Apple to update MacBooks at WWDC 2017, including possible Air, Pro refreshes

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Comments

  • Reply 41 of 60
    irelandireland Posts: 17,799member
    macxpress said:
    I don't know why Apple would leave the MacBook Air in their lineup still. The only thing I can think of is they want a sub $1,000 Mac laptop and they can't get the price point of the 12" MacBook down to that yet. I still think the days of the MacBook Air are limited though.
    I don't want to lose power and battery life and screen size and MagSafe and SD Card and pay more money. I don't want to lose those things and pay the same money. I genuinely prefer the MBA to MB as a machine for the above reasons. Yes, it hasn't Retina and that's a big deal, but is has all the above and I'd sacrifice even Retina for them. Seriously. My ideal Mac laptop maybe replaces USB on the MBA with USBc and adds a Retina display and perhaps an ever more efficient proc. Or take MBP 13" and add MagSafe, SD Card and lower the price. I don't need Touch Bar.
    edited May 2017 entropysbaconstangMplsP
  • Reply 42 of 60
    entropysentropys Posts: 4,257member
    ireland said:
    macxpress said:
    I don't know why Apple would leave the MacBook Air in their lineup still. The only thing I can think of is they want a sub $1,000 Mac laptop and they can't get the price point of the 12" MacBook down to that yet. I still think the days of the MacBook Air are limited though.
    I don't want to lose power and battery life and screen size and MagSafe and my SD Card and pay more money. I don't want to lose those things and pay the same money. I genuinely prefer the MBA to MB as a machine for the above reasons. Yes, it hasn't Retina and that's a big deal, but is has all the above and I'd sacrifice even Retina for them. Seriously. My ideal Mac laptop maybe replaces USB on the MBA with USBc and adds a Retina display and a more efficient proc. Or take MBP 13" and add MagSafe, SD Card and lower the price. I don't need Touch Bar.
    yeah, when the MBA was last updated was the high point of versatile mac portables.  All it really needs is a retina display, even today.  Alternatively, as you say, cut the bull and call the 13 inch MBP without touchbar the new MBA and price it at $999.  iWhich is what it really is, a new version of the MBA with pretensions.
  • Reply 43 of 60
    irelandireland Posts: 17,799member
    entropys said:
    ireland said:
    macxpress said:
    I don't know why Apple would leave the MacBook Air in their lineup still. The only thing I can think of is they want a sub $1,000 Mac laptop and they can't get the price point of the 12" MacBook down to that yet. I still think the days of the MacBook Air are limited though.
    I don't want to lose power and battery life and screen size and MagSafe and my SD Card and pay more money. I don't want to lose those things and pay the same money. I genuinely prefer the MBA to MB as a machine for the above reasons. Yes, it hasn't Retina and that's a big deal, but is has all the above and I'd sacrifice even Retina for them. Seriously. My ideal Mac laptop maybe replaces USB on the MBA with USBc and adds a Retina display and a more efficient proc. Or take MBP 13" and add MagSafe, SD Card and lower the price. I don't need Touch Bar.
    yeah, when the MBA was last updated was the high point of versatile mac portables.  All it really needs is a retina display, even today.  Alternatively, as you say, cut the bull and call the 13 inch MBP without touchbar the new MBA and price it at $999. Which is what it really is, a new version of the MBA with pretensions.
    It doesn't have MagSafe; it doesn't have 12 hours of battery; it's not a MBA.
    edited May 2017 baconstang
  • Reply 44 of 60
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member
    docno42 said:
    The MacBook Air will never die.

    Maybe.  But someone recently unloaded a slew of 15" MBA with i5's and 8GB of RAM for $750 on eBay - I happily snapped one up and am typing on it right now. 
    I can confidently say that you are definitely not typing on a 15" MBA, irrespective of CPU and RAM.
    brucemc
  • Reply 45 of 60
    matt_smatt_s Posts: 300member
    Can you buy a Pro 13" without the bar thingy?
  • Reply 46 of 60
    thttht Posts: 5,606member
    The extent of the Gurman rumor is:

    The MacBook Pro will get a faster Kaby Lake processor from Intel Corp., ... Apple is also working on a new version of the 12-inch MacBook with a faster Intel chip. The company has also considered updating the aging 13-inch MacBook Air with a new processor as sales of the laptop, ...

    That's it. The rest is Gurman pontificating on reasons why and providing context, which Gurman does in his usual salacious way.

    The Macbook 12" getting a new Intel Kaby Lake 5 W chip, possibly TB3 as well, is your basic no brainer as they introduced the model in Spring of 15, updated it in Spring of 16 with Sky Lake, and now are doing it again in Spring of 17 with Kaby Lake.

