook-air/
_______________________________________________________________

"Rumors out of Asia suggest Apple does not have plans to discontinue the MacBook Air, instead continuing the line with new 13 and 15-inch MacBook Air models set to launch in the third quarter, perhaps at WWDC 2016 in June.

The new models are said to be slimmer in design with "fully redesigned" internal components. If the rumors are correct, the new MacBook Air will be available in 13 and 15-inch sizes, but it is not clear if an 11-inch model will also be released. Given that there's no secondary source for these rumors, they should be viewed with some skepticism until additional information becomes available."
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I have, yes, but that's why I'm asking. If Apple are likely to not release new MBA's til June or later, she should definitely look at a different option as the current MBA are already old tech.

AlliFlowers said:
Depends on the kind of "computing" she's studying. In many cases what you need is Windows, and having a Mac is useless. Only she can answer that.
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She's only in her first year so in a couple of months has to decide what path to take. She's currently thinking either programming (which will require Windows) or web development (which will work on either). My thinking is I'd rather she bought a Mac and used bootcamp than buying a Windows laptop.
 
I'm waiting to see if Apple releases a new MBA line. I have a mid 2012 15" RMBP at the moment and would like to get something more compact. I had my eye on an 11" air and I was about to buy one on ebay but I thought I'd best wait as its only a couple more months before Apple announce them hopefully.

One thing that puzzles me is the rumour going around that Apple are bringing out 13" and 15" MBA's. Would there be any point of a 15" model when we have the MBP?
 
lumencreative said:
She's only in her first year so in a couple of months has to decide what path to take. She's currently thinking either programming (which will require Windows) or web development (which will work on either). My thinking is I'd rather she bought a Mac and used bootcamp than buying a Windows laptop.
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If you're depending on using bootcamp to run Windows, then forget the Air. They don't have enough space. You'll need to start looking at the MBP, with the larger hard drive.
 
AlliFlowers said:
If you're depending on using bootcamp to run Windows, then forget the Air. They don't have enough space. You'll need to start looking at the MBP, with the larger hard drive.
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I'm Windows ignorant, but I'm left wondering: Do you really need more than half a terabyte to run Bootcamp and Windows?
 
I loved my air but moved to the MBPro 15 rather than the new MB. Not enough power, screen too small and longevity of the battery is still questionable in my opinion.

I do not need my laptop so thin that I am willing to give up usb and sd card slots.
 
MacBook Airs are typically refreshed in the Summer, usually at WWDC. I wouldn't expect a refresh before then.
 
AlliFlowers said:
Depends on the kind of "computing" she's studying. In many cases what you need is Windows, and having a Mac is useless. Only she can answer that.
Click to expand...
Useless? The Mac can run Windows.
[doublepost=1452877327][/doublepost]
AlliFlowers said:
If you're depending on using bootcamp to run Windows, then forget the Air. They don't have enough space. You'll need to start looking at the MBP, with the larger hard drive.
Click to expand...
The Air has plenty of space. My Windows 10 and Windows 7 images are about 30GB each.
 
Boyd01 said:
The new models are said to be slimmer in design with "fully redesigned" internal components. If the rumors are correct, the new MacBook Air will be available in 13 and 15-inch sizes, but it is not clear if an 11-inch model will also be released."
Click to expand...

A "slimmer" design would turn the MBA into a MB.

Paulg2uk said:
One thing that puzzles me is the rumour going around that Apple are bringing out 13" and 15" MBA's. Would there be any point of a 15" model when we have the MBP?
Click to expand...

Exactly! That's why I think these rumors are about new MBP's and NOT MBA's.
If you make the MBA any thinner, it becomes a Macbook with a little bit larger screen. 13" and 15" laptops that have completely different internals than the current MBA describe the MBP line. I expect that these new laptops are thinner MBP's and that the MBA line will go away.
 
AlliFlowers said:
If you're depending on using bootcamp to run Windows, then forget the Air. They don't have enough space. You'll need to start looking at the MBP, with the larger hard drive.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry but I don't agree with you here. I have my Macbook Pro which is a 2011 Quad Core i7 2.2GHz, with a 250GB Samsung SSD. I have OSX and Windows running on this (ok, Windows is in Parallels not Bootcamp but still).

chabig said:
Useless? The Mac can run Windows.
[doublepost=1452877327][/doublepost]
The Air has plenty of space. My Windows 10 and Windows 7 images are about 30GB each.
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Agreed. Not so long ago, there was an article in a PC mag that stated Macs were the BEST windows laptops available.
 
Funnily enough, I have the same one. Keep in mind that some of that space is immediately taken up by your OS.

Honestly, I don't understand why anyone wants to run Windows on a Mac. If you want to use Windows applications, buy a PC. Once you spend $1200 for a Mac, another $200 for a PC probably won't kill you.
 
I guess my sense of humor is lost on everyone besides me.

I do, however, have a hard time being presumed an idiot. Even those who live in 'red' States cannot have a monopoly on intelligence.

Precisely 12.93 GB of my 512GB flash storage was taken up by OS X. I'm not sure how less than 3% can be considered a substantial portion of the 512GB storage you claimed did not exist.
 
AlliFlowers said:
Funnily enough, I have the same one. Keep in mind that some of that space is immediately taken up by your OS.

Honestly, I don't understand why anyone wants to run Windows on a Mac. If you want to use Windows applications, buy a PC. Once you spend $1200 for a Mac, another $200 for a PC probably won't kill you.
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Have you ever used a $200 PC. It's excruciating. I'd much rather have a MBA with a large enough SSD to put Windows on it. Plus, not everyone wants two computers to have to keep track of and cheated and carry around.
 
ftaok said:
Have you ever used a $200 PC. It's excruciating.
Click to expand...

I sure learned that the hard way (after wasting money to upgrade the RAM). Ended up throwing it away. After that I ran Windows XP on my 2008 MBP in a 30gb BootCamp partition for a number of years. It was a convenient way to access my company's windows-only e-mail/scheduling system while using Mac software for everything else.

But I didn't like the experience when I tried to run more demanding Widows software. There were a lot of small but annoying issues. Windows is a big enough pain in the butt running on hardware designed for it, installing it on the Mac seemed to add another layer of things that could go wrong.

Now my experiences date back to 2011 and Windows XP, maybe it's better today? Last year I upgraded my old Vista desktop PC and gave some consideration to installing Windows 7 on my Mac. I ended up getting a new HP desktop machine instead though and am glad I did.
 
Paulg2uk said:
One thing that puzzles me is the rumour going around that Apple are bringing out 13" and 15" MBA's. Would there be any point of a 15" model when we have the MBP?
Click to expand...
Someone else here had a theory which I agree with that they will be 13" and 15" MBPs, not MBAs, and there will be a 14" rMB in addition to current 12". Air line will disappear.

*clutching his MBA 13"*
 
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