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That would be in contradiction to how Apple has handled the A-series chips for the phone from the A4 to the A15. It seems unlikely that they would change their pattern for the M-series chips.
There is agreement even in my initial post that it would be different to how Apple has handled the A-series chips. I would also expect that the number will be incremented based on the A-series experience. However, what I was pointing out is that there is some marketing logic as to why they might want to keep the chip names the same in the laptop/desktop market and thus build up the brand around M1 and its variants and thus break from the tradition established in the mobile market / A-series.
No. The equivalent is Mx / Mx Pro / Mx Max / Mx Ultra.

Even Intel chips have the generation number after the dash.
I don't argue the series of M1 based chips. However, the actual chip part number is rarely used in marketing a laptop. They are typically marketed as an i5 or i7 with perhaps a clock speed and a logo slapped on for which generation. That is of course until you go digging into the tech specs.
 
Nope. There's no way they'll launch a new Air with the same internals. If they're actually thinking that, those people should be fired.

Now.... could it be an M1X that's faster and more capable than the M1 but isn't labelled M2? Sure. The name isn't actually important, but the capability of the chip is very important. Things I'd like to see from a new Air:

14" screen (same size, thinner bezels).
An option to support 2 external screens.
4 USB C ports.
An option to do 32G RAM

really, even more important than raw performance upgrades are capability upgrades. The current Air is limited in 3 ways... 16g RAM, 1 external screen, only 2 ports. Give me a small but reasonable performance bump and fix 2 of the other issues and I'm interested in laying down some ?

I don't necessarily expect all of this (aside from the screen) but I think it would make a more compelling release.
They're just righting a wrong. M1 Air along with MBP 13" got hand me down design due to COVID. Compromise made to keep roll out on track. This will align the design language, add MagSafe and free up a port whilst charging. No need for new SoC, or launch event. Unify the family before M2.
I don't know why they bother when all the experts on here whinge like entitled female genitalia.
 
The best Laptop I ever owned was a HP TC1000 - a combination of a pen based tablet with detachable keyboard.
HP-Compaq-TC1000-377076322.jpg

As a tabled, it was perfekt going from meeting to meeting, taking notes, pictures and browsing documents. Adding the keyboard instantly turned it into a small lightweight notebook, giving full access to applications. And when docked, there was no difference with working on a regular PC, just not that performant. While traveling, the design was superior over any other laptop due to the way the screen was mounted to the keyboard. No more anger management during flights when the person in the seat in front of me pulled back their seat causing my laptop to be unusable (at best...).

I know it's not going to happen for at least the foreseeable future but I would so much love to see MacOS running on the new iPad Air or Pro. And with iPad Apps already running on M1-Macs, the transition between Mac and tablet mode should be smoother than ever.
ipadair-accessory-magickeyboard-card1.jpeg

I now own both an old Mac and iPad Air. Both could probably use a replacement. But replacing both is definately not an option. I would however be happy to spend double the money to get this one dream device back, running whatever hybrid Apple OS!
 
Previous rumors have suggested the new MacBook Air will not have a tapered design, with Apple instead favoring a more MacBook Pro-style look.

It is expected to be thinner and lighter,

It does’t take a mechanical engineer to understand that you need room for components, but you’d expect a “thicker” (as in, as thick as the current Air) tapered form factor could have similar room for components as a thinner square/boxy form factor.

So would the boxy and thinner move be more about unavoidable compromise for function, or a design/form decision?

If only Apple were like car companies and would brag about things like re-packaging details in articles. Then maybe we’d get hint.

I now own both an old Mac and iPad Air. Both could probably use a replacement. But replacing both is definately not an option. I would however be happy to spend double the money to get this one dream device back, running whatever hybrid Apple OS!

I’ve said it often, a 15” MacBook-iPad running dual-boot iOS/OSX that could replace the iMac “iPad on a stick,” MacBook, and iPad for me would be fantastic. But is apple likely to take any risk for a hit at their revenue growth for the sake of providing the customer some dazzling “think different” stuff like this? Um…..
 
