I hope this happens to the Air now that the new MacBook is out

[djfunkyboy]

We all know that the MacBook Air got a bump up to 1.6GHz this week, along with the bump up to HD 6000 graphics. This has improved overall performance of the notebook and will undoubtedly improve the chances of it becoming more future proof.

Now, it seems that Apple still want to keep the Air in the line-up, hence the update. Apple seems to see the new MacBook as the 'ultrabook' of the line-up (Ultrabooks usually have ****** processors, tiny chassis and a ridiculously pixel-rich screen) which the Air usually had the title of (However, the Air's processor is far from ******). So the air is no longer the thinnest. What does the air have now? I feel like it has become the budget laptop from apple.

This is what the air needs:

CONTOURED LAYERED BATTERIES: Those batteries tho. the Air needs those batteries in it, especially the 11-inch to bump up the life to 12 hours. It will also help battery life with the retina display.

RETINA DISPLAY: The Air needs the retina display tbh. Apple can't avoid it anymore, at least 1920x1200 for the 11 inch and the same resolution as the retina macbook pro for the 13 inch air. However, it may be hard to maintain the cheaper price point with this resolution, therefore as a compromise the 11inch air should be upgraded to 1600x900 and the 13 inch air should be upgraded to 1920x1200.

THE KEYBOARD: The keyboard from the Macbook is revolutionary, it would really help Apple if all of their notebooks sported this keyboard. plus it would be a good marketing technique.

These three improvements are needed in my eyes. The contoured and layered batteries cost a lot of money to develop, no doubt the keyboard was also costly to develop. You don't get a whole lot of laptop with the MacBook, especially at £1200. Apple will not be selling a major amount of these laptops compared to the Air. The only way they will make their money back on the invention of these new production methods is to include them in another product.

The air with the slightly upgraded screen, new keyboard and the new style of batteries would be a great notebook with the same all day battery life. The MacBook would still have the retina display along with force touch and the extremely thin profile but the Air will still be a formidable low end notebook for Apple.

that's just my view anyway

 

[maflynn]

I think the MBA is the red headed step child and won't be getting much love from apple, I could be wrong, its been known to happen but I think apple's direction may be to reduce the MBA in marketing and improvements and improve the MB with more models and options.

 

[djfunkyboy]

I think the MBA is the red headed step child and won't be getting much love from apple, I could be wrong, its been known to happen but I think apple's direction may be to reduce the MBA in marketing and improvements and improve the MB with more models and options.

I hope they still add a few features to it here and there. Maybe they are aiming the rMB at business people and the air at home users??

We all know that the rMBp is intended for professionals so...

 

[driftless]

+ 1. If the MBA is going to be a viable series in the future the MB would have been named rMBA.

 

[djfunkyboy]

+ 1. If the MBA is going to be a viable series in the future the MB would have been named rMBA.

I have a feeling that the air is going to be like the 4s/5c of the macbooks. Just on a long term basis. It will never have the latest features (force touchpad, retina screen, batteries) but it will be the cheaper laptop that still has the apple coolness

 

[Sodner]

Hummm..... So the thinnest laptop they now sell is simply called a MacBook, and you think the thicker, heavier version called the AIR is not quickly approaching it's end-of-life.

This IS the replacement to the MBA. There will be this version and a MBP.

 

[djfunkyboy]

Hummm..... So the thinnest laptop they now sell is simply called a MacBook, and you think the thicker, heavier version called the AIR is not quickly approaching it's end-of-life.

No, it's the lower end of the line up. like the 5c. or the ipad mini

 

[thejadedmonkey]

I have a feeling that something will happen with the iPad air that merges it with the MacBook air.

 

[Sodner]

No, it's the lower end of the line up. like the 5c. or the ipad mini

I disagree. Apple will not keep a product that is thicker and heavier with the Air name. This is Apple's new light weight laptop. They are not ready to eliminate the Air line today, but it will be going away.

They will have the 12" and a new 14" MB and a 13" and 15" MBP.

