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MacBook Air 2018
- Thread starter Dave245
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Where are you getting that from? There have been no reports on that. Mark Gurman did say an Air with less bezels and a Retina display but Ming Chi Kuo is now calling it a MacBook rather than Air.
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Thing is, being 15w only, it’ll be subject to far more throttling by nature. You also lose the superior iGPU.
Most users won’t notice difference, but if you’re doing a lot of rendering/encoding and similar work, which will put your machine in a state of load for hours a day, it will be a huge difference. Pro’s weren’t meant to be the optimal machine for the majority, it’s targeted at specific users.
Don’t forget, the original Air was also 15w, it didn’t make the 13” Pro redundant, there’s is a lot of time to be saved depending on your work load.
The Pro also has 4 TB3, the Air won’t have that most likely, nor will it have the TouchBar, so there is enough distinction imo.
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I have the current 15 MBP with the redesigned keyboard and the it is awesome. I love typing on it. my wife has an air, so I can goback and forth. I prefer the 15.
I think the butterfly keyboard is either love it or hate it. I’ve tried it out in stores and i actually like it, I wouldn’t mind if they brought it to the new MacBook/Macbook Air.
How much is the difference between Intel graphics 620HD and Iris used in Pro? For more demanding tasks, it's better to get a discrete graphics like Nvidia or AMD and for basic tasks Intel 620 is good enough. Also not many OEMs offer systems based on Iris graphics, either it's 620 or Nvidia, AMD.
There were some real differences between the original Air and the Pros of the day, beyond just the processor: The airs used only flash storage. Which meant that they could be thinner and lighter, but it also severely limited the amount of storage that they had, compared to the Pro. People who had large iPhoto or iTunes libraries could use the air, but only as a portable second computer. That fit in with the air's other major difference from the pro machines, and that was a lack of a superdrive. Those original airs seemed to be aimed at professionals on the go, as a light weight portable that complemented their larger desktop computer - they were not meant to be someone's primary computer.
As time has gone on, people have learned to live without a cd/dvd drive, or large storage space. The MacBook and the MacBook Pro are both really thin and light. Online storage means that either one could be a main computer for someone, or only as the travel companion.
So it is hard to see what niche this new MBA will be expected to fill. I see two possibilities: the cheap entry level machine or the mid-range machine. I am not sure that these two things can be the same thing, which is what it looks like many people want. How can it be cheaper than a MacBook but with a more capable processor? What other compromises would have to be made for that to happen?
So it will be very, very interesting to see just what apple comes out with next week.
As time has gone on, people have learned to live without a cd/dvd drive, or large storage space. The MacBook and the MacBook Pro are both really thin and light. Online storage means that either one could be a main computer for someone, or only as the travel companion.
So it is hard to see what niche this new MBA will be expected to fill. I see two possibilities: the cheap entry level machine or the mid-range machine. I am not sure that these two things can be the same thing, which is what it looks like many people want. How can it be cheaper than a MacBook but with a more capable processor? What other compromises would have to be made for that to happen?
So it will be very, very interesting to see just what apple comes out with next week.
I see it filling the following market
- People who don't need the performance of 28W/45W
- This also leads to better battery life, something which is more important to people than raw performance
- It doesn't have touch bar, something many people don't like and also, without it would mean a lot of cost saving
- Most people don't need 4 TB3 ports, which would save more money
- Perhaps LTE option, to keep up with the competition
Also, the MacBook should be a good example of how a CPU isn't what drives the cost of a laptop. The MacBook's cost probably comes a lot from the R&D aspect of things, which by now should have paid off and probably is due a price cut.
Again, if we ignore product differentials, Apple have no machine which adequately competes with the new ZenBook lineup, new Lenovo lineup, new HP lineup etc - which make up the most popular market in the premium ultrabook market (All 15W CPU rated and focus on portability and battery life - not raw performance).
If they make a really good product, they can take a huge chunk of revenue off the competition with a MacBook Air which lets say, has the feature set of this (minus the pen): https://www.pcworld.com/article/331...018-price-features-availability-hands-on.html - which starts at $1,150.
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i think if Apple put a Retina Display inside the Air and reduce the bezels a lot of people would buy it, in fact I think it would do really well. I’m not saying that’s what they will do but I think it would be a great idea, also include up to date specs and you have a great laptop for students and the general consumer. Also include a couple of USB-C ports.
MacBook comes down to £999
New MacBook Air comes in at the current MacBook pricing with higher build to order configurations available.
