The Retina MacBook Pro never completed replaced the standard MacBook Pro. You can still order it. Granted, it hasn't been updated in almost 3 years...
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MacBook Air Refresh With Broadwell Processors and Intel HD 6000 Graphics Appears Imminent
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The Retina MacBook Pro never completed replaced the standard MacBook Pro. You can still order it. Granted, it hasn't been updated in almost 3 years...
Yay! Same screen resolution as 2010 = still no desire to upgrade my air. I want pixels not power in an ultra portable.
the serial number actually comes back as obsolete in Apple's GSX. So looks like they've yet to throw the active switch to ON for the model.
Significantly what? The rMBP has far higher value for money than the regular one, even without counting the retina display.
The "pseudo-legacy" model offered by Apple has never been a best buy. Just like the unibody polycarbonate old Macbook in its last days. Maybe they'll keep the MBA 11" for a gen or two, but I doubt the rMBA will start at more than $999.
Maybe not!
That is fine EXCEPT that Apple would NOT just hold a event only for a product we already know ALL about. We know all about the Apple Watch except price and one or two specs. It is highly likely that have something else to show, Macbook Airs with a slightly better CPU would not merit half and hour being talked about. it is far more likely that they have something like the 12" Macbook Air Retina to showcase alongside the refreshed(maybe) Macbook Air
otherwise they would have just updated the macbook air in the online store like they did last year
Actually it's very likely they will NOT release the 12" Retina.. This is a CPU refresh.. Apple often releases refreshed Macbook/iMac lines w/o new product.
It's still just as likely the 12" Retina MBA is slated for mid-summer/fall..
We've seen NO leaks for the actual 12" laptop hardware, which seems to in the last 3 years aways come with an imminent new product release.
Also, their is every indication that Apple is holding the 12" Retina Macbook Air off for Skylake. Which, I personally, think is the most likely case right now and that is not due out until mid-summer. Hence the rumors of a rMBA mid-late summer release making complete sense.
The recent spring release rumors could very likely have mistaken the broadwell CPU refresh for the 12" MBA release ... /shrug
Sorry.. I'm more than willing to wait for a Skylake Retina Macbook Air anyway.
That is fine EXCEPT that Apple would NOT just hold a event only for a product we already know ALL about. We know all about the Apple Watch except price and one or two specs. It is highly likely that have something else to show, Macbook Airs with a slightly better CPU would not merit half and hour being talked about. it is far more likely that they have something like the 12" Macbook Air Retina to showcase alongside the refreshed(maybe) Macbook Air
otherwise they would have just updated the macbook air in the online store like they did last year
Actually it's very likely they will NOT release the 12" Retina.. This is a CPU refresh.. Apple often releases refreshed Macbook/iMac lines w/o new product.
It's still just as likely the 12" Retina MBA is slated for mid-summer/fall..
We've seen NO leaks for the actual 12" laptop hardware, which seems to in the last 3 years aways come with an imminent new product release.
Also, their is every indication that Apple is holding the 12" Retina Macbook Air off for Skylake. Which, I personally, think is the most likely case right now and that is not due out until mid-summer. Hence the rumors of a rMBA mid-late summer release making complete sense.
The recent spring release rumors could very likely have mistaken the broadwell CPU refresh for the 12" MBA release ... /shrug
Sorry.. I'm more than willing to wait for a Skylake Retina Macbook Air anyway.
Skylake is a "tock" in intel's "tick-tock". A "tick" is a die-shrink. Major power improvements, performance increases. A "tock" is a refinement of that die - with usually an added feature (Ivy Bridge [the "tock" of Sandy Bridge added QuickSync video encoding, I believe. And seriously not much else.) A "tock" isn't worth waiting for. Especially 14 -> 10nm nodes, a ~30% shrink isn't very significant...
It was still priced significantly higher than what most expected in comparison to the regular MBP. They've managed to somewhat lower the price, but the 15-inch is still too steep.
Last year it was a silent upgrade because you could hardly call it an upgrade. It was Haswell to Haswell plus a small price drop.
The Air was never meant to be a powerhouse. I use mine for work -- email, drafting dox, etc. and it's more than adequate. If you need to edit large photos, movies, etc., the Pro is the way to go. I think the Air serves most users as a supplement to a desktop (iMac, MacPro, Mini).
Of course, a MacBook Pro with the Air size/shape/weight/battery would be killer!!
And I would rather have power (and screen size) than pixels. Give me an upgraded and more energy efficient i7, and a minimum of 8GB of RAM (16GB would be better). I will be happy.
My problem is that I have a good offer from Gazelle right now on my current MBA that expires on 3/11. If this is announced on 3/9 I won't be able to get a BTO model in hand before I have to ship my old one out.
I agree. Typical Apple style would be to announce the refreshed Airs as well as the new rMBA at the same time. No way is Apple going to talk about the new 11/13" Air at the event and then nothing else besides the Watch. If that were the case, Apple would just silently release the refresh like normal.