    The MBP getting Kaby Lake is also a fairly easy rumor. There's basically a 4 month window between Spring to Fall for Apple to do it. Kaby Lake HQ (45 W TDP) processors began to ship in a couple of months ago. So, an update with Kaby Lake was certainly pending.

    The MBA13 with new processor is your basic non-rumor. Gurman is saying Apple is "also considering". Essentially, who knows.

    The big thing I'm looking for is the MB12 base model dropping down to either $1000 or $1100, the MBP13" w/FN keys dropping to $1300.

    If they announce it at WWDC, it's going be like 10 minutes or 3 keynote charts, with most of the discussion bragging about MBP w/TB sales and user commentary on how well the TB works.
    baconstang
  • Reply 47 of 60
    linkmanlinkman Posts: 1,046member
    matt_s said:
    Can you buy a Pro 13" without the bar thingy?
    Yes. The 13" comes in either but the latest 15" doesn't have a Touch Bar-less option. https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/specs/
    ireland
  • Reply 48 of 60
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 13,037member
    ireland said:
    macxpress said:
    I don't know why Apple would leave the MacBook Air in their lineup still. The only thing I can think of is they want a sub $1,000 Mac laptop and they can't get the price point of the 12" MacBook down to that yet. I still think the days of the MacBook Air are limited though.
    I don't want to lose power and battery life and screen size and MagSafe and SD Card and pay more money. I don't want to lose those things and pay the same money. I genuinely prefer the MBA to MB as a machine for the above reasons. Yes, it hasn't Retina and that's a big deal, but is has all the above and I'd sacrifice even Retina for them. Seriously. My ideal Mac laptop maybe replaces USB on the MBA with USBc and adds a Retina display and perhaps an ever more efficient proc. Or take MBP 13" and add MagSafe, SD Card and lower the price. I don't need Touch Bar.
    You're reverse cherry picking -- since for some reason you're not mentioning the things you gain for that "same money". 
  • Reply 49 of 60
    ireland said:
    I'd like a MacBook Air with a Retina display. Most unlikely, but that's what I want. I couldn't move to a 12" display.
    Apple does sell that except it's now called 13" MBP without TouchBar
    No, it is Phil Schiller who tries to sell it that way ;-) If that was true Apple would discontinue the Macbook Air as soon as the 13" MBP without Touch Bar is launched. That 13" MBP still belongs to the Pro line, not to the entry-level line like the Macbook Air.

    The Air was never intended to be the "entry-level" line.  It was a premium "thin and light" product that fit between the consumer and pro lines.
    baconstang
  • Reply 50 of 60
    macplusplusmacplusplus Posts: 2,115member
    ireland said:
    I'd like a MacBook Air with a Retina display. Most unlikely, but that's what I want. I couldn't move to a 12" display.
    Apple does sell that except it's now called 13" MBP without TouchBar
    No, it is Phil Schiller who tries to sell it that way ;-) If that was true Apple would discontinue the Macbook Air as soon as the 13" MBP without Touch Bar is launched. That 13" MBP still belongs to the Pro line, not to the entry-level line like the Macbook Air.

    The Air was never intended to be the "entry-level" line.  It was a premium "thin and light" product that fit between the consumer and pro lines.
    I would gladly agree to not use the term entry-level anymore...
  • Reply 51 of 60
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,904member
    ireland said:
    macxpress said:
    I don't know why Apple would leave the MacBook Air in their lineup still. The only thing I can think of is they want a sub $1,000 Mac laptop and they can't get the price point of the 12" MacBook down to that yet. I still think the days of the MacBook Air are limited though.
    I don't want to lose power and battery life and screen size and MagSafe and SD Card and pay more money. I don't want to lose those things and pay the same money. I genuinely prefer the MBA to MB as a machine for the above reasons. Yes, it hasn't Retina and that's a big deal, but is has all the above and I'd sacrifice even Retina for them. Seriously. My ideal Mac laptop maybe replaces USB on the MBA with USBc and adds a Retina display and perhaps an ever more efficient proc. Or take MBP 13" and add MagSafe, SD Card and lower the price. I don't need Touch Bar.
    Two words...OH WELL! You will eventually lose it. Deal with it. MagSafe isn't all that sometimes anyways. The only defense you have with it is the occurrence of someone tripping over the cord. Other than that, MagSafe kinda sucks. 
  • Reply 52 of 60
    skiball7skiball7 Posts: 21member
    What are the chances these new Macbook Pro's can have more than 16GB of Ram?
  • Reply 53 of 60
    linkmanlinkman Posts: 1,046member
    Here's my wish list for the MBA:

