Who's buying the 15" MacBook?

[257Loner]

I can't afford any new laptop from Apple. I like to wait several years and get it refurbished at a significant discount.

 

[Mr. Dee]

I noticed a user at work has a MacBook Pro 14. Seeing it in real world usage, you get a better sense of how well it’s received. It’s small and easy to carry around. Living in a college town, I noticed I am seeing more young women with 14 inch MacBook Pro’s.

This is telling me the 13 inch screens for many is starting to be considered cramped. I did see a young guy in a restaurant using one of the new Air’s though. But I just think Apple has too many 13 inch options.

Those women I observed with 14 inch suggest they would like a larger screen, but don’t want to pay for the power just to have it. The person at work is high income bracket and does very serious work.

The fact that they are not using a 16 inch considering the nature of their job says a lot, too. This could suggest that sweet spot for a larger MacBook Air might actually be 14 and not 15 inch. You still want some portability.

As a user of 13 in MacBook Pro’s for years, even on my M1, I’m not particularly feel like I am missing much. I guess it’s just that this is a personal device and I am not doing anything mission critical like referencing, split windows. I use to keep a external display attached and I don’t anymore.

 

[Mr. Dee]

Given the 15.5-inch model is likely to have active cooling, I think it's unlikely the 13-inch Pro will be refreshed. The 13-inch no longer has what it takes (mini-LED, ports, speakers) to be called a "Pro." It would be easier to de-feature the 14-inch Pro (delete mini-LED and reduce base storage/RAM) to have a lower entry price.

For me, 15.5-inch is pretty big. I'd have to see and feel it before deciding. Everywhere I work, I have a dock connected to a pair of monitors, so a bigger notebook display doesn't really help.

I suspect this is exactly what Apple will do just like they did back in 2016 with entry level MacBook without Touchbar. This new 14 inch would sit between the 13 inch Air and 14 inch MacBook Pro.

- Same display as the 13
- Slower storage
- M2 Pro option it has fans so you can do a little more.

Replaces the 13 inch MacBook Pro at 1,399. MacBook Air gets pushed down to 1,099.

 

[theorist9]

If they do release a 15" M2 Pro MBA it's hard to imagine what they'd charge for it. The 13" M2 Air with 8 CPU/10 GPU/8 GB/512 GB is $1500, and the upcharge in the Mini to go from that config to the minimum-spec'd M2 Pro is $500. Then there's probably a $200 upchage to go from the 13" to the 15" (that's the diff. between the 14" and 16" MBP's). Total would be $2200, which is the $200 more than the equally-spec'd 14" M2 Pro MBP. Maybe they'll drop the price of the 13" M2 Air by $200, so the price would be the same, and then you get to choose between larger screen (15" Air) vs. better screen and maybe more ports (14" MBP).

 

[ian87w]

The base M2 Air is almost ~$1400 in my country. The 15” will probably be $1600, and that will probably with just 8GB of RAM. Since we don’t have access to BTO macs, spending that much money for a laptop with puny 8GB of RAM is a really bad joke.

 

[ian87w]

But I just think Apple has too many 13 inch options.

Agree. The oddest one on the block is the 13” MacBook Pro, which isn’t supposed to exist in the lineup.

 

[theorist9]

The base M2 Air is almost ~$1400 in my country. The 15” will probably be $1600, and that will probably with just 8GB of RAM. Since we don’t have access to BTO macs, spending that much money for a laptop with puny 8GB of RAM is a really bad joke.

What's the cost before VAT?

 

[Dhonk]

I agree that they could treat this as a test, but I have doubts it would be a failure like the 14 Plus. iPhone 14 Plus flopped because it was only $100 close to the 14 Pro. Will this 15 inch sell less than the 13 inch? Most likely since 13 inch is cheaper, but it won't be weak.

If they priced it reasonably, then it will do okay.

The 14 Plus was a flop for the same reason as the iPhone mini and the iPad mini ( I loved 12 mini, use 14 plus, and have had 4 iPad minis)….Apple didn’t market them well. Most users aren’t like us…we are knowledgeable and do our homework. Most people don’t realize the Plus is the 2nd lightest of the 4 phones released this year. Most don’t realize it has the best battery life.

 

[theorist9]

he 14 Plus was a flop for the same reason as the iPhone mini and the iPad mini ( I loved 12 mini, use 14 plus, and have had 4 iPad minis)….Apple didn’t market them well.

