MBAir to rMB or MBP?

[maerz001]

Since Apple was able to get a Retina display and a 10 hour battery life into the retina MacBook(which is significantly thinner than the MBA), they could definitely put a Retina display into the Air without really losing much battery life. Instead, they've gone in another direction with the retina MacBook.

Yes if they use the 12" with less pixels to push and the intel M with 5W instead of 15W. so that's the rMB.
Otherwise the capacity of the Air and new MBP is 54Wh. So the Volume for battery is the same and considering that the MBP non-touch has 10-11h battery life it would be possible. I think they just didn't do it because they would loose profit.

 

[antonio99]

Why bother?
Add a retina screen to the MBA and you're going to cripple the battery life.

That's why the MBA has come to the end of its development road. No one will accept low red screens anymore. But if Apple just added a retina screen, battery life would plummet. They'd have to redesign to fit a bigger battery, making it thinker and voila...there you have the new baseline 13"MBP.

I agree that it would become like the rMBP2016, however connectivity (i.e.: ports) on that machine sucks, lacks MagSafe (which has saved my computer tenths of times).

Anyway, since the rMB has a retina screen and you seem to imply that retina screens would cripple the battery life of the MBA, should we conclude that the rMB has lower performance (i.e.: processor power)?
Because battery capacity is very comparable, 41Wh for rMB and 38Wh for MBA11.
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Yes if they use the 12" with less pixels to push and the intel M with 5W instead of 15W. so that's the rMB.
Otherwise the capacity of the Air and new MBP is 54Wh. So the Volume for battery is the same and considering that the MBP non-touch has 10-11h battery life it would be possible. I think they just didn't do it because they would loose profit.

What do you mean with "they would loose profit"? How? Is it because now they charge a lot more for those crippled (USB-C only) machines? Or because people wouldn't buy an MBA with retina screen?
Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against USB-C, but putting only USB-C ports and no standard ports is ridiculous (lets keep in mind that USB standard ports are standard *now* and will continue to be for years to come)

The main reason I believe the MBA is better is because of connectivity. The only reason why the rMB or rMBP2016 would have an edge over it, is the retina screen.
Why couldn't they do both? The worst thing is that now that they went out with only USB-C, they won't go back because of their stupid pride and incapacity of admitting they were wrong.

 

[maerz001]

What do you mean with "they would loose profit"?

They keep the old Air and sell the Non-touch MBP (Air with retina as Schiller said on stage) with a 300$ premium. If they kill the Air they would have to lower the selling price of the MBP to have a machine for the masses.

 

[E5390]

I currently have a 2013 13" MB Air 1.3gHz i5 4gb 256gb, using mostly for web browsing with multiple tabs, once in a while use Parallels, view PDFs, word/excel docs. I use it around the house and bring it to work everyday, on trips. Once in a while, it heats up and slows down when having multiple chrome tabs open with videos, etc. I usually don't have anything plugged into the usb ports, sometimes a portable hard drive to transfer files, more rarely and SD card to upload pics from a camera.

I have my eye on a either a 2016 Macbook m5 8gb 512gb or 2016 Macbook Pro 13" nonTB 8gb 256gb, both are open box certified at Best Buy for under $1200. Not sure if I need the processing power of the MBP. It is similar to the MBA in size now. Seems like the 12" Macbook is already speedier than my MBA. Any recs? Thanks.

You should probably go for the pro. I have a 13" 2016 Pro With TB. the keyboard is a billion times better than the first gen butterfly switches on the 12" MB. the extra ports are an awesome convenience. The 720p Webcam is miles ahead of the 12"'s 480p. The i5 CPU is also much better than the m5 and will last longer. i find you end up using a computer for more than you originally think you will so the i5 is your best bet. 256GB is more than enough storage even for a photo/video editor like myself. plus you can buy a multi-terrabyte drive for around 50$ anyways.

 

[capathy21]

The worst thing is that now that they went out with only USB-C, they won't go back because of their stupid pride and incapacity of admitting they were wrong.

One multi port adapter can take care of any connectivity need. It's actually much easier to have several things plugged into a multi port adapter and be able to just plug and unplug one thing vs several. Any legacy item can be connected to a newer MacBook through an adapter but when USB-C becomes the norm, there is no way to plug it into a machine that doesn't have C ports.

No doubt it was a business decision by Apple not to add a USB-C port along side older ports. However, it's not like you can't still use all older peripherals via an adapter. Best of both worlds.

 

[antonio99]

One multi port adapter can take care of any connectivity need. It's actually much easier to have several things plugged into a multi port adapter and be able to just plug and unplug one thing vs several. Any legacy item can be connected to a newer MacBook through an adapter but when USB-C becomes the norm, there is no way to plug it into a machine that doesn't have C ports.

No doubt it was a business decision by Apple not to add a USB-C port along side older ports. However, it's not like you can't still use all older peripherals via an adapter. Best of both worlds.

Of course there are adaptors, but they are not growing for free in trees.
Apple has a baseline price of $30/30E for whatever adaptor they force you to use because they chose to not put a standard port.
Also, there have been reports of bad USB-C adaptors/cables that can fry your computer and/or peripherals.
What's the point of having a sleek computer with smooth borders when you have to carry a bunch of adaptors just in case?

