Thinner MacBook Air in 13" and 15" Sizes Coming at WWDC 2016?

[Icaras]

It would be great but I'm not sure Apple understand the word "pro" the way we do...

In Apple's world, Pro means screen size and connectivity, which the MacBook Pro has more options over the other two models.

 

[zedsdead]

These feel like the new Macbook Pro's, not new Macbook Airs.

The new Macbook is replacing the Air, and the pro's are due for a redesign. At this point, the Macbook Pro 13" and Air are already similar in many respects so it doesn't make sense for Apple to keep both of these around much longer.

 

[Icaras]

Actually I agree with @sniffies almost 100%. As I wrote in a other thread:
– rMB will gain a 14" version and price will be dropped by $200 – and so entry model will be $1099 (for exactly what we can get now at $1299), 14" will have two USB-C slots. Who said Apple can't innovate?

I agree that the existing MacBook will get a price drop next year, but I don't think Apple will introduce a larger size. Instead, I think the 14" will be the new redesigned Air to replace the 13" and that the 11" will be dropped. One size for MacBook. One size for MacBook Air. And one size for the MacBook Pro.

– rMBP will be moved into Air's enclosure, therefore making it thinner *chuckles*. Possibly it will "gain" the rMB keyboard

I agree here as well that the new MacBook Pro will adopt the butterfly keyboard, but like I mentioned earlier, I don't think the Air will go away and so that too should gain the new keyboard as well. I think the MacBook Pro will retain its uniform design (but perhaps still get thinner) and that the new 14" MacBook Air will also lead to Apple to dropping the 13" MacBook Pro. Let me add to that I could also see the MacBook Air getting a price hike as well.

– Air will be removed from lineup because it makes no sense whatsoever

It makes sense to me to keep the MacBook Air with the recent additions of the iPad Pro, iPad Air, and MacBook. I feel like Apple seems to be aimed at giving consumers the choice of small, medium, or large rather than simply two separate products for consumers and pro (how Steve Jobs thought). Now it seems to be about consumer (small), prosumer (medium), and pro (large).

– no model will feature a SD card slot, because people (example: me) use that as extra storage and Apple wants them to pay for that.

I think the Pro will retain that to justify the Pro moniker.

– and the MOST importantly everything will be available in gold and pink gold!

That I completely agree on! I personally hope this also extends to the Mac desktop line as well.

 

[Serban]

Pro in apple world is what it it the higher specs device from that league
ipad pro is the higher spec from ipad line up
the macbook pro is the higher spec from macbook lineup
the mac pro is the higher spec from desktop mac line up

 

[majkom]

omg, just bought two pieces of 2015 11incher...

 

[sanke1]

Your work attitude doesn't seem too professional if your success is depending entirely on having additional USB ports. I guess there is a lesson you have to learn the hard way from those cute 'flowery pink girls'. Which is a sexist statement by the way. Very professional.

So your definition of being professional means carrying various adapters or doing professional work without a mouse?

Do you know how ridiculous you sound?

 

[Serban]

in many cases the trackpad could replace the mouse

 

[giebe]

I really hope, that they'll bring a space grey Macbook Pro with Skylake. That's the only thing I wish to have. I don't think that they will remove the Air yet, as I doubt that the sales are high for the new Macbook.

 

[Zarniwoop]

Thinner pros and no new airs.

The fact that this rumor references the current sizes of the rMBP makes me think it's the rMBP being redesigned not the Air. But I'm skeptical Apple would wait until WWDC to release new models considering some PC OEMs are already selling Skylake models. - -

Why not just make a lighter rMBP? It seems to me the only reason someone would buy an Air right now is price and weight. Adding retina to the Air would most likely increase the price. Reducing the weight of the rMBP seems less likely to increase the price.

I am sure, that Apple is about to update the current Macbook's to Skylake quite soon after the holidays..

But what comes to these rumors, I predict

• Air says bye bye
• 13" Macbook Pro says adieu
• 12" Macbook starting price will drop around 100-200 USD. Skylake Y (Core M) and LPDDR3.
• 14" MacBook S is likely. A slightly thinner that 13" Air with 14" retina display and 15W/9.5W Skylake U (Core i) processors with Iris 540. DDR4.
• No more Pro laptops with iGPU only.
• 16" MacBook Pro could happen. Similar form factor as current 15", but with smaller bezel. And Mobile Xeon, DDR4, Mobile Firepro/Quadro and 3k resolution. This would be the only Pro laptop.

This way, Apple could simplify its laptop fleet. MacBook and MacBook S and one Pro model. And I really hope, that at least Pro model is going to be 16:10.

 

[Marx55]

Thunderbolt 3, USB 3.1 Type-C (reversible) and SDXC reader supporting UHS-II maximum speed (300 Mbps)?

 

[navaira]

The thing with Air is that rumours say:
– it will be thinner
– it will have retina display
– it will have the new keyboard

Do you know what is thinner, has retina display and the new keyboard? the rMB. This is why I don't see Air surviving. It would turn into rMB with more ports (except not because thin).

 

[nick42983]

I highly doubt this. What would be the difference compared to the Retina Macbook?

Though I can definitely see a 14" Retina Macbook which may be called Macbook Air.

12" Macbook, 14" Air, and 16" Pro???

I can definitely see the dedicated GPU dropping from the MBP's because Thunderbolt 3 will support external GPU's, so the processor and screen size are honestly all that is left to differentiate between the Macbook lineup.

The difference would be weight/thinness, battery life and less ports. I can understand the idea of simplifying the product line, but maybe Apple doesn't really need to do this? Offering slightly more variety could be better for their bottom line than having just three, base laptop choices.

