even reading this is confusing, let alone explaining to a non-experienced buyer what their best choice is. I've bene using macs professionally for 20 years and still find it hard at the moment to choose a new laptop for my teenage kids !
Apple announce the MacBook Air in January 2008. They kept selling the MacBook into 2011.
The MacBook Air will eventually be discontinued imo. The only reason it still exists is #1 price and #2 people would have seriously freaked out if Apple released the one port MacBook and discontinued the Air at the same time.
In all fairness I have not tested the new AppleTV with a AC MBP...I hope to do this soon and it may work as you are suggesting. Right now it is fairly inconsistent. Also could be the fault of our enterprise network. My understanding is Airplay works over the network vs. direct to the device. Is this correct?
The Air series without retina no longer makes sense. It is very probable that Apple will end with two laptop series all Retina, Macbook and Macbook Pro.
I can see Apple adding retina version to the MacBook Air and still keeping around the non retina MacBook Airs. They did this with the 21 inch iMac this year. I seriously doubt the Air will be going away anytime soon. The Airs are the most affordable laptops and 13 inch Air still has the best battery life. Lastly if Apple gets rid of any laptop it's the non retina MacBook Pro, which hasn't received any updates in years but is still being sold for $1099.
It's a good thing Apple has never had three laptop models before, they've always had MBA and MBP, no MacBook.
Oh, wait...
To be fair to he original poster, the original three-way lineup was much more obvious:
- plastic
- thin aluminium with slow specs
- thick aluminium with great specs
The distinction between the current MB and MBA is odd. The MB is better in some respects (Retina and thinner) but worse in others (speed). While being more expensive. Huh? Wasn't the MB always the cheapest of the bunch?
I can see Apple adding retina version to the MacBook Air and still keeping around the non retina MacBook Airs. They did this with the 21 inch iMac this year. I seriously doubt the Air will be going away anytime soon. The Airs are the most affordable laptops and 13 inch Air still has the best battery life. Lastly if Apple gets rid of any laptop it's the non retina MacBook Pro, which hasn't received any updates in years but is still being sold for $1099.
Why then would anyone buy the retina MacBook? And why then didn't Apple just add retina to the MacBook Air this year instead of releasing the retina MacBook? Also, do you really expect a retina MBA to get the same battery life as the current Airs?
To be fair to he original poster, the original three-way lineup was much more obvious:
- plastic
- thin aluminium with slow specs
- thick aluminium with great specs
The distinction between the current MB and MBA is odd. The MB is better in some respects (Retina and thinner) but worse in others (speed). While being more expensive. Huh? Wasn't the MB always the cheapest of the bunch?
Apple doesn't need 3 laptop models. Have two retina MacBook sizes and two retina MacBook Pro sizes with the larger display models having the best specs. Discontinue the Air, or maybe keep the 11" Air around to have a sub $800 notebook in the lineup.
Apple doesn't need 3 laptop models. Have two retina MacBook sizes and two retina MacBook Pro sizes with the larger display models having the best specs. Discontinue the Air, or maybe keep the 11" Air around to have a sub $800 notebook in the lineup.
Can someone explain to me why you should get better specs whith bigger screens? To me a smaller form factor adds to the user experience. Why would you get a massive 15 inch Macbook Pro if you could easily hook up a 13/12 inch Macbook Pro to a bigger screen?
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Regarding the Air. The iPad Pro is having the 11 inch Air for Lunch.
Can someone explain to me why you should get better specs whith bigger screens? To me a smaller form factor adds to the user experience. Why would you get a massive 15 inch Macbook Pro if you could easily hook up a 13/12 inch Macbook Pro to a bigger screen?
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Regarding the Air. The 11 inch Air does not make sense with the iPad Pro around.
That's what Apple currently does with their Mac line. I suppose the iPad Pro could replace the 11" Air but I still think Apple will want a sub $1000 x86 device in the line up.
