Increase the screen size for the 11" air body?

[Eggtastic]

11" MBA form factor has appeared to win a lot of people over, including myself. I originally was going to shoot for the 13" MBA but after a visit to the apple store and numerous youtube unboxings, MBA 11" will be my next purchase as soon as the updates arrive.

My only compliant is the thick bezel and i have researched some feel the same. Would it hurt apple to promote a new 12" screen but keep the 11" form factor? Obviously it would be difficult and not consistent with the odd numbered screen sizes, but sure would be more of an eye catcher.

Thoughts?

 

[Oppressed]

I think the screen itself is too thick to fit in the tapered edges. The reason the bezel is so thick because of the full sized keyboard in the design.

 

[Mac32]

That doesn't make sense... Most likely the 11.6' screen was the most available and cheapest size to use for the MBA. A 12' 16:10 screen size is not a standard size AFAIK, and would be more expensive for Apple. I do agree however, that the smallest MBA should definately have a slightly bigger screen. The bezel is unnecessarily thick.

 

[applewins]

I don't know if the bezel is thicker than the one on a MBP ? maybe it just seems bigger because of the smaller screen.

I think that's a good point to work on for apple. If they make the screen larger (more inches) by keeping the footprint it would be a total win for them. But I don't see that coming for the 2011 MBA, if so, they had to do a complete refresh of the product, which isn't expected to happen.

But I think Apple should work in this direction, because this leads us to thinner, lighter products (the 11'' model would be smaller in this case, on the 13'' you could build a 15'' screen into, etc.). Maybe that's something we'll see in the new iPhone, a larger screen (4'') while it keeps the total size more or less by just making the screen larger, not the product.

who knows, who knows

 

[PorterRocks]

I've never seen an 11" MBA in person, so I can't speculate.

However, I would like if the MBA could adopt the same single sheet of glass like the MBP's have over the screen. That would eliminate the aluminum bezel and would make the screen appear larger.

 

[hfg]

I've never seen an 11" MBA in person, so I can't speculate.

However, I would like if the MBA could adopt the same single sheet of glass like the MBP's have over the screen. That would eliminate the aluminum bezel and would make the screen appear larger.

Please ... don't even suggest that!

The glass cover over the display is like a mirror reflecting your own image and everything behind you ... including the sunny window! The MBP's are terrible with this unless you buy the optional "non glare" screen which does not have the glass cover and does have a similar bezel to the MBA.

The current standard MBA display is much better than the glass MBP!

 

[applewins]

Please ... don't even suggest that!

The glass cover over the display is like a mirror reflecting your own image and everything behind you ... including the sunny window! The MBP's are terrible with this unless you buy the optional "non glare" screen which does not have the glass cover and does have a similar bezel to the MBA.

The current standard MBA display is much better than the glass MBP!

In this case they could offer an anti-glare and a glossy display so that everyone get the most suitable product, as they do on the MBP.

 

[hfg]

I have the 11" and 13" and would also like the actual display area to fill the lid with minimal bezel around it. I think previous posts have all touched on reasons why it isn't being done.

1) The display module itself may have circuitry area around the actual display panel which prevents it being able to display clear to the edge.

2) These use standard display panels already in production, probably for high volume TV use, and tooling a small production run of a special size would be too expensive.

3) In the 11" model the case dimensions are probably the result of trying to keep a standard sized keyboard layout, and there isn't a standard display panel available to match it (see #2).

4) Nothing can be in the space around the edge where the case tapers down to the "knife edge" thinness. Making the case thicker here would certainly change the aesthetic good looks of the case, and might even affect the structural rigidity engineered into the case.

Hopefully the engineers can work to squeeze a larger display into the same case for future models. It would really nice to have a 15" display with the same resolution as the current 13" Air without changing the case size.

 

[Beanoir]

I don't think i've seen a notebook/netbook where the screen fills the entire area of the lid, not sure it's possible or i'm sure in this day and age of squeezing as much in to given space as possible it would have been done already.

 

[hfg]

In this case they could offer an anti-glare and a glossy display so that everyone get the most suitable product, as they do on the MBP.

Yes, that would be a good possibility.

I have a 15" MBP with the non-glare high resolution display and the standard MB Air display is very close in quality with respect to glare. I think the standard (no extra cost) MB Air display is an excellent compromise to keep the display readable. I suppose someone could offer darker trims to cover the bezel if the aluminum was bothersome. The MBP display does have better color characteristics, but that is the result of the display panel technology which hasn't been adopted for the Air series, probably to keep the costs down.

Of course, having more models available (SKUs) also makes it more difficult for a store to have the one you want on the shelf ... so you end up having to order a BTO unit and wait for it.

 

[reputationZed]

Unless I'm mistaken the WiFi antena in located in the bezel above the screen. Relocating the antena to bum up screen size would likely lead to poor WiFi performance. The trade offs not worth it in my opinion. Bumping up from 11.6 to 12 is less than a 4% gain, bumping up to 12.6 is less than an 8% gain. Either way it's not much of a gain for the extra cost and aggravation in adopting a non standard screen size. I'd also worry about reliability if the bezel becomes to thin, doing so may put too much stress on the screen. A third issue is that there is not a lot of separation between a 12" screen and a 13" screen. It might be a good idea if Apple wanted to take the MBA down to a single model, but as both are selling well I can't see why they would want to do that.

 

[Oppressed]

Keep in mind that Apple naturally has been known to put a lot of thought and attention to detail in their products and I'm sure they had to keep the bezel that size for a technical reason.

These are the people who don't like a button on the iphone... because its a button...

 

[Acronyc]

I didn’t like the bezel at first, but I got used to it. As others have said I’m sure it’s a combination of technical necessity and also the availability of common screen sizes like 11.6. The screen on the MBA is perfect, I think, because it has a glossy finish which makes colors look really nice, but doesn’t have the glass over it which makes it less reflective than the typical MBP. While a smaller bezel and bigger screen would be nice, I hope they leave it as it is without the glass covering the screen.

 

[cherishzm]

11" MBA bezel does look unacceptably thick after looking at my 17" MBP's anti-glare's super thin bezel It'd look more beautiful with thinner bezel. BTW, MBA's screen looks gorgeous.

 

[leftywamumonkey]

.4 inches bigger? Apple would also want to differentiate the 11.6 from the 13.3/

 

[martm]

For me it is hard to believe that Apple initially actually designed the Air with that thick, out of proportion bezel. I tend to believe that bezel came after selecting the screen.

The choice could not be warranted only by technical reasons because there are good examples of small notebooks with slim bezele. For instance, LG Xnote P210 has 12.5" screen (http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/28/lg-xnote-p210-claims-worlds-thinnest-bezel-title-our-undying-a/).

I would very much like to see a bit bigger screen in the same body.

 

[Azathoth]

Thoughts?

No chance for 12" whilst a 13" exists.

Aesthetically it wouldn't work in the Apple store and not a large enough price/features delta.

 

[frenchamp]

The integrated isight could also be a limiting factor