This would be amazing. I really want the 11" but have been holding off getting one because the vertical screen space is a little too small. If they kept the same size chassis but upped the screen to 12" it would be perfect in my opinion.
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So in 2014 we will have only 1 macbook air?
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This would be amazing. I really want the 11" but have been holding off getting one because the vertical screen space is a little too small. If they kept the same size chassis but upped the screen to 12" it would be perfect in my opinion.
Sorry for calling you a fanboy, but that sounded like it.
What I said is that some ultrabooks are already great, and other ones are improving fast. The MacBook Air is not the best one in the market right now. And it is not among the best either. It's a nice ultrabook, but it's seriously outdated after 3 years with the very same design. Things change fast in this high-tech world, but Apple seems to ignore it. If I were in the market for an ultrabook, the current MacBook Air wouldn't even make the shortlist.
I don't see anything wrong with Windows. Everything I can do with OS X, I can also do with Windows. I have not yet found a single thing that I can do under OS X that can't be done under Windows. I won't be handicapped if I used Windows, and I don't think it offers a worse user experience.
For me, the thing is: I'm not willing to use outdated pricey hardware just because I want to use OS X. I prefer to use Windows on the latest hardware (as long as it is well-built and has the all the ergonomics).
I prefer the iPhone to any Android device, even if the iPhone has inferior hardware, because I think iOS is so much superior to Android in terms of user experience and polish. But I don't feel the same way about Windows and OS X. I think both are good and polished, and I just choose the one which has the best hardware.
Most people don't think this way. But good quality hardware is one of the reasons why people choose Macs instead of Windows. If Apple begins to fail to deliver superior hardware, then Mac sales will definitely fall (as they are falling right now).
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By the latest numbers, Mac sales are falling steeper than PC sales. Maybe people are just looking at the MacBook Air and thinking it's not worth it.
I have two examples.
My sister wanted a thin-and-light laptop. She thought of the MacBook Air, but then she opted for the Asus Zenbook, because she didn't like OS X and saw the Zenbook as as the similar alternative in the Windows world. So, she bought the Zenbook instead of the Air.
My girlfriend also wanted a thin-and-light laptop. She just loved the Air. But then she saw very compelling Windows laptops that looked the same and could be as useful. In the end, she bought an Asus ultrabook for half of the price of a MacBook Air and she's happy with it.
So, Apple should be willing to offer a MacBook Air which has something else that can't be found on similar PCs (apart from OS X), or reduce the price of it so it can compete in an already crowded market.
That makes even less sense than the earlier post. Apple has never been about the lowest common denominator in the computer world. They present their products, with the design, hardware, software, and company support and you can take it or leave it.
Based on how they are doing compared to a failing and flailing HP, Dell that is is disarray, and a series of Asian based manufactures with little track record of success, they will be fine.
I'd love to have some major competitor to Apple across the whole market to keep them honest, but we dint have that. If Microsoft gets their act together, kicks the crappy OEM's out on their asses, and makes laptops and desktops the quality of their surface, then we have a ball game.
Hmm
Writing this on a 2011 13" Air, which does everything I need and goes everywhere with me.
( I'd love to have a widget on here that tells me how many hours this system has run, compared to the Dell it replaced - I suspect the price per hour run is much lower )
... anyway. I had a look at the 11" but it is a little small for work, not sure a 12" would be good enough, even with an enhanced screen. In fact even a bigger screen in a smaller 12" form factor would mean a reduced keyboard size - not sure I'd like that.
Since I moved that nice Mr Gates out of my life I buy Apple equipment precisely because it isn't Windows, and the Apple Ecosystem works for me, cant see me changing unless another Ecosystem company of the same quality suddenly appears. If it does, I'll consider it.
Writing this on a 2011 13" Air, which does everything I need and goes everywhere with me.
( I'd love to have a widget on here that tells me how many hours this system has run, compared to the Dell it replaced - I suspect the price per hour run is much lower )
... anyway. I had a look at the 11" but it is a little small for work, not sure a 12" would be good enough, even with an enhanced screen. In fact even a bigger screen in a smaller 12" form factor would mean a reduced keyboard size - not sure I'd like that.
Since I moved that nice Mr Gates out of my life I buy Apple equipment precisely because it isn't Windows, and the Apple Ecosystem works for me, cant see me changing unless another Ecosystem company of the same quality suddenly appears. If it does, I'll consider it.
