Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
So should I cancel my MacBook Air order?

I have a hard time believing they'll release another new MacBook Air so soon.
ITs the old saying bird in the hand or 2 in the bush.

You can have a new computer on its way to you now. Or you can wait and maybe one day eventually I guess there maybe will be sort of a better one coming. So you can choose to have a definite, or to "wait and see".

Besides that of course a refresh of all apple products are coming. You seen how much dead space was in the M1 Mac mini? Obviously Apple is going to redesign that. Im not familiar enough to say for sure but I would assume the same is true with all their new M1 products. Apple is re-using old design for now, use up some old parts, but the inevitable redesigns are coming ... eventually.
 
how do you not notice it when you watch video turned sideways? Its a livable solution but its far far from great. The notch also cuts into the ui so you are really not getting all the screen we could be getting. Safari has a small top bar under the notch and the whole top section is pulled down just because of the notch.
Ive lived with it since the x. But id be very happy when its gone. Dont care for faceid anymore either it was cool for a few months then realized how bad it is compared to Touch ID.
Serious question so not being rude. Do you dislike the FaceID more so now with having to wear a mask and then having to pull your mask down or enter your passcode? I miss the touchid for that reason alone.
 
The MBA is plenty thin and light imo. Anything less would seem to be an invitation for more fragility and less key travel. Ideally want a 2nd gen M1 to replace my 2015 MBP. If it comes out dimensionally anything like that render... nope. A thinner lid with more screen/less bezel would be acceptable imo but not a thinner body.
 
So should I cancel my MacBook Air order?

I have a hard time believing they'll release another new MacBook Air so soon.
Absolutely not. If you are needing a new computer now, get it. No one knows what the future will hold, maybe a laptop that meets your needs in 2-3 years. That’s just a maybe that happens. What if it is missing a couple of things you deem important and the rumor mill is abuzz saying in 2-3 years a new design will be out with said features. I hope it is soon with the 16” MacBook Pro. The reason for me is I was diagnosed with a terminal disease in November and my oncologist specialist is giving me between 12-18 months so unfortunately time is not on my side and I will admit, my wants and needs a purely selfish. If things go downhill faster then obviously I won’t be looking for a new one.
 
  • Sad
Reactions: marklcfc
Thinner and lighter does not equal better product. I would much rather have a MacBook Air that is slightly thicker and heavier and have incredible battery life, more ports, and more features and tech. Bring Promotion/new display tech, FaceID, improved camera, more ports back...all of those things require energy. Thinner products throttle any of those features from becoming reality.
 
Just kill the touchbar already. It is one reason I bought an M1 Air.
Couldn't agree more. I show its advantages to people every day yet I don't think a single one is useful enough or convenient enough to keep it rolling in the MBP line. Maybe I'm just wanting to convince myself. As many others haver said it might be more worthwhile if you could just tether Fn keys... but then why include it at all.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ValueArb
I mean these are the kinds of stories and rumors I live for.
A slightly smaller notch, the return of an SD card reader.
This is amazing.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ValueArb
So I have a theory about the removal and return of Magsafe and SD card reader. They were removed at the same time that the Touch Bar was introduced, so I believe the cost of including the Touch Bar heavily influenced the decision not to include Magsafe and SD card readers. Apple knew including all three meant raising their price points needed to hit their margin goals, so something had to go. They mistakenly thought the value of the Touch Bar would be much higher that it was to most customers, so they thought it was worth the high cost.

I'm also wondering if thats why the 2016 redesigns always seemed to skimp on ports, and didn't include any USB A ports, where they were trying to save a few bucks everywhere they could to pay for the TouchBar.

Now that they are removing the TouchBar's high cost they have plenty of margin at their target price points, so adding back more of these features makes sense. Probably too late to throw in a USB A port though;)

And in fact, their margins have to have improved significantly due to the M1 SOC. It's cost has been estimated at roughly $60 a unit (based on comparisons to A13/A14 rumored costs), while Intel was charging Apple roughly $200 to $300 for mobile CPUs. How accurate those costs are can be debated but clearly the M1 is significantly cheaper to make than Apples cost on Intel CPUs. We know that because of the low pricing of the M1 Macs (MBA & Mini $100 cheaper).

So my speculation is the low M1 cost is going to allow Apple to do two things. First, lower their entry level pricing over time to grow market share. Though Apple is unlikely to go too low, I don't expect Apple to start offering a competitor in the sub $500 laptop market given the significant quality trade-offs they require. But I would not be surprised to see a $499 Mini, and a $799 rebooted 12 inch MacBook. Apple's unit cost of the M1 is just going to decline over time as they pump out massive volumes, but it's performance levels will remain excellent for entry level Macs for years to come. Even now it's everyday performance continues to improve as more and more software goes native.

