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Macbook Air 2014 rumors
- Thread starter Pitusky
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Please support 4k external monitor on HDMI and/or DP. I'd really like a lighter laptop but need to keep my 15" rMBP to drive my 39" Seiki.
My predictions:
-Summer/Fall 2014
-Updated case design to accommodate a different screen and SD card slot.
-12" class Retina Display (between 12"-13" but will be called 12", no 13" MBA)
-2014 Intel Haswell processor 15W ULV (100Mhz faster)
-Thunderbolt 2, 8GB RAM/128GB SSD in the base model.
If Apple is willing to sacrifice some part of its precious margins, then these would stay at the same price they are now but I foresee them raising the entry level price to $1100 and continue to rely on SSD upgrades to entice buyers to spend more $. All other components are up to date so I do not think we will see anything else in terms of performance. This year will be the year of re-design (akin to when the current design came to be with a Core 2 duo) battery life will take a hit due to the Display but they can still claim a "remarkable" battery life with this level of performance/display, blah blah.
The market is clearly moving away from computers and moving on to tablets, especially in the consumer market so it makes sense for Apple to streamline their laptop range. I just do not see a need for a 13" MBA since the 13" rMBP is the one Apple wants people to get if they need a laptop in that size.
-Summer/Fall 2014
-Updated case design to accommodate a different screen and SD card slot.
-12" class Retina Display (between 12"-13" but will be called 12", no 13" MBA)
-2014 Intel Haswell processor 15W ULV (100Mhz faster)
-Thunderbolt 2, 8GB RAM/128GB SSD in the base model.
If Apple is willing to sacrifice some part of its precious margins, then these would stay at the same price they are now but I foresee them raising the entry level price to $1100 and continue to rely on SSD upgrades to entice buyers to spend more $. All other components are up to date so I do not think we will see anything else in terms of performance. This year will be the year of re-design (akin to when the current design came to be with a Core 2 duo) battery life will take a hit due to the Display but they can still claim a "remarkable" battery life with this level of performance/display, blah blah.
The market is clearly moving away from computers and moving on to tablets, especially in the consumer market so it makes sense for Apple to streamline their laptop range. I just do not see a need for a 13" MBA since the 13" rMBP is the one Apple wants people to get if they need a laptop in that size.
Cheaper, battery that will last days, not hours. Fanless design. All running on a Apple quad core A8 or A9 processor.
Seems impossible. Not really.
Apple already has a prototype fanless Macbook Air running on a A8 processor. They had a prototype Macbook Air running on a A7 processor.
The A7 processor in the ipad air has the almost the same performance as a MacBook Air from mid–2011. Now take away the thermal constraints and that same A7 can exceed the performance of the mid-2011 macbook air. Add a few more cores and up the frequency and you can get over 5000 on geekbench. You are getting 2600 on a dual core 1.4 freq in a ipad air. Not impossible. All on a A7 chip.
Apple has been almost doubling performance with each new SOC design. So if a quad higher frequency A7 can hypotheticaly pull 5000 on geekbench. Isn't it safe to say a dual low frequency A8 can double the 2600 or almost double that score from the Apple A7 from the ipad air. A dual core low frequency A8 will probably pull around 3500-4000. A quad high frequency A8 can do what? 6000,7000? or higher?
Do you really think Apple pulled the first 64 bit mobile processor for the smartphone market only. No they did this because this is what their future macbooks will be running. Also they can have parity between apps in ios and osx. Same apps running on each device.
What could a quad A8 pull with a higher frequency?
GPU may be a little bit short.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7793/i...ture-exposed/5
If the kepler K1 can match or beat the intel 4400. The PVR GX6650 should do a little better than that.
http://blog.gsmarena.com/tegra-k1-gp...intel-hd-4400/
Now weather this product is called a Macbook Air I doubt it. I am hearing it is called just a "macbook'.
It will happen sooner then you think.
Seems impossible. Not really.
Apple already has a prototype fanless Macbook Air running on a A8 processor. They had a prototype Macbook Air running on a A7 processor.
The A7 processor in the ipad air has the almost the same performance as a MacBook Air from mid–2011. Now take away the thermal constraints and that same A7 can exceed the performance of the mid-2011 macbook air. Add a few more cores and up the frequency and you can get over 5000 on geekbench. You are getting 2600 on a dual core 1.4 freq in a ipad air. Not impossible. All on a A7 chip.
