

An 11.88” Retina MacBook Air - danmatte
http://www.fpblog.net/

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shurcooL
It frustrates me more than it should when these high profile articles make
mistakes about basic Mac hardware facts. >.<

> Recall that Apple made the discrete GPU-less 13.3” Retina MacBook Pro
> thinner last year, but not the 15.4” model. These facts would match up
> nicely with a three-tier laptop segmentation strategy. Eventually, Apple
> would sell only three Retina MacBooks ranging from thinnest to thickest,
> stratified by price and screen size: 11.9”, 13.3”, and 15.4”.

The latest 13" rMBP was made thinner than the 13" rMBP before it, but it only
_caught up_ to the thinness of the original 15" rMBP. The first 13" rMBP was
actually thicker than 15" rMBP (something I found quite odd when it first
happened).

(Mid 2012, Early 2013, Late 2013) 15" rMBP - 0.71 in high

(Late 2012, Early 2013) 13" rMBP - 0.75 in high

(Late 2013) 13" rMBP - 0.71 in high

So that entire paragraph is making an argument based on an incorrect
statement.

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danmatte
Good catch. I'll update the post.

To clarify, what I meant by three-tier:

11.9" Retina Air - slightly thicker than the current Air

13.3" Retina Pro

15.4" Retina Pro

And the older Air would stick around for a while.

I really doubt Apple would throw away the Air branding or thinner design.

~~~
shurcooL
Thanks for fixing that. :)

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auctiontheory
Time to upgrade from my 2009 MBP? It's so hard to "throw away" a perfectly
functional laptop that does everything I need - just not as well (I realize)
as a faster, lighter, machine would.

~~~
protomyth
I would wait a bit for reports of how well the retina displays are doing. I
have a MBP 15" that I need to take back in to get the display replaced since
it ghosts the old images for minutes. Also, I am curious if the chipset drives
the display decently.

~~~
mikhailt
If the article linked here is correct, there's nothing to worry about because
it's the same panel as the iPad's screens, just slightly bigger.

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nandhp
This links to the front page of the blog; here's a permalink:
[http://www.fpblog.net/blog/2014/1/20/an-1188-retina-
macbook-...](http://www.fpblog.net/blog/2014/1/20/an-1188-retina-macbook-air)

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marknutter
This is exactly what I've been waiting for to replace my current 11" MacBook
Air. I hope the rumor is true!

~~~
dmarusic16
Except I think the author has this wrong: it won't be "Air" but "Pro", and
will be thicker than the Air and more expensive.

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dagw
More expensive is OK, significantly thicker and heavier is a deal breaker.

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matthewmacleod
I guess, but would you consider the existing 13" MBP to be "significantly"
thicker and heavier? There's already very little differentiation between the
models.

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glhaynes
I bought a 13" MBP to replace my 11" MBA because I was tired of waiting for
retina and the size/weight difference seemed negligible. Regretted it within a
couple of days of just using it around the house.

On a purely numbers basis, the difference doesn't seem significant (hence how
I talked myself into the purchase), but there's a massive "human scale"
threshold that's crossed in that difference. IMO, an 11" MBA feels more "like
an iPad" in those respects vs. a 13" MBP very much feeling "like a computer".