Second is using that extra available budget to going back to offering more premium features and proprietary differentiators in their mid to high end MacBooks. No reason they shouldn't all still include touchID, even if the TouchBar is gone. They should go from skimping on ports to matching segment leaders in USB C ports and offering the highest transfer rates. Even with the MagSafe adapter I expect the USB C ports to also allow charging. May allow the use of more expensive materials that offer advantages in strength or weight (titanium again?), and better keyboard/monitor/SSD components. I fully expect MacBook Pros to fully regain their crown as the undisputed best laptops in the world (a crown they tarnished with the scissor switch keyboard debacle and 2016 defeaturing).

It's likely going to be a great time to be an Apple hardware designer the next three years. Not so much an Intel or AMD laptop designer, where corporate is likely demanding you skimp on ports/features/design because now it's almost impossible to match MacBooks pricing at similar performance levels.
 
Apple reportedly considered making a 15-inch version of the MacBook Air [...] but has opted not to move forward with the model [...]​
That's a Fail, Apple. We want a 15-inch MBA. It would also help you Apple to have a very light 15-incher, so that you can stop the nonsense of making ultraslim MBPs. Personally, I want a huge display with the same lightweight as the MBA, while not needing the same performance of a MBP.
 
Im worried about how MagSafe on these notebooks will work. If they use the same charging puck as iPhone then it will make it lopsided if connecting to the bottom and I don't see it snapping to the top. If they don't use the same puck as the iPhone that means we are not heading in the 1 cable/charger to rule them all which will make me furious with Apple because I am so damned tired of that stupid lightning cable.
 
Im worried about how MagSafe on these notebooks will work. If they use the same charging puck as iPhone then it will make it lopsided if connecting to the bottom and I don't see it snapping to the top. If they don't use the same puck as the iPhone that means we are not heading in the 1 cable/charger to rule them all which will make me furious with Apple because I am so damned tired of that stupid lightning cable.

We are never going to have one charger to rule them all, unless it's an expensive 100w charger. Different devices will always have different power requirements.

And while USB C is starting to grow on me now that cable quality is improving, I prefer lightning. Easier to snap in, enables thinner devices, historically higher quality cables, etc. But I won't cry if Apple switches to USB C on iPhones.
 
So I have a theory about the removal and return of Magsafe and SD card reader. They were removed at the same time that the Touch Bar was introduced, so I believe the cost of including the Touch Bar heavily influenced the decision not to include Magsafe and SD card readers. Apple knew including all three meant raising their price points needed to hit their margin goals, so something had to go. They mistakenly thought the value of the Touch Bar would be much higher that it was to most customers, so they thought it was worth the high cost.

I'm also wondering if thats why the 2016 redesigns always seemed to skimp on ports, and didn't include any USB A ports, where they were trying to save a few bucks everywhere they could to pay for the TouchBar.

Now that they are removing the TouchBar's high cost they have plenty of margin at their target price points, so adding back more of these features makes sense. Probably too late to throw in a USB A port though;)

And in fact, their margins have to have improved significantly due to the M1 SOC. It's cost has been estimated at roughly $60 a unit (based on comparisons to A13/A14 rumored costs), while Intel was charging Apple roughly $200 to $300 for mobile CPUs. How accurate those costs are can be debated but clearly the M1 is significantly cheaper to make than Apples cost on Intel CPUs. We know that because of the low pricing of the M1 Macs (MBA & Mini $100 cheaper).

So my speculation is the low M1 cost is going to allow Apple to do two things. First, lower their entry level pricing over time to grow market share. Though Apple is unlikely to go too low, I don't expect Apple to start offering a competitor in the sub $500 laptop market given the significant quality trade-offs they require. But I would not be surprised to see a $499 Mini, and a $799 rebooted 12 inch MacBook. Apple's unit cost of the M1 is just going to decline over time as they pump out massive volumes, but it's performance levels will remain excellent for entry level Macs for years to come. Even now it's everyday performance continues to improve as more and more software goes native.