Maybe they're looking at the desktop / notebook market where Intel have the i3 / i5 / i7 / i9 CPUs and have maintained the branding of the CPU across multiple generations. Similarly, AMD have the Ryzen 3 / 5 / 7. So perhaps the chip name doesn't increment as it does in the mobile market (iPhone / iPad). This allows for spec bumps between generations of Macs, without the cognitive dissonance that releasing the M2 chip in lower end Macs might cause when higher end Macs still have a variant of M1 chip.

In support, how long was OS X as an Apple product identifier used?
 
What’s the deal with the white colours? I want black bezels/keyboard and space grey apple, why are you limiting it to just the pro models?

For me, this along with a mini led display with pro motion, Face ID, a 16” screen, M2, HDMI and 2x type c ports would be the perfect machine for me, why have we got to buy the super expensive pro models for this? They are awesome machines don’t get me wrong but are too overkill for my needs and also too bulky.
 
MBA is the most practical for most people.
I have a 16" Intel MBP but I needed a light, compact computer for streaming videos in bed so I bought a base M1 Air. Even after watching these reviews
The NEW M1 Macs - Should You Get The MacBook Air or MacBook Pro?
The NEW M1 Macs - Should You Get The 8GB or 16GB Version?
I was still skeptical. On the first day, I was amazed at how much this could handle with only 8GB of RAM. And the battery life! I began using it as my main machine. For most people, the base M1 Air is more than sufficient. The only problem is external monitor support.
 
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What’s the deal with the white colours? I want black bezels/keyboard and space grey apple, why are you limiting it to just the pro models?
Marketing. They want the Air associated with a fun / entry level machine (like an iPhone) and want you to pay extra for being / looking like a "Pro." Because of this, I'm thinking of gifting my base M1 Air and buying a fully spec'd current one. I also don't like white bezels because you can still see a black outline of the screen.
 
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It is most certainly not. You obviously didn't have the 12". Best notebook Apple ever made.
The 12" MB has quite a bit thicker bezels than the current MBPs with a notch. The idea is to keep the dimensions of the 12" MB and put as big a display as possible in there, which (according to some calculations of mine) would be a 12.7" display.

This is based on the assumption that Apple won't make a laptop less wide than the 12" MB (i.e. 28cm) to keep a full-width keyboard. They did compromise however on the 11" iPad Pro (24.8cm), which has a not-full-width Magic Keyboard.

So there are various possibilities (I know they might rename the Air it to just "MacBook", but to avoid confusion with the old MB I'll keep calling it MBA for now), in descending order of probability:
  1. A new MBA with the same footprint and screen size as the 14" MBP
  2. Two new MBAs
    • one with the same footprint and screen size as the 14" MBP
    • one with the same footprint as the 12" MB, but larger 12.7" display
  3. Two new MBAs
    • one with the same footprint and screen size as the 14" MBP
    • one with the same or smaller screen size and a smaller footprint than the 12" MB, and without full-width keyboard
 
What’s the deal with the white colours? I want black bezels/keyboard and space grey apple, why are you limiting it to just the pro models?

For me, this along with a mini led display with pro motion, Face ID, a 16” screen, M2, HDMI and 2x type c ports would be the perfect machine for me, why have we got to buy the super expensive pro models for this? They are awesome machines don’t get me wrong but are too overkill for my needs and also too bulky.
You can see it throughout their whole lineup. All the most colorful options are for the non-pro ones (iMacs, iPhones etc.) and the metal colors and more expensive materials are for the Pro models.

MBA isn't for the PRO users so they have to make it look more "fun" with colors and white options. If you look at their product history this is kind of what they've always done. iBooks were white/colorful with white keyboard and white bezels. The thing that bothers me about it mostly is less to do with aesthetics and more to do with practical side of things. White keyboards get grimy looking real fast even if you wash your hands constantly before usage. Just google iBook and you'll see how horribly yellow they get. I really do hope they don't go that route with these new ones but from all the rumors we're getting white bezels and white keyboard :(

Also the 16" screen, not gonna happen on non-Pro models. Apple probably thinks most people don't want a big laptop unless you're doing photo/video editing. And they're looking at numbers. There might be some who would want a cheaper 16" thin laptop but not enough to justify making them. 13-14" is the sweet spot for most people.
 
