The Apple rumor milling machinery has been churning lately with reports that Apple isreadying a young consumer laptopthat ’s thinner than the MacBook Air , available in various colour , and mayhap has the next generation of Apple silicon . Of of course , it could very well be an update to the MacBook Air , but it seems to me like Apple is taking another crack at replace its iconic notebook .
Apple has tried to interchange the MacBook Air before — adisastrous attemptthat end up with both of its likely replacements being cancelled and the Air revived . If Apple is indeed trying again , will this fourth dimension be dissimilar ? Will Apple ’s customers , who appear to adore the MacBook Air , follow the company ’s lead ? It all depends on how Apple approaches the changeover — and whether it ’s willing to make a clean break .
Dreaming in color
The reports of a new consumer Mac laptop coming latterly this year contain point that sound almost too safe to be truthful , but they seem to be legitimate . The new excogitation would be more in line with the iPhone and iPad Pro , with fewer curves . The more muted colour offer on the front of the new M1 iMacs would also be tender on the unexampled laptop . It ’s also likely to make a new take on MagSafe , the bill technology Apple slay from the product communication channel a few long time ago . It would have a fancy mini - LED display like the one found in the newM1 iPad Pro . And most tantalizing of all , it ’s possible that the new miserable - end laptop computer would be one of the first to get a chip new than the M1 that ’s in all current Mac models .
Apple ’s next consumer laptop computer could come in color .
Though the report do n’t bespeak what the production might be called , it seems like Apple is trying very severely to temper most of its products around basic names that can be used alone for the base model , with “ Pro ” appended for the higher - conclusion models . If Apple extended it to the MacBook argument , that would imply this rumored laptop computer might be called MacBook , not MacBook Air .
If that sounds familiar , it ’s because Apple has try this all before . And it did n’t work out for Apple .
Come at the king, you best not miss
Back in 2015 , Apple introduced theMacBook , a flimsy and lite 12 - inch laptop with a Retina display . It never really took off , and Apple discontinue the merchandise a few years later . Whether it was the ware ’s initial $ 1,299 price tag end , very dull Intel central processing unit , single USB - C port , or some combination therefrom , people did n’t buy it — opting alternatively , in many cases , for the $ 999 non - Retina MacBook Air .
The same can be said of the pre - Touch Bar 13 - inch MacBook Pro . They just did n’t bring enough to take down such a beautiful and darling automobile . Today there ’s a $ 999 M1 MacBook Air with a Retina exhibit in the product line , and it ’s middling great . But the last time Apple tried to update its laptops , consumers simply resist the newer , well , and more expensive fashion model and went with the familiar .
The 2015 MacBook never really caught on with users .
Jason Snell
That ’s why I recollect Apple willnottake the most obvious glide slope to releasing a Modern low - end laptop computer , which would be to keep the M1 MacBook Air around at $ 999 and introduce the unexampled , modest MacBook at $ 1,199 or $ 1,299 . This young MacBook will be a far more alluring intersection than the one-time one , but there ’s still a substantial risk that history will repeat itself .
So if Apple wants to shoot down the MacBook Air for real , it ’s going to need to be a little more roundabout .
The Air killer, with a twist
Did you notice something interesting about theconfiguration choice forthe M1 iMacwhen it went on sale a few weeks ago ? The iMac set off at $ 1,299 . But that $ 1,299 modelling does n’t come in all the colors , lacks a GPU kernel , and is lose a couple of USB port and an ethernet port , and does n’t have the Touch ID Magic Keyboard . In a way , there are two M1 iMacs : The cheap model and then the rest of them .
This is how Apple could grapple to roll out a next - generation consumer laptop computer without preserve the current MacBook Air boot around to draw attention . You still need a $ 999 laptop computer ? Sure , the new MacBook start at $ 999 . But it only come in silver and lacks some other key features — maybe the mini - precede screen , maybe the newer Apple mainframe , possibly MagSafe itself .
Then at $ 1,199 , you get a laptop that comes in six colors ( plus silver , for those who ca n’t sense pleasure in their hearts ) , has a more capable C.P.U. , maybe a better presentation , and more . The low - end model “ kills ” the MacBook Air by replace it with a exemplar that pit its Leontyne Price and specs , and it fits better in the product line .
I have to conceive Apple remembers the last clock time it attempted to put back the MacBook Air with something Modern , and wo n’t repeat that mistake . While I ’ll miss the MacBook Air when it cash in one’s chips — it ’s perhaps the defining Mac of the last decade and it ’s all possiblea shrunken - down laptop wo n’t be capable to declare oneself the same battery lifeas the current simulation — it does feel like it ’s meter for Apple toredesign all its Macs . Bring on the new MacBook . I ’ll spend the next few months deciding if I ’d rather have it in blue or orange .