Second is using that extra available budget to going back to offering more premium features and proprietary differentiators in their mid to high end MacBooks. No reason they shouldn't all still include touchID, even if the TouchBar is gone. They should go from skimping on ports to matching segment leaders in USB C ports and offering the highest transfer rates. Even with the MagSafe adapter I expect the USB C ports to also allow charging. May allow the use of more expensive materials that offer advantages in strength or weight (titanium again?), and better keyboard/monitor/SSD components. I fully expect MacBook Pros to fully regain their crown as the undisputed best laptops in the world (a crown they tarnished with the scissor switch keyboard debacle and 2016 defeaturing).

It's likely going to be a great time to be an Apple hardware designer the next three years. Not so much an Intel or AMD laptop designer, where corporate is likely demanding you skimp on ports/features/design because now it's almost impossible to match MacBooks pricing at similar performance levels.

So thinking through Apple's entry level offerings a little more, I'm thinking the 12 inch MacBook might not come in at $799. I originally thought that because it would basically current entry level $999 MacBook Air with smaller screen/body offering a reduced build cost with a cheaper M1 farther down the volume curve.

But in reality Apple's not going to cheap out on build quality, they will still want to differentiate their laptops from generic competition. It's more likely to be created in the new design language (squared off sides, smaller bezels, etc), and have MagSafe (which frees up the two USB C ports), touchID, etc so it's clearly part of the new 2021 MacBook family. So pricing is probably closer to $899 ($799 education), which will still be growing their market size since it will be one of the fastest laptops in the world for at least a few years.
 
The MBA is plenty thin and light imo. Anything less would seem to be an invitation for more fragility and less key travel. Ideally want a 2nd gen M1 to replace my 2015 MBP. If it comes out dimensionally anything like that render... nope. A thinner lid with more screen/less bezel would be acceptable imo but not a thinner body.

The MBA is extremely sturdy, and while thin and relatively light, there is no reason leveraging the M1 they can't go lighter.

That's why I believe Apple will be bringing back the 12 inch MacBook, a smaller screen means a smaller battery means a lighter laptop. The MacBook used a custom designed 40 Watt/hour battery, which is 25% smaller than MBA's 50 watt/hour battery, but with roughly 15% less power usage (screen 15% smaller), it would still have outstanding battery life. And 2 lbs feels significantly lighter than 2.8 lbs.

Now thinner would probably be a problem, since we know the butterfly keyboard was so problematic, and no one wants even less key travel. Plus thinner likely means it's impossible to improve the video cam.
 
We are never going to have one charger to rule them all, unless it's an expensive 100w charger. Different devices will always have different power requirements.

And while USB C is starting to grow on me now that cable quality is improving, I prefer lightning. Easier to snap in, enables thinner devices, historically higher quality cables, etc. But I won't cry if Apple switches to USB C on iPhones.

what are you talking about??

my 20W iPhone power adapter and usb-c cable charge my m1 macair just fine. If the iPhone had usb-c it would charge that just fine.

Apple should had made their new over priced charging mat use usb-c to usb-c instead of lightning to usb-c then at least one cable plus that mat would be sufficient to charge: MacBook iPhone AirPods and watch. But noooooo they had to make another damn lighting device.
 
That doesn’t solve the problem for anyone. The issue isn’t that the f-keys are not available. It’s that they offer no tactile feedback and are not raised, and do not require pressure. So touch typists accidentally trigger them, and less skilled touch typists can’t be sure they are hitting the right one - because you aren’t supposed to look at the keyboard when you are typing.

I am a touch typist, and function keys are a pain, no matter if they are physical with feedback or not. I'm not sure how one is supposed to use the function keys without looking. I have really big hands and cannot operate the function keys while typing blind. This is also why touch typists do not learn to operate function keys. The touch typist argument, and many similar arguments sound like an excuse to me.

I will be very sorry to see the Touch Bar go. I have never used the function keys on any of my computers as I need to figure out for every single application what each function key does. The Touch Bar makes it obvious what each "button" does. I love the ability to change the volume by sliding the button left and right. The same is true for brightness.
 
  • Like
Reactions: hatchettjack
I am a touch typist, and function keys are a pain, no matter if they are physical with feedback or not. I'm not sure how one is supposed to use the function keys without looking. I have really big hands and cannot operate the function keys while typing blind. This is also why touch typists do not learn to operate function keys. The touch typist argument, and many similar arguments sound like an excuse to me.

I will be very sorry to see the Touch Bar go. I have never used the function keys on any of my computers as I need to figure out for every single application what each function key does. The Touch Bar makes it obvious what each "button" does. I love the ability to change the volume by sliding the button left and right. The same is true for brightness.

The fact that you don’t know how to Use the function keys without looking doesn’t mean that millions of other people don’t. Can you hit the number keys without looking? If so, what‘s the difference? Just that it’s one row further away?
 
