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this MacBook Air 2023 line ups looks great and
hopefully will appease many  users and sway some sWindows users our way!
Swaying Windows users "our way" means providing a solution for running Windows (ARM) that's baked into the system, such as a Boot Camp solution for Windows ARM installations.

Parallels Desktop works fine for now with Windows 11 ARM, though. Just that Windows runs virtualized, out of necessity.
 
If Microsoft releases home version of virtual Windows 11 (currently they only have Business tier for it and it is a super overkill for me at $26 per month), then I am buying this right away.

(Unfortunately) I have to have Windows due to work reasons, and that's why I have not been able to go to M MacBooks (I can't stand Parallels so I am not going that route).
 
yes, that's the best moment for me too. Forget about Magsafe, HDMI, SD card..... just give me an Air that is as light as possible. Just a couple thunderbolt port would be great enough!
I agree about the light weight, but I disagree about taking out MagSafe. I really hate having to use up a USB-C port just for power supply. That's what makes MagSafe a great addition to the M2 MacBook Airs—they've freed up both USB-C ports for other things besides power supply.
 
If Microsoft releases home version of virtual Windows 11 (currently they only have Business tier for it and it is a super overkill for me at $26 per month), then I am buying this right away.

(Unfortunately) I have to have Windows due to work reasons, and that's why I have not been able to go to M MacBooks (I can't stand Parallels so I am not going that route).
I don't have experience with Parallels but recently used the free version of UTM to install Windows 11 ARM64 a few days ago on my M1 MacBook Air. The best part is the ARM version can emulate x86 code so I was able to install a "regular" Windows program on the Windows 11 ARM VM. I gave the VM 4GB of RAM and performance was on par with my old SkyLake PC with 16GB and SSD.

You can get the UUP/ISO of Win11 Home Edition for free but I chose Win11 Pro, also free. My understanding is you can still use it without activating it and it won't give you annoying nags like in the past.

https://mac.getutm.app/gallery/

1677298526361.png
 
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This should bring some simplicity to the MacBook line.

Pro line - MacBook Pro
14” and 16” sizes

Consumer line - MacBook Air (or just Macbook)
13” and 15” sizes

Maybe keeping the old 13” M1 Air as the low price special (essentially an SE)
I expect the 13” MBP to fade into the sunset.
The old 13" MBP is essentially the MacBook SE at this point while supplies last.
 
Ah, Apple finally start catering to the old.
If I had a dime for everytime someone 50+ asked for a MacBook Air with a larger screen, or a cheaper 16". We have _so_ many older people at work actually asking for this.
When they realize they have to pay premium to get a 16" of which they will only use like 10% of its power, they usually go for a 15" Dell or sometimes a mac mini with 27" monitor.
This will be a perfect "old people computer". Just crank the resolution down to minimum and brightness to the max and you're good to go.
Now we wait for the iPhone SE Plus to hit the market and Apple will be all set to dominate the retirement homes.

And this is not a sarcastic post!
 
No 15” for me please. Put a higher ppi screen with promotion in the current 13” mba form factor, perhaps 3nm m3 chip, faster ssd and more memory bandwidth and I will buy it tomorrow.
 
I also have to use Windows for work purposes. Why can't you stand Parallels Desktop, though?
Yeah, I’m wondering that as well

I have Parallels and love it personally. It’s very stable and windows 11 runs amazing on my M1 iMac. (Mid tier - Base storage - upgrade to 16 GB ram)

It allows me to combine the apple hardware I love with the Windows OS and software I prefer for professional work (business - accounting)
 
No 15” for me please. Put a higher ppi screen with promotion in the current 13” mba form factor, perhaps 3nm m3 chip, faster ssd and more memory bandwidth and I will buy it tomorrow.
I think @TheYayAreaLiving 🎗 is correct.

M3 is not happening before 2024 (maybe November 2023 could see a new M3 13” MacBook Air and an update to the iMac.)

but definitely not in the next few months.

Knowing apple this makes sense, because they have now redesigned the entire lineup (minus mac mini) which makes the M3 the only real upsell on the next gen.

You're not going to sway many people with just 10% performance increases in some benchmark nobody cares about. And I doubt the screen will go OLED in the next gen on the MBP. (iPad pro first I think)
 
My guess is that this new laptop will just be called MacBook and it will replace the current 13” MacBook Pro.

The new laptop will probably have a built-in fan and will have the option to configure to either M2 or M2 Pro.

It would sit in between the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro.

The lineup could look something like:

MacBook Air - M2
MacBook - M2 or M2 Pro
MacBook Pro - M2 Pro or M2 Max

I’d expect all the MacBooks to get M3 in early 2024.

If Apple did release the M3 processor in late 2023 then it would make sense to push back the release of this new MacBook until later in the year and perhaps just announce it early (along with the Mac Pro and perhaps Mac Studio)…
 
If Apple did release the M3 processor in late 2023 then it would make sense to push back the release of this new MacBook until later in the year and perhaps just announce it early (along with the Mac Pro and perhaps Mac Studio)…
maybe but i think apple figures the upsell is the new form factor, and the chip is not as important.

its like when you have a redesign. You care more about the new look than the performance

and when a big performance jump is happening: you care more about the jump than then a new look (eg M1 introduction)

in any case : apple in my view is rarely going to introduce a new form factor and a huge performance leap at the same time. They will try to stretch that cycle out as long as they can.
 
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I have a feeling M3 will arrive in Macbook Pro + MacBook Air in 2024. This year seems very unlikely now.
I wouldnt be so sure, remember, M2 Pro Macs were supposed to be released in autumn, M2 Pro essentially are 2022 machines, they were meant to, no one knows 100% why they were delayed good 2-3 months, however we can assume that if there are no supply chain associated delays this year, then M3 will happen this year since it would make no sense for Apple to artificially delay their chip release schedule while their competition is getting better at offering better performance per watt and customers expecting next leap from Apple, M2, after all, is just slightly "boosted" and reworked M1, nothing more, M2 to some extent is already "old news" in 2023 because of how small of an update it was and amount of time that has passed since its introduction.

Also, if rumors turn out to be true and this is just Macbook, not Air, then its completely different model which would not be tied to Pro or Air update schedules at all, so they could easily release this one with M2 and update it to M3 only sometime next year.

One thing I naively expect is that if its simply called Macbook, not Air, that it wont come with Air's price tag, so it will be "simpler" machine thats thicker and slightly heavier than 15" Air would be and spec-price ratio wise not a middle option between Air and 14-16" Pro models but actually below Air, regular, sturdy built Macbook built for everyone.

I know it might sound stupid by the way it sounds and because Apple is premium, expensive brand, but this could be "peoples" Macbook without unnecessary thinness and almost-ultra lightness of Air and without overly pricy and unnecessary bells and whistles of more expensive Pro models.

We'll see soon enough tho.
 
What do you think the likelihood is of a ≤12" laptop in Apple's future?

Well its cant be <12" as even with the bezels they had on the rMB_12" the keyboard took up the whole width of the laptop.

Even bigger bezels? Non-standard spaced KBD? Some weird ultrawide screen? All pretty much non starters...

The might do a small size reduction on the 13" MBA if the 15" becomes a thing, but that would be like 12.5" at the least.
(and an instant buy)
 
Wishful thinking but my only gripe will be that it doesn't have ProMotion. I totally get that the feature is reserved for the Pro line, but on a larger screen I feel like the quality difference will be even more glaring than it is now when comparing the screens on the Pro line and Air line. I still want it though....
 
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