Whether the current Air is better or worse than it's competitors is not my personal concern. My 2011 model is still a great machine 2 years down the line and will probably last another two at least.
What I'm excited about is the potential extra portability of the 12" and going back to it's 12" G4 PowerBook roots.
It will also provide a good separation between the air and pro lines. It's funny that however crap people in this thread are saying the MBA is ... it seems to be universally considered better than the 13" MBP - what does that say about apples flagship product?
What I'm excited about is the potential extra portability of the 12" and going back to it's 12" G4 PowerBook roots.
It will also provide a good separation between the air and pro lines. It's funny that however crap people in this thread are saying the MBA is ... it seems to be universally considered better than the 13" MBP - what does that say about apples flagship product?
12'' 1440p will be perfect match for my dell u2711b - looks like 2014 will be right time to replace my ageing 2010 11'' mba. 
speaking about competition - situation is not so good - most of competitor ultrabooks (except dell) offer crappy hdmi out with maximum of full hd resolution - that is pathetic considering trend to higher resolutions on external monitors.
speaking about competition - situation is not so good - most of competitor ultrabooks (except dell) offer crappy hdmi out with maximum of full hd resolution - that is pathetic considering trend to higher resolutions on external monitors.
Not Apple fanboyism, but the biggest part of Windows users have never even tried another OS (whether that's OS X or any flavour of Linux). Just because there's tens of millions of them using Windows, doesn't mean it's the better OS.
They always buy a Windows computer but don't even consider anything else but Windows, either because they don't know there's anything else out there (believe, there are A WHOLE LOT of them out there) or they do know there are alternatives but are afraid to try something else because Windows is all they know ; most Windows users I know don't even WANT to change to another OS.
As for hardware quality, it's true that you can find the same quality on the PC side, BUT you will always end up paying just as much as you would for a Mac. Those people who blindly buy Windows PC's mentioned above won't consider a PC in that price category either. The Dell laptop in my signature running Linux falls into the price category most people look at and I can tell you, compared to my MBA it's complete and utter crap. It's fine on its own, but don't put my MBA next to it...
And you will never get the same integration of hardware and software anywhere else. You can buy a top of the range Lenovo with Windows 8, but working with it will never 'feel' the same way as working on a Mac.
And again, not Apple fanboyism : look at System76 who build computer solely for Ubuntu linux. I have seen and used one and I can tell you that their model beats any PC/Win8 configuration as well.
Lastly, what's with those insane screen resolutions ? 1440x900 is perfect for my 13" MBA. This is also the recommended resolution for the 13" rMBP, by the way, anything higher and it's guaranteed to give you a headache.
Granted, compare the screen of the MBA with that of the rMBP at the same resolution and the retina wins. It's a bit sharper and has better contrasts and better viewing angles. But just an IPS display could go a long way.
I mean, my television is 40" and it's only 1920x1080 ! I'm not seeing any pixels when I'm watching a BluRay movie. At least, I can't. But I'm not from Krypton...
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They don't consider anything else because most work places use windows, most schools use windows thus they want windows........
How far you sit from your tv? I'm alot further then a laptop screen...
Also,
People want higher resolution on laptop screens because it makes the text sharper and 1080p pictures won't take up the whole screen.
I personally don't care because scaling doesn't work in most applications I use 1080p ips is perfect for me on a laptop.
Well, I wholeheartedly apologize for having a Mac and for loving it...
Bought my first one over 14 years ago, long before Apple became the cool and trendy brand. Never regretted it for a second.
But anyway, back on topic :
12" MBA with retina... probably wouldn't buy one, can't imagine using a laptop smaller than 13", even if it is a retina model. If the 13" is to disappear, then I might look at the rMBP in a few years time.
Even now, the 11" MBA falls into another category than the 13". 11" is just to small to do anything else but browsing the web en emailing. Might just as well get an iPad then...
Bought my first one over 14 years ago, long before Apple became the cool and trendy brand. Never regretted it for a second.
But anyway, back on topic :
12" MBA with retina... probably wouldn't buy one, can't imagine using a laptop smaller than 13", even if it is a retina model. If the 13" is to disappear, then I might look at the rMBP in a few years time.
Even now, the 11" MBA falls into another category than the 13". 11" is just to small to do anything else but browsing the web en emailing. Might just as well get an iPad then...