Oh how I wish the 12 mini could become a ‘Pro mini’. Would be great to have those features. I hate that the smallest pro is 6.1” now...
 
I am a touch typist, and function keys are a pain, no matter if they are physical with feedback or not. I'm not sure how one is supposed to use the function keys without looking. I have really big hands and cannot operate the function keys while typing blind. This is also why touch typists do not learn to operate function keys. The touch typist argument, and many similar arguments sound like an excuse to me.

I will be very sorry to see the Touch Bar go. I have never used the function keys on any of my computers as I need to figure out for every single application what each function key does. The Touch Bar makes it obvious what each "button" does. I love the ability to change the volume by sliding the button left and right. The same is true for brightness.
Just memorize the function for each key (or the keys you sue often enough) and you will be able to press them without looking ... or at least with a little bit of a feel around the particular key. I can do it but my hands are long and slender. YMMV
 
That SD card reader is my life. I'm still using my 2013 model for my on-the-road stuff—thrilled if Apple is stepping back from their "buy a peripheral for everything" stance.
 
what are you talking about??

my 20W iPhone power adapter and usb-c cable charge my m1 macair just fine. If the iPhone had usb-c it would charge that just fine.

Apple should had made their new over priced charging mat use usb-c to usb-c instead of lightning to usb-c then at least one cable plus that mat would be sufficient to charge: MacBook iPhone AirPods and watch. But noooooo they had to make another damn lighting device.

Weird, my M1 MBA came with a 30 watt charger. 13 inch MBPs come with 61 watt charger. 15 inch MBPs came with 87 watt chargers. 16 inch MBPs come with 96 watt chargers. MagSafe MacBooks came with either 45 watt, 60 watt, or 85 watt.


And Apple has included/sold at least 5 different chargers for various iPhones/iPads ranging from 5 to 20 watts.


Just because you can use an underpowered charger to charge the lowest end MacBook doesn't mean it's going to charge as fast. Including an expensive 96 watt charger with an iPad or MBA seems like overkill. But if you want to buy one, or stick with slower charges, more power to you.
 
the weight difference between the current MBA and MBP is quite negligible.

Now that the m1 chips are shown to be really efficient, I can see apple doing something crazy like


reducing the battery size in the MBA lineup by ~25% to reduce weight and to create more separation between the MBA-MBP lineup.

so the argument would be:

1/ they cant do this until the redesign
2/ with the redesign they would pack a 20-25% smaller battery in the MBA
3/ the raw "performance" or whatever battery measurement they use would still place the new redesigned MBA as having longer uptime than the last intel MBAs, but much shorter than the m1 MBAs.
4/ increases their margin again as cost of materials go down.
5/ forces "power" users to strictly buy the more expensive MBP.
 
Just because you can use an underpowered charger to charge the lowest end MacBook doesn't mean it's going to charge as fast. Including an expensive 96 watt charger with an iPad or MBA seems like overkill. But if you want to buy one, or stick with slower charges, more power to you.
Correct, it would be overkill, but for those people who have higher capacity chargers the ability of those chargers to power any other USB-C device is highly convenient. My MacBook Pro charger can also power my Windows work laptop, my iPad Pro, my wireless rechargeable keyboard and mouse, my camera, and a handful of other devices. The charger for my Windows work laptop can do the same. The charger for my iPad Pro can recharge my laptops while asleep and any of the other devices, etc. I liked MagSafe, but the convenience of a truly universal power adapter is legitimate and hopefully Apple continues to enable it as an option if they return to a proprietary MagSafe format. (I can’t imagine they wouldn’t given the popularity of USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 docking stations).
 
Correct, it would be overkill, but for those people who have higher capacity chargers the ability of those chargers to power any other USB-C device is highly convenient. My MacBook Pro charger can also power my Windows work laptop, my iPad Pro, my wireless rechargeable keyboard and mouse, my camera, and a handful of other devices. The charger for my Windows work laptop can do the same. The charger for my iPad Pro can recharge my laptops while asleep and any of the other devices, etc. I liked MagSafe, but the convenience of a truly universal power adapter is legitimate and hopefully Apple continues to enable it as an option if they return to a proprietary MagSafe format. (I can’t imagine they wouldn’t given the popularity of USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 docking stations).
Excellent point. Couldn't they simply add a magnet to a USB-C cable and around the port of the USB-C charger for a MagSafe cable while still allowing use of USB-C cables that don't have a MagSafe end? That would be perfect.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sandstorm
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.