Apple has been almost doubling performance with each new SOC design. So if a quad higher frequency A7 can hypotheticaly pull 5000 on geekbench. Isn't it safe to say a dual low frequency A8 can double the 2600 or almost double that score from the Apple A7 from the ipad air. A dual core low frequency A8 will probably pull around 3500-4000. A quad high frequency A8 can do what? 6000,7000? or higher?
Do you really think Apple pulled the first 64 bit mobile processor for the smartphone market only. No they did this because this is what their future macbooks will be running. Also they can have parity between apps in ios and osx. Same apps running on each device.
What could a quad A8 pull with a higher frequency?
GPU may be a little bit short.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7793/i...ture-exposed/5
If the kepler K1 can match or beat the intel 4400. The PVR GX6650 should do a little better than that.
http://blog.gsmarena.com/tegra-k1-gp...intel-hd-4400/
Now weather this product is called a Macbook Air I doubt it. I am hearing it is called just a "macbook'.
It will happen sooner then you think.
Hi ..
I dont think this is possible as The A8 etc will be a huge architectural change. You also forget Broadwell and the atom based on 14 nm ( was it silvermont??) which will most probably ship with Imagination's IP for graphics. Intel also has a fanless haswell prototype.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/04/intel-teases-fanless-core-processor-tablet-at-computex/
With gains made by Haswell, More gains by Broadwell ( 30% less power + better GPU by atleast 50%) and 7nm Manufacturing already at the end of research phase I believe it makes no sense to write off Intel just yet.
Is that really something you would buy or are you imagining other people who will buy this (and not return it when they realize that they can't use their old software).
It bet this would be of very little use to most people.
In glad that didn't insist on calling it a MBA. Even so, though, I think calling it a MacBook is misleading.
Not really since they have a fanless macbook running on the A8 already and yes it is running OSX.
iOS is OSX at the core level. Not a huge architectural change at all. They are one in the same at the core level. A A8 can run on desktop OSX just fine. Now since all apps run at 64bit and the A8 is a desktop class processor the change is not as big as you think. Software for X86 would be the bigger challenge for third parties.
No one is writing off intel just yet or broadwell. It may not happen next refresh, but it will happen.Low power gives the best option for a fanless design but the Apple processors draw less power than even them(broadwell).
No one is saying this is a sure thing right away. But this has happened before. Not out of the realm of Apple doing such a thing.
The current Air if they make it retina would compete with the Macbook Pro 13 and it already does to a certain degree.
Apple had a macbook line that was not too different than their macbook pro line in the 13 inch realm. Look what happened there.
Now who is to say the fanless Apple Laptop will not run broadwell and still be called a Macbook Air. That is what we are hearing through our contacts as well.
We know they have a few prototypes without fans that run extremly low power and run a Apple A8 and a Intel chip. Now which chip they use no one knows but Apple but it will be fanless that is a guarantee. If not this refresh than by next. With either broadwell or a A8 or A9. My guess is still broadwell until Apples SOC matures. But maybe not, Apple has a way of suprising people.
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I know you are being facetious, but do you think that Apple would release a laptop that people cannot use their own software? Many thought the same thing when Apple switched to intel, we both know what happened there.
They already have one running on a A8, right now. That is a fact. How would a laptop that lasts for days on battery and does what their current laptops do be of little use to most people?
I already know this but to save me the writing of endless paragraphs these are for you:
http://www.zdnet.com/how-apples-a7-...plenty-of-headroom-for-the-future-7000020686/
http://www.macprices.net/2013/09/25...-a-series-powered-macbooks-the-book-mystique/
All those rumors of a 12 ipad? The general public and alot of people not in the know or do not have direct contact with Apples' supply chain are calling it a ipad since it uses Apple A series chips. Namely the A8. Its not a tablet at all is all I can say.
Will their fanless designed laptop be still macbook air and have a intel chip. Possible. Will it have a 11,12, or 13 screen that is retina. Also possible. See post above.
Don't believe it or do. I don't care. This is a rumors site hence the title 'MacRumors'. Not "MacFacts". I will not go further about what i know and don't know. I will just leave this as another option.