By all means, we don't need retina, but dear god don't put out another laptop with sub HD resolution. That would be a crime.
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I agree. No need for retina. But not having 1080 vertical at this point is unforgivable.
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I agree. No need for retina. But not having 1080 vertical at this point is unforgivable.
Only 4 GB of RAM is truly annoying. It means that an MBA is never a spontaneous purchase, like when they are on sale. I would accept 4 GB of RAM if the RAM was user upgradable. But it's not. The only way to get a decent amount of RAM is BTO, or buying the high end model, which would not be necessary.
Ok I have to write from experience;
I have the MBA 2014 11" with 256 and 4 gig memory. My desktop is a 2012 Mini i7 Quad core (the fast one), 1 t HD, 256 SSD drives and 16 gig memory.
I use the 11" air on the road almost every day. This past week I made a 3 min video using iMovie for the web, running Photoshop elements, Firefox, a FTP down loader and text editor all at once on the 11." With 4 gigs it ran really good and only bogged down when I tried to access a network drive via wireless connection.
For those nay-Sayers who say "8 gigs," I would bet they do very little "power" computing on their machines. The biggest bottle necks on all computers these days are the storage access, not the normal memory. This means if your program needs to do a lot of drive read and writing, like a video program, the faster the better!
BTW I rendered the video both on the Mini and the 11" MBA, there's a significant difference in CPU speed between the two, and noticed very little difference in processing speed of the video. Where I did notice a huge difference is when I imported the movie to Final Cut Pro X and then exported it to a file.
FCPX renders videos on the fly rather than at the end, as is the case with iMovie, therefore exporting to a file was a lot faster in FCPX than in iMovie on the same machine.
I will be in line to get the 12" MBA when it comes out.
Enjoy!
I have the MBA 2014 11" with 256 and 4 gig memory. My desktop is a 2012 Mini i7 Quad core (the fast one), 1 t HD, 256 SSD drives and 16 gig memory.
I use the 11" air on the road almost every day. This past week I made a 3 min video using iMovie for the web, running Photoshop elements, Firefox, a FTP down loader and text editor all at once on the 11." With 4 gigs it ran really good and only bogged down when I tried to access a network drive via wireless connection.
For those nay-Sayers who say "8 gigs," I would bet they do very little "power" computing on their machines. The biggest bottle necks on all computers these days are the storage access, not the normal memory. This means if your program needs to do a lot of drive read and writing, like a video program, the faster the better!
BTW I rendered the video both on the Mini and the 11" MBA, there's a significant difference in CPU speed between the two, and noticed very little difference in processing speed of the video. Where I did notice a huge difference is when I imported the movie to Final Cut Pro X and then exported it to a file.
FCPX renders videos on the fly rather than at the end, as is the case with iMovie, therefore exporting to a file was a lot faster in FCPX than in iMovie on the same machine.
I will be in line to get the 12" MBA when it comes out.
Enjoy!
I still see no reason to upgrade from my 2011 13" MacBook Air. Still an Intel i5, still 4GB RAM. What do I get in an update, aside from USB 3 and a slight graphics update?
I used to want a new laptop every 2-3 years. I'll end up using this 2011 model until at least 2016 if these weak updates are all they can come up with.
I used to want a new laptop every 2-3 years. I'll end up using this 2011 model until at least 2016 if these weak updates are all they can come up with.
As a side note.
Where all the computers can improve speed isn't from the processor any more. The faster the connections the happier people are.
We need faster, USB, Video, Storage WIFI, BT and anything similar.
I get more annoyed at waiting for a wireless connection or for the storage connections to hook up an move data than I do rendering a video these days. If I click on a file or icon for any reason and the old spinning ball or similar icon appears for more than a moment or two I tend to start thinking this connection is junk or there's a problem.
Recently I paid the price and upgraded my router to an "airport extreme" and use the "express" to expand the network reach. I was very pleased to see the remote speed of the express connections was equal to being near the main router. It was worth the extra $ for the "upgrade."
It seems to me Apple "gets it" in these areas. But one does pay for it!
Where all the computers can improve speed isn't from the processor any more. The faster the connections the happier people are.
We need faster, USB, Video, Storage WIFI, BT and anything similar.
I get more annoyed at waiting for a wireless connection or for the storage connections to hook up an move data than I do rendering a video these days. If I click on a file or icon for any reason and the old spinning ball or similar icon appears for more than a moment or two I tend to start thinking this connection is junk or there's a problem.
Recently I paid the price and upgraded my router to an "airport extreme" and use the "express" to expand the network reach. I was very pleased to see the remote speed of the express connections was equal to being near the main router. It was worth the extra $ for the "upgrade."
It seems to me Apple "gets it" in these areas. But one does pay for it!
Can they not fit 16gb ram in the MBA?
Not sure why they can't bump that, it will be my main reason to get out of my maxed out 2013 model.
Not sure why they can't bump that, it will be my main reason to get out of my maxed out 2013 model.