It’s going to get really interesting when comparing specs for a given price.
The pro base models come spec’d better and with enormously better display tech.
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Kuo: 15-Inch MacBook Air to Offer Two M2 Chip Options, No M2 Pro Configuration
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It’s going to get really interesting when comparing specs for a given price.
The pro base models come spec’d better and with enormously better display tech.
clearly you know a lot more than they do so why didnt you consider it could be both?
If this new 15 inch Macbook Air has an M2 chip inside it. Then why would they need to announce this at WWDC? I don't get this?
If on other hand it was an M3 chip, then this would make perfect sense to me.
If on other hand it was an M3 chip, then this would make perfect sense to me.
TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️
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Who’s really excited about the MacBook 15” model?
I will be! I feel like this rumour needs to become reality now so we know exactly where this thing stands.
This is exactly Apple's profit maximising model. Feature restriction forcing:
A. upgrading to more expensive models
B. upgrading to newer releases which drip feed increased features.
Thus the:
8GB RAM standard in MBA
256GB SSD standard in MBA
Max 16GB RAM in M1 MBA
Max 24GB RAM in M2 MBA
Max 13" screen in M1 MBA
Very limited ports in MBA
Only single external screen support in MBA
Also limited external screen support in MBP
Limited or non-existent 8K external screen support in various models
Old HDMI 2.0 in M1P/M MBP
etc
I'm ready to retire my 2019 16 inch MBP!
Yeah, looks like they might be releasing M2 MBA 13" and 15" with the blerk colours of the iMacs first, then not long after another release with the M3. Double dipping the release.
If so, breaks my heart, the 15" has my name on it somewhere down the track, but not if I can't get it with either Midnight or Space Grey.
Which would also rule out my son owning a new Mac anytime in the near future, unless he is ever in the market for a MBP. There's no way in hell he'd be seen dead with the "diversity" colours of the iMacs. He's currently rocking an old MBA circa around 2013 IIRC. It still chugs along just fine, happy to say.
Looks like it will be exactly like a 13" M2 Air on the inside. Both 13" and 15" Air may get updated to M3 only in 2024
Nope. A base M3 will still exist. A weaker A16 doesn’t. You do not sit on a high-volume chip that is ready to ship while working out a more complex chip.
In many parts of Europe this 15" MacBook will start somewhere between 1799 to 1999 for base configuration, judging by recent M2 Air and M2 14&16" MacBook Pro pricing.
So, yeah, 16" M1 Pro might be much better value for most. We don't know the weight of upcoming 15" Air and I bet that it will be it's only strong point against 16" M1 Pro.
Which is perfect - people want larger screen in a light-ish body, plus more battery and cooling potential.
There's more space in a larger body to cool binned M2 Pro for example, plus even when throttling under longer load, more performance cores and more GPU cores will still bring faster overall performance. And some more ports etc.
Personally I liked the idea, I'd just stick a thermal pad inside, don't mind hot laptop bottom.
Actually it makes perfect sense to release 15" now in an exact form as 13 M2 is, just larger, with everything inside tested and just oversized - people really want 15" Air more than another SOC in the row, and it will utilize the M2 that's already produced, with possibly somewhat better cooling (throttling delayed a bit).
And then after few months Apple comes with M3 and brand new 13" Air, gives incentives to upgrade to a different group of people.
There's no need to artificially level up at the same time, plus we should give up the notion that Apple has some great control of product cycles now after 3 years of covid/chip shortages etc, clearly they just release whatever is ready when it's ready.
ALso confused customers spend more money.
There's always something new coming, and people not watching overly optimistic YT channels don't obsess over imagined product cycles and stopgap chip theories
Plus the same people are telling them M1(Pro/Max) is still good enough for most of the tasks at the same time 
I think some people will try to bend the 15” model to get hits on YouTube.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Just outside the walled garden, one can find an endlessly configurable pool of laptops that address up to ALL of that (and more), typically for meaningfully lower cost. They generally come with the added benefit of flexibility to expand RAM and SSD when (and if) needed too. And their focus is typically on computing POWER vs. PPW, which translates into getting computer processing done FASTER. They have over 90% of the whole market and thus much more focus by anyone creating software applications. If you like games (too), they generally have the superior games and a much broader mix of games.
Yes, these do NOT run macOS but one could consider what kind of things they do on laptops vs. their main machine... and perhaps realize they can do up to all of that on that other platform. Bonus: should one ever need "bootcamp," the very best way to 100% Windows compatibility & capability is old fashioned bootcamp (a separate PC).
Only by voting with wallets can an Apple Inc. notice that people want more value for their money. Whining about it on an online forum but then paying up anyway simply rewards such corporate choices. Apple can't possibly notice if everyone simply pays up. From their perspective, all such decisions were the right ones because buyers demonstrated acceptance in the most tangible way.
My main computer is Mac Studio. However, I need full Windows too, so I purchased my first PC in over a decade. No jet engine noise. No personal nuclear reactor requirements to power it. No third degree burns on my lap. Apps that don't exist for Mac do exist for PC and it's been fun rediscovering the flexibility in the much bigger world outside the wall. 8TB of SSD for about $1000 instead of a $2200 upgrade. RAM upgrades at competitive market prices instead of market + FAT margin. Should that SSD or RAM conk, it can be replaced vs. the "throw baby out with the bathwater" scenario we Silicon Mac people now face. Etc.
Doing some typical laptop work tasks on the PC will generally easily transfer over to Mac and back again. While I still want to do everything possible on my Mac (only by personal preference), it's not some kind of end of the world scenario to own a PC too. Windows 11 is quite good... even macOS-like in some ways. Overall value, raw power & user flexibility are all fundamental to PC.
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If this is essentially a 1/1 copy of what we already got with the 13" M2 Air but just with a bigger 15" display and a scaled up battery then this really isn't very exciting to me.
Throw in a reason to upgrade from M1, like M3(-non Pro) or M2 Pro, maybe 16GB RAM or 512GB SSD in base config, and this is something worth considering considering how high Apple's price point have been climbing.
Throw in a reason to upgrade from M1, like M3(-non Pro) or M2 Pro, maybe 16GB RAM or 512GB SSD in base config, and this is something worth considering considering how high Apple's price point have been climbing.