The Apple A7 is way overpowered for a smartphone processor. There isn't a single App in the App store on iOS that can take advantage of its power. None. Zero.
It is the most powerfull ARM SOC on the planet. Period. More so than ARMS own A53 and A57. It truly is a desktop class processor.
My bet is on a Macbook Air with a fanless design running broadwell. But equally we are hearing a Laptop with a fanless design running a A series Apple SOC. Apple has many different prototypes, many different designs and design paths. Predicting what they are releasing from those prototypes is what my firm is paid to do.
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I don't know if these rumors are true, and frankly I don't care too.
One thing is for sure though: An iPad cannot do what a laptop can, mainly because of its operating system. This debate has been had so many times, it is tiring to repeat everything again, but an iPad, while great for many people, is very restricting in its capabilities if you want to do serious productive work. This is a fact for many of the industries that exist. If Apple is planning replacing MacBooks with iPad type devices, then they need to make iOS much more powerful first, otherwise they will fail. You said, an iPad can do what a laptop can...This is not true. iOS is severely lacking in functionality and power.
Even the A7 processor (we don't know yet how powerful the A8 will be), can be compared with Intel CPUs we had 4-5 years ago. While this is certainly impressive for mobile devices, there are endless usage scenarios, where much more power is needed, and where a tablet cannot be used.
I believe we are at least five years away from tablet devices that can be used for most laptop usage scenarios, and even then laptops will be better for these tasks...
The idea of an iPad Pro doesn't make much sense, unless Apple targets a very specific audience. That would make it a niche product.
I wasn't being facetious nor did I say that an ARM processor could not run their 'own' software, I said an ARM processor can not run their OLD software (as in software they used on their precious MacBook Air).
I think software incompatibility is a bigger deal than you imagine. You can't expect an ARM processor to emulate x86 code efficiently (certainly not compared to Broadwell) nor can you expect all software vendors to immediately recompile their code to run on the ARM machine. Then you've got all of BootCamp and Parallels users who would be screwed. Anyone who wanted to use MS Office (OSX or MS Windows versions) in their ARM based machine would be disappointed.
Would you buy one? (Almost everyone I've seen touting an ARM based MacBook seem to think it would be a great product for OTHER people. Who are the people who buy a machine without software compatibility and no hope of an efficient x86 emulator???)
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Like i said I am betting on Apple releasing a fanless Macbook Air running broadwell.
But they do have a fanless prototype laptop running on ARM A series chips. Weather they discontinue the Macbook Air and go with these, or they don't release it at all and it is just a prototype for engineering sake for future designs only Apple knows. Or they plan to release it. No one knows but Apple. I do know the next Macbook air redesign will go fanless with broadwell. If they go with a laptop running ARM A series chips it will not be called a 'macbook air'.
A arm processor 'can' emulate and run x86 code. Apple is already doing it. Has been doing it. It is not 'bigger' than I imagine. I know alot of things you do not. Lets leave it at that.
Read this:
http://www.zdnet.com/how-apples-a7-...plenty-of-headroom-for-the-future-7000020686/
http://www.zdnet.com/apples-64-bit-iphone-fuels-new-speculation-on-arm-based-mac-7000021006/
This is for your info. Not mine.
I think Apple is smarter than you give them credit for. People said the same when they switched to intel. Same exact thing.
Look at this old web post. Who does this sound like?
http://beta.slashdot.org/story/28070
The chip designers that were with PA semi which Apple acquired and the engineers they added since are some of the best in the world. If anyone can do it they can.
iOS is OSX at the core level. They are one in the same. One uses a different GUI. OSX already runs on ARM at the core level. Is compiled on ARM. Right now. Not a problem for Apple. They have a prototype running OSX on a Apple A8 processor. It isn't a case of it cannot happen. It has happened. Past tense.
You underestimate the A series chips. They are desktop class chips. The A7 is as powerful as a Core 2 Duo. Watt for Watt. You mean to tell me a core 2 duo cannot emulate x86 code efficiently if it had too if was used on a Power PC architecture hypothetically speaking?
When Apple switched to Intel in January of 06 they were using the Core Duo. Not even the Core 2 duo. The A7 is as powerfull as those chips or more so. You mean to tell me that isnt possible on a even more powefull A8? or A9?
Yes it is and yes they are.
