Let's see. Hope Apple doesn't disappoint us. But after years not being updated, and after all these nice designs we are seeing in new PC laptops, I don't think there is too much left for Apple to impress us.
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Warming-up for the all-new redesigned retina 2014 (2015?) MacBook Air
- Thread starter skaertus
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Let's see. Hope Apple doesn't disappoint us. But after years not being updated, and after all these nice designs we are seeing in new PC laptops, I don't think there is too much left for Apple to impress us.
I'm not looking to be super impressed. There were several things they could have added to the Retina MacBook Pro but didn't. So I'm not expecting Apple to do anything crazy with the new MBA, but as long as they can deliver on the quality they always have then I'll be happy.
The no ports thing sounds a little weird, but whatever. Maybe this is the first Mac that heads towards the iOS direction, especially if we get the iPhone colors as rumored.
I get that the Air isn't meant to have the horsepower of the Pro, but many people do use the Air for serious work. So as long as the performance is comparable to what's on the Air now.
I'm pretty impressed with the Core M architecture (when working as intended by Intel!). Benchmarks from Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro pretty much gave bad publicity due to severe throttling, etc.)
See how bad Yoga 3 Pro and ThinkPad Helix faired against my Surface Pro 3 on geekbench 3:
http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/compare/1738028?baseline=1845544
http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/compare/1815494?baseline=1845544
This is what gave Core M a really bad rep.
But then finally at last, ASUS OEM have a benchmark of their Core M based convertible tablet without throttling!
That 4.5 W TDP CPU just made my 15 W i5-4300U Surface Pro 3 look inefficient on geekbench 3 scores!
http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/compare/1846459?baseline=1845544
This just shows that one wouldn't need to give up performance for a much better battery life with the new rMBA. Hopefully Apple can utilize Core M to its max potential!
The more and more I follow this thread, I have become very happy buying the 2014 macbook 13' air. If anything I will buy the refresh after the initial offering. From previous purchases if i jumped the gun. I was simply disappointed, And of course the next refresh was the best bet.
No problem. Well, another OEM (Dell) is now making a bad rep of their Core i5-5200U benchmark. It's throttling a bit such that it's scoring lower than Core M
eekhttp://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/compare/1846459?baseline=1858092
I would definitely check out the benchmarks for the new rMBA and see if Apple is able to utilize the chip without throttling too much.
Then it will be fine. I don't expect Apple to put anything too different from the hat this time. The retina MacBook Pro was groundbreaking, a laptop with no precedent. But it's been almost three years now since it's been launched, and three years is a whole era in terms of technology. If the new Air follows the path of the Pro, with a smaller size and a thinner and lighter body, then it is pretty much what I expect.
After reading this thread, I'm staring to wonder if I should stick with my 2013 MBA..
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Im guessing the SD card reader is very probably not going to be on the new Air?
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Im guessing the SD card reader is very probably not going to be on the new Air?
Why This Apple Inc. MacBook Air Rumor Makes Perfect Sense
I could see it. Refreshed Broadwell products silently available this month, and then redesigns of MBP/MBA's plus new rMBA in October with Skylake.
I could see it. Refreshed Broadwell products silently available this month, and then redesigns of MBP/MBA's plus new rMBA in October with Skylake.
While I don't think this particular text makes much sense, I think there would be reasons for Apple to wait for Skylake at this point before it released a new MBA.
Broadwell is an evolutionary step from Haswell. Skylake, on the other hand, is expected to allow wireless charging, which is a major feature and fits Apple's philosophy of reducing the amount of cables.
And I don't think Apple will redesign the current MBA and launch a rMBA as well. The rMBA will be the redesigned MBA, and the current one will be discontinued (either at the launch of the rMBA or it will remain as a legacy product until it is removed sometime later from Apple's line-up).
What in gods name about a CPU could possibly enable or prevent wireless charging? You must understand that a CPU has nothing to do with how the battery is charged. Right?
And why do you think Apple can't redesign a laptop without using a brand new generation of chips?
Do you not remember the 2010 MBA redesign where they used Core 2 Duos for only a year?
No way i'm (or anyone half sane) getting a Broadwell machine in September
My next machine will be Skylake. I am not buying Broadwell now just to have something else being released by year end.
In principle I agree with you. However, wireless charging is one of the hottest features of Skylake that Intel is announcing.
http://www.cnet.com/news/intel-aims-to-eliminate-all-pc-cables-in-2016/
Now, I don't know why Broadwell cannot support it and Skylake can. I don't know what's behind all of this and if there is a way to make Broadwell support wireless charging.
Apple can definitely do that. Apple also released the retina MacBook Pro with retina display using Ivy Bridge, which was just a die shrink of Sandy Bridge and had very similar features.
I just think it would make more sense for Apple to redesign the MacBook Air using a brand new generation of chips. As Apple is expected to insert a retina display in the Air, and there is hardly any space to put any more battery, I would think Skylake, which will probably consume less battery, would be more suitable to keep the amazing battery life of the Air.
Your reading comprehension is horrible. The headline of the article you linked to is that the REFERENCE DESIGNS have wireless charging. Nowhere does it say that features of the processor or chipset somehow enable this or even have anything to do with it. Communicating with you is extremely frustrating.
"Communicating with you is extremely frustrating"? Who do you think you are? You are being very, very rude. I did not expect to come accross someone so unpolite. Your mother probably didn't teach you manners. I did not personally offend you not even once. Now I have to say that what is frustrating is communicating with you.
For your record, there are several websites that claim wireless charging is a feature of the Skylake platform. I don't know if there is something to do with the processor or the chipset.
If Intel also said all the Skylake reference designs had to be painted purple, does that mean purple is a feature of the Skylake platform that is now enabled by Intel's new microprocessor architecture, and that all Skylake computers must be purple, and that no computer before Skylake can be purple?
