Upcoming Ultra-Thin 12-Inch MacBook Air Design Imagined in New Renderings

[ghettochris]

Yes, exactly! Don't ruin the MBA... Just make an already outstanding laptop even better. If that means it becomes too much like the MPB, then drop the MPB. This is starting to reek of dumbing down a computer that's getting too good, just to preserve differentiation in their range. I have both a 13" MBP and an 11" MBA. The MBA is always my "go to" machine. The MPB is like a clumsy brick in comparison.

Isn't it obvious what Apple is doing? The MacBook air was always meant to be a limited yet super portable device. They are just taking it to the next level of portability, and I bet soon to follow the retina MacBook Pro slims down to about what the current MacBook air is. So if the new MacBook air is not your perfect computer, the new MacBook Pro will likely be.

Also, your signature about the new thunderbolt display, it should be obvious they can't come out until a faster thunderbolt is rolled out that supports 5k.

 

[MH01]

Wireless/conductive charging buddy

That's one big buddy.....though the markup of that bad boy would make apple heaps of $$$$$$

 

[i0Nic]

This is exactly what I've wanted, take my money Apple. I'm glad I've waited to replace my Macbook Air.

 

[zephonic]

USB 3.1 C carries USB, Power, and DisplayPort through a single connector. Heck, with the passthru feature you can connect a cable that has thunderbolt on one end and USB 3.1 on the other supposedly.

I don't think that is technically possible, seeing how ThB is essentially PCIe over a wire.

 

[aussie_geek]

No full size USB port?

Seriously?

 

[robertosh]

Beautiful

 

[Virinprew]

"Wirelessly"

Cool concept. But what about
1. Charging speed.
2. More component to convert EM wave to electricity.
3. charging plate is bigger than charging port.
4. your laptop has to sit exactly like that. wanna move? move the whole setup.
5. it's not gonna pop off like Magsafe when the wire get yanked.
6. still have a wire connected to a wall

 

[BeamWalker]

I have no problem with the new usb port (although I prefer 2 of them) but the lack of a display port is an issue for me. I often connect my Macbook to a Display or the TV so although I was planning to upgrade to a retina MBA in the future I might have to reconsider. But no reason to worry over rumors just yet.

 

[nutjob]

I don't think that is technically possible, seeing how ThB is essentially PCIe over a wire.

How is it not possible? You put a USB 3 chip in the cable, connected to the PCIe.

Also all PCIe is "over a wire," LOL.

 

[prowlmedia]

The amount of people here that think this is real is incredible. He's just taken a 13" macbook Air model and screwed around with it.

I think it's a an incredibly lazy 3d design / rendering.
Speakers are horrible.
power button is huge and in the wrong place.
Arrow keys are terrible.

Actual device if real:
Won't have a bezel - Will have a flush edge to edge screen.
May well have USB3 'C' Type connector.
Will have Thunderbolt Connector. USB3.1 is
Will have a mag port.

Induction takes a (relative) amount of weight and is not efficient nor green at the
moment. Mag port is Tried and tested and still genius. May well be an even smaller connector. There is a possibility of a does connect magnetically to the chassis like the iPad Covers and we just cannot see the Connections. Much like the charing lights on the Macbook - where the aluminium is incredibly thin.

The most surprising thing is that the guy bothered to put a headphone port in if he thinks it's a 'future' device. Given Apple owns beat I forsee many more bluetooth headphone options.

Actually I am 99% sure all MacBooks in the future will come with touch ID - and possibly the next generation of keyboard.

But once again. This is just some dudes idea.. just not a very good one. And this of courseis all IMO.

 

[Roller]

The amount of people here that think this is real is incredible. He's just taken a 13" macbook Air model and screwed around with it.

I think it's a an incredibly lazy 3d design / rendering.
Speakers are horrible.
power button is huge and in the wrong place.
Arrow keys are terrible.

