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A16 11" or 12" MacBook Air

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Zest28

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Jul 11, 2022
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The current 13" M2 MBA is too heavy and light to be classified as "thin and light" as it looks and weighs like a MacBook Pro. To be really a "thin and light" laptop, Apple should go with a thinner and lighter design. The old 12" MBA is a good candidate to bring back to life.

So the A16 is apparently a 6-core chip with 4 effeciency cores and 2 high performance cores, which is more than enough as you don't need many high performance cores for what you will be using a super thin 11" or 12" MBA for.

This could be an interesting laptop.
 
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senttoschool

macrumors 68030
Nov 2, 2017
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1662625620644.png


The M2 Air is lighter than the M1 Air.

No. We do not need a 12" Macbook. People need to move on.

12" Macbook has been replaced by iPad Pro/Air. The original 12" Macbook was released at a time when iPads weren't very powerful in speed, productivity, and applications. Today, iPads should completely replace anything that someone would use a 12" laptop for. Yes, there are a vocal few who insist that they want a smaller Air AND they need macOS. Sorry to you. You're one of 10 people.
 
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Sheepish-Lord

macrumors 68030
Oct 13, 2021
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senttoschool said:
View attachment 2053347

The M2 Air is lighter than the M1 Air.

No. We do not need a 12" Macbook. People need to move on.

12" Macbook has been replaced by iPad Pro/Air. The original 12" Macbook was released at a time when iPads weren't very powerful in speed, productivity, and applications. Today, iPads should completely replace anything that someone would use a 12" laptop for. Yes, there are a vocal few who insist that they want a smaller Air AND they need macOS. Sorry to you. You're one of 10 people.
Click to expand...
Agreed. OP buy an iPad w/keyboard and move on.
 
D

Digitalguy

macrumors 601
Apr 15, 2019
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senttoschool said:
View attachment 2053347

The M2 Air is lighter than the M1 Air.

No. We do not need a 12" Macbook. People need to move on.

12" Macbook has been replaced by iPad Pro/Air. The original 12" Macbook was released at a time when iPads weren't very powerful in speed, productivity, and applications. Today, iPads should completely replace anything that someone would use a 12" laptop for. Yes, there are a vocal few who insist that they want a smaller Air AND they need macOS. Sorry to you. You're one of 10 people.
Click to expand...
Completely disagree. Many people want a 12in MacBook. You have zero statistics other than your own guess. M-series chips can be use easily in that body, especially if they get to 3nm.
By reducing the bezels the screen could go to 12.5in and weigh could stay at 2 pounds.
 
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wyrdness

macrumors 6502
Dec 2, 2008
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322
Digitalguy said:
Completely disagree. Many people want a 12in MacBook. You have zero statistics other than your own guess. M-series chips can be use easily in that body, especially if they get to 3nm.
By reducing the bezels the screen could go to 12.5in and weigh could stay at 2 pounds.
Click to expand...

A few people want one, but if there was sufficient demand then Apple would make one. For me, the current Air is pretty much the perfect thin, light laptop. There's also a general trend towards larger screen sizes, rather than smaller.
 
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Digitalguy

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Apr 15, 2019
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wyrdness said:
A few people want one, but if there was sufficient demand then Apple would make one. For me, the current Air is pretty much the perfect thin, light laptop. There's also a general trend towards larger screen sizes, rather than smaller.
Click to expand...
Again statistics (a few people) based on pure guess... Apple could already be planning to make one but waiting for a 3nm chip to be ready. These "if there was enough demand" are like saying if there were demand for a bigger iPad Apple would make one... guess what, they are making one...
 
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playtech1

macrumors 6502a
Oct 10, 2014
695
889
A couple of extra sizes in the Air lineup would do be very nice - an 11 or 12 inch ultraportable plus a 15 or 16 inch model would be very nice to have.

I don't think the A16 - or the iPhone 14 release generally - suggests this will happen though. Cutting the iPhone Mini for lack of sales makes me think the smaller/cheaper part of Apple's lineup has fallen out of favour. The iPad Mini also feels like a bit of an afterthought and has gone long periods without updates.

Personally as a 12 inch MacBook fan I am disappointed, but doubt Apple will address my wants.
 
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Digitalguy

macrumors 601
Apr 15, 2019
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loybond said:
For a thin and light laptop, I'd want it to be 1 kg. 2.2 pounds.
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Absolutely this or less has been what I have carried in terms of laptop weight over the past years.
The 11.6in Macbook air (2013) at 2.3 pounds and the 2017 12in Macbook at 2 pounds
And, in the Windows world, the even lighter Samsung Notebook 9 at 1.7 pounds and the 2 pounds Thinkpad X1 Nano....
At this weight I'll take my laptop with me even when I am not certain I will need it or when I just have just 10-15 spare minutes on a train for instance.
And cellular is something Apple stubbornly refuses to add to Macs, but hopefully it's only a matter of time...
 
