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Is a new 12 likely in a few months

Well.... people are saying it could have the Apple chip. Maybe. But there is AMD, which is very interesting. They have a finished 7nm line-up, while Intel is so far behind we are looking at Dec 2019! losers.

AMD would be fitting. I like this idea, along with Apple. Intel deserves to go to the back of the class. They will recover, but for now.....
 
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A MacBook with an Apple AX chip would be an awesome buy - as a second generation purchase. Wouldn’t touch the first gen with a ten foot pole.
 
MacPoulet said:
It’s also very near the same weight as the 13” Pro. In my case, I commute on a bicycle and as silly as it may sound, it makes a difference.
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It may make a difference to you, but I don't think your bicycle commuting needs matter to Apple. Making money is what matters to Apple, that and keeping the company profitable, and right now, their notebook offerings are all over the place. The 12" MacBook, the old Air, the new Air, the nTB MacBook Pro, the TB MacBook Pro, etc. etc. My guess is they're going to consolidate their notebook line at some point and only offer the Air and the Pro. But I could be wrong. Have been many times before. We'll see how 2019 pans out. Me personally, I'd carry around a new 2018 Air all day long without breaking a sweat. Even on my bike.
 
lambertjohn said:
It may make a difference to you, but I don't think your bicycle commuting needs matter to Apple. Making money is what matters to Apple, that and keeping the company profitable, and right now, their notebook offerings are all over the place. The 12" MacBook, the old Air, the new Air, the nTB MacBook Pro, the TB MacBook Pro, etc. etc. My guess is they're going to consolidate their notebook line at some point and only offer the Air and the Pro. But I could be wrong. Have been many times before. We'll see how 2019 pans out. Me personally, I'd carry around a new 2018 Air all day long without breaking a sweat. Even on my bike.
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The most likely notebook to be discontinued is the 13” nTB Pro. If they are going to transition Mac to ARM there is no better one than the 12” MacBook to start. The old Air is just around for the price. They did the same with the 13” Pro with SuperDrive. That hung around for years.
 
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lambertjohn said:
It may make a difference to you, but I don't think your bicycle commuting needs matter to Apple. Making money is what matters to Apple, that and keeping the company profitable, and right now, their notebook offerings are all over the place. The 12" MacBook, the old Air, the new Air, the nTB MacBook Pro, the TB MacBook Pro, etc. etc. My guess is they're going to consolidate their notebook line at some point and only offer the Air and the Pro. But I could be wrong. Have been many times before. We'll see how 2019 pans out. Me personally, I'd carry around a new 2018 Air all day long without breaking a sweat. Even on my bike.
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If the iPads are any indication, Apple would drop the "Air" nomenclature first.

Then there will be the MacBook, whatever form that takes, and then the Pros.

I hope something comes out sooner rather than later. Going back to school as reminded me of just how important having a reliable computer is. Currently using a 2016 MacBook but would love to upgrade to a 2017 MacBook for the 16GB RAM and 2nd Gen keyboard. With a dozen or more tabs open on school/research pages and more tabs open during the confirmation of Justice Kavanaugh when that was happening along with the requisite Word and Adobe programs, I think I had enough going on that the i5 and 8GB of RAM started choking. And it would start paging things out to the SSD very frequently.

But, the MacRumors buyers guide seems to suggest that a new one is indeed forthcoming AND that this current product cycle has been quite long running (588 days as of this post).
 
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bambooshots said:
If the iPads are any indication, Apple would drop the "Air" nomenclature first.

Then there will be the MacBook, whatever form that takes, and then the Pros.

I hope something comes out sooner rather than later. Going back to school as reminded me of just how important having a reliable computer is. Currently using a 2016 MacBook but would love to upgrade to a 2017 MacBook for the 16GB RAM and 2nd Gen keyboard. With a dozen or more tabs open on school/research pages and more tabs open during the confirmation of Justice Kavanaugh when that was happening along with the requisite Word and Adobe programs, I think I had enough going on that the i5 and 8GB of RAM started choking. And it would start paging things out to the SSD very frequently.

But, the MacRumors buyers guide seems to suggest that a new one is indeed forthcoming AND that this current product cycle has been quite long running (588 days as of this post).
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The buyer's guide is just based on the days since the last cycle. Amber Lake wasn't much of an update to Kaby Lake (just a 100MHz base clock boost, and up to 500MHz on the Turbo Boost for a single core, but the same basic processor architecture and GPU). Apple probably skipped it because it would have somewhat upstaged the MacBook Air having an i7 MacBook that was actually a bit faster. Ice Lake won't come until late this year or early next year, so it could be another year before the MacBook is ready for an upgrade.
 
lambertjohn said:
Me personally, I'd carry around a new 2018 Air all day long without breaking a sweat. Even on my bike.
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The line of argumentation is slightly different:

If you don’t mind the added size and weight of the new Air of the rMB, it makes much more sense to go directly for a rMBP, as the size & weight difference over the Air is negligible, while the performance & capability advantage of the Pro is significant.

