I was more referring to their intended roadmap for ARM which was a 2-year transition planned pre-COVID. The supply chain chaos which still has an impact on Apple today has simply meant that they are behind, like many other companies.
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Why the M2 MacBook Air won't come at WWDC
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I was more referring to their intended roadmap for ARM which was a 2-year transition planned pre-COVID. The supply chain chaos which still has an impact on Apple today has simply meant that they are behind, like many other companies.
Considering who the MacBook Air target, why would we even need a rev right now? Yes, I know the M1 is approaching 2 years already, but it still has a lot of headroom for what the target audience does on it: Web, Email, Word-processing, listening music, looking at their photos synced from their iPhone. Most of these tasks are being done in a web browser.
I know that for my M1 MBP I mostly use it for web browsing. These aren’t taxing activities. Apple I believe internally knows this.
Apple could redesign the MacBook Air but they wouldn’t even need to have a M2 rev to justify it. If Apple does release a new MacBook Air before fall, they could likely offer M1 Pro as an upgradable option and have the 8 core be the new entry level model. That in combination with a new design and macOS 13 would be solid upgrade - for the target audience.
I know that for my M1 MBP I mostly use it for web browsing. These aren’t taxing activities. Apple I believe internally knows this.
Apple could redesign the MacBook Air but they wouldn’t even need to have a M2 rev to justify it. If Apple does release a new MacBook Air before fall, they could likely offer M1 Pro as an upgradable option and have the 8 core be the new entry level model. That in combination with a new design and macOS 13 would be solid upgrade - for the target audience.
Given who it targets, why do they need a computer at all?
Given the target market, it’s exactly why Apple is doing a highly cosmetic form factor update with minimal performance bump.
M1 Pro wouldn’t work in a passively cooled device with a small heat spreader, nor would it make sense for the target buyers.
An M1 Pro is whatever Apple wants it to be. The M1 Ultra is just two M1 Maxes fused together.
How about not "Available today" but "New MacBook Air available in August" for example. They can choose any date for the start of sales, or limit the number of countries to start. All these methods were used regularly. As well as with the macos itself, only beta will be presented, release in a few months.
M1 Pro is a 30W processor. Apple can’t wave their hands and stick it in a passively cooled MBA designed for 15W.
Considering I could easily get an M1 Air to throttle when I really pushed it, doing the same with a the hotter running M1-Pro means that I would rarely get the benefits of the M1-Pro in a MacBook Air because it would regularly throttle and run a lower performance levels. The M1-Pro's performance would simply be wasted in a MacBook Air
Wish they'd just drop the 'Air' altogether. MacBook. MacBook Pro. Simple and easy.
You can't stick a CPU in a thermal envelope that's too small. Hence, you will always have an Mx processor in there, not a Pro.
I use mine to develop software. But keep spreading the myth that the M1 MBA is just for email. 😂
What if they keep the old Air in the line-up for a while, at a slightly lower price? Hence its imminent end-of-life doesn’t show up in terms of availability?
Just as they can scale up a A15 SoC to make it an M1, they can scale down the M1 Pro to meet the thermal requirements to run in a MacBook device. Remember, this is not gonna be a wedged (manilla envelope) type Air anyway. Its gonna have a new chassis that will probably be as thick as the 2020 MBP M1 chassis.
You’re a bit confused about this whole “scale up/down” blanket-term thing.
And the next Air, while dropping the tapered designed, is said to be barely thicker than an usb-c port.
The Macbook Air will always have a non-Pro SoC and it will always ship with a tiny 30W charger.
Yes eventually, one day sometime later this decade, there will be an Air with a plain “M4” SoC that will be as powerful as a 2021 M1 Pro while sporting a “scaled down” power consumption.
But today is not that day.
Apple is likely eager to finish their Apple Silicon transition so I would expect some hardware news and at least an announcement of a Mac Pro on AS.
This is a list of some of the hardware that was released or announced at WWDC over the years.
- Power Mac G5 (2003)
- Aluminum Cinema displays (2004)
- Mac Pro (2006)
- iPhone 3G (2008)
- iPhone 3GS (2009)
- iPhone 4 (2010)
- 15-inch MacBook Pro (2012)
- Mac Pro (2013)
- HomePod (2017)
- iMac Pro (2017)
- Mac Pro (2019)
- Apple Silicon (2020)
Wonder how thin they'll go. The 2015 MB was 13.1 mm. The thinnest recent laptop I was able to find is the 9 mm thick 2020 Samsung Galaxy Chromebook:
When it comes to portability, the lighter the better; but I don't know what the point of diminishing returns is for laptop thinness. For the same weight, does a 9 mm thick laptop feel easier to carry around than a 13 mm thick laptop?
For comparison, the 12.9" iPad Pro is 6.4 mm. Would it be nice to have a laptop not much thicker than an iPad? In fact, since iPads are typically used with cases, an iPad might actually end up being thicker, even if you don't get a case with a keyboard.
The thinnest laptops you can buy in 2024 | Digital Trends
Laptops have been getting impossibly thin in the last few years, led by the MacBook Air.
www.digitaltrends.com
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They could launch it a month later, like they did with the 24" iMac and iPad Pro. Annoucned in April. Released in May.
Or the MacBook Air stays the MacBook Air, gets price reduced to $899, and the new 'MacBook' launches at ~$1299. I could see that too.
Edit: Just realized that your suggestion is more in line with what they did to the iPad lineup, so maybe that makes the most sense.
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Agreed that is possible, but it would be after WWDC. Also, when the 24-inch iMac was announced, the 21.5-inch model had become a rotten banana that no one was buying anyway. The A12Z iPad Pro was also turning brown due to the A14 iPad Air. On the other hand, there is nothing pushing Apple to replace M1 MacBook Air.
Thanks for clarifying! Like I said, I wasn't sure if it was a bigger picture thing you were referring to. Much appreciated!