MacBook Air - Already near-retina

[Nova Sensei]

I don't. The tech isn't there to make it thin enough and maintain acceptable battery life at the same time. Battery tech and screen thickness are the limiting factors in this case, not GPU performance. The Intel HD4000 has really impressed me for onboard video. It can really push a lot of pixels.

I'd say Apple's desire to differentiate between the Air and Pro models is also a key factor.

Until Ultrabooks go "retina" there's really no reason for Apple to do it. Once they do, the gap between Air & Pro CPU/GPU will probably increase to become the key differentiator between the two lines.

 

[MacLadybug]

Murphy's Law...

Since I just bought my MBA yesterday, after weeks of deliberation... I would say you can count on a newer, faster, lighter, possibly retina MBA to be released the day after my refund policy expires!

 

[Beanoir]

SPeaking of rMBA, when is the next refresh due?

I bet they'll put in a retina screen this time around.

I bet they won't

 

[Infinitewisdom]

I don't. The tech isn't there to make it thin enough and maintain acceptable battery life at the same time. Battery tech and screen thickness are the limiting factors in this case, not GPU performance. The Intel HD4000 has really impressed me for onboard video. It can really push a lot of pixels.

Even with Haswell in the mid-2013 models?

 

[SuperJudge]

Even with Haswell in the mid-2013 models?

In my wholly unqualified opinion, yes.

The primary issue as I see it is with battery consumption as a result of the display and the stress on the GPU (see differences in power consumption between iPad 2 and New iPad). Factor in that the rMBP is probably about as thin as you can go with an acceptable battery capacity and that makes it seem to me that you'd probably end up with a Retina MBA with a battery life in the neighborhood of 3 to 4 hours with a Haswell processor. That'd be good enough for anyone but Apple. My guess, Retina displays on the MacBook Air in mid 2014 at the soonest, depending on whether or not the tech catches on in an appreciable way.

ETA: Additionally, Retina displays are still appreciably thicker than non-Retina displays. I don't have any clue as to how quickly this would change, but I think it's a limiting factor at present.

 

[Blackberryroid]

It is said that the MacBook Air has a worse display than the MacBook Pro. I honestly can't tell the difference. But I think if they can't fix that issue, they would be having a hard time putting 220PPI on that thin thing.