Is Apple phasing out the Macbook Air?

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The new mobile Intel CPUs mandate that they include their inferior GPUs by design. A new MacBook Air would therefore have to be a significant downgrade in graphics performance, or have both an integrated and a discrete GPU (which is presumably not viable for the Air).

This could also be the reason.
 
leroidys said:
I never really understood how the air is so much more portable. Its the same footprint. Do the few centimeters of width actually make it that much easier to carry around?
It's much lighter. Probably due to them using cheaper lighter components and leaving a lot of stuff off like the heavy optical drive and using smaller HD's. (1.8" vs 2.5") When you hold one it really is light, but I'd say the tradeoff is not worth it. Though I'd love if my 13" MacBook Pro weighed the same as the Air. 4.5 pounds is too heavy, dammit! :lol (The Air is 3 pounds and much thinner)

Here's hoping for an eventual merging of the two lines.
 
H_Prestige said:
That's probably a better idea. The mac mini has the same internals as the 13" macbooks after all. Just get one of those to take with you and plug it into a monitor for home use.
Yup. Just get a kick ass monitor for home, then plug your MacBook Pro into it while home. Add a bluetooth keyboard and mouse and you can keep the laptop closed on the desk while using the monitor.
 
that's why i like the imac/ipad combo though - i don't know who all these people are who need to use final cut pro on the train. i mean, i'm sure they exist, but they surely can't sustain the entire non-netbook laptop market.
 
I got an old 12" powerbook off ebay around a month ago (only 200 bucks. how could I say no?). I love the smallish form factor.


I think if the macbook air were to shrink down to 11 or 12", keep the fullsize keyboard but reduce the footprint (and price) by a bit, it wold be even more attractive to the heavy commuters who are its target audience right now.

as a 13" device, it's really shadowed by the already pretty thin and light macbook pro.
 
I think the iPad has removed any need to shrink the Air. Netbook sales are drying up, and Apple already has the answer for that segment.
 
Maybe it's taking them so long for a refresh because they're having trouble figuring out a way to Kanye-proof it.
 
Tobor said:
I think the iPad has removed any need to shrink the Air. Netbook sales are drying up, and Apple already has the answer for that segment.
You mean the article showing netbook growth slowing down? Did people really think 600+% growth YoY was substainable?
 
delirium said:
You mean the article showing netbook growth slowing down? Did people really think 600+% growth YoY was substainable?
No, this article, where netbook sales are continuing to drop, the CEO of Asus specifically mentions the iPad as a reason, and they downgrade shipment forecasts for the future.

I'm not saying netbooks will disappear completely, just that Apple already has the answer for the segment who might buy one.
 
delirium said:
You mean the article showing netbook growth slowing down? Did people really think 600+% growth YoY was substainable?
Maybe netbook sales are strong because they're like $200 less than proper notebooks?

It's not the form factor, it's the price.
 
Worm_Buffet said:
The new mobile Intel CPUs mandate that they include their inferior GPUs by design. A new MacBook Air would therefore have to be a significant downgrade in graphics performance, or have both an integrated and a discrete GPU (which is presumably not viable for the Air).

This could also be the reason.
Their new integrated GPUs are actually pretty goddamn decent though.

Also, the MacBook Air was always clearly a way for consumers to subsidize Apple R&D. I think it'll probably get phased out the next time Apple updates the base MacBook's form factor (in favor of a thinner MacBook, though not quite as thin as the Air).
 
Proud owner of a MBA for two year.

I got a 13" MBP this week. There's no way I'm going back to the MBA.

In fack, my only complain about the MPB is the super drive: I DON'T NEED IT. I'm so putting a 128gb SSD in this baby btw
 
Gouken said:
i have a 13" MBP, was thinking of selling....but i guess i'm gonna stick to it since i have an iPad as well, its a shame the pad doesn't support flash.
It really is, sometimes I notice my battery life is 9-10 hours and video runs really well and I get annoyed.
 
UnluckyKate said:
Proud owner of a MBA for two year.

I got a 13" MBP this week. There's no way I'm going back to the MBA.

In fack, my only complain about the MPB is the super drive: I DON'T NEED IT. I'm so putting a 128gb SSD in this baby btw
Exactly why I think they should remove it from the Pro and offer it as a separate external device like they do for the air for the people who do need it once in a while but not all the time. I don't need to carry the drive with me. I'n not going to be installing OS X while I'm on the go. And most software I use, actually all software I use is downloadable online these days and I only get a CD to rip once in a blue moon. Same with DVD's. It's basically just dead weight that could be used for something else.

Though I don't want an SSD. I need more space, not less. And especially not less for a much higher price no matter what the speed is. I'm holding on to hope that we get 2TB laptop drives within the next year. Then I can carry every single file I have with me including my vast personally ripped DVD collection. This is my dream. But scientists have barely made it to 1TB in a laptop so far. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
 
Sapiens said:
Speaking of Apple. I'm considering the newest MacMini for a main desktop for school (I don't game on PC).

It it worthwhile??
You can buy an Acer Revo for 170, you can even install OSX if you bother.
 
I think there's still room for the MacBook Air between the MacBook Pro and the iPad in Apple's lineup. Here's what I think they could do for the next MacBook Air:

• Screen size between iPad and MacBook Pro, maybe 11 inches?
• One of the advantages the original MacBook Air had was that it was the first of the MacBooks to give the wide range of multitouch gestures that can be done on its trackpad. Now all Macbooks support that, so a new MacBook Air could introduce some other new control method, like making the screen a touchscreen (still keeping the keyboard and regular trackpad though), or basically just increasing the touch sensitive area on it.
• Let it dual boot OSX and iOS (kinda like BootCamp with Windows now)
• Make a 3G version
 
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