If they put a Retina display, reduce bezels, add TouchID, Whiskeylake chips and add a USB-C TB3 port, I think they stand to compete well with the market. It is 10 years since the original Air, so I hope they do it justice.
Ultra-low 1 watt display and LTE would be added bonuses - I know one of the main attraction of the original Air was the insane battery life, something the "Pro" machines lack in my opinion.
I wonder if that will be Apples nod to the fact that it’s the 10th anniversary of the Air, they could certainly spin it that way at the announcment. If they were to do all of that I’d be sold.
Asside from the LTE and the power rating of the processor, you've just described the non-TB MBP, which starts at $1299 for 8gb ram and 128 gb storage. So they could just switch the non-TB processor to a new 15W cpu and change the name to MBA.
I hope they are more imaginative than that.
sure it's the 10 year anniversary of MBA, but i cant reconcile between MBA and the MB. why do you need a MBA if you have a MB (or vice versa)?
Well the nTB was the Air upgrade (it was advertised as such back in 2016).
There is still the matter of TouchID - and the nTB is probably a bit bigger/thicker than the competition now, definitely not as comfortable as the Air. I think it was a quick hack of a product really to offer at a lower price point.
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I guess the biggest differentiator is, fan-less vs fan designed laptop.
Technically, an upgraded 2018 MB can be even thinner and have the same/better battery life. So it will always be possible to make it more compact than a new MBA.
I guess some people really love silent machines, while others prefer some added performance (But not to the level of the Pro, where the price hikes rapidly and it won't provide the same level of battery life, nor do they want a TouchBar), which is where the MBA will come in.
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https://www.techradar.com/uk/news/apple-store-tickets-ipad-pro-mac-october-30-stream
I think Apple is actually looking to really deliver this time around. I hope this isn't like the "Waiting for Skylake thread" which I participated a long with so many others for god knows how long, only to be disappointed at the end.
I think Apple is actually looking to really deliver this time around. I hope this isn't like the "Waiting for Skylake thread" which I participated a long with so many others for god knows how long, only to be disappointed at the end.
I well remember the 'Warming Up for the All-New 2013 (and then, 2014) Redesigned MacBook Air' thread that spanned 600+ posts. Several times, I pointed out that Apple was unlikely to ever redesign the MBA, and several times I was effectively shouted down.
I don't think there will be any 'new' MBAs. I said the same thing back in 2013 and 2014, but no one wanted to listen then, either. Generally speaking, you can't "really deliver" with 10-year-old tech. If you doubt that, try using an overhead projector at your next meeting and see how you 'wow' the group.
I've owned at least one of every iteration of the Air since introduction, and I'd love to be proven wrong. To date, I've seen nothing from the pundits or analysts to suggest that I am. The Air was never positioned as a low-cost, entry level laptop, and the fact that it holds that place now in Apple's lineup does more to make my point - it's old tech - than it does to foretell what will be announced next Tuesday.
I don't think there will be any 'new' MBAs. I said the same thing back in 2013 and 2014, but no one wanted to listen then, either. Generally speaking, you can't "really deliver" with 10-year-old tech. If you doubt that, try using an overhead projector at your next meeting and see how you 'wow' the group.
I've owned at least one of every iteration of the Air since introduction, and I'd love to be proven wrong. To date, I've seen nothing from the pundits or analysts to suggest that I am. The Air was never positioned as a low-cost, entry level laptop, and the fact that it holds that place now in Apple's lineup does more to make my point - it's old tech - than it does to foretell what will be announced next Tuesday.
If this really is going to be the go-to consumer MacBook replacing the air then it makes sense they’d want to publicise it as much as possible. Not only that but also only the 4th ever design of iPad (if you group them by design as 1st gen; 2-4; and pretty much all of them thereafter to date) and probably the biggest redesign the device has ever had!
Yep definitely. If they can really kill it with the new Air/iPad, every customer they win, they will also get their business when it comes to their smart phone, smart watch, home speaker, iCloud/Apple Music subscription etc.
Yep this is potentially going to be the best selling Mac every year for the next 5+ years if they get it right - definitely a big deal for them! The iPads are also basically the start of the next epoch for the line too so these most certainly aren’t any less important devices than what we’ve already seen this year
Has anyone actually done the math on this?
Like, could you even fit a 14" 16:10 display in the old chassis?
It's likely not financially viable to make their own, custom display size for a product like that.
Okay, so the large bezels stay.
I can live with that, as long as they don't remove the ports.
Why is that, there is nothing to stop them making a smaller chassis with less bezel, all the competition are doing it.