Makes you wonder if they will bring out model below the Air, the “MacBook”

This would align with iPad category

They already do, with the MacPro/iPad Pro and MBA/iPad Air.

If this is rumor is true, I hope they continue to offer the current M1 MBA and drop the price to $899. Call it the "SE" version of the MacBook line-up.

Unless the new one breaks the $1000 barrier the $100 price difference would probably mean most buyers would opt for a newer model. A significant drop, to say $699 would likely eat into sales of the new model, as a result I don't see them keeping it around.

Isn’t that basically exactly what this new MacBook Air is?
It’s supposed to be thinner, lighter, come in colors, fanless… it’ll be a 12 inch MacBook in everything but name and display size, but thinner bezels around a 13 inch display should make it about the size of the 12 inch MacBook.

Or, the keep the current form factor and offer a larger display with thinner bezels. Keyboard spacing as well as volume for internals starts to be an issue at 12 inches.

Not worth buying until Mac Air has MagSafe again.
I'm still using my old 2014 MBA with MagSafe.
Saw a MBP today with a bent and broken USB C charging cable that someone had tripped over.
Why, oh why did they think removing that was a good idea?

You can do that with a magnetic USB-C cable, I've used one for a number of years with no problem. Apple could design one and includ eit instead of MagSafe.

Save the space for a port that can do more than charge.

with a black bezel on the Studio display, it gives hope to keep the white bezel off from all new macbooks

I agree. I had the old unibody in white and it quickly got dirty, a white MBA with white bezel would have the same issue.

I have the money to buy the MacBook Pro but im the kind of person that likes light, thin, portable devices. MBP is too heavy and too bulky to carry everyday;

That's a very subjective thing. I have a new MBA and 14" MBP and reallly don't notice much of a difference; then again I hauled a 15" MBP around teh globe for years so both are smaller and lighter in comparison.

in addition, it’s to powerful (and pricey) for me to browse amazon and youtube.

Certainly. Even a MBA is overkill compared to say an iPad Air for that use case.

So, i hope new macbook air has the balance of portability and power and new design that we all are waiting for.

My biggest gripe about MBA is the lack of ports; which is why I bought a MBP when it came out to replace it. Add a few USB-C ports and a microSD slot and it would have been fine for me.

And PLEASE!!!, dark grey or grey color (with black keyboard) for the more serious apple-brothers.

I second that.

No cellular option ? Apple pushed a lot for eSIM to be widely accepted/used and now they are the last ones to implement it on their laptops ? Even my ThinkPad from work comes with cellular.

My guess until they have their own modem they won't have a cellular MBA or MBP. Once they have taht they'd likely integrate it into the chip and offer it as an option.

What’s the deal with the white colours? I want black bezels/keyboard and space grey apple, why are you limiting it to just the pro models?

Colors will sell. As long as they have a neutral one with a black bezel they hit both markets. OTOH, a friend who drives a Ferrari would not doubt want a bright red one so he can stick a Ferrari logo on it.
 
This is concerning..let's hope they don't turn the current beautiful,professional and almost perfect design of Macbook Air into something casual/school-like similar to what they did to the iMac..
 


Following today's event that saw the introduction of the Mac Studio, respected Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has provided some detail on the MacBook Air, another Mac product that we're expecting to see refreshed later in the year.

macbook-air-rounded-mock-orange.jpg

According to Kuo, the 2022 MacBook Air will have an all-new form factor design and more color options. Previous rumors have suggested the new MacBook Air will not have a tapered design, with Apple instead favoring a more MacBook Pro-style look.

It is expected to be thinner and lighter, and it could come in color options similar to the 24-inch iMac color options, like blue, green, pink, silver, yellow, orange, and purple. It is also rumored to feature off-white bezels and a matching off-white keyboard rather than black.