Actual device if real:
Won't have a bezel - Will have a flush edge to edge screen.
May well have USB3 'C' Type connector.
Will have Thunderbolt Connector. if only because it still needs an external video output
Will have a mag port.

Induction takes a (relative) amount of weight and is not efficient nor green at the
moment. Mag port is Tried and tested and still genius. May well be an even smaller connector. There is a possibility of a does connect magnetically to the chassis like the iPad Covers and we just cannot see the Connections. Much like the charing lights on the Macbook - where the aluminium is incredibly thin.

The most surprising thing is that the guy bothered to put a headphone port in if he thinks it's a 'future' device. Given Apple owns beat I forsee many more bluetooth headphone options.

Actually I am 99% sure all MacBooks in the future will come with touch ID - and possibly the next generation of keyboard.

But once again. This is just some dudes idea.. just not a very good one.

I tend to agree - regardless of what you think about the design, it's not a leaked photo, it's just one person's rendering based on others reports that may or may not be accurate. Not worth getting work up about it, at least not until we see some leaks that are much more likely to match what Apple releases.

 

[geta]

I dont like the correct MBA line, the 11" is too small and 13" is super ugly with his huge bezel... and as much as i like the idea of 12" MBA (should be the perfect size and weight for traveling for my needs), it will be a deal breaker if it will end with less then 3 ports (2 USB's + thunderbolt), and will force me to get rMBP 13" in the future that i dont need...

 

[Goldfinger]

What makes all these rumors pretty unbelievable for me is the loss of MagSafe. I can't believe that Apple would drop MagSafe.

I could believe some sort of MagSafe USB/TB connector that charges the MacBook and all the USB, DisplayPort etc ports on the power brick. That would actually make some sense because most of the time when you're using peripherals you're also sitting at a desk with the charger plugged in.

Do I think it's a good idea do drop all the ports? No not at all, it's idiotic even. But I can see Apple doing it, unfortunately. But leaving out MagSafe? No way.

 

[Toutou]

What's with all those voices calling for a hybrid iOS/OS X device, or a tablet running OS X? OS X has never been a tablet OS. It has never been touch friendly and I don't see any way it could possibly become touch friendly. You can't just take a desktop keyboard/mouse GUI and make everything bigger or merge another more-touch-friendly layer inside your current OS. That's what they tried with Win8 and it's an epic fail. And I don't see Apple stuffing both iOS and OS X into one device, how is that even Apple-like? One hardware running both iOS designed for their mobile Ax chips and full-blown OS X with all of its bells and whistles, designed for Intel chips and much more powerful Iris Graphics? With different software on both sides, different programs, different storage structure, different controls, different everything? Sounds like a POS to me.

 

[Yurieff]

What do you think the aspect ratio of the screen will be? One of the few things I enjoy in Surface Pro 3 is the 3:2 aspect ratio of the screen. You can see below a comparison between MBA 13 (purple) and SP 3 (green):

In my opinion 3:2 12 inch will be perfect for the new MBAs.

 

[deluxeshredder]

Apple likes big ugly bezels.

Look at prior year MacBook models, or iPhones from any year.

It's a J. Ive styling cue, Apple will always feature fat bezels.

I personally dislike thin bezels on TVs and big monitors.

 

[spinedoc77]

Nice looking, but still that bezel looks large to me in comparison to that Dell laptop that popped up at CES, it's time to abolish bezels. It's a shame the MBA will have such limited functionality with only one subpart port, it makes you wonder why they just didn't make it a detachable tablet? Oh wait, I forgot Apple makes money off convincing consumers they need both a tablet AND a laptop.

I used to love MBA's, owned the first 3 generations. It's interesting to myself just how much I used to love them, but how far past them I've gotten where I wouldn't even give one a 2nd glance. I'd just spend a bit more and get the MacBook pro's which have gotten quite skinny but haven't lost ports and functionality. That's if I even wanted to limit myself to a laptop, which I don't.