For those that do mind, the size & weight advantage of the rMB over the Air is significant, while the performance disadvantage of the rMB is negligible.

That leaves the new Air in a strange spot, where the (intended) target group for that very product is difficult to identify.
 
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Neodym said:
The line of argumentation is slightly different:

If you don’t mind the added size and weight of the new Air of the rMB, it makes much more sense to go directly for a rMBP, as the size & weight difference over the Air is negligible, while the performance & capability advantage of the Pro is significant.

For those that do mind, the size & weight advantage of the rMB over the Air is significant, while the performance disadvantage of the rMB is negligible.

That leaves the new Air in a strange spot, where the (intended) target group for that very product is difficult to identify.
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This.

Trying all three out, there's a negligible difference between the MPB and Air, but a significant one between the Air and rMB. It's funny because it doesn't sound like a lot, but in a backpack on your bike when it's 20 below, that savings is appreciated.

Though all three are way more portable than my old 15" PowerBook. That thing was a beast in comparison. Best keyboard ever though.
 
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If the 12" Macbook goes Axx chip...and keep the same battery capacity, from 9-10 hours light usage what we have now, we can get around 15-16 hours
 
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fokmik said:
If the 12" Macbook goes Axx chip...and keep the same battery capacity, from 9-10 hours light usage what we have now, we can get around 15-16 hours
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When running native software (as I assume Safari, Mail, anything Marzipan etc would be). There would be a performance and battery hit for Intel apps running in a Rosetta-style setting.
 
fokmik said:
If the 12" Macbook goes Axx chip...and keep the same battery capacity, from 9-10 hours light usage what we have now, we can get around 15-16 hours
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Probably Apple will charge a premium over current MB price, therefore MBA becoming the ''budget'' offering and thus differentiating between the two models :(
 
radiologyman said:
Probably Apple will charge a premium over current MB price, therefore MBA becoming the ''budget'' offering and thus differentiating between the two models :(
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Maybe, IF apple will use the same A chips that are using for the iphones or ipads..than no, the price will get a drop.
If apple will make a specially mac A chip than yes, they will keep the same price or increase it a little bit but still they cant go over the MBP prices
So you are looking around 1000$-1299$ starting price for an ARM 12" Macbook
 
What a strange world we live in when PC parts and prices keep on going down (as is the norm for technology) but we buy more Apple speculatively to hedge against future Mac price increases...
 
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msp3 said:
What a strange world we live in when PC parts and prices keep on going down (as is the norm for technology) but we buy more Apple speculatively to hedge against future Mac price increases...
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Yeah, almost pulled a trigger on a 2017 MacBook 12 at $799 new. Luckily, they did not offer my color.
 
radiologyman said:
Yeah, almost pulled a trigger on a 2017 MacBook 12 at $799 new. Luckily, they did not offer my color.
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I would have bought that too just to have as a lap computer, if it was offered in space grey or silver. But most of the cheap deals right now are on the gold model. Pass.
 
lambertjohn said:
I would have bought that too just to have as a lap computer, if it was offered in space grey or silver. But most of the cheap deals right now are on the gold model. Pass.
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My older MacBook 12 still works fine so I am trying to wait till an updated model is released
 
lambertjohn said:
I would have bought that too just to have as a lap computer, if it was offered in space grey or silver. But most of the cheap deals right now are on the gold model. Pass.
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I think specifically on the discontinued gold and rose gold models. I don’t think the new gold colour that matches the 2018 Air is on sale.
 
BasicGreatGuy said:
I thought you said gold wasn't your color? :eek: I am not crazy for the gold color, either. But, for the price, I am overlooking it. I realty like this MB. It's my first one.
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Not my color but for the amazing price I decided to overlook it too ;). When or if new model comes I can resell this with a small loss or hand down to kids. Anybody knows if extended warranty from credit card would cover excessive battery wear? Otherwise I would get AppleCare Plus to feel I can wait long enough for next gen MB 12
 
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radiologyman said:
Not my color but for the amazing price I decided to overlook it too ;). If or when new model comes I can resell it for minimum loss or hand down to kids. Anybody knows if extended warranty from credit card would cover excessive battery wear? Otherwise I would get AppleCare Plus to feel I can wait long enough for next gen MB 12
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I don't believe battery wear is covered. If a new MB is released this year, I may do like you and upgrade, depending on the specs and price. I doubt I will have a problem selling this MB, should I ever want to. I wasn't going to get ASC+ but, decided to anyway.
 
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