What OS does Apple make that tailored to a windowed OS with a keyboard and mouse pointer/trackpad?
You said ARM based, hence why I asked. I know in people's fantasy land they have Apple making ARM based Macs but I'm still skeptical. If that was in the cards wouldn't the 12" MacBook have been the perfect candidate?
Right?¡ It would be impossible to add another architecture in there with Xcode support for fat binaries¡ Apple has absolutely no experience with that¡ In fact, they are so lucky that they built iOS from nothing because starting with a stripped down and covnerted version of Mac OS X would have never worked for the iPhone, not to mention they would have no App Store today if developers didn't already have ARM-based iOS code sitting around for years on shelves¡ :rolleyes:
Comments
Apple announce the MacBook Air in January 2008. They kept selling the MacBook into 2011.
The MacBook Air will eventually be discontinued imo. The only reason it still exists is #1 price and #2 people would have seriously freaked out if Apple released the one port MacBook and discontinued the Air at the same time.
In all
It is called the new AppleTV + 802.11ac.
In all fairness I have not tested the new AppleTV with a AC MBP...I hope to do this soon and it may work as you are suggesting. Right now it is fairly inconsistent. Also could be the fault of our enterprise network. My understanding is Airplay works over the network vs. direct to the device. Is this correct?
It's a good thing Apple has never had three laptop models before, they've always had MBA and MBP, no MacBook.
Oh, wait...
To be fair to he original poster, the original three-way lineup was much more obvious:
- plastic
- thin aluminium with slow specs
- thick aluminium with great specs
The distinction between the current MB and MBA is odd. The MB is better in some respects (Retina and thinner) but worse in others (speed). While being more expensive. Huh? Wasn't the MB always the cheapest of the bunch?
Why then would anyone buy the retina MacBook? And why then didn't Apple just add retina to the MacBook Air this year instead of releasing the retina MacBook? Also, do you really expect a retina MBA to get the same battery life as the current Airs?
Now, a 12 inch retina Macbook Pro would be a thing
Brings back happy memories of my 12 inch Powerbook. A little sexy heavyweight that was.
Apple doesn't need 3 laptop models. Have two retina MacBook sizes and two retina MacBook Pro sizes with the larger display models having the best specs. Discontinue the Air, or maybe keep the 11" Air around to have a sub $800 notebook in the lineup.
Apple doesn't need 3 laptop models. Have two retina MacBook sizes and two retina MacBook Pro sizes with the larger display models having the best specs. Discontinue the Air, or maybe keep the 11" Air around to have a sub $800 notebook in the lineup.
Can someone explain to me why you should get better specs whith bigger screens? To me a smaller form factor adds to the user experience. Why would you get a massive 15 inch Macbook Pro if you could easily hook up a 13/12 inch Macbook Pro to a bigger screen?
- - - - -
Regarding the Air. The iPad Pro is having the 11 inch Air for Lunch.
That's what Apple currently does with their Mac line. I suppose the iPad Pro could replace the 11" Air but I still think Apple will want a sub $1000 x86 device in the line up.
Running what software?
What OS does Apple make that tailored to a windowed OS with a keyboard and mouse pointer/trackpad?
You said ARM based, hence why I asked. I know in people's fantasy land they have Apple making ARM based Macs but I'm still skeptical. If that was in the cards wouldn't the 12" MacBook have been the perfect candidate?
And the article is about notebooks.
And what 3rd party software would run on an ARM based OS X device?
At the very least, all 3rd-party apps that submit apps via the Mac App Store that support ARM builds.
Good luck with that.
Right?¡ It would be impossible to add another architecture in there with Xcode support for fat binaries¡ Apple has absolutely no experience with that¡ In fact, they are so lucky that they built iOS from nothing because starting with a stripped down and covnerted version of Mac OS X would have never worked for the iPhone, not to mention they would have no App Store today if developers didn't already have ARM-based iOS code sitting around for years on shelves¡ :rolleyes: