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

[igorvil73]

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

I'm sorry for speculating over others' forecasts about Apple's products, but to me it makes no sense spending out a new name like M2 only for adding 2 more graphic cores to M1, as it would offer just a little increase of performance, an increase that is already almost possible now with the "thermal pad trick"
It makes more sense that new M2 will be based on new manufacturing process (3 nanometer that are awaited also for next year's iPhone processor?), together with a marginal change in the architecture... i.e. Apple could adopt Intel's tick-tock innovation approach

 

[WilburMercer]

These machines are so powerful I'm considering an air for my workflow which is basically software development (VMs, Atom, browsers, and a few normal apps used by regular folk). It's hard to see how my use care requires the power of the pro or max. So I'm going to hold off upgrading my current pro until the new air is released. HOWEVER I hate buying the first iteration of MacBooks as they usually have problems, so I may just get the second iteration of the pro instead of waiting 18 months for a new laptop...

 

[urbanmacUser]

Sounds the Air is becoming more home consumer to hit the price point.

I suspect we will see an Air Pro.

 

[cocoua]

This probably means new MB Air will be the faster machine for single core workloads, meaning some apps as After Effects or Harmony could run faster in those machines than in any other workstation.

Is fun and awkward how the single-core/multi-core balance works in computing…

 

[Abstract]

I “need” a 15-inch MBA (or MacBook) with a “plain” old M1/M2.

Mini-LED display is nice, but not having it is not a deal-breaker.
White bezel? Not a deal-breaker.

The price of a 16” MBP when all I need is a MBA with a larger screen? Dealbreaker. ??‍♂️


I may break though and buy a 16” MBP. Apple ain’t new to this game. ????????

 

[polyphenol]

We had white bezels on iPhones to iPads for more than a decade.. I seriously don't understand the hatred towards this.. It looks very fun and sweet.. I loved my 2010 white macbook, I used it for 8 years with upgrades along the way.. I'll definitely consider once my current Air wears out..

Many years ago, we had become sick of the depressing blackness of televisions and monitors. Eventually, we got a monitor with a white bezel and, when off, it looked fine.

The problem was in use. When anything near the edges of the screen was bright, the spill onto the bezel was unpleasant.

Obviously, the precise characteristics of the device will affect how much of the spill gets reflected. It is something that we'll need to see in reality before being absolutely sure.

 

[arobert3434]

Those feet..

 

[lamerica80]

For me as a general user (office work, web surfing, light video/photo editing for fun) this will be the perfect upgrade to my 2016 TB MBP. I feel many people are buying the new MBP when they would be better of just waiting a few months for the new Air. Lot of buyers remorse will take place in 2022.

 

[Michael Scrip]

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

I see... thank you.

So I gotta ask... are $999 Macbook Airs a common thing in European primary and secondary schools? Are there a lot of 9 year olds with school-issued Macbooks?

I would say that MacOS laptops are rather expensive to give to schoolchildren. Anywhere.

The whole reason I replied to the comment earlier was because the poster made the claim that Apple abandoning the $999 Macbook Air would "be suicide for their education market"

And to me the education market is K-12.

In the US... the education market is full of Chromebooks.

In Europe... the education market is full of _______?

(you fill in the blank)

 

[cihag]

I give it a 0% chance that there will be a white notch… Apple ditched the white bezels on the iPhone as soon as they introduced the notch… Just too obstructing!

Particularly on the MB Air, that people use to watch Netflix etc, a white bnotch that extends into the black bars of a widescreen movie ist just… No…

 

[Lukkee24]

I wouldn't mind something like the white xps 13; black bezels with the colour on the rest of the laptop.

 

[Lulukehawkins]

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 would not do it if there wasn’t a hungry market for it.

 

[neo_cs193p]

I feel if you’re ordering a colorful one you might be more okay with off-white accents but they should at least offer silver and space gray versions with a black keyboard and bezel.

I would like a silver/off-white (or better yet all white) version. I like light-colored and friendly looking computers. But I agree space gray would go better with black bezels, and maybe this way everyone would feel they have a good choice.

 

[DFP1989]

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.

This is 100% the right take.

 

[ColdShadow]

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

Yes it’s terrible but i’m 99% sure they will do it.Apple’s new designs are concerning and poor.the new iMac is absolutely terrible (design wise) and now this rumors about Macbook Air.
Whoever the replacement of Jony Ive is ,is doing a piss poor job.

 

[KeesdeW]

I think I will not be bothered by this like I am with the iMac. Part of of my problem with the iMac is how it becomes even uglier when the screen is off. The black screen with white bezels, huge colored chin and yet another color for the stand is just a mess. The laptop you just close.
From working with a white iBook long ago, I don't think working with the white bezels would bother me that much. But I do use a second larger screen at home and work for extended periods of work

 

[jdoyle]

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

Why can’t they just use the same components as an iPhone? They would fit into a narrow bezel.

 

[James Godfrey]

Why can’t they just use the same components as an iPhone? They would fit into a narrow bezel.

Because the Bezel on the new MBP’s are extremely thin 3.5mm to be exact, the iPhones notch is about 6mm thick on my iPhone 12 Pro (it’s thicker on the 13 models), and the iPad Pro’s bezel is also 6mm thick both of which can house the camera.

 

[Reason077]

Sounds the Air is becoming more home consumer to hit the price point.

I suspect we will see an Air Pro.

The consumer "Air" will just be called "MacBook". If there's an Air Pro, it'll be called "Air".

 

[akbarali.ch]

This is terrible news, no thunderbolt.

 

[ggx12]

to be honest, this was one cool design! I don't get why people get upset about the white bezels

 

[Reason077]

Obviously, the precise characteristics of the device will affect how much of the spill gets reflected. It is something that we'll need to see in reality before being absolutely sure.

If you can go into an Apple store, you can play with the iMacs and see how a modern white bezel looks/works today. To me it seems fine. Not sure that I like it more than a black bezel, but it certainly isn't dramatically worse.

Now a white notch, on the other hand...

 

[SirAnthonyHopkins]

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

Exactly. Is everyone posting in outrage about this children who don’t remember the classic white MacBook which was one of the first real “break out” Macs, like the first one that you’d see hipsters with in Starbucks?

 

[Michael Scrip]

to be honest, this was one cool design! I don't get why people get upset about the white bezels

True. It was a cool design.

People also loved the black Macbook. Blackbook!

Didn't Apple charge more money for the black model? Maybe that was part of the appeal.

 

[polyphenol]

If you can go into an Apple store, you can play with the iMacs and see how a modern white bezel looks/works today. To me it seems fine. Not sure that I like it more than a black bezel, but it certainly isn't dramatically worse.

Now a white notch, on the other hand...

Actually, I can't readily go to an Apple store.

2 hours 12 minutes to get there and likely longer for return. Approximately nine litres of petrol each way.

That is a big investment just to see what the spill is like.