Sounds like a good time for Apple to introduce the first laptop running under the A12 chipset reducing their dependence on x86 and macOS 14 eliminating 3rd party app support and App Store only and elimination of iTunes music download purchases.
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KGI: Apple to Launch Cheaper MacBook Air in 2Q 2018
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You do realize the current MacBook doesn’t have Thunderbolt 3 right? Adding a second non-Thunderbolt 3 capable USB-C port wouldn’t solve that. In its current form factor, with the current processors being used, there are likely not enough PCI lanes to support Thunderbolt 3. Even if there are, they would likely have to reduce the size of the battery, affecting battery life or make the computer significantly larger. It would also likely increase the price.
That is why Thunderbolt 3 is aimed at the Pro/Prosumer market.
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Now that's an interesting premise. Although I'd love to know if Mac owners would miss x86 support. In the business world, it's still a very Windows centric and having that option to boot into it is a selling feature.
The 11" Air's screen sucks in comparison. Even ignoring the fact it's not Retina, the quality and viewing angles just aren't in the same league. In fact, that is the main reason I never ever bought the 11", even though that's the form factor I had wanted for a long time.
Dongles are not great, but if you don't need them then the 12" MacBook is significantly lighter. Furthermore, the MacBook charger is lighter. Also, the thing will even charge off an iPad charger with just a USB cable. The one adapter I bring with me though is a USB 3 to USB 3 adapter, which is just a few grams.
The 2017 MacBook keyboard is a vast improvement over the 2016 MacBook keyboard. That said, I do prefer the MacBook Air's keyboard. However, in 2017 the MacBook keyboard is more reasonable. I agree the 2016 MacBook keyboard sucked.
As for the trackpad, the MacBook Pro wins here. In fact, I prefer my 2009 MacBook Pro trackpad over the 2015 MacBook Air trackpad and the 2017 MacBook trackpad.
The 2017 MacBook CPUs are a significant speed boost over the 2016 MacBook CPUs. In Geekbench 4, the MacBook Core i7 beats the MacBook Air Core i7, and the MacBook Core m3 (and i5 of course) beats the MacBook Air Core i5. Assuming Apple doesn't upgrade the Air much this year or next, then the 2019 MacBook will be much faster than the MacBook Air, because it's likely going quad-core in 2019.
The 12" MacBook works great on planes and trains. In fact, that's why I bought it. The 12" is only 3% taller than the Air, but it's actually 6% narrower, which means it actually has a smaller footprint than the 11" Air. However, both are good for planes and trains. In contrast, the 13" Pro and 13" Air are kinda awkward in economy class.
The MacBook will mostly like get quad-core and Thunderbolt 3 next year with Ice Lake Y. There has already been leak indicating this, in a Y series 5.2 W chip (slightly higher wattage than the current Kaby Lake Y 4.5 W chip).
This makes perfect sense, since Ice Lake has Thunderbolt support built in. No need for an extra chip. In addition, IIRC Ice Lake upgrades USB C from G1 5 Gbps to G2 10 Gbps, again with no extra chip needed.
My original hope was to wait for a TB 3 / USB C Gen 2 MacBook, but after learning it wasn't coming any time soon, I got the 2017, which got the improved keyboard and the HEVC hardware upgrades, in 2017.
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They would still release a DP of some kind, even if the compiler handles 99% of the code they still need to test and debug.
Remember, there have been problems going from iOS to iOS and macOS to macOS on the same architecture.
What would this be good for?
They would immediately loose a lot of the education market, at least in the technical and science domain. If MacOS becomes a closed shop and can not run things like Homebrew, etc. people are forced to leave the system. Myself included...
I don't think the GeekBench benchmark is very good. In the GeekBench test thermal throttling doesn't take place which is why the iPhone beats the MacBook Pro in GeekBench scoring.
I think Cinebench testing is okay. The Retina Macbook slightly outperforms the MacBook Air in the Cinebench single-threaded test, but the MacBook Air is a little better at the multi-threaded test:
Cinebench R15 single-threaded 64-bit:
* 2017 Retina MacBook (base model) - 120 points
* 2017 MacBook Air (base model) - 116 points
Cinebench R15 multi-threaded 64-bit:
* 2017 MacBook Air (base model) - 277 points
* 2017 Retina MacBook (base model) - 265 points
score results sources:
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple-MacBook-Air-13-2017-Laptop-1-8-GHz-Review.230010.0.html
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple-MacBook-12-2017-Laptop-Review.230656.0.html
I don't think having hardware 4K decoding is important on the Air which only has a 1440x900 display. And the Retina MacBook only has a 2304x1440 display, so it probably isn't worth using anything larger than 1920x1080 videos on it.
