2019 Ice Lake MBA?

[UltimaKilo]

From everything I have been reading about Ice Lake over the last few months, it stands that the MBA might be one of the biggest beneficiaries in Apple’s notebook lineup from Ice Lake.

What can we reasonably expect from Ice Lake, other than LPDDR4 RAM support and it’s 11th gen iGPU sporting over 1 teraflop of power? Will battery life improve significantly from the shrink and LPDDR4? Will we see a processing jump of more than 15%? I’m just curious!

 

[Macintoshrumors]

I really doubt it considering airs use a y series chip. Battery boost will be more likely with it.

 

[Dulcimer]

From the little info I've managed to find online, we should expect:

• 10nm+ process node
• LPDDR4 support
• Integrated TB3 controller
• In-silicon Spectre and Meltdown mitigations
  
• 4-core configs + faster cores
• Far better graphics

The first 2 or 3 points suggest to me plenty of efficiency gains, so a noticeable (1h+ extra) battery life.

The last 3 points are the truly exciting ones: the Ice Lake-Y chips should bring a big jump in performance compared to previous Y-series chips. Of course, this increased perf headroom is due to the efficiency gains, so battery life improvement may not be as significant as previously stated.

If Apple can finally fix their damn keyboard with a 4th revision, then the 2019 MBA will be the "holy grail" portable Mac imo. One that I'd expect to own for several years until ARM Macs become commonplace with reasonably matured software support.

 

[Aquamite]

From the little info I've managed to find online

And the sources are?

 

[Dulcimer]

And the sources are?

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Lake_(microarchitecture)

2. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apple-inc-apos-12-inch-004600248.html

3. https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/intel-meltdown-spectre-silicon-fixes-ice-lake/

All of these can be found from googling. The first two especially cover all the points. The 2nd source refers to MacBook but it’s clear that it’d also refer to the MBA since that wasn’t updated at the time of the article.

 

[Dave245]

Who’s to say that Apple will update the MacBook Air this year? We had spec bump updates to the iMac the other week, no spec bumps came for any other Mac.

 

[UltimaKilo]

Who’s to say that Apple will update the MacBook Air this year? We had spec bump updates to the iMac the other week, no spec bumps came for any other Mac.

If all of this is true, it would be difficult for Apple to not slap one of these on the MBA since the more efficient and faster LPDDR4, smaller die, and over 1 TF iGPU. The Y model will be one of intels biggest advancements in architecture.

 

[Aquamite]

I just don’t see Ice Lake coming this year as 9th gen H CPUs are just rebranded Coffe Lake ones. It seems odd that all the new changes would come to the Y chips only for the 9th gen series.

 

[Glockworkorange]

Who’s to say that Apple will update the MacBook Air this year? We had spec bump updates to the iMac the other week, no spec bumps came for any other Mac.

I think a more interesting question is this: what do you do with the Air and it's keyboard if re-designed MacBook Pro's are released this summer? Do they re-design the Air? It was released less than a year ago.

Apple's laptops are such a mess.

 

[617660]

I think a more interesting question is this: what do you do with the Air and it's keyboard if re-designed MacBook Pro's are released this summer? Do they re-design the Air? It was released less than a year ago.

Apple's laptops are such a mess.

So...they won't do that.

Problem solved.

 

[Dave245]

I think a more interesting question is this: what do you do with the Air and it's keyboard if re-designed MacBook Pro's are released this summer? Do they re-design the Air? It was released less than a year ago.

Apple's laptops are such a mess.

I’m not sure, the keyboard will need to be replaced. If they redesign the keyboard on the Pro because of the keyboard issue they can’t keep the same keyboard on the Air and 12” MacBook.

 

[Glockworkorange]

I’m not sure, the keyboard will need to be replaced. If they redesign the keyboard on the Pro because of the keyboard issue they can’t keep the same keyboard on the Air and 12” MacBook.

I agree--can't keep the Air KB if they replace the Pro KB.

I'm not sure the little MB is long for this world, OR I think it's a candidate for the ARM treatment.

My personal opinion is all modern Macs should have at least 1 TB3 port.

 

[Dave245]

I agree--can't keep the Air KB if they replace the Pro KB.

I'm not sure the little MB is long for this world, OR I think it's a candidate for the ARM treatment.

My personal opinion is all modern Macs should have at least 1 TB3 port.

They can’t stand on stage and announce a new keyboard in the Pro but not in the other machines, especially with the reliability issues the keyboard has been having.

I think the MacBook COULD become a 11” or 12” version of the Air. Add Touch ID and and extra port.
The MacBook was suppose to replace the Air, it never got cheaper and it people kept on buying the Air. So I believe Apple went back to the drawing board and made a new Air.

If the guy in the Apple store I went to over the weekend is to be believed, the Air sells really well. He told me that people use to buy the 13” MacBook Pro but since the new Air came out, people have been buying that instead.