 

[sracer]

I disagree. Apple will not keep a product that is thicker and heavier with the Air name. This is Apple's new light weight laptop. They are not ready to eliminate the Air line today, but it will be going away.

They will have the 12" and a new 14" MB and a 13" and 15" MBP.

I agree.

No way does Apple keep the MBA around for longer than another year or two. There's been downward price pressure on the MBAs for the past 2 years or so.

Apple will keep the MBA around long enough to help justify the new rMB's price. People are already claiming that there's only a $100 price difference between an MBA 13" with similar specs and the rMB. (apparently ignoring Apple's obscene pricing tiers for increased storage and RAM)

Many have already been trained into a "retina or bust" mindset and so the non-retina MBA will continue to decline in appeal. That will give Apple the "justification" for discontinuing the MBA line.

My 2014 11" MBA is terrific... absolutely. And although I have no desire for an rMB, it will replace the MBA in Apples product line.

 

[Rz1138]

We all know that the MacBook Air got a bump up to 1.6GHz this week, along with the bump up to HD 6000 graphics. This has improved overall performance of the notebook and will undoubtedly improve the chances of it becoming more future proof.

Air will get phased out like non-retina MBP did--MBA won't see retina screen or force touch. In a year or two after the price drops for this new MacBook, there won't be any reason to keep the Air and it'll just be MacBook and MacBook Pro, IMHO.

 

[MarvinHC]

CONTOURED LAYERED BATTERIES: No thank you. Just one more thing that will not be replaceable by user in the future and only at Apple store at absurd cost. (But admittedly longer battery life would be nice)

RETINA DISPLAY: Yes please

THE KEYBOARD: Let's wait, see and try. But I am perfectly happy with the current keyboard on the Air.

One more improvement (which I know 100% will NEVER happen): Please fit a SD card slot into the 11" Air

One additional thing I am surprised not to see on the new Macbook: fingerprint scanner to unlock it.

 

[capathy21]

I believe the recent update (Macbook Air Early 2015?) is the last update we will see for the Air. They will keep selling it for a year or two or more like the cMBP, but I don't think they will do any redesigning or updated internals.

It is the budget laptop and if they leave them at the current pricing points, they will continue to sell like hot cakes (Currently sitting in Starbucks and 9 out of 11 people with laptops are using the 13 inch MB Air, it's the perfect college laptop). The design and components haven't changed in years so you know Apple has a stockpile of parts which means it cost them very little to make the MBA. They will keep pumping them out to college students for the next couple of years but I don't believe the MBA is in Apple's future plans.

They will continue to improve the new rMB in future versions and within a couple of years they will lower the entry price of the new rMB to 999 or so (just like they did with the Air) and will do away with the MBA completely.

I love the design of the Air and everything about it (besides the average display), but I believe it will go the way of the cMBP sooner than later.

 

[PDFierro]

No, it's the lower end of the line up. like the 5c. or the ipad mini

Not really. The new MacBook is priced higher than the Air, and you actually get more RAM/storage as standard. It's the future. No way is the rMB considered to be the low end of the lineup.

 

[MacRazySwe]

I think the MacBook Air will remain for a year or two. The new MacBook will pave way for new MacBook Pros, approaching the thinness of the old MacBook Air. By utilizing the same battery technology found in the new MB, Apple will be able to fit the same amount of battery capacity as today (needed for the Retina Display), while reducing the size of the chassis of the MBP. Once the MBP closely resembles the old 13" Air in regards to weight and thickness, the MacBook Air will be gone. Apple only has to shed 200g of weight off the MBP and they'll be there. I could also Imagine a tapered design.

I think we will have a 12" MacBook, a 13" MacBook Pro and a 15" MacBook Pro.

The old MacBook Air may remain however, in the form of a "MacBook Classic" (Apple would never call it that however) for a few additional years.

 

[jdechko]

I think the MBA is the red headed step child and won't be getting much love from apple, I could be wrong, its been known to happen but I think apple's direction may be to reduce the MBA in marketing and improvements and improve the MB with more models and options.