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Digitalguy

macrumors 601
Apr 15, 2019
4,643
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MayaUser said:
thin and light not the thinnest and lightest....big difference
Why 1kg man? too heavy , i want an 500 grams 15" laptop with impressive battery
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Because 1k or even 800gr has been done before (including for 13in), but 500gr is not realistic at all?
 
M

MayaUser

macrumors 68040
Nov 22, 2021
3,177
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Zest28 said:
So the A16 is apparently a 6-core chip with 4 effeciency cores and 2 high performance cores, which is more than enough as you don't need many high performance cores for what you will be using a super thin 11" or 12" MBA for.
Click to expand...
remember even the iphone with A16 that has under 5000mah battery in it with 6.7" display still weights over 200 grams...and you want an 12" display with im guessing enough battery on it +A16 +full size keyboard
 
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loybond

macrumors 6502a
Aug 1, 2010
856
631
The True North, Strong and Free
Digitalguy said:
Absolutely this or less has been what I have carried in terms of laptop weight over the past years.
The 11.6in Macbook air (2013) at 2.3 pounds and the 2017 12in Macbook at 2 pounds
And, in the Windows world, the even lighter Samsung Notebook 9 at 1.7 pounds and the 2 pounds Thinkpad X1 Nano....
At this weight I'll take my laptop with me even when I am not certain I will need it or when I just have just 10-15 spare minutes on a train for instance.
And cellular is something Apple stubbornly refuses to add to Macs, but hopefully it's only a matter of time...
Click to expand...
Those two were the best in terms of portability! The 12" weight was amazing.
 
D

dgdosen

macrumors 68030
Dec 13, 2003
2,817
1,463
Seattle
Let an M1 iPad formally run macos in emulation mode - I'd be all in. The base M1 and a fair bit of ram is great for non-video-producing, non-gaming pro work. I've also run macos Ventura in emulation on an M1 Mac... and it was surprisingly spry. The 11" iPad Pro is ~ 1lb (sans keyboard and pointing device)

One could use it as an iPad for portable use, then 'dock' it to run an emulated M1 mac at a desktop.

Apple would sell a lot more 1TB/16GB iPad Pros if they allowed that.
 
EugW

EugW

macrumors G5
Jun 18, 2017
14,897
12,866
Even A15 is significantly faster than my 27" Core i5-7600 iMac, and is much, much, much faster than my 12" Core m3-7Y32 MacBook. If A16 were paired with sufficient RAM, that would make for a nice MacBook, performance-wise.

That said, I don't see a new 12"-class MacBook anytime soon. The market isn't really clamouring for one. If one did come out though, I'd like to see smaller bezels in a similar form factor. eg. 12.5" screen. However, I personally don't need a MacBook anymore either, due to changes in my work. My next purchase will be an iPad Air or iPad Pro with Magic Keyboard, to replace my 2017 iPad Pro with Smart Keyboard. However, I'm holding off for OLED. Even my 2017 iPad Pro is adequately fast for my mobile needs at this time.
 
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wonderings

macrumors 6502a
Nov 19, 2021
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947
How much lighter and thinner do people really need? Is the weight really bogging people down? Size wise even the "bulkier" MacBook Pros are small. Yes they are bigger then before, but my 14" MacBook Pro still tucks away nicely in a small compartment in my top case on my motorcycle.

If an iPad can do what you need to do then I would say go with an iPad. If I was not a pro user making my living with Adobe and just needed email and web I would stick to an iPad all day long, anything more and I prefer a full featured computer that can handle any task I need it to do. iPads are still limited and not as flexible software wise as a full MacOS computer.
 
EugW

EugW

macrumors G5
Jun 18, 2017
14,897
12,866
wonderings said:
How much lighter and thinner do people really need? Is the weight really bogging people down? Size wise even the "bulkier" MacBook Pros are small. Yes they are bigger then before, but my 14" MacBook Pro still tucks away nicely in a small compartment in my top case on my motorcycle.

If an iPad can do what you need to do then I would say go with an iPad. If I was not a pro user making my living with Adobe and just needed email and web I would stick to an iPad all day long, anything more and I prefer a full featured computer that can handle any task I need it to do. iPads are still limited and not as flexible software wise as a full MacOS computer.
Click to expand...
I disliked using my 13" Macs on the plane in economy class. The 12" is much, much less awkward there and fits in my small travel pack whereas the 13" models don't. I could take a bigger travel pack but I don't want to, and that still doesn't solve the awkwardness issue using it on the plane.

That said, it's moot now since I usually take my 10.5" iPad Pro instead these days.
 
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