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The Argument for an 11.88-Inch Retina MacBook Air

adamneer said:
I very much doubt Apple has any interest in designing their own laptop chips when Intel is clearly doing just fine in that area for them. I can imagine having to support 2 different chip technologies in OSX is a burden, based on the interim when they went from PowerPC to Intel around 2006. And based on what it sounds like Intel's main focus is currently, I'd say they've already got plenty of ultra low power mobile computing chips in the pipeline.
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Apple has a history of changing chipsets. Before the Intel transition it was 68k to PPC. You can make a case that switching chipsets every ten years is part of their business strategy. I don't know if I'd go that far but certainly it wouldn't be a huge or unprecedented move for Apple.

They switched to Intel because PPC fell behind in the laptop market where they were starting to sell a greater percentage of computers. A lot of things have changed. Apple now sells more iOS devices than computers and they have a wealth of system building experience because of it. The technology from the iDevices is root of all the major "innovations" in Apples laptops.

Apples ARM chips have a higher performance-per-watt than anything out there including Intel so, no, I don't think Intel is doing "just fine" in the area. Apple sells computers at a high premium because they are different. If anything the last 8 years have been a hardship because Apple's hardware is basically an over priced commodity item. Apple had to do that in 2006 because they didn't have the means of competing against Intel based systems. They do now.

In 2006 there were many great PPC proc in the timeline. All the major game consoles used them if you'll remember and Freescale was working on a dual core G4 that smoked a mobile Core processor but the long term stability wasn't there. Apple couldn't throw enough weight around with its chip designing partners. Well now Apple is a top chip designer and Intel is playing catchup. Yes, Intel's desktop and performance laptop chips are better but the G5 was also better compared to the Xeons back in 2006. Apple still switched.

Now, I have no special knowledge. I could be wrong. But there is strong evidence that 2014/2015 could be the year Apple announces another chipset migration. Regardless at some point it WILL happen because Apple already developed for both the ARM and x86. Bringing everything over to ARM would mean UI tweaks (I don't think we'll see Win 8 style convergence any time soon) but fewer code bases and optimizations to maintain.
 
miniroll32 said:
Those devices run iOS. There are more applications on OS X that take advantage of a higher resolution display...
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You wrongfully attach pixel density to applications.

In a couple of years, Apple will not make any device without a retina display.

In 5 years, the entire industry will be retina-esque. Technology moves on.

You need to be a little bit more open-minded to see where technology is going. Thankfully Apple is.
 
MacRumors said:
Matte believes that the new Retina MacBook Air will be exactly 11.88" in diagonal screen size, as that would allow Apple to offer a Retina Display (2732 x 1536, twice 1366x768) with the exact same PPI as the iPad Air (264 PPI).
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The advantage of matching the sizes would be what? The two systems won't use the same screen anyway. On's a regular screen and one's a touch screen. It's not like they could use it in both systems. They'll still need to track two different parts. The advantage of matching PPI resolution's on the two systems is minimal when the software has to be optimized for the different OSs anyway.
 
JoEw said:
If that is the case glad I got my MBA 13" when I did.. the battery life on that thing is incredible and no matter what Apple does, adding a battery hogging retina display will no doubt reduce it significantly, this is the reason that I decided against a macbook pro.
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No. Enter IGZO displays and Intel's Broadwell. The battery life should be similar.
 
entropi said:
oh, this is why I'm about to buy a little and efficient mba 11" sometime in the coming months. I got no need for fancy retina stuff as this will be my little mini music production center when out and about and very few audio-related software has gone retina (not even) yet...
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You'll regret it because in a maximum two years, Apple won't sell non-Retina devices. Quote me in two years if you will, but processor, display, and software efficiency are at a point where a Retina-MBA simply makes sense.
 
teejaysplace said:
How about a 15" MB Air so ppl can actually use the thing? Every time I pick an 11" model in the Apple Store, I simply can't imagine attempting to use it as anything more than a portable movie player. I know a lot of users - myself included - for whom the only drawback of the 13" MBA is a dearth of screen real estate. You can design on a 15" screen if you really want to, but losing those last two inches make it challenging to fit in all the tool palates. (I rock a 17" now and sometimes even that's not enough.) Of course we don't need MB's in every size and configuration, but I'm nearly positive that 15" MBA would find a greater market that an 11" or 12", even with a retina display. Hear my prayers, Apple. Hear them and be benevolent!
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I use my 11" MBA as my only computer. It's not that bad. The portability makes up for the smaller screen real estate. A retina display would make it perfect.

You are making assumptions that other people see things exactly as you do.
 
The 13" rMBP is much closer in size to the MBA than the MBP was. And now the prices are closer as well. I'm won't be surprised if Apple tries to differentiate them more.

A 12" retina screen in a 11" sized chassis sounds like an appealing product, and 12" MBA, 13" rMBP, 15" rMBP is a complimentary product range.
 
FrozenDarkness said:
the problem with this rumor is that apple most likely will not have both an ipad pro at 12" and a macbook air at 12". These are the same devices, which leads me to believe apple is releasing their first tablet with a keyboard dock.

perhaps it runs both osx and ios?
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Not going to happen. From the 30th Anniversary interview the other day...

