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Updated MacBook Air Line with New 15-Inch Model Coming in 1Q 2012?
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I do like the idea of a larger mba, but I'm all too much impressed of the mba11" all possibilities... I think I would prefer an updated mba 11" with usb3 (usb3 just because lacie's rugged drives don't have tb yet & I haven't seen any adapters yet?) to replace my mbp17"... (which I will keep beside my old Powerbook 17", it's slowly starting to look like some kind of museum here...)
The mba11" is impossible resist! (my wife got one and it's really awesome)
I do like the idea of a larger mba, but I'm all too much impressed of the mba11" all possibilities... I think I would prefer an updated mba 11" with usb3 (usb3 just because lacie's rugged drives don't have tb yet & I haven't seen any adapters yet?) to replace my mbp17"... (which I will keep beside my old Powerbook 17", it's slowly starting to look like some kind of museum here...)
The mba11" is impossible resist! (my wife got one and it's really awesome)
This is highly unlikely. Why would they change it? I think the 11" and 13" will keep their screen sizes and display resolution.
Just like the 13"Air has the screen resolution of the 15"Pro, the 15"Air will have the screen resolution of the high-res 15": 1680x1050.
This!
Some people still need higher end processors and discrete graphics.
Also, I believe most students who have chosen a 13" Pro have done a bad choice - they simply don't see the improvements the Air has...
Agreed, although I imagine some may be persuaded by the built-in optical drive. I personally barely use disks anymore, but I imagine a lot of students have music and course software on CDs and watch the odd DVD, to the extent of not wanting to bother buying an external drive.
EDIT: It's also can be a pain not having an ethernet port. A lot of students I know don't have wireless internet in halls. I've had to buy an ethernet to USB adapter. But don't get me wrong; I love my MBA.
I believe the primary reason for the thick bezel is that is is needed to to taper the lid to give the illusion that it is razor thin. If you look at the actual thickness of the MBA lid, you will see that it is not anywhere as thin as it appears to be. A thin bezel would drive the appearance of thicker machine.
/Jim
I will be surprised if Apple drops the "Air" from the name of the MacBook Air. From a marketing perspective, the name has very clear, unambiguous, and upscale messaging. It extenuates their leadership perception in driving thin/light technology... which is the marketing message for the entire MBA category.
The only way I would expect them to drop "Air" is to replace it with something totally different if they choose to focus the line on something other than thin/light. In that case... they still would not call it a generic "MacBook".
I think the Macbook line will have two entries... MacBook Air and MacBook Pro... both with upscale marketing names.
/Jim
what about the price? will they lower the price of the MBA so it is like the current 13" MBP?
either way, all i hope is that microcenter will keep on doing it's $999 for 13" MBP [and if the MBP is dropped, then 13" MBA]
WOW, I can't believe I missed that! I looked specifically for it and missed it! Thanks for the heads up..Well that does it for me..No reason not to get one now as my wife really wants one.
Well, noodles.
I was going to pull the trigger on a mid-line MBA 11" next week but I'll have serious buyer's remorse if a better machine comes out in the first few months of 2012. Guess I'll plug along with my ancient MBP for a few more months and wait this rumor out.
I was going to pull the trigger on a mid-line MBA 11" next week but I'll have serious buyer's remorse if a better machine comes out in the first few months of 2012. Guess I'll plug along with my ancient MBP for a few more months and wait this rumor out.
Not going to happen.
Think about it. There is no way the small Air is going to work with a dedicated GPU. The battery life would be greatly constrained and the heat would get too high. Also, there is no way there is room for an Ethernet-port. All of this is simple physics.
I believe this will be the difference between Air and Pro.
Air will use low-watt CPU with integrated graphics and only feature USB and Thunderbolt ports...
Pro wil feature high-end CPU, dedicated GPU, USB, Thunderbolt, Ethernet (and FireWire).
Which is why you'll not be the target-group for an Air. You're perfect for the Pro.
Although I agree with you I don't think it will happen because the lid/display will get a lot less rigid and much easier to break.
I agree with this wholeheartedly. To the many who actually think that Apple will drop the Air moniker in favor of the "Macbook", you are insane. That would be branding suicide on Apple's part. Why would you rename the Macbook Airs to be what you named your cheap plastic budget line. The Airs are supposed to be their upscale line.
Plus, it would cause a lot of branding confusion. If Apple decided they wanted to change the name of the Macbook Airs, they'll come up with a name they've never used before.
True.
Sandy Bridge ULV variants came about 1.5 months later. See the release dates:
- i5 2400 .. i7 2600 (desktop) came out on january 9
- i5 2537M, 2657M (ULV, 17W) came out on february 20
Namely, a Q1 release of 15" Airs (and refresh of 11" and 13" ones), seems more than likely to me.
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Some students like to game on their laptop. Possible with the 13" Pro under Bootcamp.
I made the same decision when getting my MBP over a Macbook many years ago. Helped immensely when I was addicted to Oblivion.
Plus if you only have one machine most students would need a CD drive and possibly an internet port. I'm sure most dorms have moved to wireless but when I was a freshman my dorm didn't.
Regardless of whether WiFi was available - I'd connect my laptop to the gigabit full-duplex wired port if possible.
Wireless really sucks compared to copper....
I personally cannot wait to see the specs available for this. My HP sucks and I was saving up to get a 15" MBP when it would include ivy bridge but a 15" MBA sounds awesome. I wouldn't need more than 4 GB of RAM but the SSD is another story. I could probably get away with 256 but would much rather have a 512 GB SSD but i'm not sure that will even be an option and if it is, it will be veryyy expensive (I'm not that good at saving haha).
I'm in college and more and more kids I feel like are getting 13" MBA instead of a 13" Pro, and most of my friends who got the MBP, at least recently, got the 15" because 13" was too small. But I feel like for the average college student who just surfs the web, watches videos on youtube, and does homework (like on word/excel/powerpoint), a 15" MBA should probably be sufficient (Obviously not for intense gamers). At my college, majority people opt to get macs anyway so I really think that when/if this comes out, it's going to be huge among college students.
I'm in college and more and more kids I feel like are getting 13" MBA instead of a 13" Pro, and most of my friends who got the MBP, at least recently, got the 15" because 13" was too small. But I feel like for the average college student who just surfs the web, watches videos on youtube, and does homework (like on word/excel/powerpoint), a 15" MBA should probably be sufficient (Obviously not for intense gamers). At my college, majority people opt to get macs anyway so I really think that when/if this comes out, it's going to be huge among college students.