I even asked him if i should buy the Pro and he recommended I get the Air. I was taken a back a little, one of their employees recommended I buy something cheaper rather than spending more money (on the 13” Touch Bar Pro).

 

[Glockworkorange]

They can’t stand on stage and announce a new keyboard in the Pro but not in the other machines, especially with the reliability issues the keyboard has been having.

I think the MacBook COULD become a 11” or 12” version of the Air. Add Touch ID and and extra port.
The MacBook was suppose to replace the Air, it never got cheaper and it people kept on buying the Air. So I believe Apple went back to the drawing board and made a new Air.

If the guy in the Apple store I went to over the weekend is to be believed, the Air sells really well. He told me that people use to buy the 13” MacBook Pro but since the new Air came out, people have been buying that instead.

I even asked him if i should buy the Pro and he recommended I get the Air. I was taken a back a little, one of their employees recommended I buy something cheaper rather than spending more money (on the 13” Touch Bar Pro).

I have a 13 inch pro with a TB but in reality, the Air is a better machine for my needs. I give zero licks about the TB. I’m really used to a wider color gamut and TrueTone, so not sure if I could make the switch.

 

[Dave245]

I have a 13 inch pro with a TB but in reality, the Air is a better machine for my needs. I give zero licks about the TB. I’m really used to a wider color gamut and TrueTone, so not sure if I could make the switch.

The only thing with the Air (apart from the keyboard) is the price. Because I get a discount, I can jump from the Air to the quad core MacBook Pro with Touch Bar for around £250, to me it would be worth it if I was sure I would use the extra power.

My usage consists of long writing sessions, some photo editing in Pixelmator Pro (but just one image at a time), web browsing, Netflix and YouTube. The only other thing I may do is subscribe to Apple’s Arcade service for games when it comes out later this year (depending on the games).

 

[Falhófnir]

I want to say wait and see on Ice lake - the last I heard, Intel had completely scrapped their original 10nm designs and planned to just move their existing 14nm design over to a 10nm process with no transistor density increase - that suggests to me any gains will be because the chips will be cooler running allowing them to up clock speeds, so it might be more comparable to Skylake -> Kaby lake than Haswell -> Broadwell.

 

[vaugha]

Quad-core cpus would be sweet but that would cannibalize the mbp lineup. Keyboard concerns will always be there as long as it’s butterfly based.

 

[Aquamite]

When is it more likely for a new MBA to be announced in 2019? October? November?

 

[Dave245]

When is it more likely for a new MBA to be announced in 2019? October? November?

I don’t know if Apple will hold an October event this year. Personally I would like to see updates to the Mac lineup as soon as possible! WWDC is possible, they are rumoured to be thinking about showing off the new Mac Pro there.

 

[Aquamite]

I don’t know if Apple will hold an October event this year. Personally I would like to see updates to the Mac lineup as soon as possible! WWDC is possible, they are rumoured to be thinking about showing off the new Mac Pro there.

I’m talking about the MBA not the Mac Pro. And as far as we know there won’t be any new CPU suitable for the MacBook Air in June being Ice Lake chips expected to come–being very optimistic about it– in late 2019.

 

[Glockworkorange]

Quad-core cpus would be sweet but that would cannibalize the mbp lineup. Keyboard concerns will always be there as long as it’s butterfly based.

True. It also looks like Apple is not going to give a choice on processor speeds on the Air. I foresee one dual core option and that's it.
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I don’t know if Apple will hold an October event this year. Personally I would like to see updates to the Mac lineup as soon as possible! WWDC is possible, they are rumoured to be thinking about showing off the new Mac Pro there.

If they're smart, they'll rev it in June for back to school. It's a better student option for most folks I think.

Everything got rev'd at WWDC 2017 and I think that would be smart to do this year, unless the chips just aren't ready. Slip stream the Air and Mini in a slide and then bring someone on stage to explain the pro machines.

 

[Aquamite]

If they're smart, they'll rev it in June for back to school.

It's not about they being smart or dumb. It's about the Intel chips being available and they are not for June.

 

[Dave245]

I’m talking about the MBA not the Mac Pro. And as far as we know there won’t be any new CPU suitable for the MacBook Air in June being Ice Lake chips expected to come–being very optimistic about it– in late 2019.

Ok so maybe a spec bump at the end of the year. I can’t see them announcing in June at an event, not unless there are other things that headline the event.

What about MacBook Pro’s are there processors ready for those around June time?

 

[Glockworkorange]

It's not about they being smart or dumb. It's about the Intel chips being available and they are not for June.

I made a post earlier indicating things are chip dependent---the post you quote is an assumption the chips will be ready.

If the chips aren't ready, you're absolutely right--can't release new machines without the new internals.

 

[Aquamite]

What about MacBook Pro’s are there processors ready for those around June time?

It seems like the Core H chips suitable for the 15" MacBook Pro will indeed be ready around June but I haven't found anything about the Core U chips suitable for the 13" MacBook Pro. More here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/waiting-for-the-2019-mbp-merged.2127125/page-76#post-27280383