MacBook Air may not be the colourful one

[deuxani]

I have a feeling that these coloured MacBook rumours are for the new MacBook and that the MacBook Air will be a separate product. Like this:

- MacBook: colourful, playful, non demanding specs and consumer / home focused - $999
- MacBook Air: silver and space grey, wedge design, non demanding specs and student / regular office worker focused - $1299
- MacBook Pro: silver and space grey, demanding specs for the industry pros like video editors, photographers, musicians, developers, etc. - $1999

This makes so much more sense to me. There is a huge market for whom the colours would be a no go, but for whom the Pro is far too expensive and overkill spec wise. There needs to be a product line in between. Let’s see how Apple will surprise us again during the next event.

 

[adamlbiscuit]

I think that depends on what becomes of the 13-inch MacBook Pro.

Will they discontinue it, bump up the MacBook Air to mid-tier and introduce a colourful MacBook as the entry level (as per your suggestion)?

Or, will they do something like this:

- MacBook Air: colourful, playful etc. - Consumer focussed $999 starting

- MacBook Pro 13-inch: Silver/Space Grey - Keep it around, maybe update it with the notch/function keys, and aim it at students/office workers $1,299 starting

- MacBook Pro 14/16-inch: - MacBook Pro: Silver/Space Grey, demanding specs for the industry pros like video editors, photographers, musicians, developers, etc. - $1999

When you think of it like that they already have a middle-ground machine in the MBP 13-inch so they'll only do something akin to what you've suggested if they get rid of that first.

 

[deuxani]

Yeah that might be possible too. I hope not, but you never know. It would be nice if all 3 model ranges would be designed around the M chip instead of being a rehashed Intel design.

 

[JPack]

- MacBook: colourful, playful, non demanding specs and consumer / home focused - $999
- MacBook Air: silver and space grey, wedge design, non demanding specs and student / regular office worker focused - $1299

So what would be the technical difference between the two?

The MBP 14 received an 11% ($200) price increase over the four-port MBP 13. You're suggesting a 30% ($300) price hike on MBA for what?

 

[tpfang56]

I think that depends on what becomes of the 13-inch MacBook Pro.

Will they discontinue it, bump up the MacBook Air to mid-tier and introduce a colourful MacBook as the entry level (as per your suggestion)?

Or, will they do something like this:

- MacBook Air: colourful, playful etc. - Consumer focussed $999 starting

- MacBook Pro 13-inch: Silver/Space Grey - Keep it around, maybe update it with the notch/function keys, and aim it at students/office workers $1,299 starting

- MacBook Pro 14/16-inch: - MacBook Pro: Silver/Space Grey, demanding specs for the industry pros like video editors, photographers, musicians, developers, etc. - $1999

When you think of it like that they already have a middle-ground machine in the MBP 13-inch so they'll only do something akin to what you've suggested if they get rid of that first.

This sounds right to me. I think it'd be awesome if they updated the base model MBP with a bigger ProMotion screen, a fan, no touchbar, standard colors, yet with an M2 chip for those who don't necessarily need all the extra power of the M1 Pro/Max.

There also seems to be a demand for a bigger (15-16") screen for the MBAs/base MBPs, but knowing apple, I doubt that will happen anytime soon. They love gatekeeping sizes to certain price points.

 

[deuxani]

So what would be the technical difference between the two?

The MBP 14 received an 11% ($200) price increase over the four-port MBP 13. You're suggesting a 30% ($300) price hike on MBA for what?

ProMotion maybe, higher nits screen, better webcam, something like that.

 

[JPack]

ProMotion maybe, higher nits screen, better webcam, something like that.

The MBP 14 got all that plus mini LED and M1 Pro... all for $200 more compared to the MBP 13. So the numbers don't make sense.

It's more likely Apple will keep the M2 MBA at $999 but improve the MBP 13 (mini LED, M1 Pro) and up the price.

 

[robertts]

I could see them phasing out the tb MBP 13 and keeping the m1 MBA at the entry level price. But having 3 Macbook lines would be confusing. I'm not sure there is much differentiation between a "consumer/home focused" user and a "student/office worker" user.

 

[skaertus]

I have a feeling that these coloured MacBook rumours are for the new MacBook and that the MacBook Air will be a separate product. Like this:

- MacBook: colourful, playful, non demanding specs and consumer / home focused - $999
- MacBook Air: silver and space grey, wedge design, non demanding specs and student / regular office worker focused - $1299
- MacBook Pro: silver and space grey, demanding specs for the industry pros like video editors, photographers, musicians, developers, etc. - $1999

This makes so much more sense to me. There is a huge market for whom the colours would be a no go, but for whom the Pro is far too expensive and overkill spec wise. There needs to be a product line in between. Let’s see how Apple will surprise us again during the next event.

Price-wise, it does not make much sense to me.

The MacBook Air and the 13-inch MacBook Pro were already too similar in price and other specs, which led to confusion. Apple did not need both of them in its line-up. I have a feeling that now that Apple put a higher price tag on the 14-inch MacBook Pro, it will launch just one line of non-Pro laptops (called either "MacBook" or "MacBook Air") and will fill it with models at a lower price range. I think a $300 difference is too low to justify a different line of Apple laptops.