doctrsnoop
macrumors member
The MacBook Air chassis of 11.6" and 13" from ten years ago would just about accommodate a 13" and 15" display if the bezels were sufficiently shrunk
Larger 15-Inch MacBook Air Expected in 2023
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Tagbert
macrumors 604
No, not a ripoff, just a realization that the number of people who want that on a laptop is very limited.
JPack
macrumors G5
The Ultrabook category launched a decade ago has changed consumer expectations of portability and what a notebook should look like. The 15-inch form factor still has a place, but the majority of consumers will likely lean towards 13/14-inch models today.
JPack
macrumors G5
Apple would be doing it right because of margins. A 15-inch notebook wouldn't be an "Air" nor would it be a high volume seller like 13-inch MBA.
dalestrauss
macrumors regular
Everybody laughed me off the boards when I suggested this late last year - 13/15 MacBook Air and 14/16 MacBook Pro - cut all the SKU clutter...
marinersaptcomplex
macrumors 6502a
Perfect device for people like my parents who do not need an M1 Pro/Max but need a screen large enough to be comfortable. My dad finds the current 13" too small to be comfortable.
Zdigital2015
macrumors 601
Agree, but I think Apple skips the 256GB tier on the 15” and starts it at 8GB/512GB, to keep it at $1499 and then $200 to move to 16GB, which most everyone will want to do, except for the very cost restricted people.
Zdigital2015
macrumors 601
It won’t be the volume leader, but it will be number 2 right behind the 13” MBA. It doesn’t matter if Apple calls it an Air or simply a MacBook, it will be extremely popular with the crowd that wants a larger screen than the 13” Air, but isn’t going to pay for a 16” Pro, because it’s overkill. This is a huge untapped market that Apple seems to finally be paying attention to now. I put my plans on hold for a 13” model until this rumor either pans out or not. I’m not the only one.
Zdigital2015
macrumors 601
None of what your saying applies to an untapped market and a new product for Apple. There’s demand, I’ve seen it on these forums for the last 6-7 years easily. Why do you think Apple slimmed down the 15” MBP so much in 2016? The price was wrong, but the intent was to bridge the Air wants and Pro needs, but Apple failed on both counts. With the efficiency of Apple Silicon, a true 15” “Air” is a real possibility.
Christopher Kim
macrumors 6502a
After thinking about it more and reading more posts, I no longer think there'd be that much cannibalization with the 16" MBP. Assuming the base 15" MBA would be:
- M2 with 8gb Memory / 512gb SSD
- 60hz (not ProMotion) and edge-lit LCD (not mini-LED)
- Thinner redesigned MBA body with 2 Thunderbolt 4 ports + MagSafe + Headphone (eg. no HDMI, no SD Card slot, 1 less TB4 port)
- $1499 - $1699 starting price (I agree with others while all speculative of course, if you put a gun to my head, I would bet on $1499 base model if 8gb / 512gb)
I think this would leave enough differentiation with the 16" MBP (primarily screen + ports, in addition to the CPU/GPU chip), while also maintaining room whereby if you're upgrading from the base model (Eg. 16gb memory), at a certain point, it make sense to get upsold to the MBP.
JPack
macrumors G5
Forums don't represent the real world. Apple spends billions on marketing and research. Do you think they missed such a low hanging fruit for the past 15 years? We have clear evidence this was being discussed by Apple leadership even in 2007.
A true "Air" at 15-inch isn't possible simply because of material physics. If Apple continues to use aluminum instead of carbon fiber or magnesium, it will come in over well over 3 lbs.
I don't doubt there's demand, but it will be a distant second place compared to MBA 13.
TinaBelcher
macrumors 65816
I would LOOOOOVE that!!
I got the 2018 Macbook Pro 15' inch only because of the larger screen and ram. A larger air with 16 gb ram would be the solution for me!!
I got the 2018 Macbook Pro 15' inch only because of the larger screen and ram. A larger air with 16 gb ram would be the solution for me!!
Tagbert
macrumors 604
It's pretty clear that the 13" MBP is just a placeholder and will either change significantly or be replaced, perhaps with a 15" Air?
pearhaps. the rumor mill said the air would be replaced by a simple macbook; so maybe just one 13" and one 15" with M1/M2; and that's it; would make sense. just give us a magsafe port and maybe an HDMI port on top of the tb ports and we're set
Falhófnir
macrumors 603
?
2017 MBA 13": 32.5cm x 22.7cm, 2.96lbs.
15.2" 1.547:1 panel: 32.42cm x 20.96cm.
