The chances of Apple ever releasing a dual-boot iOS/MacOS hybrid are roughly 0.00%.
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Photos of 12-Inch MacBook Air Display Show Black Glass Cover, Polished Apple Logo
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The chances of Apple ever releasing a dual-boot iOS/MacOS hybrid are roughly 0.00%.
If this 12" MBA is just a thinner, MBA with a nice screen I will be somewhat disappointed. My guess is that is where Apple is headed and the MBA will once again be at the forefront of ultra-portable. We, however, seem to headed to the muddy waters of the confluence of ultras and iPads/tablets with keyboards. I hoping that, like the Mac Pro, Apple is really innovative and hits us from left field.
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I would have agreed until recently, when I ended up with a SP3 for work. I also had a SP1 early on and that device was not fully baked. Yes, the new screen is bigger than the iPad. Yes, it turns out, that's a good thing. The 3:2 aspect ratio works really well as a laptop with the keyboard attached, with a screen big enough I don't really miss my 14" Thinkpad, and it also works great in either orientation as a tablet. In fact in portrait, my preferred orientation, it's better than the iPad as it feels more like a sheet of paper and the extra real estate is noticeable. As they are able to get the overall weight down, paired with a reduction in bezel size, I think we will start to see a lot of combination devices in the 12 or 12.5" size as it bridges both use cases so well.
For the record, I'm a huge, huge iPad fan. I'm on my 4th with the iPad Air2. And there is a lot it still does better than the SP3. But if you want a decent laptop replacement that has the flexibility to be a tablet as well, the SP3 is a great machine.
Yeah I like the surface 2 and 3, they are good devices however they fall flat in some areas. Obviously spec wise they are pretty awesome and the new Microsoft keyboard for the SP3 is much better but it's still not quite there yet. The trackpad is still useless and you also have to admit that in the living room as a media tablet the Surface is just way to big and heavy. I'm a definalty a Surface fan but I would never be a surface buyer.
The new trackpad is pretty usable - especially for basic tasks and scrolling. In the livingroom I have moved more and more towards removing the keyboard though and using it as a tablet. Yes, it's big. But it's not excessive. If anything, once you get used to it, the iPad just feels small in comparison. What has really been selling me lately is the device's flexibility. The iPad does pure tablet better, but it does everything else worse. The Surface isn't quite as good a tablet, but it's a much better laptop, and it's quite amazing how good the keyboard is for something that doesn't feel a whole lot bulkier than the magnetic iPad cover in daily use. It's hard for me to say how I'll feel in a few more months, but right now I'm adapting my routines from the iPad to the Surface pretty well.
The big things it still doesn't do as well is audio or video streaming to remote devices. The wireless screen mirroring has worked well for me, but it's clumsy in its execution compared to Airplay. And I really miss the ability to stream music to my Airplay or Bluetooth speakers. It works, but as soon as the device goes to sleep (which is just a few minutes on battery) it shuts the stream down. I use my iPad to stream music hours every day.
Fair enough. It is definatly a more flexible device than an iPad, no argument there. If you want an all in one device there is nothing better. For me it's just like you said, it mainly lacks media capabilities and AirPlay. Furthermore the laptop side of it is just not as good as a MacBook. Again it depends what people like and how far they are willing to compromise. Have you ever used apples Magic Trackpad? They are magic and I cannot go back to just usable trackpads
Do you use the stylus a lot to say write notes etc? The Surface 3 does some cool stuff with that and I wonder how it works in practice.
In general the surface range will get much better, especially with Windows 10 which does a much better job of combining both UI's to give a more coherent experience.
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Fair enough. It is definatly a more flexible device than an iPad, no argument there. If you want an all in one device there is nothing better. For me it's just like you said, it mainly lacks media capabilities and AirPlay. Furthermore the laptop side of it is just not as good as a MacBook. Again it depends what people like and how far they are willing to compromise. Have you ever used apples Magic Trackpad? They are magic and I cannot go back to just usable trackpads
Do you use the stylus a lot to say write notes etc? The Surface 3 does some cool stuff with that and I wonder how it works in practice.
In general the surface range will get much better, especially with Windows 10 which does a much better job of combining both UI's to give a more coherent experience.
Yes, we have a MacBook Air in the house as well, so I'm more than familiar with how they work. And yes, I use the stylus a lot - which was the first big driver to convince me to move - I've used many styli on the iPad since the first generation and while I had developed a workable system, it's not the same. The stylus and aspect ratio of the new SP3 is so much better than the first two devices for my uses.
I'm honestly a little unable to explain why I'm as happy as I am with the Surface. It has a lot of quirks that can be difficult to live with, but somehow overall it is currently winning me over.