Kuo says the MacBook Air will feature an M1 chip, which is not in line with any of the rumors that we've heard about the machine so far.

Everything we've heard previously about the MacBook Air says that the machine will use an updated M2 chip with an 8-core CPU and 10-core GPU, and there have even been signs of such a chip in macOS Monterey. Despite this, Kuo has confirmed to MacRumors that he believes the next MacBook Air will still be an M1 chip, although he suggests it could be a modified version of the existing M1 that is used.

As expected, the MacBook Air will not feature a mini-LED display, with Apple reserving that feature for its higher-end MacBook Pro models.

Kuo says that we can expect mass production to begin on the MacBook Air late in the second quarter of 2022 or in the third quarter of the year.

Article Link: Kuo: 2022 MacBook Air to Feature M1 Chip, More Color Options and All-New Design
Must the air still exist? They have high and low end MacBook pros and MacBooks, and the air name hasn’t made sense since it was the thinnest tapered laptop aeons ago…
 
I’ve said it often, a 15” MacBook-iPad running dual-boot iOS/OSX that could replace the iMac “iPad on a stick,” MacBook, and iPad for me would be fantastic. But is apple likely to take any risk for a hit at their revenue growth for the sake of providing the customer some dazzling “think different” stuff like this? Um…..

Apple is never going to do a dual-boot device. Simply too inelegant overall. We will sooner see iPadOS adopt more mac-like features.
 
That depends on the life of the M1 model now doesn’t it. I’m guessing M2 wont appear until next year unless the Mac Pro ships with it. Then it will trickle down to refreshed products throughout 2023 and 2024. With production shortages being what they are, keeping as many products on one chip design is the smart thing to do, the chip production is mature and will have higher yields than switching over to new chips and process Plus its not like there is a lack of performance in M1.
Considering how they said the M1 Ultra would be the final iteration of the M1, I'd expect the Mac Pro to use some kind of M2 Ultra.
It would totally make sense for apple to release the first M2 devices this summer and the M2 Pro/Max/Ultra in the fall.
 
It's a damn paradox. Black will always sell the best, yet they don't offer it. Because they want to stand out, or some other ridiculous reason? They can't even offer black color for their iPhones.

My guess is that MacBooks Airs, Mac minis, and iMacs are going to have these multi-color options, and they reserve more grayish color and black bezels for their "Pro" lineup.

So if I want a MacBook Air, black with black bezels, the most obvious choice..... NO! Never going to get it.
I mean they offer a "black" color (midnight) and I have it on my aluminum series 7 and iPhone 13 mini, neither of which are "pro" models. Stupid they don't do the same with iPads and Macs. I'm constantly choosing between gray and silver because every actual color they release is super feminine. The newest iMac is a prime example. What color besides silver is a grown man supposed to choose? Baby blue?
 
Looking forward to this new MacBook Air. Hopefully, it comes in bright colours like the 24” iMac. Should be having MagSafe also.
 
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Apple is never going to do a dual-boot device. Simply too inelegant overall. We will sooner see iPadOS adopt more mac-like features.

I agree we will never see it, but I don’t think for that reason. Apple already is comfortable with inelegance when it supports profit, “forced” innovation focused on more thinner (thankfully from which we have been given a temporary reprieve, seeing the 14/16” MacBooks and the new Mac Studio), and the still-ongoing clinging to minimalist interface features that sometimes sacrifice that sense of instant intuitiveness that was once Apple’s calling card.

A dual-boot MaciPad would be extremely more elegant than running iOS apps on a large monitor M1 Mac, or running iOS versions of complex OSX apps. There’s a reason we no longer see commercials like Apple’s silly “what’s a computer” ad.
 
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Glad I i bought my MacBook air 2 weeks ago after that keynote and the rumors. People were hyping the m2 up so much when m1 was plenty fast already. And besides the rumor MacBook air design looks awful. I love the silver and space gray design.
 
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