A 15.2" MBA would need to be maybe 5mm wider and about the same height as the old MBA if it follows a similar design to the new MacBook Pros. I don't see why it would need to be materially heavier? A 54 Watt hour battery like the old Air would probably also be ok, that'd already be up almost 10% on the 49.9 Watt hour cell in the current 13" Air. They could up it a bit but I don't think it'd be necessary for good battery life, a ~30% larger display on it's own isn't going to use all that much more power, and the vanilla M2 chip will likely stay in the 10W range. But that's not even the point of this machine, people who buy this will be those who value the extra screen space over saving a few extra ounces of weight. This will still be class leading compactness for a full-size laptop.
reyesmac
macrumors 6502a
I could see Apple making the macbook (it could be the macbook studio and not called air) have the speed of todays macbook pros without any of the good I/O and charge $2,000. That is IF they put Mac Pro chips inside the Macbook Pros and start them at $3,000 or more. Apple is finding creative ways to raise the prices on all their models. They would keep a less powerful macbook pro if people want connectivity but it will probably just be the 13inch model. It seems they have settled on a new product matrix and are slowly implementing it, they just haven't come out and said so yet.
Got to say that's a good point after lugging my 15" MacBook Pro around rooms a bit today - it's noticeably heavier than an old 13" MacBook Pro, but why would Apple then be checking out a similar size iPad Pro from recent rumours? They have to be making engineering samples to check out.
While we are here, though, why couldn't Apple do a 2732x2048 12.9" 4:3 'MacBook' using the old iPad Pro panel from the 2020 12.9" iPad? Power it with an M2 which would have 2 extra GPU cores to drive the display with pro-motion.
So we're not going for the bigger screen but we're going for better quality.
It would certainly drive the OS unification guys crazy
Logically, though, with a power efficient CPU, the more interesting buy surely has to be in the 11-12" ultraportable range, especially if the M2 only caters for 2 Thunderbolt 4 ports. They could use a de-featured 14" display for an upper SKU if they were going to split the lines.
JPack
macrumors G5
Because everything scales up. Everything from the glass trackpad to the display hinges will be bigger and heavier. You're can't just just stretch the display and leave everything else the same.
A 33% larger display area will consume a lot more power. Why do you think MacBook Pro 16 has a 40% higher capacity battery but only 20% longer battery life compared to 14-inch?
Tagbert
macrumors 604
You are focusing on the portability of the Air but ignoring the price component.
True, many people do buy the Air because it is portable, but a large percentage of buyers are closing the Air because it is the least expensive Apple laptop. Those people don't care so much about the weight. A lot of people would prefer a larger screen as well and those customers often use their laptops mainly as desktop computers with only occasional use outside the home/office. To them, getting a larger screen for less than the price of a MBP is very appealing and if it is a little over 3 pounds, no big deal.
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JPack
macrumors G5
We know this is unlikely to be true because of consumer trends in the massive PC market.
At Dell for example, 15-inch models are often the same if not less expensive than similar 14-inch models. Lenovo, the largest PC manufacturer in the world, doesn't make a thin and light 15-inch professional notebook. They only offer 14-inch and below. This is all driven by demand.
I agree there are people who don't care much about the weight. That's why there are 17-inch notebooks too.
The evidence really speaks for itself. How long has the MacBook Air been out? Is Apple staffed by dumb people who can't analyze data?
Zdigital2015
macrumors 601
And Apple has been known to completely disregard the consumer trends of the “massive” PC market and do its own thing.
If this rumor proves true, Apple sees a hole they’ve intentionally left in their lineup and see a profit opportunity in filling it. The 15”/16” MacBook Pro has steadily been creeping up in price since the introduction of the Retina MacBook Pro in 2012. The 2016 MBP eliminated the iGP $1999 2015 model that served many and could be had for $1799 routinely (that’s how I got mine) when they introduced the base 2016 at $2399 and now in 2021, the base model 16” is $100 higher at $2499. Apple is incredibly patient in how they their chess pieces around before they make moves or introduce new devices.
Whatever the name of this new Mac is, it’s seems as though Apple thinks they’ve got it figured out whereas they couldn’t make it work with Intel’s CPUs versus Apple Silicon and making that value proposition now whereas the idea of a 15” Intel MacBook Air just never fit in their plan.
If they do make it, I’ll be in line to buy on day one. If not, then I’ll settle for the 13” model. I won’t spend money to move to a 16” MBP, unless I decide to move to a MBP as my sole computer. Otherwise, it’s whatever Studio is current and a MacBook Air when I hit my next purchase cycle.
JPack
macrumors G5
I've not seen evidence of that, certainly not from form factor.
With MacBook, the 11- and 12-inch models came while the market was hyped about small notebooks. They left at the same time as the netbook craze died down. The only courageous thing Apple has done was remove I/O.
With iPhone, we saw Apple follow with a low-cost, large LCD display device after such a category became popular in China. We saw Apple follow Sony with the iPhone 12 mini and we know where that's going.