Mobile processors that are desktop class and intel processors will catch up with each other. Intel on the power usage side(watts) and ARM on the power side(power per watt) Convergence is already happening. It will happen.Trust me.
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Thank you for clarifying that. I see no point in continuing this (or any other) discussion with you.
If this hypothetical ARM MBA cost $699 (maybe upto $799) I'd absolutely give it a shot. I'd need Office support, email, skype, a code editor and MAMP (or equivalent functionality) and it'd be a great road warrior machine. It might require me to get a Mini for occasional more complicated workloads but for a hypothetical $699 that's somewhat expected.
If this machine were to start at $999 like the current model, slim chance...
"You said, an iPad can do what a laptop can"
Where are you getting this from? I never said anything near that. Please don't put words in my mouth. No one ever said ipad pro' or what ever you are talking about. Nor did I say iOS is replacing Macbooks. Please reread the thread.
The Apple A7 is most likely more powerful than processors five years ago. Don't forget that the A7 in the ipad air is a tuned down A7. The headroom is much, much more than what is being used in Apples iOS products. There isn't a iOS app that can take advantage of the power the the A7 offers. Probably will not be for several years.
Imaging what a 2Ghz quad core A7 could do. A dual core 1.4 Ghz is getting 2600 on geekbench. What would that 2Ghz quad A7 do? Or a quad 2.5 A8?
I am talking about a full fledged Apple laptop running OSX, not iOS.
Ok, probably i misread sth. An ARM based Macbook is certainly a possibility, but I guess Apple needs 2-3 years for that. Compatibility is important here. Performance too!
Even when it comes, I don't see ARM based laptops on anything else than the Macbook Air. The Macbook Pro will still run on Intel CPU.
I see where you're going with this but I don't think it's really necessary. MacBook Air's aren't used for photo/video, but primarily for text so these displays, for me, are an actual pleasure to work with.
If you're in need of even larger res and better colours, there's the MacBook Retina for you in the line-up.
Whenever Apple decides to bump up the screen of the MacBook Air, that's going to be the end of that line cause it'll be implemented in the MacBook Retina's, leaving just those portables available.
I dont do anything like that either, and I am usually not very picky, but I do consider the MBA screen below standard.
Please don't get upset. Its only the internet.
I keep a low profile on here but if you knew who i was you would s### your pants.
Most in the Apple community have heard of me from sites such as this. Look at my posts there are little gems spread through out over the years. I don't divulge much info because I cannot, if I did I would not have a business.
Since I have contracts. I cannot divulge much. I am a fan of Apple products such as yourself. But when I say I know more than you do about such subjects. I am not being snide. I do this for a living. I do business with Apple, Samsung, LG, Moto etc. My firm has direct access to Apples supply chain. Most of what I know and do is in the mobile space since that is where my business is at. Desktops, laptops not as much.
When I was on howardforums.com I predicted the last seven years in the mobile space to a 'T'. This led to contracts with some sites I cannot mention. Check my posts on there if you don't believe me.
With that being said, cheer up.
Proof? Why say you are some kind of Apple insider if you cant back it up with proof? If you cant give proof due to contracts ect don't mention that you know more then others.
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You're exactly right. I deleted some paragraphs. But I digress, I should have not went there. Lets get back on track. If I did that I would lose my business and all credibility with my peers.
There is proof on howardforums.com and here. More so there if interested. But I would rather stay 'small'.
In my personal opinion I think the 2014 MacBook Air will be a major update to the MacBook Air line.
What to expect
12.88 inch screen
14nm Broadwell Chip with 40% better GPU performance,and 30% battery more efficient.
Retina Display
What I would like
13 inch screen
14nm Broadwell Chip with 40% better GPU performance,and 30-40% battery more efficient.
New Graphics chip
Retina Display
Faster base processor speed (2.4GHz)
But we'll have to wait until Q3-Q4 to see it for ourselves.
What to expect
12.88 inch screen
14nm Broadwell Chip with 40% better GPU performance,and 30% battery more efficient.
Retina Display
What I would like
13 inch screen
14nm Broadwell Chip with 40% better GPU performance,and 30-40% battery more efficient.
New Graphics chip
Retina Display
Faster base processor speed (2.4GHz)
But we'll have to wait until Q3-Q4 to see it for ourselves.
