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It would be iPad Pro.

Sounds more like iPad Pro rather than MBA.

12-inch iPad Pro makes sense with (if) split-screen multitasking (to be) enabled on iOS8.
 
Sounds more like iPad Pro rather than MBA.

12-inch iPad Pro makes sense with (if) split-screen multitasking (to be) enabled on iOS8.

I doubt it, if only because I am not convinced a larger iPad is the right way moving forward. Stuff like split-screen multitasking ought to come to all iPads, rather than be reserved for one model. Plus, it would simply add to the overall complexity of iOS.
 
Just turn the Macbook Air lineup into tablet hybrids and call it a day. :D

I'm still convinced a dual screen laptop with a touch screen for a keyboard / trackpad would be radical. :p

Expanding on my fantasy a little more, the new MBA could have it by defult and desktop / older machines could run a screen extending app on the resistive, palm rejecting iPad Pro. It worked "so well" for the Wii U, i'm certain it would be a winner! :cool:

Disclaimer: This post started semi serious then decended into pure bulls**t.
 
So maybe those rumors of a bigger iPad are actually for this instead?

Perhaps it is a hybrid machine such as the type that Sony, Toshiba, and Lenovo make. Thus 11" "pads" exist but are actually laptops.

I don't see how this product would avoid cannibalizing existing lines unless they replaced the existing lines with this. However the existing lines' Pad Mini < Pad < 11" < 13" < 15" setup seems to work fine. If you had 11.8" would you can the 11" or 13" or both?

My guess would be both, as little differentiates the 11" and 13" other than resolution (easily changeable) battery life (larger case has larger battery) and SD card slot (easily addable). However the SSD, CPU, iGPU, and everything else is identical so they kind of are redundant.
 
264ppi? Than, I suppose, MacBook Pro screens are arriving with a 4K resolution(?) I wonder if it's WHXGA resolution as Apple's wallpaper are.
 
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So this means that Apple will only produce 12" retina MBA, right?

If so, it probably also means that they will be dropping 13" MBP and have all-retina laptop lineup, right?

What next? MacBook 4K or PowerBook G5 next tuesday :D :D :D
 
Speculation? More like some guy talking out of his ass.

The current 13-inch and 15-inch rMBPs don't have displays with identical PPI. I cite this as an example of Apple making screen size a greater priority than PPI standardization.

It's true but in the past Apple produced Macbook Pro 15.4 and Macbook Air with
similar resolution - 1440:900. PPI on the 11 and 13 Air was bigger that on the Pro 13 or 15. So, this situation can be repeated in the future.

//Sorry for bad English//
 
I'm hoping/expecting that we'll get Iris graphics along with the rMBA - I think it'd be needed to push the extra pixels without dropping performance.

Now, if a dGPU could sneak into a 13" rMBP...
 
I hope this rumor is true. Not necessarily for the MacBook Air but more so for future MacBook Pro retina resolutions.

It would be great to have a native 1680 x 1050 'high res' display option for the 15" rMBP (3360 x 2100 pixels).

Scaled resolutions are still not as sharp as native ones, even with the retina displays. Yet.
 
Calling it that the iPad 'Pro' is a nothing more than a rumour and the panels are to be used for this instead.

(Unless Apple's Pro iPad is for art industry types, i.e. going after the Wacom crowd. Otherwise it makes no sense.)
 
Personally, it would be great if they could get to edge to edge screens and go with 14 and 16 retinas.

And maybe a 12, though personally i think when you get below 13, the power sacrifices you have to make to accommodate that size make it worthless. You might as well just get an iPad at that point. I'd kill it.

Thank goodness Apple is not as short- sighted as you are.

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I wonder what features will be missing from the first generation, and "magically" appear in the second generation.

I'd be really angry if they temporarily remove the backlit keyboard again.
 
Hope the display will have a 16:9 ratio!

The 13" RetinaBook Pro is narrower than the 13" MacBook Air.

A 12" 16x9 display is just wide enough to exactly fit Apple's standard mobile keyboard.