As for manners, you are like the guy at a party who is trying to tell everybody that we never really landed on the moon and it was all a hoax. I would try to stop talking to you by excusing myself to go to the bathroom or going to get another drink. Unfortunately we are using a medium where you can interject your comments into any conversation and I'm more or less forced to read them. Although maybe there is a ban list on this thing. I'll go look for it.
I was just reporting what I have read. Several websites are reporting that wireless charging will be a feature of the Skylake platform. It's not me who is saying that. It's everywhere on the press:
http://www.fudzilla.com/news/notebooks/37015-notebook-skylake-coming-in-q4-2015
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/06/04/intel-wireless-charging-skylake/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/eliseackerman/2014/11/07/intels-new-war-on-wires/
Even Forbes is reporting that. And yes, MacRumors too.
I don't know if wireless charging is possible with Broadwell. Perhaps it is. I just don't know, I am no computer engineer myself. Perhaps there are features that can be introduced to make it possible now I just never saw it. But Skylake will make it possible, regardless of it being possible with Broadwell as well.
Sorry, but I am not. I am just expressing my comments and opinions, and I try to base everything on things I read. I do try to guess something, but I try to make educated guesses based on past experience and on information reported by the media. I don't have any insider information and I don't try to force anyone into my opinions.
But, hey, this is a web forum, and in my view it is supposed to be a place where people can freely express their comments. What is the point of participating in a forum where I cannot express my views? You have the right to disagree with me, and I may not agree with you as well. You are not forced to read anything if you feel annoyed. But I just cannot understand why you feel so annyoed with things I say since I am just trying to stick to facts and make my own interpretation of things I read.
I am REALLY interested in the new 12". But, I can only wait until about March-April for a new laptop because I need a new one pronto (for real reasons, not just because I am impatient).
If the Air is refreshed in March or April I will buy it unless they also release the new 12. If the 12 doesn't come until June or July, I'll probably buy a refurbed Air. I'm a little low on cash, but also low on time.
If the Air is refreshed in March or April I will buy it unless they also release the new 12. If the 12 doesn't come until June or July, I'll probably buy a refurbed Air. I'm a little low on cash, but also low on time.
I'm sure few of us here are few experts, but in defense of Skaertus, Intel do implement features to new processor platforms. Yes the CPUs are discrete elements to that, but I believe that goes hand in hand with new motherboard features. For instance, just a few years ago, USB 3 had no native support on the motherboard and required a controller to implement it. I think that changed with Ivy Bridge.
That's possibly one of the reasons Apple introduced it so late to it's product lines.
As for mud slinging, I'm certain Skaertus wasn't trying to be inflammatory. If you created a thread that got nearly a quarter of a million pageviews on the forum and had a particularly lively discussion, you'd probably want to continue to engage people in it too.
I'm sure few of us here are few experts, but in defense of Skaertus, Intel do implement features to new processor platforms. Yes the CPUs are discrete elements to that, but I believe that goes hand in hand with new motherboard features. For instance, just a few years ago, USB 3 had no native support on the motherboard and required a controller to implement it. I think that changed with Ivy Bridge.
That's possibly one of the reasons Apple introduced it so late to it's product lines.
As for mud slinging, I'm certain Skaertus wasn't trying to be inflammatory. If you created a thread that got nearly a quarter of a million pageviews on the forum and had a particularly lively discussion, you'd probably want to continue to engage people in it too.
Thanks for the support. I was not trying to be inflammatory at all, even though I think I like a good healthy discussion.
As for wireless charging, it is something I would like to see implemented in a laptop. I don't know how it would work (never seen it), but I guess it would pretty neat. I don't know the reason why it has not yet been implemented yet if it is lack of platform support, if the technology is not ready yet or too expensive as of now, or if the laptops are not energy-efficient enough for that. But now we are finally seeing laptops that charge from the USB port (I had never seen that before Broadwell), and I guess wireless charging is the next step.
I'm sure few of us here are few experts, but in defense of Skaertus, Intel do implement features to new processor platforms. Yes the CPUs are discrete elements to that, but I believe that goes hand in hand with new motherboard features. For instance, just a few years ago, USB 3 had no native support on the motherboard and required a controller to implement it. I think that changed with Ivy Bridge.
That's possibly one of the reasons Apple introduced it so late to it's product lines.
As for mud slinging, I'm certain Skaertus wasn't trying to be inflammatory. If you created a thread that got nearly a quarter of a million pageviews on the forum and had a particularly lively discussion, you'd probably want to continue to engage people in it too.
Indeed, Intel added USB 3 support to its chipset, but that's because the chipset has long included the logic for ports like that.
The CPU and/or chipset have nothing to do with how a battery is charged. Looking into this a bit more, it looks like Intel is supporting a wireless charging system called Rezence and is encouraging other companies to support it with Skylake but that's it. The two aren't tied technically and it's certainly not like Skylake is required for wireless charging or enables it somehow. The fact that Skylake reference platforms support Rezence gives basically no indication whether or not Apple will support it.
In fact, now that I think about it for more than 3 seconds, it's fairly obvious that Apple won't support wireless charging. You can't do wireless charging through metal so Apple would have to give up their aluminum chassis to support it. I can't imagine that happening.
Sorry that I appear (and am) snippy and impolite to Skaertus. Some context is required. He frequently misinterprets source material to make wildly inaccurate claims. We had basically the same go-around months ago about whether or not Broadwell laptops had to be fanless (and now we can see that most Broadwell laptops so far do have fans) and we also had a go-around about whether or not Intel purposefully delays the introduction of products to clear out old stock, which he supported with some links to news stories that said nothing of the sort. Anyway, I'm tired of it.