I think it's unfair to call the current Air a "red headed step child" as it has been Apple's recommended go-to model for some time now (the original Air was, though). However, I do agree with your assessment that it's going to be replaced by the MacBook within a few years. In my opinion, though, it's a good thing to simplify Apple's lineup.

Currently, there are six distinct models to choose from: 11" Air, 12" MacBook, 13" Air, 13" Pro, 13" Pro with retina and 15".

Within a few years, I expect only the 12" MacBook and the 13 & 15" retinas will remain.

 

[newellj]

I think we've just seen the apogee of the MBA's arc. It started out as a light weight lightweight - not a lot of power or ports, but light weight. It evolved into a powerful, general purpose computer that became the backbone of Mac laptop sales.

I don't know the exact trajectory for the declining part of its arc, but I think it's pretty clear that the new MB is the future of the non-Pro laptop line.

The Air is a great and a classic laptop and it will be missed when it disappears - like quite a few other classics.

 

[motrek]

We all know that the MacBook Air got a bump up to 1.6GHz this week, along with the bump up to HD 6000 graphics. This has improved overall performance of the notebook and will undoubtedly improve the chances of it becoming more future proof.

Now, it seems that Apple still want to keep the Air in the line-up, hence the update. ...

Not really. The update was kind of a no-brainer, just switching some chips on the motherboard out for newer ones. In fact, it might have been necessary for supply reasons. Intel will be ramping down Haswell production so Apple may have had to update the MBAs to Broadwell just to be able to sell any at all. It doesn't necessarily represent a commitment to keep the laptop current.

 

[Stefan.]

I'm a big fan of the MBA since it's introduction back in 2008. But unfortunately, I think the new rMB is the new 'Air' for Apple. I guess the current CPU- and SSD-update will be the last for the MBA. I hope, I'm wrong...

 

[zhenya]

I kind of agree that the Air may be headed for the bin in the not too distant future. The 13" rMBP is already as small as many ultrabooks from PC manufacturers.

The only thing I'm not sure of it that this would leave Apple with no laptops using the 15w Intel chips - which for most every other manufacturer are their bread and butter. I guess they could put them in a low-end rMBP and extend the battery life even further.

 

[Newtons Apple]

The Surface Pro 4 will likely be the end of my MBAir days. Runs windows great with Bootcamp but the SP4 will be a leap for Windows.

 

[Jynto]

I have a feeling that something will happen with the iPad air that merges it with the MacBook air.

Aside from the brandnames, I see no real reason to think that. An iPad's got more in common with a new MacBook than it does the MacBook Air.

If anything, the iPad Air brandname is a good reason to discontinue the MacBook Air. Can't have two products with 'Air' in their names - it'd confuse customers.

 

[AppleDApp]

Cut the MBA

lineup is macbook and macbook pro retina without the retina moniker

 

[FuNGi]

I kind of agree that the Air may be headed for the bin in the not too distant future. The 13" rMBP is already as small as many ultrabooks from PC manufacturers.

The only thing I'm not sure of it that this would leave Apple with no laptops using the 15w Intel chips - which for most every other manufacturer are their bread and butter. I guess they could put them in a low-end rMBP and extend the battery life even further.

I agree. I think the MBA and 13"rMBP are going to merge. can call it what every the feck they want for all I care. A thiner chassis, low watt chips, retina from the 13" rMBP, and lowering of the price closer to current macbook prices.
The MBA paved the way for the rMBP's. During the keynote in 2010 Steve said this was the future. It carved the space, defined several key design directions, and was expensive. Then the rMBP's came and were/are expensive and powerful. The macbook is defining a new niche space so is currently overpriced and likely slightly underwhelming. In 2 years the line up will be much more logical.

 

[Beachguy]

My 2014 11" MBA is terrific... absolutely. And although I have no desire for an rMB.....

Heck, I think my 2011 13" MBA is still terrific. I'm a "buy new" junkie, yet I can't justify getting a new one even to my own self. It STILL exceeds my needs and expectations.

The new MB? Meh. Doesn't get any kind of rush from me.