Thus an 11.88" MacBook Air, with thin bezel, should be the perfect size to fit Apple's standard mobile keyboard. I've been waiting for this size for some time. (Since the Air came out, I thought it should have been 12" instead of 13".)

I would buy one in a heartbeat. Give it single Thunderbolt, 2 x USB 3.0, the combo audio in/out port, and an SD slot, double the current 11" Air's resolution each direction, and I'm sold.

As you wrote, a 12" (or 11,88") 16:9 display is just wide enough to exactly fit Apple's standard mobile keyboard - and I sure hope that Apple will keep the display ratio similar to the present 11" (16:9). In spite of being a bit shorter ("= not as tall as") the 16:10 ratio, I really like the looks of this wide screen format much more than the more "squarish-like" 16:10 display ratio as now is sporting the 13" MBA.

But, unfortunately for me, I have read several other places that the coming MBA (11,88") will have a 16:10 display, or have you information that suggests the 16:9 ratio?
 
My prediction, not having gone thru all the posts, is that Apple will indeed replace the 11" ( possibly the 13" as well) MBA with a larger iPad. My variation on this rumor is that it will be a larger iPad with a detachable keyboard, but running full Mac OS X+iOS hybrid.

1. ARM 64-bit CPU
2. Full Mac OS X, compiled for ARM. Not sure if ARM would be powerful enough run something like Rosetta to run existing x86 apps.
3. Magnetically detachable BT keyboard/trackpad with extra battery. Perhaps with some sort of inductive power sharing/charging between the display and keyboard to eliminate any electrical connections.
4. Optional cellular radio
5. The CPU, RAM, SSD, etc. will all be behind the display.
6. Since Apple already gives all it's basic productivity and creativity apps away for free, Apple doesn't have to rely on third party apps to be recompiled for ARM for the consumer market this device is already targeted at.

Unlike the Microsoft Surface, Apple will execute flawlessly. Sometimes it is better not to be the first to enter the market. Apple also doesn't have to worry about pissing off their OEMs by entering the hardware market. Intel should be very worried, unless Apple intends to use one of Intel's planned low power mobile CPUs due to be released next year.

Ref: https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/18543894/
 
Apples all about squeezing out every last dollar of profit for themselves.

That's fine, but I bet we won't benefit from it. Apple tax is their religion.

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Unlike the Microsoft Surface, Apple will execute flawlessly.

That's a fantasy.

Apple used to execute very well, but lately, not so much.
 
Regardless of whether it is technically feasible to add a higher resolution display, it doesn't make sense from a business perspective. Let's not forget that the Retina display is one of the main USPs of the MacBook Pro, so why would Apple let it go to a cheaper product?

The current resolution of the MacBook Airs are certainly not a problem. These are consumer notebooks, afterall.

Misguided and backwards thinking, this is. All of the good MBA competitors have at least full HD screens, all are consumer mass market products. The MBA went from being a halo luxury product lying outside the standard product line at Apple to being the entry level laptop, taking over fromthe white plastic MacBook.

Basically it has to go retina just to keep up with the Robinsons. MB Pro is much more than retina...higher powered processors, discrete graphics, more and better SSD and RAM options, etc.

A relatively major form factor/facelift along with upgraded components and options across the line, not just retina (but that is a must) are needed for this to become the best ultrabook out there again.

Besides retina, I am hoping for 16GB RAM and 512GB next gen SSD options for BTO machines in an even more slimmed down form factor with virtually bezel-less design and edge to edge keyboard.

Like many are saying, a 12" machine easily replaces bith the 11" & 13" models. Those looking for 13" can go base model MBPro and not go up in profile, price or weight significantly from this year's 13" Air.

Never quite understand those that talk about big CAD and graphical design on an ultrabook class laptop. It is obvious your needs require a large realestate, high resolution screen. Isn't a desktop or an external monitor better suited to your people's needs - and whatever size screen you have is good enough when you are on the go, away from your normal work environment?

