New MacBook Air Expected at WWDC Next Week With These Features

[Pinkyyy 💜🍎]

I'm sure the M2 will find its way in to the iMac as well.

I'm geniunely quite disappointed at how they haven't launched an M2-equipped iMac at all.. I really hope that doesn't mean it might be discontinued in the future or something.. it's such a wonderful product.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

This is typical of apple though. They did the same with Apple silicon in the M1. They released the M1 in old products before redesigning products.

They want to milk as much as they can from customers...and use up existing inventory/components.

Here's the thing: if any such shenanigans are actually in play, consumers could easily turn those tables by doing the simplest of things: NOT buying. Consumers do not HAVE to buy. There are no laws forcing purchases. Apple can't make anyone buy anything. That choice- and that's what it is: a choice- is fully within the powers of each individual.

If any "cow" doesn't want to be "milked", it can opt to withhold that "milk." It is 100% the "cow's milk" after all.

 

[Pinkyyy 💜🍎]

There was no 12” MacBook Pro. This will just confuse users. 15” MacBook Air or 14” MacBook Pro. But the air has bigger screen! It will confuse users. There were a lot of choices before Steve Jobs cleaned up the products. Doesn’t mean it’s a good thing.

Steve be rolling in his grave right now.

 

[Pinkyyy 💜🍎]

Actually, Apple has priced things this way since Jobs came back. Basically, put one upgrade of model A's ram/storage to about $100 of model B's base price. Even the iPhone 1 was $399 for the 4GB and $599 for the 8GB. I got the 4GB because why would you need 8GB on a phone LOL.

The fact that 8GB is now a RAM option instead of a storage option... 💀

 

[dturner123]

Lol. At first I thought this was real. https://www.macworld.com/article/1939266/wwdc-2023-minute-by-minute-keynote-preview.html

 

[nick42983]

Impressive! I suspect many traditional MBpro buyers like me will take a good look at this as a possible alternative. I find myself in a mode of doing what I can on MB and saving the bigger tasks for the desktop Mac... which means "full power" for the road is no longer a driver of this decision (for me anyway).

That shared though, I suspect the pricing will be a shocker... as in "might as well get a MBpro" pricing... which, if true, implies resolution with the next-gen of MBpros also getting a price jacking to make it logically "make sense" again.

It feels like there has been 500 threads about this product and not one has offered up a tangible guess at PRICE. All of them seem to have avoided it. And thus, the wall of enthusiasm for it is built atop us consumers guessing that this will be priced only a little higher than the existing MBair. I've even seen posts assuming existing will DROP in price and this bigger screened one taking its current price. That seems beyond doubtful to me. But we'll see in only a few days.

Everything being the same except the larger battery (presumably) and screen and a few internal changes, it'll be $200 more than the current Air: starting at $1399 (an extra $100 per additional inch). That'd be about $100 more than I paid for an MBAir with an i7 processor almost exactly a decade ago.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Your accounting logic is sound and I can get to $1399 too that way too. Others have offered this idea of Apple retiring the M1, moving the 13" down to $999 and slotting this in at $1199. That math seems logical too and I can see how they get at it as well. If we base pricing solely on the cost side, Apple could also take a big knife to its high 40%+ margins and cut all product pricing by making that target still a very impressive 15%-20%. Per tech industry standards, that would still be incredible margin... and probably make pricing of this thing down in the $800-$900 range possible... and still quite profitable.

However, flip the thinking from cost-basis logic to executive profiteer logic:

• Do we perceive high desire for this product? YES! (almost enough said right here)
• Would we be able to anticipate pent-up demand for this product? YES! Is that not obvious?
• Are we bound by cost-basis accounting to set pricing? No
• Do we have much concern about would-be MBpro buyers perhaps opting for this and cutting some revenue & profit we would have made on those sales? Yes
• If we jack this price, might we create a seemingly illogical price conflict with MBpro pricing? Yes, but we could "fix" that by jacking prices of MBpro in the fall with the launch of the "in short supply", "most powerful Mac ever" M3 versions. We'll have a natural reason to increase those prices and that will get the relative pricing back to "normal" between Air & Pro... while making us more money on either purchase. (this exec probably gets a promotion).
• Is there a history of our fans paying up at whatever we ask? Yes, we just managed to get broad price acceptance by selling iMac 27" WITHOUT the computer, keyboard and mouse at the old iMac 27" "starting at" price range. They'll pay anything we ask... and then evangelize it as the one and only right product for anyone else shopping for the same.
• Do we need some extra profit to help towards "another quarter of record revenue & profit" aspirations? Yes, we always want 'mo money'
• What happened to the last exec who suggested we lower prices and/or cut margins? Fired.
• Is our first obligation to our shareholders to maximize ROI? Yes
• Do we ever try to maximize ROI by cutting price and/or thinning margin in some kind of volume play? (exec laughter and then) "Never."

"So let's take this thing out at (my guess about) $1699. If we get mass price rejection, we can offer some deals through third party reseller partners to move inventory. However, our research shows that our market will most likely react with "might as well get a pro" and we have (rumored plenty of) inventory there to move anyway that already has sunk costs in it."

My actual guess is "starting at" $1499 but with the one SSD problem, so add $200 to resolve that slowdown issue = $1699. Get more than stock RAM too and it's basically priced HIGHER than MBpro through third party or refurb deals now.

Again, I'll hope right with all that we get this MBair 15" for $1399 or even the $1199 that some suggest. While we're at it, let's hope in other MBpro features too like the superior screen and multi-monitor support too. Then I rethink all that with "this is modern Apple Inc. we're talking about."

If $1199-$1399, I suspect many, typically MBpro buyers will opt for this Air instead... and then not be moved to buy another laptop as soon as only a few months from now when perhaps M3-based PROs arrive. I myself have only ever been interested in MBpros but I'm intrigued at stepping down a little bit of power for a lot of cost savings... and then doing any heavier lifting on the desktop Mac when I get back from any road trips. I bet I'm not the only one.

Thus, I'd personally welcome what would be a shock to me at $1199-$1399 for this... but I don't have that expectation at all. I 100% hope I'm wrong. We'll see in a few days.

 

[iCyprus]

If $1199-$1399, I suspect many, typically MBpro buyers will opt for this Air instead

If this will be the case count me in!
BUT I don't think this will happen. The new 15" MCB will be much more expensive..