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Don't need an M3 chip in the Air. Need Liquid Retina Display and 120hz options on both the 13" and 15"
 
The SoC or the MBA 15"?
the SoC. people expected yearly updates and then the worldwide silicon shortage happened—just feels like quite a trend on MR where they’re constantly in a lose-lose situation.

no yearly updates: “where are the updates we were promised?!”

yearly updates: “why are they upgrading the computer just a YEAR after I bought my new one?!”

thankfully, there are a lot of voices of reason here. a yearly upgrade has become virtually unnecessary with the advent of AS (and this extends to the A-series, which it’s clear was their near-15 year practice run for the M-series). (oh man, another post gushing about my M2 MBP) my laptop perfectly suits my needs and barring some kind of accident (and even then, minus loss/theft, I’m covered under AppleCare+ after one too many out-of-pocket logic board replacements over the years), I can’t see myself updating for at least another five years.

unless I magically become rich and can update just for the sake of it. but I’d like to think I would allocate that capital in a bit wiser of a manner 🤪
 
What?!? Oh no!!! I ordered the 15 inch Air to get some work done, but I could have waited a year and got it with the M3 processor!! Writing e-mails will be SO SO much faster on the M3, too!! UGH! I already regret the stoopid M2 15 inch Air I bought and I don’t have it yet…
 
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the SoC. people expected yearly updates and then the worldwide silicon shortage happened—just feels like quite a trend on MR where they’re constantly in a lose-lose situation.

no yearly updates: “where are the updates we were promised?!”

yearly updates: “why are they upgrading the computer just a YEAR after I bought my new one?!”

thankfully, there are a lot of voices of reason here. a yearly upgrade has become virtually unnecessary with the advent of AS (and this extends to the A-series, which it’s clear was their near-15 year practice run for the M-series). (oh man, another post gushing about my M2 MBP) my laptop perfectly suits my needs and barring some kind of accident (and even then, minus loss/theft, I’m covered under AppleCare+ after one too many out-of-pocket logic board replacements over the years), I can’t see myself updating for at least another five years.

unless I magically become rich and can update just for the sake of it. but I’d like to think I would allocate that capital in a bit wiser of a manner 🤪
You would want annual updates so that Mac chips' CPU cores, GPU cores, Neural Engine, Media Engine and other chip tech would be aligned with the iPhone instead of every 19.5 months.

So say 4-6 years or later from date of purchase you'd have better tech on a 12 month cycle.

If you bought a 2014 Mac 14nm by 2024 your Mac would have a 3nm chip with the tech of the latest iPhone scaled up for macOS.
 
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Look at how long Apple is supporting OS updates on iPads, iPhones, and Apple Watch. If that's any indication, no reason an M2-based Mac gets at least 6 years of OS updates.
M-series chips COULD get the longest support of any machine Apple has made so far. I don’t think the M1s are going to seem too slow in a couple of years and may last for a much longer time than their Intel machines did. Remember, Apple has pretty successfully converted to a services company as well as hardware, and if they can keep you paying for services on old devices, why not?
 
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Lets hope future hardware updates are launched outside of WWDC, it made the keynote too long this year. M3 Pro MacBook Pro’s and Apple Vision Pro in January, Mac Mini, MacBook Air’s and iMac in April, Studio and Pro M3 Max and Ultra updates at WWDC.
 
I think some of these leakers like Gurman don’t actually have a source for some things. Of course Apple’s going to release an M3 version next year. Let me guess “according to a rumor” they’re also releasing an iPhone 15 in October.🤣
NO. It will be the XV. Personally, I'm really excited by the חי version.
 
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I wonder what there is to work with on an M3 Macbook Air? As soon as the new processor is available, they will be able to put it in the devices. But first they will want to sell the surplus M2 chips, hence the Air 15 with M2.
The whole rumour business is dead by now, the exciting phase with Apple Silicon and the new designs is over for now.
 
Not too exciting news. I won't be buying another Mac until a 27" (preferably 32") M3 iMac is available. Although I might consider a Mac Studio if a reasonably priced large Retina display finally shows up. To be fair, my M1 Max MB Pro is amazing and I expect to be using it for 5-10 years so I'm not in any rush anyway.
I'm in the same boat. Of course we'll both be faced then with the "problem" of that hoped-for M3 iMac having a plain Jane M3, and we know that there will be Pro, Max and Ultra versions of that chip coming out eventually. So do we wait for some future thing to be better? Or buy what exists, as soon as it's announced?

We can all sit around not buying things because future versions of that thing will be better. If that's the case, we don't really need them. Everyone has their own need-vs-want choices to make. And a likely future product doesn't make a just-released product obsolete.

But if we genuinely need to upgrade, then we get what's available that suits our needs. We all know something better will be released in the future, so this whole thread is really no surprise. "Not too exciting news," as you said.
 
