Next MacBook Air to Feature Off-White Bezels and Keyboard, M2 Chip, USB-C Ports Only, MagSafe, and iMac-Like Colors

[mr_jomo]

Pats my macBook Air M1 affectionately: "yeah, you're going nowhere the next 5 years little fellah!"

5 years should just about bring a close to that purported design's lifecycle :-D

 

[Mr.PT]

But this is entirely subjective. I personally think they look way better in renders and marketing materials than they do in person. In fact, I would never be in the market for one just because they don't have a neutral colored iMac w/ black bezel option. I'm not entirely sure I like where Apple's "lower end" products are trending, as most of them are losing a neutral colored option (aluminum Apple Watch S7, iPhone 13, iMac only has silver, iPad mini no longer has silver)

I believe they are heading to “Kid” line (colourful gadget toy) vs “Pro” (neutral working equipment)…also meaning you’ll have to pay extra to get understate.

 

[Mayo86]

I think there is a need for clarification on what exactly is meant by 'off-white' (i.e. how much darker or different from a pure white will this be).

I believe during the 24-inch iMac reveal at April, Apple described the bezels as being “off-white” or gray or whatever. So… I guess look at the iMac bezels for a hint.

 

[Mr.PT]

These are going to sell like hot cakes.

After working 7 years behind the Genius Bar, I can assure you regular consumers (who are your typical MacBook Air customers) don't care one iota about white bezels/keys... they care about having a pink/orange/blue/green computer.

Expect a notch too. Yet another thing regular consumers don't give a sh*t about.

They are really start to look like square macaroons…

 

[QCassidy352]

I need to see before judging. Could be a really nice machine. After all, the white iBook / MacBook were popular.

as someone who owned several of them: they were trash. White keyboards/casings/bezels are horrible. They look awful after a few months no matter what you do. Just an atrocious design decision, and I can't believe they're revisiting it.

Honestly could not bring myself to buy something this ugly, even though I do need a new Mac. I'd probably have to look at discounted M1s. Call me shallow if you want, but I'm not looking at something that hideous for the next five years.

 

[El Szomorito]

Oh God please no. Don't make the Air ugly too.

 

[James Godfrey]

What's worse than a black notch you can hide with a strip of unused display? A cream coloured notch that sticks out like a sore thumb. My eye would be constantly drawn to it. How some they can fit Face ID, Camera etc into bezel of a iPad Pro but these new laptops need to have a notch?

Because the lid on MacBooks are a lot slimmer, so they likely have to spread the camera components over a larger space.

 

[El Szomorito]

Exactly...this will be the consumer laptop. Just like the iMac is the consumer desktop.

Yeah but they missing out on the ultraportable business laptops which even pc makers can sell for twice twice as much as an Air. Under a kilo, professional looking, quiet, long lasting. They have a chip to be quiet and long lasting, but they **** up by offering it a 50% heavier pro or a silly looking Air (this one, not the current). Just call it the MacBook, and make a proper, 12" Air under a kilo.

 

[Wanted797]

These are going to sell like hot cakes.

After working 7 years behind the Genius Bar, I can assure you regular consumers (who are your typical MacBook Air customers) don't care one iota about white bezels/keys... they care about having a pink/orange/blue/green computer.

Expect a notch too. Yet another thing regular consumers don't give a sh*t about.

Anyone with experience selling Apple stuff knows 99% of customers do not care about the things you see complained about on here ?.

These will sell like crazy... I'd even consider one. The white bezels don't bother me the slightest.... but that notch does... it just doesn't sit well in the white bezel... and why's it so big! Can't we have a punch hole or something if we aren't getting Face ID.

 

[madebybela]

Aren't Chromebooks and entry-level iPads the preferred education devices? They can be had for <$300

there's still a good amount of college students that love MacBooks.
at least Apple tends to heavily market it to them too since the education discounts knocks it down to an even savory $899

 

[AndiG]

White bezels are disturbing and terrible. But it is not a „pro“ machine, so it should be good enough for surfing the web. So glad Apple finally came back to building pro machines with ports, function keys and a functional keyboard together with a bezel free/black bezel display made for work.

 

[James Godfrey]

Yeah but they missing out on the ultraportable business laptops which even pc makers can sell for twice twice as much as an Air. Under a kilo, professional looking, quiet, long lasting. They have a chip to be quiet and long lasting, but they **** up by offering it a 50% heavier pro or a silly looking Air (this one, not the current). Just call it the MacBook, and make a proper, 12" Air under a kilo.

This is why I have a feeling they probably won’t scrap the entry level MacBook Pro…

I have a feeling we may see that get the refreshed design but slimmer with just USB-C ports and an M2 chip and getting a 14” mini LED display being an overall lighter, slimmer and more portable device.