 

[Thijs Moonen]

It's a shame the MBA will have such limited functionality with only one subpart port, it makes you wonder why they just didn't make it a detachable tablet?

Apple will continue to bring the tablet and laptop form factor closer and closer together, until they naturally become the same product. That is not yet possible today. And until it is, without losing any major functionality or advantage of either product, they won't.

----------

Could it be possible that the 12 inch Macbook Air and the iPad Pro might end up being the same device? Some type of hybird with detachable keyboard?

I don't think Apple will ever do the detachable keyboard, because of what I predict above

 

[Lolito]

somethings are for sure:

The keyboard layout wont change, obviously.

It will not be available in other colors, apple don't do that for macbooks because it makes the stocking 3 times more complex, obviously.

They may introduce magsafe 3, or a new lightning port or just a port that gives power, video and digital connection for usb ethernet, etc...

Screen will be higher res for sure, it should. maybe not retina, but definitely higher. it should be.

 

[Abazigal]

What makes all these rumors pretty unbelievable for me is the loss of MagSafe. I can't believe that Apple would drop MagSafe.

I could believe some sort of MagSafe USB/TB connector that charges the MacBook and all the USB, DisplayPort etc ports on the power brick. That would actually make some sense because most of the time when you're using peripherals you're also sitting at a desk with the charger plugged in.

Do I think it's a good idea do drop all the ports? No not at all, it's idiotic even. But I can see Apple doing it, unfortunately. But leaving out MagSafe? No way.

I can see myself getting it, to be honest.

With haswell offering all-day battery life for the typical user, I could theoretically leave my laptop charging overnight, and leave for work with it at 100% and not need to charge it until later at night. It would be like an iPad in that regard - how many people actually use a tablet while it is plugged in? And if you don't need to be charging your laptop in a public space, the importance of magsafe decreases dramatically. After all - why isn't there magsafe for iPhones and iPads?

I also rarely ever use the ports or external storage, rely primarily on the cloud to move my files around. I could also envision using airdrop to pass stuff around?

In this regard, it would be like 2008 all over again, when the 1st-gen MBA challenged conventional wisdom as to what was deemed "necessary" in a laptop by doing away with features like a cd-drive. Sure, people complained, but they eventually found ways of working around these limitations. And found that they actually didn't miss those features all that much.

I think this slimmed down MBA would be for users who especially value portability and don't mind paying the ultimate price for it. I would appreciate being able to walk around with my laptop and not have to also carry around the power charger.

The only concern is for when I need to occasionally connect to a projector. But otherwise, I can certainly see a market for it.

 

[Ckar]

12 inches is too small, make a 17" macbook air and I will consider upgrading.

 

[RoccoFan]

Touch screen? Who said touch screen? I want a touch screen.

 

[HenryDJP]

Likely true to some degree. However Apple is often living too far in the future with some things

Things change. However Apple can be a bit too quick to remove useful features.

You just described the definition of innovation. For the consumer it can be a blessing and a curse, depending on timing.

 

[Yebubbleman]

So, is this going to be their answer to the Google Chromebook? If so, it needs to be a whole lot less expensive than the current Airs and there needs to be something to fill the price gaps left by the current Airs (like additional 13" retina models that have the Air's CPUs and would've otherwise been "the retina MacBook Air". Hell, they've been pimping out that 1.4GHz ULV Haswell Core i5 damn near everywhere else in the Mac product lines.

Come to think of it, this would actually make a ton of sense.

 

[mdelvecchio]

Looks beautiful, but the rMBP is already as thin as I want a laptop to be. The ports barely fit on it as it is, and it's so light that they had to make the MagSafe magnet weaker for it, so it now falls out really easily by accident.

EDIT: Only one USB port and no video output?! Pass for sure.

an Air and a Pro are two different product designs that serve different markets. for the person buying an Air, weight is the primary consideration. for a person buying a Pro performance (speed, accessories) is. theyre designed for two different use cases.