Macworld


“The reason OS X has a different interface than iOS isn’t because one came after the other or because this one’s old and this one’s new,” Federighi said. Instead, it’s because using a mouse and keyboard just isn’t the same as tapping with your finger. “This device,” Federighi said, pointing at a MacBook Air screen, “has been honed over 30 years to be optimal” for keyboards and mice. Schiller and Federighi both made clear that Apple believes that competitors who try to attach a touchscreen to a PC or a clamshell keyboard onto a tablet are barking up the wrong tree.

“It’s obvious and easy enough to slap a touchscreen on a piece of hardware, but is that a good experience?” Federighi said. “We believe, no.”

“We don’t waste time thinking, ‘But it should be one [interface]!’ How do you make these [operating systems] merge together?’ What a waste of energy that would be,” Schiller said. But he added that the company definitely tries to smooth out bumps in the road that make it difficult for its customers to switch between a Mac and an iOS device—for example, making sure its messaging and calendaring apps have the same name on both OS X and iOS.

“To say [OS X and iOS] should be the same, independent of their purpose? Let’s just converge, for the sake of convergence? [It’s] absolutely a nongoal,” Federighi said. “You don’t want to say the Mac became less good at being a Mac because someone tried to turn it into iOS. At the same time, you don’t want to feel like iOS was designed by [one] company and Mac was designed by [a different] company, and they’re different for reasons of lack of common vision. We have a common sense of aesthetics, a common set of principles that drive us, and we’re building the best products we can for their unique purposes. So you’ll see them be the same where that makes sense, and you’ll see them be different in those things that are critical to their essence.”
 
HiRez said:
I'm going to be very sad if 11.8" is the only MBA size. I have a 13" now and it's a bit small for what I like to do with it. But I don't want the weight, expense, and decreased battery life of a larger MacBook pro either. A 14"-ish retina MacBook Air would be fantastic. Even if the PPI is slightly lower.
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Agreed. And with a bezel reduction, such a screen size would fit inside the physical dimensions of the current 13"MBA.
 
osx11 said:
You'll regret it because in a maximum two years, Apple won't sell non-Retina devices. Quote me in two years if you will, but processor, display, and software efficiency are at a point where a Retina-MBA simply makes sense.
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Yeah, technology moves forward - but in my areas of interest it's quite slow-paced. What Apple releases two years from now is not available for me today. I'm in no rush for the retina-train and I can wait for stuff to mature and get better.

I think there is a risk that the future mba retina will be just like the first rMBP - not fully optimized for what it was supposed to do and still all my audio apps looks like crap in retina... My machine's resources can do other stuff than shuffling too many pixels without any real functional use.
 
I seriously doubt we will see a retina MacBook Air at all. MacBook Air eventually be phased out.

That screen size and resolution will be an additional iPad Air. (no it won't be called "iPad pro")
 
HiRez said:
I'm going to be very sad if 11.8" is the only MBA size. I have a 13" now and it's a bit small for what I like to do with it. But I don't want the weight, expense, and decreased battery life of a larger MacBook pro either. A 14"-ish retina MacBook Air would be fantastic. Even if the PPI is slightly lower.
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Right? It seems the exact size will be slightly different for everyone. I feel the 11" MBA is way too small and the 13" MBA is a little too small. A 14" MBA does sound just about perfect.
 
pmz said:
Seems like a One-size fits all to me....IF they can make the price reasonable.

Make this bad boy $999 and call it a day.

Above this model should exist nothing but 13 & 15" Retina MBP
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Exactly, replace both the 11" and 13" MBA non-retina with one 12" rMBA for a starting price of $999. Maybe add a touch screen, removable keyboard and put an enhanced version of iOS 8 on it, in addition to OS X. If the 12" rMBA/iPad hybrid proves to be successful, next year release a 15" rMBA/iPad hybrid with OS X 11/iOS 9 and ditch the current rMBP models. Say hello to Apple's future.:)
 
so this year the mac line up will be : A macbook air 12" and 13" & 15" MBP

its seems very ok and clear this way they get rid of the classic 13" mbp non retina and merge 11" with 13" in 12" MBA
 
JoEw said:
If that is the case glad I got my MBA 13" when I did.. the battery life on that thing is incredible and no matter what Apple does, adding a battery hogging retina display will no doubt reduce it significantly, this is the reason that I decided against a macbook pro.
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yeah but a retina display is soooooo beautiful :eek:
 
dampfnudel said:
If the 12" rMBA/iPad hybrid proves to be successful, next year release a 15" rMBA/iPad hybrid with OS X 11/iOS 9 and ditch the current rMBP models. Say hello to Apple's future.:)
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Apple only yesterday said that they wouldn't merge iOS and OS X. I highly doubt they'd run the two in parallel on the same system either. Why would they, when plenty of users will happily buy both an iPad and a Mac?
 
FrozenDarkness said:
the problem with this rumor is that apple most likely will not have both an ipad pro at 12" and a macbook air at 12". These are the same devices, which leads me to believe apple is releasing their first tablet with a keyboard dock.

perhaps it runs both osx and ios?
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How is something that can run only iOS the same as something that can run OSX and Windows (via BootCamp). Why do people think the iPad is the same as a MBA?

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osx11 said:
Apple will call the current MBA models simply MacBooks.

This new retina-12 inch MBA will be the "New MacBook Air"

Line-up 2014:

15.4-inch MacBook Pro w/Retina Display
13.3-inch MacBook Pro w/Retina Display

13.3-inch MacBook
11.6-inch MacBook

11.88-inch MacBook Air w/Retina Display
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I'd like that!
 
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