    11", 13", and 15" models 
    Magsafe
    Retina screen
    Same ports
    Price <$1000
    Similar dimensions and weight
    Similar battery life

    baconstang
  • Reply 54 of 60
    palegolaspalegolas Posts: 1,361member
    I think the biggest not-much-talked-about feature of the TouchBar MacBook Pro is its stable thermal design. It's probably the best Apple laptop ever in that regard? It runs cool and stable under even hardcore video compression, with just a tad of fan. I want a faster processor with 32GB RAM and stuff.. But in real world use, the thermal stability is just as important, or even more important since I'm often recording sound with the computer in the same room. I don't want a screaming hot computer with a whining fan. So if they can get a new Kabylake version with 32GB to run just as thermally stable as the current design - I'm all in. If not, I think I'd rather go with the current design after all... :-/
  • Reply 55 of 60
    shapetablesshapetables Posts: 201member
    palegolas said:
    I think the biggest not-much-talked-about feature of the TouchBar MacBook Pro is its stable thermal design. It's probably the best Apple laptop ever in that regard? It runs cool and stable under even hardcore video compression, with just a tad of fan. I want a faster processor with 32GB RAM and stuff.. But in real world use, the thermal stability is just as important, or even more important since I'm often recording sound with the computer in the same room. I don't want a screaming hot computer with a whining fan. So if they can get a new Kabylake version with 32GB to run just as thermally stable as the current design - I'm all in. If not, I think I'd rather go with the current design after all... :-/
    No (meant for power-cord) desktop memory chips please, unless of course the processor is a Xeon and the memory is ECC.

    MBP15 fans can really get going with UltraFine radiation collectors connected to the 87W data/power ports.
  • Reply 56 of 60
    bsenkabsenka Posts: 801member
    macxpress said:
    I don't know why Apple would leave the MacBook Air in their lineup still. The only thing I can think of is they want a sub $1,000 Mac laptop and they can't get the price point of the 12" MacBook down to that yet. I still think the days of the MacBook Air are limited though.
    A lot of people want more processing power than a the m series can provide.
    baconstang
  • Reply 57 of 60
    frank777frank777 Posts: 5,839member
    Why is a 3-page thread about Future Hardware at the top of the Current Hardware section?
  • Reply 58 of 60
    uraharaurahara Posts: 733member
    Interesting. What's about iPad Air? /s
    The MacBook Air will never die.

    i wonder if the new MacBooks will still use U family processors?
  • Reply 59 of 60
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member
    macxpress said:
    ireland said:
    macxpress said:
    I don't know why Apple would leave the MacBook Air in their lineup still. The only thing I can think of is they want a sub $1,000 Mac laptop and they can't get the price point of the 12" MacBook down to that yet. I still think the days of the MacBook Air are limited though.
    I don't want to lose power and battery life and screen size and MagSafe and SD Card and pay more money. I don't want to lose those things and pay the same money. I genuinely prefer the MBA to MB as a machine for the above reasons. Yes, it hasn't Retina and that's a big deal, but is has all the above and I'd sacrifice even Retina for them. Seriously. My ideal Mac laptop maybe replaces USB on the MBA with USBc and adds a Retina display and perhaps an ever more efficient proc. Or take MBP 13" and add MagSafe, SD Card and lower the price. I don't need Touch Bar.
    Two words...OH WELL! You will eventually lose it. Deal with it. MagSafe isn't all that sometimes anyways. The only defense you have with it is the occurrence of someone tripping over the cord. Other than that, MagSafe kinda sucks. 

    In what ways does it suck?

    Super easy to connect.
    Super easy to disconnect.
    Securely attached, but not so securely that your notebook goes flying when someone trips on the cord.
    Provides power.
    Small.

    That's everything I'd want from a power cable.  I can't think of any other power cable that comes close.
    linkman
  • Reply 60 of 60
    MplsPMplsP Posts: 3,990member
    crowley said:
    macxpress said:
    Two words...OH WELL! You will eventually lose it. Deal with it. MagSafe isn't all that sometimes anyways. The only defense you have with it is the occurrence of someone tripping over the cord. Other than that, MagSafe kinda sucks. 

    In what ways does it suck?

    Super easy to connect.
    Super easy to disconnect.
    Securely attached, but not so securely that your notebook goes flying when someone trips on the cord.
    Provides power.
    Small.

    That's everything I'd want from a power cable.  I can't think of any other power cable that comes close.
    Totally agree. Magsafe was one of those Genius inventions of the Apple of yesteryear. It's saved my MBA many times. I guess Macxpress will happily have his new MBP on the floor with the USB C connector still attached...
    linkman
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