If we get something like Jason Snell's "iBook" it will be using the MacBook form factor, not the MacBook Air.
Price is more than just the ASP. Plenty of reports of how fragile Chromebooks are and how expensive they are to maintain from an IT standpoint. If a Junior High School needs to replace a $200 CB every year (across three years assuming Grade 6-8) and spend $1000 over the three years to support it, a $800 MBA that will last all three years and costs $500 to support suddenly looks to be the better value since it saves you $300 over the life of the student.
Just looking at the current state of the Mac lineup is a conglomerate headache.
To be on topic, I'd like to see the Air updated (and Mac Mini)
To be on topic, I'd like to see the Air updated (and Mac Mini)
Indeed. The speed difference is less than 5%, even in Cinebench. However, Geekbench is a reasonable measure of burst speed, which is how most people use their ultraportables. People are not generally doing 20 minute renders on their machines.
Either way though, the point is that as of 2017, a base model Core m3 MacBook roughly matches a base model Core i5 MacBook Air.
However, this will likely drastically change in 2019, as the Y series chips are strongly expected to go quad-core.
Except that if you have a video that's already 4K, you're not going to re-encode it just to watch it on a MacBook.
Even iPhones encode video in 4K HEVC now, and QuickTime and the Photos app leverage Intel Quick Sync for decoding those videos.
From what I've read, Chromebooks are both cheaper to implement and easier to administer, since the OS and software are perfect for this.
Part of the reason they are cheaper is not necessarily because they use inferior quality parts, but because the overhead of the OS is so much less, so one can use lower performance but still high quality parts. I retired my 2008 white MacBook a while back because it was stuck on OS X 10.7.5, and because without SSD it was simply too slow. I tried it with SSD and it sped it up, but without a more recent OS it was still unusable since none of the current browsers etc. ran on it. Finally I removed the SSD and put the HD back in and fully retired it... only to eventually put Chrome OS on it. The thing now flies with 4 GB RAM and spinning HD, and runs a current version of Chrome browser.
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My concern would be on what they consider "cheaper" and what they'll cut to reach this.
I wish they'd put back certain older hardware components. I doubt that is what they have in mind. Also that I'll be able to afford their idea of cheaper either.
I wish they'd put back certain older hardware components. I doubt that is what they have in mind. Also that I'll be able to afford their idea of cheaper either.
It’d be nice if they update the older MacBook Pro they sell without the touchpad. More up to date specs.
There's no way they can continue shipping an updated MBA with that screen, can they?
They've done it for this long. If they decrease the price, they can continue doing it for even longer.
My guess is that in 2018 they will keep it on Broadwell. Certainly they won't upgrade it beyond Skylake though.
I also predict that macOS 10.14 will bring DRM'd HEVC streaming to Mac, but that will be limited to Kaby Lake and beyond.
Why the emphasis on the nVidia GPU? Apart of CUDA, which is utilised in a few apps only, I do not see any significant advantage to AMD's Vega.
Probably a better deal from suppliers or just willing to accept lower margins to increase sales.
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I totally agree. My 13” mid-2013 is still a solid machine. I really hope they don’t do away with MagSafe. I was looking to pick up a MacBook Pro, but still prefer to have the MagSafe and SD card slot.
Cheaper MacBook Air? Why not just add a usc-c, keep MagSafe 2, and add a lightning port, update the screen and watch the sales sky rocket and overtake the crappy MacBook.
HomePod has poor sales, who would have thought that... the problem is Tim Cook trying to maximize sales with the worst product possible. Why not invest some money in Siri! He is probably too concerned with his bonus.
Totally agree with AirPod, they are solid and have a bright future. Better future without the greedy fool Tim Crook!
HomePod has poor sales, who would have thought that... the problem is Tim Cook trying to maximize sales with the worst product possible. Why not invest some money in Siri! He is probably too concerned with his bonus.
Totally agree with AirPod, they are solid and have a bright future. Better future without the greedy fool Tim Crook!
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Who buys MacBooks now?
At my kids expensive private school which is BYOD, the MBA is the most common laptop, followed by HP Spectres and Dell XPS.
You could probably count the total number of MacBooks on one hand.
Haswell is older than Broadwell. All the Haswell parts came out in 2013-2014. All the Broadwell parts came out in 2015. The Skylake laptop parts came out in late 2015.
I like the 12” MacBook but cannot justify its price. Either add a port or two or drop its price $200. But put an end to the Air; it was a great laptop that Apple stopped caring about.