Exactly what I expect it to be too. And around 2.5 - 2.7 lbs in weight. Should be a wildly popular computer because of the retina, small footprint, very low weight, ultra thin design and low price (for a Mac). Buyers who need more power could opt for the 13.3" or 15.4" rMBP which might be updated to be even more powerful by late 2014.
I can see Apple adding a Retina display to the Air this year along with thunderbolt 2. As for a redesign those rumours have been circulating so it isn't out of the realm of possibility. I'd really like it if they added an HDMI port to the AIR but I can't see this happening.
I see talk about a fanless Broadwell version and maybe even a fanless A8?
The cooling systems in the current MacBook Air might as well be fan-less because they throttle like crazy. A Fan-less high TDP CPUs is a bad idea in such a small form factor. I see the BayTrail CPU's run fan-less (like the one in my Dell Tablet) and under full load they get up to 70c. I can see an Air using this since the TDP is only 2.5 watts, is quad core, and has built in graphics. The battery life would be amazing because at idle the CPU draws around .2 watts while idle and .5 while playing netflix!
An A7 or A8 can "do" what a normal x86 or x64 CPU can but wont nearly be as fast. I can't even imagine what the TDP of an A7 or A8 would be but I am sure they draw quite a bit of power for being a mobile processor. They are called RISC CPU's for a reason. In order to keep the power consumption as low as possible they strip out most of the instruction sets so it would be impossible to run Mac OSX or Windows (without virtualization, which would be HORRIBLY SLOW) on an ARM chip without rewriting the kernal and drivers.
Another thing to consider is the USB 3 and Thunderbolt/PCIe support. It is almost non existent and adding that into the die will increase the TDP even further. The Baytrail CPU is really looking a lot better than an A7, A8 or Ax cpu right about now (and is faster than the iPad air)
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Unfortunately you can't cross compare architectures based on clocks. The lack of instruction sets can greatly affect per clock performance. As far as I know, Apples A7 or any of their mobile iDevice CPU's don't have the SSE instruction set which can help gain better clock per clock performance on Linpack or apps of the like on an x86 CPU.
Apple relies on hardware decoders and GPU to get high performance out of demanding apps.
Another thing, 64bit ARM (RISC) is not the same as CISC x64. I see people saying that it can run Mac OSX, it can't. Again, the Kernal and Drivers have to be (heavily) modified and rewritten to run on a RISC CPU.
Read More here: http://www.walkerb.net/blog/x64-vs-arm/
The cooling systems in the current MacBook Air might as well be fan-less because they throttle like crazy. A Fan-less high TDP CPUs is a bad idea in such a small form factor. I see the BayTrail CPU's run fan-less (like the one in my Dell Tablet) and under full load they get up to 70c. I can see an Air using this since the TDP is only 2.5 watts, is quad core, and has built in graphics. The battery life would be amazing because at idle the CPU draws around .2 watts while idle and .5 while playing netflix!
An A7 or A8 can "do" what a normal x86 or x64 CPU can but wont nearly be as fast. I can't even imagine what the TDP of an A7 or A8 would be but I am sure they draw quite a bit of power for being a mobile processor. They are called RISC CPU's for a reason. In order to keep the power consumption as low as possible they strip out most of the instruction sets so it would be impossible to run Mac OSX or Windows (without virtualization, which would be HORRIBLY SLOW) on an ARM chip without rewriting the kernal and drivers.
Another thing to consider is the USB 3 and Thunderbolt/PCIe support. It is almost non existent and adding that into the die will increase the TDP even further. The Baytrail CPU is really looking a lot better than an A7, A8 or Ax cpu right about now (and is faster than the iPad air)
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Unfortunately you can't cross compare architectures based on clocks. The lack of instruction sets can greatly affect per clock performance. As far as I know, Apples A7 or any of their mobile iDevice CPU's don't have the SSE instruction set which can help gain better clock per clock performance on Linpack or apps of the like on an x86 CPU.
Apple relies on hardware decoders and GPU to get high performance out of demanding apps.
Another thing, 64bit ARM (RISC) is not the same as CISC x64. I see people saying that it can run Mac OSX, it can't. Again, the Kernal and Drivers have to be (heavily) modified and rewritten to run on a RISC CPU.
Read More here: http://www.walkerb.net/blog/x64-vs-arm/
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