I'm a finance executive and I have had the 11" MBA as my primary machine for as long as I've had it. Never felt like the screen was too small, even when dealing with large complex spreadsheets and presentations.

Different strokes for different folks.
 
Yes. Most people who complain about weight of MacBook Air 13" are women. But Apple should have variety of computers for people who are not strained and out of breath just walking to the fridge.

17" would be nice option.

:apple:

Exactly. Give us back the 17" (with 4K, of course), Apple!
 
What a stupid post! People who are concerned about product weight aren't weak, they understand that extreme portability makes a product more useful in more situations.

Size and weight do matter (even for marathon runners). :)

if your concerned that the retina macbook pro is to heavy, then yes you:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D
 
Apples all about squeezing out every last dollar of profit for themselves.

That's fine, but I bet we won't benefit from it. Apple tax is their religion.

Since when is capitalism a bad thing? I don't see high quality, long service life, high resale value as a tax. You look solely at initial acquisition cost. I look at total cost of ownership. If you want to purchase low quality, disposable products from competitive companies that is your choice. No need to force your beliefs on everyone.

That's a fantasy.

Apple used to execute very well, but lately, not so much.

What exactly do you base your statement on? Prepubescent opinion or facts?
BTW, how are BB, Motorola, Nokia, Dell, HP, Sony, Palm, Nintendo, Blockbuster, Napster, TiVo, Replay, etc. doing these days?
 
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Thank goodness Apple is not as short- sighted as you are.

If you'll notice my post said 'personally' but out of curiosity please tell me what you're doing on the current 11" air that you can't do on an iPad. The screen on that thing is a joke.
 
Lightroom for iPad can justify a 12 inch screen, and with the extra space, there also may be enough room for a powerful CPU/GPU in the next big iPad. If I could get rid of the laptop, and just have to use a mobile tablet with LTE and DropBox or other cloud storage, it would be great. The power to produce on the iPad can actually become a reality with a bigger screen.

Retina Macbook Air is going to happen soon, all the iPads are now retina and all other products are equipped with high resolution displays, as well as streaming services are starting to provide content with 4K.

The best part of this move is to kill the humongous amount of questions and discussions regarding 11" vs 13". Just merge the two, upgrade the screen and get people in the store. No more hanging on the fence.
 
mashinhead;18691918[COLOR="#808080" said:
If you'll notice my post said 'personally' but out of curiosity please tell me what you're doing on the current 11" air that you can't do on an iPad. The screen on that thing is a joke.

I run MATLAB, Xcode, MS Office, PCB layout tools, schematic capture tools, DSP software development tools, in-circuit debuggers...

I can run ALL x86 programs that were written for engineering on an MBA. I can connect it to a big monitor when stationary yet take it anywhere whenever I need to. The portability is awesome.

We are not in an era where more computer power/performance is key. We have had plenty for a long time. Portability is now key in my book.

iPads are portable but they can not be used with the x86 design tools professionals use.
 
This ounds quite weird to me, mainly because there are already retina screen in the mbp of 13" and 15". Why make a new one of 12" if there are already one of 13"???

I think it's more likely to have a new one in 11" and mayeb, maybe, a new air with 15", that would be great, but I doubt it also.

very weird prediction this 12" screen if you ask me...
 
I can connect it to a big monitor when stationary yet take it anywhere whenever I need to. The portability is awesome.

We are not in an era where more computer power/performance is key. We have had plenty for a long time. Portability is now key in my book.

iPads are portable but they can not be used with the x86 design tools professionals use.

-Connecting to a monitor i get. That seems like a good use but the truth is all apple's machines do that and are pretty close to ultra portable and offer so much more, but I guess different strokes for different strokes.. For me the 16:9 aspect ratio (reduced height) make the screen so small vertically that I just don't like it I guess. Maybe the rumored update will fix that.

Personally I'm a visuals guy (Photoshop, Premiere, etc) So power is super important to me, as is screen size. Since nothing I need a computer for, could actually be done on an 11 inch I just see it as consumption v creation device. Which is why I said that.
 
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