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seunosewa
You're comparing apples and oranges: the 13" Retina Mabook Pro should be
compared with the 13" Macbook Air & not the 11" Air.

~~~
glhaynes
It would be a better comparison in some ways, you're right. Still, when I've
picked up a 13" MBA, it's felt more similar to an 11" MBA than a 13" MBP to
me, in large part I think because of the difference in thickness: both MBAs
are "0.3-1.7 cm" while the 13" MBP is 1.8 cm all the way through. The weight
also puts the 13" Air halfway between the 11" MBA and 13" MBP.

Not knowing more about the specs of this hypothetical 12" machine, I'm
theorizing it'd be approximately halfway between the 11" and 13" Air in
size/weight. That of course may not be right, but it seems unlikely to be
_way_ off. So, while my comparison is hypothetical and imperfect, I don't feel
it's quite apples and oranges, either.

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jseliger
_This new model would certainly represent one step towards John Siracusa’s
goal for Apple to “introduce more, better Retina Macs” in 2014._

This makes sense to me: I'm actually replacing a 2008-era MacBook with a
Retina MBP primarily because of the screen and the machine's smaller physical
size.

A couple people in my firm are also using older but still functional iMacs,
and we'll replace those when the Retina versions hit. Better displays are
actually compelling reasons to update (despite what I wrote here:
[http://jseliger.wordpress.com/2011/07/20/mac-os-10-7-is-
out-...](http://jseliger.wordpress.com/2011/07/20/mac-os-10-7-is-out-today-
and-i-dont-care-because-in-the-beginning-was-the-command-line/) a couple years
ago).

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jsz0
An 11/12" MacBook Air with a touchscreen that could also run iOS apps with
cellular connectivity would be the ideal iPad Pro for my needs. Using a
touchscreen on a small laptop is no worse than using an iPad in a stand or
flat on a desk.

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kybernetyk
Hmm, isn't the MBA mainly about mobility and battery life? Wouldn't a retina
display drain too much power?

~~~
lnanek2
Supposedly the new panel is IGZO, which should take less power than
previously. I use a retina macbook pro as my daily driver, but I don't even
care about the retina myself. I guess I do care about battery life and
lightness, though.

I suppose retina is a good bullet point for them over other laptops, though,
so maybe it is worth it for them for improving sales.

~~~
mikhailt
Correct, that's one of the screen technologies that is supposedly already in
place for the new iPad Airs.

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snowwrestler
To create the MacBook Air, Apple took out the spinning HD, the optical drive,
and soldered in the battery.

To create the new Retina MacBook Pro, Apple took out the spinning HD, optical
drive, and soldered in the battery. But they also put in a Retina display--as
well as the more powerful GPU and larger battery it requires

The current MacBook Pro IS the Retina Air in everything but name only. It's
the thinnest and lightest laptop that Apple can make with a retina display.

In summary: the hard part of a Retina Air is not the pixel density, the hard
part is the power. Any blog post that does not address that question is not
adding much to the conversation.

~~~
ucha
The Macbook Air runs on a CPU with a nominal TDP of 15W vs 28W for the Macbook
Pro Retina. I'm pretty sure a Retina display could run with the current
Macbook air CPU given that they share the same integrated GPU. That will make
a difference.

~~~
rsynnott
> I'm pretty sure a Retina display could run with the current Macbook air CPU
> given that they share the same integrated GPU

They don't share the same integrated GPU; the MBA is a HD5000; the 13" Retina
is a HD5100, the 15" Retina is a HD5200.

The major practical difference between the HD5000 and HD5100 is clock speed;
while they have a similar theoretical cap, at full speed the HD5000 uses 22W
(more than the TDP of the chip it lives in!), so in practice generally
operates at far lower speeds.

They could probably get away with a HD5000 powered Retina thing, but screen
power consumption would still be a factor. IGZO should deal with this sooner
or later, though.

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hartator
My dream: A black 14" macbook air with a retina display. Hug!

~~~
lcnmrn
That's exactly what I wanted too. Coming from an old 15" MBP to the new 13"
rMBP was a pain. All I need is a light enough laptop, but with a not so small
screen.

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ulfw
I'd prefer a 13" form factor personally, but I'd still be excited to upgrade
from my trusted 2010 13 MBA. What a wonderful workhorse that has been so far!

~~~
rayiner
Me too. That model is a champion.

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ChuckMcM
My guess would be that it is for the new iPad pro not a Macbook.

~~~
danmatte
There are good reasons to think that they really are separate products.

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mahyarm
Next, give us dual cpu socket mac pros!

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mkumm
Anyone else find it strange that the "blog" only has one post?

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danmatte
It's my first blog post, simple as that.

Will probably write about other 2014 Apple products next.

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gushie
What a poor headline. It only goes to 2 decimal places, not nearly enough
accuracy for us to know whether it is suitable for our needs!! I really need
an 11.88483" laptop...