This is such a terrible image. They should have shown the top of the display profiled next to the iPad Air 2 to demonstrate thinness better, not the hinge. It is interesting though, from the looks of this image, that the outside of the hinge is part of the aluminium display bent over, making the hinge and screen more one-piece-like than any previous Mac portable. And the inside of bottom of the display is black rather than the inside of the hinge as per usual, no doubt hosing wireless antenna parts or some such.
I hope that is true. A lot of what I'm hearing so far doesn't sound so good to me though. It sure sounds as if MS is over-reacting again to the criticisms about Win 8 being touch-focused, when in fact, once you adapt to the system they designed, it works quite well. Things like getting rid of the Charms menu. Adding fixed elements to the Start Screen. Forcing a taskbar even in Touch apps. Getting rid of gesture navigation in Touch IE. I'm sure there are more I'm forgetting.
Perhaps some of these will be fixed, but the general consensus among SP3 owners who have been using the early builds is that they have swung too far back towards the desktop and mouse model.
That might be due in some part to the chronic deficiency in the quality and availability of Modern UI apps. IMO, MS jumped the gun on placing the emphasis on a touch UI for desktops and notebooks before there was a critical mass of Modern UI apps available.
My informal observation of how SP3 users use their devices reveals that its primary use is as a touchscreen ultrabook. Usage as a tablet is less frequent. That mirrored my time of owning a Surface RT and Surface 2.
I sense that there is growing interest in an SP3-like device. With the rumors of 12" MBA and iPad Pro, there is a bit of wait-n-see. I would not be surprised that once those rumors are confirmed by actual products, or refuted by products not bearing any resemblance to the rumors, that there be a change in SP3 sales.
I'm considering getting back into Surface ownership with an SP3... but I'm waiting to see what Apple does.
Most of what I'm referring to is the core UI, not specific to touch apps at all. And don't think for a second MS is giving up on Touch - they are still pushing forward with development of a full Touch Office and finally, it seems, trying to make some headway with developers.
Yeah I mean they are still doing the metro UI full screen touch apps with windows 10 in touch mode. The cool thing now is tho as soon as you connect a touch keybpard it will go to desktop mode with metro apps now running like legacy apps i.e. can be maximises/minimised. I think that's much better and coherent han Windows 8, looks like they are doing the right things.
However the problem I think Microsoft has is that they are doing a lot of damage control with developers and end users, therefore feature wise Windows 10 (like 7+8) looks pretty bleak. I mean Cortana is pretty cool but what else that's new is there apart from the UI?
Yes, I understood that. But Microsoft made the core (touch-centric) UI front-and-center in Windows 8 (well before there was the critical mass of apps to make such a UI useful). That carried over into the split-personality of system settings where some were accessible via the Charms bar, and others by the desktop.
ie. too much touch in the UI before the underlying components were ready to utilize touch.
my $0.02 on the new retina air design configuration
Based on the shadow cast by the leaked display in the 3rd photo of the OP, it looks to me like this part is thicker than any existing apple notebook display.
My guess is that apple may have trimmed the logic board right down and is now housing it between the display assembly and aluminum case; which would justify the removal of a backlit apple logo, and also a reduction in heat that the battery is exposed to, making it fanless.
That leaves a couple of ribbon cables for a usb port, 3.5mm headphone jack, and keyboard/trackpad and battery for the bottom sub-assembly.
I'd be dubious as to the reduction in overall thickness, but rather a compromise to maintain battery life with a more power hungry retina display.
Based on the shadow cast by the leaked display in the 3rd photo of the OP, it looks to me like this part is thicker than any existing apple notebook display.
My guess is that apple may have trimmed the logic board right down and is now housing it between the display assembly and aluminum case; which would justify the removal of a backlit apple logo, and also a reduction in heat that the battery is exposed to, making it fanless.
That leaves a couple of ribbon cables for a usb port, 3.5mm headphone jack, and keyboard/trackpad and battery for the bottom sub-assembly.
I'd be dubious as to the reduction in overall thickness, but rather a compromise to maintain battery life with a more power hungry retina display.
That's what I thought at first as well, but if take an even closer look you can see a hinge similar to former macbooks.
The hinge is seen here better.
In this photo taken under the display you can see how the hinge is alot thicker than the actual display which is about half or less the thickness of the Ipad next to it ( conclusion : the thickness of display is ~ 3 mm or less ).
I wonder how easily a display this thin will break...
That's what I thought at first as well, but if take an even closer look you can see a hinge similar to former macbooks.
The hinge is seen here better.
In this photo taken under the display you can see how the hinge is alot thicker than the actual display which is about half or less the thickness of the Ipad next to it ( conclusion : the thickness of display is ~ 3 mm or less ).
I wonder how easily a display this thin will break...
Nice assessment there gammaburst. Very astute
You've got me confused. The keyboard on my 11" MBA is exactly the same width and layout as the keyboard on my 15" MBP. Did I miss something?
You can put an Apple sticker on it (that comes inside the box they give you)
Right, because Apple stickers light up.