I think that is the reason we are getting conflicting rumours on the Air having black or white bezels, I think it’s getting lost in translation somewhere.

Although I originally felt the entry MBP would get scrapped it does have a place in the line up if you look at the potential pricing…

M2 MacBook Air - Likely $1099 or $1199
MacBook Pro 14” - $1999
MacBook Pro 16” - $2499

The entry MBP could quite easily get a price bump to $1399 or $1499 to fill the space.

 

[James Godfrey]

White bezels are disturbing and terrible. But it is not a „pro“ machine, so it should be good enough for surfing the web. So glad Apple finally came back to building pro machines with ports, function keys and a functional keyboard together with a bezel free/black bezel display made for work.

Yeah I think Apple have realised that all of their Mac line up just all looks sooo… Pro… mundane… boring… the white bezelled MBA and the iMac designs are going to appeal to many mainstream consumers 100%, I quite like the designs myself (even though originally I hated the white bezelled iMac, but seeing it in person has really drawn me to it).

It’s the exact reason why ‘fun’ colours were given to the standard iPhone line up, Apples goal is to gain the market share of any product line up, and the MBA being the way it’s rumoured and the iMac the way it is will help achieve that.

 

[Eightarmedpet]

Sounds like a fun little machine. I know everything goes in cycles but it feels like Apple’s industrial design is producing far more fun customer centric work as opposed to the ego thinning era.

 

[El Szomorito]

Aren't Chromebooks and entry-level iPads the preferred education devices? They can be had for <$300

Out of the roughly 5 million Macs sold every quarter... I can't imagine there are a ton of Macbook Airs being purchased by school systems.

Even the Air's $899 "education price" still seems a little high for education.

A school could buy three to four Chromebooks for the price of one Macbook Air. And the Chromebook will have all the cloud storage and management stuff built-in that the schools use.

I do think Apple should have a laptop at the $999 price. But I don't think education is solely the reason for it.

I study at a European university, and the number of chromebooks I saw in my life is zero.

 

[Michael Scrip]

I study at a European university, and the number of chromebooks I saw in my life is zero.

Ok?

I was referring to K-12

Chromebooks are very common in those grades. School grades.

Sorry if I didn't make that clear. But I didn't think "education" only meant colleges and universities...

 

[madebybela]

Also I find it funny how many people are putting this machine down already, saying its "not for Pros", but given that the M1 was already a beast that went head to head with many of the recent Intel 16" MacBook Pros (enough that even some notable youtubers sold their Mac Pros for it), the M2 should give it even better performance and even fixing the single monitor limitation.

I don't see how this won't be a killer deal for most professionals who probably may see the M1 Pro and Max as absolute overkill for their needs

 

[BvizioN]

White bezels are terrible. No way Apple put both a notch and white bezels in the next MBA

Looks pretty slick to me on that concept image. Neither notch or white bezel bothers me.

 

[Oblivious.Robot]

Suddenly my decision to get the M1 Air at a discounted price rather than waiting for an update seems like a good decision. 😁

 

[chrisi29]

I dont have anything against white bezels, I just hate that thin black line you get in between.. it‘s like a whole other black bezel within the white one..

 

[mlayer]

As I don't have a 2021 iMac handy, I brought out my 2010 unibody MacBook to compare with my M1 MacBook Air. The white MacBook is the same weight as the new 16" MBP. I picked up the MacBook at a school auction a couple years ago for $20. It's in fantastic shape, and if it had a notch I wouldn't care one way or the other. I'd love to see colors come back to the laptop line, though I imagine it's hard to execute given the wear and tear laptops get on a regular basis as opposed to a desk bound iMac. For now I'm going to protect my gold Air like it's made of actual gold.

 

[MBX]

Such a shame no space grey option with black bezels for the Air line anymore

 

[vmistery]

Sounds like the M2 is just an incremental modest speed bump, and nothing really too major or evolutionary.

Yep, sounds like it’s evolutionary rather than revolutionary much like the A15, kinda what I’d expect for a V2. My guess is the 2023 MBA will get a much bigger performance jump.

 

[El Szomorito]

Ok?

I was referring to K-12

Chromebooks are very common in those grades. School grades.

Sorry if I didn't make that clear. But I didn't think "education" only meant colleges and universities...

You meant K-12 in the USA then. Chromebooks are not a thing elsewhere.

 

[joecomo]

These are going to sell like hot cakes.

After working 7 years behind the Genius Bar, I can assure you regular consumers (who are your typical MacBook Air customers) don't care one iota about white bezels/keys... they care about having a pink/orange/blue/green computer.

Expect a notch too. Yet another thing regular consumers don't give a sh*t about.

your fully right about this one (if my wife qualifies as a “regular consumer”)