It'd be strange if they called the larger laptop the "Air" while the smaller, lighter one is simply the "Macbook". If there's any simplification I think they'll drop the 11" Air (which the 12" Macbook replaces) and drop the "Air" moniker altogether and just have the "Macbook" and "Macbook Pro" lines as before.

If they do drop the 11" I think they'll drop the price of the 12" Macbook as currently the base 11" is $899 vs $1299 for the 12". Apple may just end up keeping the non-retina Airs as the entry level laptops in their lineup. In that case a 14" retina Macbook would fill the gap between the 12" and the MBPs.

 

[Serban]

but if history tell us something, is that the usb-c and colour options from macbook will come to the entire mac line up, i think even the mac mini will come with usb-c and space grey gold or silver
i think even the imac could make into gold and space grey...i think gold with that black display look outstanding like the macbook gold with that black keyboard and display

 

[centauratlas]

Agreed.

If more people would go to

http://www.apple.com/feedback/

and request it, it would be very helpful. It takes less than a minute to leave Apple feedback!

If they're making *everything* one size bigger: I'd like to request that 17" MacBook Pros be resurrected with a Retina Display with the present MBP form factor (thinness, weight etc.). It'll be a dream for creative professionals.

 

[Wanted797]

My guess is these will be new MacBooks. Air will be dropped, it was used to describe the slimmer design which is now not the slimmest in the range anymore.

 

[Wanted797]

Your malarky is thicker than the articles! The thing is an passively cooled Mac will always be a poor performer compared to what can be had via fan cooling. The Air will remain a midrange machine for sometime.

I disagree, regular consumers who check emails, Facebook and browse the web will do fine with fanless, despite fans being better, Apple won't care.

 

[maflynn]

The new MacBook Air is said to take on a slimmer design and arrive in 13-inch and 15-inch sizes, but it is unclear whether an 11-inch model will also be included. The slimmer design will be enabled by "fully redesigned" internal components across the board, and Apple is reportedly currently working with its suppliers to develop these new components.

I'm absolutely shocked - I didn't see this coming. Apple producing a thinner laptop. All I can say is wow

Yeah, I think many of us were thinking that apple will be rolling out thinner designs. Too bad, because I think its obsession with thin is obscuring some different designs that could be more helpful.

 

[Serban]

i went and requested on apple feedback for all the macbooks and mac mini and even the imac to have colour options like the macbook and usb-c

 

[Rogifan]

The thing with Air is that rumours say:
– it will be thinner
– it will have retina display
– it will have the new keyboard

Do you know what is thinner, has retina display and the new keyboard? the rMB. This is why I don't see Air surviving. It would turn into rMB with more ports (except not because thin).

Exactly. Plus there's a reason the only thing the Airs got this year is spec bumps. Even though neither Pro machine was redesigned they both got the new trackpad. It's pretty clear to me what surviving and what's hanging around until the others can get cheaper (rMB) and lighter (rMBP). Both Dell XPS 13 and 15 are lighter than the current rMBPs. There's no way Apple isn't working on making the Pros lighter.

I'm absolutely shocked - I didn't see this coming. Apple producing a thinner laptop. All I can say is wow

Yeah, I think many of us were thinking that apple will be rolling out thinner designs. Too bad, because I think its obsession with thin is obscuring some different designs that could be more helpful.

I think the fact the Airs got nothing more than spec bumps this year means they're on their way out. Having three retina laptop lines makes zero sense. There would be too little differentiation between the Airs and Pros. Dell's XPS laptops are lighter than the current rMBPs so I think it is possible for Apple to shave some weight off them.

 

[jpn]

2016 MacBook Air /MacBook positioning:
1 MacBook Air must be lighter in weight than MacBook
2 MacBook Air is positioned as the light weight and always connected mac. MacBook is positioned as the base notebook configuration. Heavier with less options.
3 MacBook Air is higher in retail price than MacBook
4 MacBook Air will be the 1st mac to have a SIM card slot built in
5 MacBook Air will be the 1st mac to run iOS apps (Timmy continues in the footsteps of Steve to mislead the competition by saying that apple doesn't combine the two platforms because it doesn't want to compromise. But within 1 year the hardware will be able to realize this product without compromise.)
6 Think of the apps that MacBook Air runs as glorified widgets if you want to fool yourself. There is really so little practical difference between iOS Pages/Numbers/Keynote and OS X Pages/Numbers/Keynote.
7 MacBook Air has built in keyboard and keypad and will be able to use Keyboard shortcuts etc just like an OS X machine.
8 iPad Pro's #1 limitation is its lack of fully featured apps that can take advantage of its power and format. apple launched iPad Pro to encourage development of these apps. Within 1 year there will be more and more apps that are fully featured uncompromised power and depth. The time will be perfect to bring these to a MacBook Air in September 2016 launch.

 

[MacGizmo]

This will all make sense when the "Pro" word is removed from Apple laptops and we just have MacBook and MacBook Air.

 

[rippley5150]

I'd like one in black. Not gun metal, but black lol

 

[sziehr]

So they are going to dump the air name and have a macbook and macbook pro again. The product is right the name is wrong. The pro is going to get thinner. This is all but a guarantee.

 

[apolloa]

Totally believe this story, they will make it thinner and give it less ports just like the Mac Book, but it will be more powerful. Its a stupid stupid move But Apple will do it anyway and people will love having one USB C port and no mag safe, he'll maybe Apple will stick 2 USB C ports in it for real differentiation?

 

[apolloa]

Because SO MANY people have complained that the MacBook Airs are too thick...

C'mon Apple, that's the only thing you have going nowadays is how thin your devices are?? So much for innovation.

It's because Jony has a thinner disease, as his waistline increases he has to in turn decrease the waistlines of all Apple products to make himself feel better.
That is an utterly ridiculous answer to Apple's equally utterly ridiculous obsession with thinness over function of all its products.