Ughhhh! What was the point of releasing MacBook Air in M2 last week then 😑.

I’m really hoping with an M3 Chip, Apple can push out 24 hours of battery life on a single charge.
This. It’s very late in the game to introduce M2 in a new machine. The M2 debuted a year ago in the 13” version, and now the 15” a year later.

Here’s hoping that once M3 releases, all machines will get it sooner rather than later.

I don’t want an M2 15” Air while and M3 13” Air and Mac Mini and iMac have been out for 10 months.
 
Question. If the 15" MBA has the same battery life than the 13", does this mean the 15" battery life is less because the screen is larger?
 
You would want annual updates so that Mac chips' CPU cores, GPU cores, Neural Engine, Media Engine and other chip tech would be aligned with the iPhone instead of every 19.5 months.

So say 4-6 years or later from date of purchase you'd have better tech on a 12 month cycle.

If you bought a 2014 Mac 14nm by 2024 your Mac would have a 3nm chip with the tech of the latest iPhone scaled up for macOS.

That makes no sense.

Sure you loose up to 1 year if the Mac you bought is at the end of upgrade cycle, but otherwise M-chips will just skip a generation of A-chips every once in a while.

My guess is that will lag behind most of the time as bigger chips tend to have worse yields on a new and the iPhone has to priority at Apple.

Other than that, the M3 Air won't get a new case design anytime soon (neither 13 nor 15") so it is just designing a new logicboard for M3 (and maybe M4 depending on timing) before they redo the whole thing.
 
Is anyone else disappointed by the 15" battery life ? Had such high expectations to see it have the best battery out of the whole MacBook lineup

Couldn't they fit a larger battery in there ?
More battery life is always welcomed, but the battery life of 15 hours wireless web is certainly adequate. For me the biggest issue with the machine is the lack of an SD Card. And for the sake of compatibility for conference attendees and office workers and teachers they should have included a HDMI port. And it would fit because I’ve checked on the 13.6” model. Many people like myself need an SD Card now and then but dislike dongles, adapters and chunky laptops like MBP.

I’m going to keep my 2015 MBA until it packs it in because I prefer the wedge shape of it and it has SD Card which I use now and then.
 
So you think they were likely targeting an M3 launch, but as that seems to still be so far out, they had to rush it out with an M2? Seems plausible given the initial rumours were for it to have M3 (I seem to remember?).

Yes, I think the launch timing was a bit too weird to be a coincidence. In October 2022, Apple publicly stated they expected Mac sales to drop "substantially" the next quarter. The all-new MacBook Air M2 had just started shipping 3 months ago, so the projections must have been very worrying. Internally, Apple must have watched that risk gradually increase in early 2022 and pulled in the schedule for MBA 15. Apple was right and we saw Mac shipments drop by 40%.
 
So after saying for two years that the M3 iMac is coming “Late-2023” now’s it’s early-2024…
 
Look at how long Apple is supporting OS updates on iPads, iPhones, and Apple Watch. If that's any indication, no reason an M2-based Mac gets at least 6 years of OS updates.
6 years' support for a very expensive laptop that might be working fine for a lot longer than that is poor form, in my opinion. Apple should be more than embarrassed that Google can and do supply an up-to-date OS that you can install on older Macs than that.

I look forward to a future EU directive that will clamp down on Apple's OS support policy.
 
You would want annual updates so that Mac chips' CPU cores, GPU cores, Neural Engine, Media Engine and other chip tech would be aligned with the iPhone instead of every 19.5 months.

So say 4-6 years or later from date of purchase you'd have better tech on a 12 month cycle.

If you bought a 2014 Mac 14nm by 2024 your Mac would have a 3nm chip with the tech of the latest iPhone scaled up for macOS.
oh, i’m with you on the ideology behind annual updates—i just don’t think said updates necessitate a need to update every year. that’s where my elaboration came from.
 
oh, i’m with you on the ideology behind annual updates—i just don’t think said updates necessitate a need to update every year. that’s where my elaboration came from.
I'm not buying annually.

More like decennially but I appreciate the advancement in tech occurring every September or November.
 
With WWDC 2023, now out of the way. Apple will not announce M3 chips until WWDC 2024.
Because it wants to make a big, big splash at WWDC 2024.

Johnny Srouji will need to be wheeled out for this announcement, proclaiming how this is the most advanced chip Apple has ever released. You know the usual marketing spiel.

Therefore Apple is now building up its inventory stockpile of M3 processors for a wide range of Apple products. We possibly could get the releases of M3, M3 Pro and Max announced simultaneously at WWDC next year.

Which means M2 MBA15 could get a lifespan of 12 months. Instead of getting wound up over these processors let's all just relax a little.
 
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