Now it's getting slightly better, but if you do business and have to connect to projectors, you never know in advance if you will need the DP to VGA, DP to DVI, DP to HDMI, so you have to take all of them because they did not thought it was a good idea to make one with 3 outputs (well, it is not that they did not thought it thru, it is mostly that their eyes turned into cartoon $$$ and decided to make different adaptors to make you pay 3x)

We could argue that most people don't use these adaptors, but for USB?!

In the end we need to see where we are heading, to totally proprietary and closed laptops, as closed as iPads.
Look at it, the rMBP 2016 has the SSD soldered, it has nothing that you can exchange, not even the connector to read-out the data on the SSD is standard and you need to ask them to exfiltrate it for you shall the motherboard die.

It get's worse when you realise that they will most likely keep shipping the iPhone/iPad and other devices with standard USB, and that they won't drop lightning for USB-C (thing that would make sense, but then they would stop getting money from MFI chips)

Look at how previous transitions were done.
The Firewire port was slowly phased-out, a number of generations of laptops had both USB and Firewire. Transition went smoothly.
They could have done the same with USB and USB-C connectors, they just choose not to.

Anyway, it does not really matter.
They abandoned the cMP for the crappy nMP, and so they will continue becoming some empty (as opposed of creative) company making devices for watching cat videos.

 

[capathy21]

What's the point of having a sleek computer with smooth borders when you have to carry a bunch of adaptors just in case?

Because you have a thinner, lighter, and more portable notebook the 95 percent of the time that ports aren't needed.

I get where you are coming from and regardless of the technology changes, there will always be some people who are inconvenienced/frustrated. The truth is, the majority of people don't need ports anymore. I picked up a USB A to C adapter for the few times when USB is needed(Apple dropped the price to 10 bucks) but most of the time, even that goes unused for days at a time.

When I work on a project in class for Computer Science on the lab machines, it's far easier to just upload it to Dropbox when I'm finished than to manually copy it to a flash drive. Nothing to keep up with, and I know I won't lose it. In the time it would take to locate the flash drive and copy it to my laptop at home, I already have it downloaded from Dropbox.

Although that's just one scenario, Apple is designing for the future. They realize most millennials don't even own a flash drive/external hard drive etc so why bother putting those ports into their machines.

I understand in your case where adapters would become a pain when you are constantly plugging into different monitor types, but for the majority, they never come across things like that.

 

[lowkey]

Since Apple was able to get a Retina display and a 10 hour battery life into the retina MacBook(which is significantly thinner than the MBA), they could definitely put a Retina display into the Air without really losing much battery life. Instead, they've gone in another direction with the retina MacBook.

Not possible. The only reason it works in the rMB is the 5watt CPU running at 1.1-1.3 GHz. It's also got no fan to use power.

The MBA has up to a 2.2GHz i7 CPU and associated cooling system.

So yeah, they could put a retina screen in the MBA but they would then have to:-
1. Increase the battery size which would make a thicker machine. So it's basically a MacBook Pro. Or
2. Reduce the CPU down to 5w and keep the same thin form factor. Basically a MacBook.

There's really nowhere for the MBA to go.

 

[Elcompa]

I have a ntMBP and my wife has a rMB5. I moved from a 15 inch mid 2012 (first retina in this size). I have used both my ntMPB and my wife's rMB5. I strongly prefer my ntMBP as the screen gives me a bit more to work with (I use it all day every day), the extra weight and size is so minimal it is inconsequential, the keyboard simply feels and flows better (I know when I hit it right, if that makes any sense), extra port is nice but I rarely need it. For the role (hotel) times I need it, I have an adapter so it is really not a factor for me. The slightly more power" does it for me, although I'm not a "power user", I am a frequent /all day user. I never do anything too complicated. While Im sure the rMB would be fine, I find the ntMBP a better, more comfy fit for me. I hope this helps you and anyone thinking of the same thing...

 

[maerz001]

Not possible. The only reason it works in the rMB is the 5watt CPU running at 1.1-1.3 GHz. It's also got no fan to use power.

The MBA has up to a 2.2GHz i7 CPU and associated cooling system.

So yeah, they could put a retina screen in the MBA but they would then have to:-
1. Increase the battery size which would make a thicker machine. So it's basically a MacBook Pro. Or
2. Reduce the CPU down to 5w and keep the same thin form factor. Basically a MacBook.

There's really nowhere for the MBA to go.

The ntMBP and the Air have both a 54Wh Battery already. Which means they have both the same Volume. So it would also be possible to drive a retina screen in the Air with a 15W CPU for 10hours.

But with the decision of introducing the ntMBP the way it is there will never be a retina Air. They will not offer the same internal guts in two slightly different packages.
I can only see room for a 14" MB. also unlikely. But maybe in April there will be a wonder

 

[Retops]

rMB - as light as an iPad yet has a keyboard and proper OS

Yes. This is why I bought the RMB for my new laptop. The MBP is a close second for me now that is lighter, but as I head out for a two week international trip through several countries, I am going to love having a 2 pound laptop for extended writing and spreadsheets. I'll use the iPhone for other tasks.