I have to agree with that for the Mini -- it's the only iPhone you can comfortably put in a front pocket (OK, maybe also the SE, which is just a bit larger, but you give up screen real estate with the SE). They really could have had some ads to emphasize that. Then again, did they really want to move people away from the more expensive models?

Most people don’t realize the Plus is the 2nd lightest of the 4 phones released this year. Most don’t realize it has the best battery life.

It is impressive that the iPhone 14 Plus is so light compared to the Pro models. But it actually comes in 3rd (I suppose you could say it's tied for 2nd):

iPhone 14: 172 g
iPhone 14 Pro: 203 g
iPhone 14 Plus: 206 g
iPhone 14 Pro Max: 240 g

Of course, the iPhone SE was also released in 2022 (March), and it is only 144 g, but it's probably considered part of the iPhone 13 generation.

 

[Isengardtom]

A M2 pro chip without active cooling feels like a bad idea. The throttle would be too high I think, rendering the extra power of the chip useless

I agree with lots of the posters here : the price will be an Important factor on the success of this product.

currently Belgium prices :
- M2 MacBook Air 13” baseline = 1.519 EUR
- M2 pro MBP 14” baseline = 2.449 EUR but has 16 GB ram / 512 storage
- M2 MacBook Air 13 upgraded to 16 Ram / 512 storage = 1.979 EUR

doesn‘t leave much room for a good price point before it becomes a no brainier to go for the 14” with its much nicer specs.

in my view if you’re already spending 2200 euro on a computer, might as well go to 2.449 to get the better one.


the 230 EUR prices each for upgrading ram and storage are really excessive

 

[boak]

The price is easy to figure out. $200 more than equivalent 13” model.

 

[tstafford]

I'm very surprised by the poll results. I thought the 15" MB(A) was a much desired config. Does nothing for me, but I thought there was a ton of pent up demand for a machine of this size/specs.

 

[DHagan4755]

The price is easy to figure out. $200 more than equivalent 13” model.

That would be ideal. Mirroring the iPad Pro 11" vs. 12.9" pricing scheme

 

[boak]

That would be ideal. Mirroring the iPad Pro 11" vs. 12.9" pricing scheme

Something Apple might do is to use only the higher core count M2, making the 15” start at $1499, instead of $1399.

 

[okkibs]

I don't see the point of it as the initial pricing is way too high - we saw that with the 13" M2 Air already. That costs 1.2k through Apple and that's the measly 8GiB/250GB config, so the 15" Air will be more expensive than that at the very least. As refurbished 14" M1 Pros cost 1.5k (brand new 1.6k) and come with the better 16GiB/500GB option by default (including a much faster SSD than the M2 250GB/500GB)...

I really fail to see the value proposition for a 15" Air when a 2 year old 14" has the significantly better hardware all around - as well as better build quality (as we can see from the 13" M2 Air keyboard flex and QC issues).

making the 15” start at $1499

What config would that be, 8GiB/250GB? If so, atrocious pricing. Or is it 16GiB/500GB? If so, still atrocious pricing as long as the 14" is available in the refurb store.

 

[boak]

I don't see the point of it as the initial pricing is way too high - we saw that with the 13" M2 Air already. That costs 1.2k through Apple and that's the measly 8GiB/250GB config, so the 15" Air will be more expensive than that at the very least. As refurbished 14" M1 Pros cost 1.5k (brand new 1.6k) and come with the better 16GiB/500GB option by default (including a much faster SSD than the M2 250GB/500GB)...

I really fail to see the value proposition for a 15" Air when a 2 year old 14" has the significantly better hardware all around - as well as better build quality (as we can see from the 13" M2 Air keyboard flex and QC issues).


What config would that be, 8GiB/250GB? If so, atrocious pricing. Or is it 16GiB/500GB? If so, still atrocious pricing as long as the 14" is available in the refurb store.

Neither. 8GB/256GB

Apple doesn’t really care about the atrocious pricing compared the 14”. One word: upsell

 

[okkibs]

Neither. 8GB/256GB

That is incorrect, the Apple SSDs store 250GB and 500GB. If you have one of these Macs yourself you can check this easily:

 

[Funny Apple Man]

Big if.