One can do A LOT of work with 11" MBA!
Just to make it absolutely clear: It's not only possible, but in fact doable in a very positive way, to do a lot of intensive work (for instance: writing) over long periods of time with a PC and MBA with an 11" screen (16:9 ratio). No problems at all, and you also get the unique portability of such a small unit that has very very little weight. The 13" appears IMO - by comparison and contrast! - much bulkier and heavier.
And further, BTW: The iPad has so many limitations, both hardwarewise and with iOS, so it cannot IMO seriously be compared with an 11" laptop.
Just to make it absolutely clear: It's not only possible, but in fact doable in a very positive way, to do a lot of intensive work (for instance: writing) over long periods of time with a PC and MBA with an 11" screen (16:9 ratio). No problems at all, and you also get the unique portability of such a small unit that has very very little weight. The 13" appears IMO - by comparison and contrast! - much bulkier and heavier.
And further, BTW: The iPad has so many limitations, both hardwarewise and with iOS, so it cannot IMO seriously be compared with an 11" laptop.
It all depends what you want to do with it. If it's just for email and web, migth as well get an iPad. For anything more than that, even if it's just some word processing and/or spreadsheets, I'd be annoyed at the (too) small display...
I must point out that my 13" MBA is my only computer, I don't have a desktop to complement it. So in that respect, the 11" would be way too small for me...
I may be biased (although I don't think I'm an Apple 'fanboy' yet) but I just like OSX better. It just seems to work better and have fewer bugs. It just seems like a better operating system. I use both extensively.
I had no intention of becoming a 'permanent' OSX user when I bought my first Mac (a 1st generation MBA). I wanted to write iPhone software and that could not be done in MS Windows. Now I prefer OSX. Unfortunately, a lot of engineering software is written only for Windows so I'm forced to use BootCamp.
I hope to continue to use one very portable computer that can do both. (That's why the thought of the new 12" MBA being an ARM processor device is so troubling to me).
'Good quality hardware' is not a well defined term. You could be using it to refer to the specs of the machine you purchase. Apple may lose here (the current MBA screens are way behind the times)
I look at 'quality' from the standpoint of endurance / working life. My wife has bought two Samsung laptops in the time I use one MBA. She paid probably 1/2 of what I paid. She had to deal with a computer that died. I paid a lot more and have avoided that. I look at my money as being well spent. Headaches that can be avoided are worth lots of money.
You can say the others machines are 'well built' but that doesn't contain a history until several years down the road. The others aren't proven yet in my book. I've had Toshiba, IBM, and Dell (twice). All have had major repairs. My MBA keeps going.
I just realized that one of the reasons I think we can be assured the new 12" machine is a Intel OSX (non-ARM) device is that so many people have such fond memories of their 12" PowerBook.
Maybe Apple is hoping to grab that crowd into buying the new 12" MBA!
I CAN see the pixels on my 11" MBA. That's not important though. I can put my iPhone right next to my MBA's screen and read ALL text (even small text). I want my MBA screen to be like my iPhone's screen!
(resolution, IPS, contrast,...)
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iPad is not equivalent to the MBA in terms of available software.
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I second Dr. McKay. I would hate to see the 13 go away. I really don't think 11-12 are going to be big enough even with retina.
They won't go away immediately, that's for sure. Maybe later, after some 13" MBA owners switch to the 12", Apple will convert the 13" MBA to a 14" MBA.
Apple does a good job of introducing well timed new products that overlap.
I'll give you three reasons why your girlfriend and sister made a mistake:
- Macbook trackpads far superior >> Win/Synaptic trackpads
- OSX battery life >>> Win laps
- Macbook Air screen resolution >> Win laps
which altogether, sounds like better hardware!
Easy for a non-sophisticated user to miss those points, and buy on price alone. Oh well, to each her own....
I agree that MacBook trackpads may be better. But that is due to the operating system itself more than due to hardware. And some Windows laptops have a touch screen, which also helps.
The superiority of OS X in battery life has nothing to do with hardware, only software.
The MacBook Air screen resolution is not always better than Windows laptops screen resolutions. We already have lots of ultrabooks with 1920x1080 screens, and some of them with 2560x1440 and 3200x1800 screens. And they're IPS. These screens simply trounce the screens of MacBook Airs.
So, Macs are not always superior to PCs. Especially old Mac models.