New MBA

[gus6464]

Surprised no one has posted about this.
http://www.apple.com/macbook-air/

The 13" model with 8gb of ram and 128gb SSD is $1039 which is a pretty good deal IMO for a laptop that will last you forever in terms of battery life.

 

[Printer Bandit]

no change to form factor. no care.

 

[Tegeril]

What exactly would you like to see in a form factor change?

 

[tsupersonic]

Yeah, new CPU's are great. Now, give me a retina display...

 

[Kaido]

No Retina, no care

 

[Zink]

Form factor changes:
12.8" 16:10 screen
Narrower bezels
Bonded cover glass
Less taper but thinner
Rounder edges (ipad)

Save weight and space with:
Titanium unibody
Soldered SSD, wifi
No thunderbolt controller
Reduced speakers (more like htc one)

A 1440x900 retina LTPS display should use about half the power of current rMBP display technology. Increase battery slightly if necessary to keep battery life at 10 hours. It probably needs to keep the fan to be able to run the i5 chip with good performance.

 

[Zaap]

No thunderbolt controller

??? Why would anyone want to remove TB? There would be zilch gain in either weight or size.

 

[joshhedge]

No Retina, no care

Get the 13" Retina Pro then.

 

[TheStu]

??? Why would anyone want to remove TB? There would be zilch gain in either weight or size.

Also, a titanium unibody?? Titanium is great and all, but there are other materials out there that would be stronger than aluminum, and easier to work with than titanium.

 

[joshhedge]

Also, a titanium unibody?? Titanium is great and all, but there are other materials out there that would be stronger than aluminum, and easier to work with than titanium.

Not to mention cheaper.

I believe that a low resolution Air will continue to be the stepping stone to the Mac platform at the lower end of the Apple pricing spectrum, a 13" Retina Air would be price comparable to the 13" Retina Pro and for that reason I believe those lines will merge at some point in the future.

 

[Kaido]

Get the 13" Retina Pro then.

Air: 2.96 pounds
Pro: 3.46 pounds

No thanks :biggrin:

 

[Koing]

Still on the fence about splashing the cash on a rMBP 13

Koing

 

[joshhedge]

Air: 2.96 pounds
Pro: 3.46 pounds

No thanks :biggrin:

Because that difference is honestly significant, picking at straws, what's 200 grams if you genuinely want a Mac and a retina display in the 13" form factor. ^_^

 

[Rakehellion]

Save weight and space with:
Titanium unibody
Soldered SSD, wifi
No thunderbolt controller
Reduced speakers (more like htc one)

So make several features worse? I'm not on board with that.

 

[Rakehellion]

Also, a titanium unibody?? Titanium is great and all, but there are other materials out there that would be stronger than aluminum, and easier to work with than titanium.

They tried titanium many, many years ago with the PowerBook G4s.

Aluminum is an excellent conductor of heat which keeps the entire machine cooler. And as far as strength, you want the chassis not to be strong so it absorbs the impact of falls.

 

[Kaido]

Because that difference is honestly significant, picking at straws, what's 200 grams if you genuinely want a Mac and a retina display in the 13" form factor. ^_^

I used to feel that way, but half a pound is a pretty big difference in day-to-day use. The Air is a lot more approachable as a computer due to the light weight; even the modern thinner & lighter Pro laptops are still fairly hefty.

I ended up getting an Acer C720 Chromebook instead (keeping all of the heavy-duty stuff on the desktop Mac) & REALLY like it. The sub-3-pound weight makes it hugely accessible for a grab & go or grab & use laptop. I would have preferred a Retina MBA, but I saved like a grand & really wanted it for specific applications like The Hit List anyway (not for anything heavy like video editing), so I can just RDP into the main box for that if needed.

 

[Zink]

??? Why would anyone want to remove TB? There would be zilch gain in either weight or size.

iPad doesn't even have USB 3 while only 10% of users on macs use thunderbolt. The air is in the middle and USB 3 is good enough for most users while being cheaper and smaller. Thunderbolt requires an extra controller chip and power conversion circuitry to handle 10 watts going to thunderbolt peripherals. When the laptop should only use 10 watts under heavy use total that is a lot of extra circuitry that can be removed to save space. USB 3 is already built into the CPU and requires less power circuitry.

Also, a titanium unibody?? Titanium is great and all, but there are other materials out there that would be stronger than aluminum, and easier to work with than titanium.

I can't see apple going to a composite and no other metal has strength to weight as high. Titanium can be machined just like Al or steel, it would be more expensive but I want it to be awesome.

 

[Zink]

They tried titanium many, many years ago with the PowerBook G4s.

Aluminum is an excellent conductor of heat which keeps the entire machine cooler. And as far as strength, you want the chassis not to be strong so it absorbs the impact of falls.

Wow good point, titanium sucks in the thermal conductivity aspect. I guess it would help it to keep the surface cooler while the fan does most of the work. It wouldn't be good for a passively cooled design though. I do think it would rather a stiff chassis, if they did want it flexy they could just make the Ti thinner.

 

[ponyo]

I used to feel that way, but half a pound is a pretty big difference in day-to-day use. The Air is a lot more approachable as a computer due to the light weight; even the modern thinner & lighter Pro laptops are still fairly hefty.

I ended up getting an Acer C720 Chromebook instead (keeping all of the heavy-duty stuff on the desktop Mac) & REALLY like it. The sub-3-pound weight makes it hugely accessible for a grab & go or grab & use laptop. I would have preferred a Retina MBA, but I saved like a grand & really wanted it for specific applications like The Hit List anyway (not for anything heavy like video editing), so I can just RDP into the main box for that if needed.

Something like the $200 Acer Chromebook is what killed my interest in MBA. I used to want the MBA for the form factor, lightness, and the battery life but I can fulfill 90% of my needs with the Chromebook. Now if I buy Apple laptop, it will be rMBP. MBA needs the retina display to stay relevant.

 

[Rakehellion]

I used to feel that way, but half a pound is a pretty big difference in day-to-day use.

Four times the pixels and twice the CPU performance is a pretty big difference too.

 

[manly]

Still on the fence about splashing the cash on a rMBP 13

Koing

me too. But I've waited this long, I might as well hold out for Broadwell. Or Skylake after it lol?

 

[Zaap]

When the laptop should only use 10 watts under heavy use total that is a lot of extra circuitry that can be removed to save space.

That's not saving any space a user would notice- just removing function for no real reason.

 

[manly]

They tried titanium many, many years ago with the PowerBook G4s.

Aluminum is an excellent conductor of heat which keeps the entire machine cooler. And as far as strength, you want the chassis not to be strong so it absorbs the impact of falls.

I know they were called TiBooks, but was the case material actually made of titanium?

I know they were painted because the paint did wear or chip off...

 

[StinkyPinky]

Meh, 13" MB Air seems pointless. Unless you're a total weakling and can't handle half an extra pound of weight there's no reason not to go for 13" MB Pro which has much superior screen, better cpu, faster SSD, better GPU, and just more options imo. All that for a minimal price difference. The only downside is the lower battery life but 9 hours is enough for me. That's already crazy high.

I love my 13" MB Pro.

 

[TheStu]

I know they were called TiBooks, but was the case material actually made of titanium?

I know they were painted because the paint did wear or chip off...

They had painted trim pieces, but otherwise I think most of the metal shell was titanium