A 15” MacBook Air M2 8/256 at say $1,499 is going to be a tough sell never mind an even higher price. Double the RAM & storage what will that cost? With the bells & whistles of the 14” MBP (SD card slot, 3 TB 4 ports, HDMI, mini LED, M2 Pro), you have to have a compelling reason to settle for a 1.3” more display real estate when you get that close.

This is what makes me uneasy about apple introducing a 15” Air. Aside from the fact apple is introducing a larger version of a product with the same specs that’s been on the market 9+ months.

If they price it at $1,499, they should give us the 512gb option. Even if it's still at 256gb, I don't think it'll flop. The average consumer would just see a MacBook with a big screen that's $1,000 less than a 16 inch MBP, not really caring much about the specs. Sure the 14 inch MBP has those bells and whistles, but it's still smaller than a 15 inch MBA and there's people out there who just want a large screen.

$1,500 is tolerable, anything higher than that will be a tough sell. If only they priced the 13 inch M2 MBA at a cheaper price (around $1,000-1,100), then the 15 inch would be priced around $1,200-1,300. Hopefully they drop the prices when M3 models come around.

 

[Funny Apple Man]

The 14 Plus was a flop for the same reason as the iPhone mini and the iPad mini ( I loved 12 mini, use 14 plus, and have had 4 iPad minis)….Apple didn’t market them well. Most users aren’t like us…we are knowledgeable and do our homework. Most people don’t realize the Plus is the 2nd lightest of the 4 phones released this year. Most don’t realize it has the best battery life.

Sure if they market it properly, then it'll help a bit but the price being way too close to the 14 Pro is a big factor of its failure.

 

[dmccloud]

Looking at the big picture, if the 15.5-inch MacBook were simply a puffed up M2 MBA, it wouldn't take Apple so long (9 to 12 months after MBA) to launch it. Rather, that's the time it takes to design a new cooling system and chassis. I don't expect 15.5-inch to come with a full heatsink/fan like MBP, but rather something close to Intel-based MBA.

That analysis is built upon the assumption Apple would release a 15" model with an M2. This could be a machine they are planning to launch alongside the M3 13" Air rather than a in-cycle refresh of the MBA lineup. The M3 should be even more power-efficient than the M2, so a thinner enclosure like the existing 13" M2 Air would work just fine with that SoC.

 

[Zest28]

Nope. If i buy something this year, it will be a PC.

I already got the M2 MBA and the 16" M1 Max MacBook Pro.

 

[JPack]

That analysis is built upon the assumption Apple would release a 15" model with an M2. This could be a machine they are planning to launch alongside the M3 13" Air rather than a in-cycle refresh of the MBA lineup. The M3 should be even more power-efficient than the M2, so a thinner enclosure like the existing 13" M2 Air would work just fine with that SoC.

All predictions so far are 1H’23 with Ross Young saying 15.5-inch panel production began in February.

N3E production doesn’t begin until mid- or late-2023, so it’s very unlikely the new MacBook will come with M3.

 

[kschendel]

...
Nope, the whole point of a 15" Air is to separate screen size and peformance, i.e., to accommodate those customers who only need Air-level performance but want a large screen, and thus don't want to pay for, or lug around, a 14"/16" M2 Pro/Max MBP.

This, 100%.

I have a 15" rMBP only because that was how to get a 15" screen. If there had been a 15" MBA earlier, I would have bought it. 13" is just a little bit too small for my aged eyes, and for how I use the computer. Performance is very nearly irrelevant to me; I'm doing just fine with a late 2013 CPU. It doesn't matter in the slightest whether a new laptop has an M1, M2, M3, whatever -- they will all be more processor and GPU power than I really need. I'll configure it with enough memory (probably 16GB) and storage (500GB will do me just fine).

I've looked at the 14" and 16" MBP's. The 16" is a little too large. The 14" is OK but is full of stuff I don't need; it's heavier and more expensive than I want.

If the putative 15" Air pricing is anywhere near rational, I'll probably be buying one sometime in the next year or so. (The late 2013 is running just fine and I'm not in a huge rush to replace it.)

 

[Zest28]

If Apple didn't fire Johny Ive, then there would be no 15" MBA.

 

[DHagan4755]

The value proposition is interesting to ponder.

15" MacBook Air
M2 with 10-core GPU
8GB RAM
512GB SSD
$1,699

Upgrade to a model with 16GB RAM:
$1,899

Would that work for people?