An 11.88” Retina MacBook Air

http://www.fpblog.net/

by danmatte • 12 years ago

56 53 12 years ago

jseliger• 12 years ago

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-... a couple years ago).

nandhp• 12 years ago

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-...

marknutter• 12 years ago

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

dmarusic16• 12 years ago

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.

dagw2• 12 years ago

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

mkumm• 12 years ago

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

danmatte5• 12 years ago

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

Will probably write about other 2014 Apple products next.

gushie• 12 years ago

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...

auctiontheory• 12 years ago

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• 12 years ago

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.

mikhailt3• 12 years ago

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.

grapeshot• 12 years ago

There will probably be multiple suppliers of these displays, like there were for the Macbook Pros. If the new panel is IPS and from LG, it will probably have the same ghosting problem. (If you have a LG IPS display, you can see this issue clearly by watching a Youtube video in a window for 15-30 minutes and then immediately loading Metafilter in the same window.)

danmatte5• 12 years ago

Actually, I would buy right away. Apple generally sources higher-binned (higher quality) components early on. i.e., only Samsung panels when the Retina MBP first launched in 2012.

Broadwell will be perfectly capable of driving the display.

keithpeter• 12 years ago

If you want the new shiny, just sell your old MPB on. Stays out of landfill, makes someone happy &c. Else, just 'Use It Up, Wear It Out, Make It Do, or Do Without'.

Is there anything your laptop can't do that is important to you?

noir_lord• 12 years ago

I know what you mean my Vostro from a few years ago is still a decent spec (i5-2430/16Gb DDR) however I found out today you can now get the X1 Carbon with the 2560x1440...my Vostro is looking more and more like it needs replacing.

jknightco• 12 years ago

I would check out the X1 Carbon in person before making that decision. The display is terrible. It's the only device over ever used that's given me significant headaches after even moderate use.

mdkess• 12 years ago

If you're a developer - take a look at the keyboard first. They replaced the F keys with capacitive buttons (ie. touch sensitive buttons as opposed to physical buttons) and the capslock key was split into a home/end key instead. Sure it's still a nice laptop, but that sort of thing would drive me crazy.

meritt• 12 years ago

Sell it. They hold their value very well.

hartator• 12 years ago

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

ak217• 12 years ago

I would be all over that!

lcnmrn• 12 years ago

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.

kybernetyk• 12 years ago

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

lnanek2• 12 years ago

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.

mikhailt3• 12 years ago

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

dombili• 12 years ago

That's true and Apple probably knows that. They wouldn't add retina screen to MBA and compromise on battery life. Battery life would probably stay the same.

ChuckMcM• 12 years ago

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

danmatte5• 12 years ago

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

ulfw• 12 years ago

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• 12 years ago

Me too. That model is a champion.

mahyarm• 12 years ago

Next, give us dual cpu socket mac pros!

jsz0• 12 years ago

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.

shurcooL2• 12 years ago

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.

danmatte5• 12 years ago

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.

shurcooL2• 12 years ago

Thanks for fixing that. :)

snowwrestler3• 12 years ago

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.

dhruvmittal• 12 years ago

I really wish more people recognized this relationship between the number of pixels and power necessary to drive those pixels. Journalists seem to constantly call for higher pixel densities on everything, ignoring the practical reasons and tradeoffs that must be considered.

The current Macbook Pro/Air situation is fairly elegant- it's a simple tradeoff between portability and resolution when you choose between the two 13" Macbooks. And it's not as if you get shafted by that choice, given how similar the machines are aside from their displays.

baddox• 12 years ago

I don't understand your point. Technology improves over time, and it's reasonable to expect that Apple will create an even smaller laptop with a Retina display which it might call a "Macbook Air."

cenhyperion• 12 years ago

Technology improves over time

Not so much in battery tech. It's really holding back a lot of hardware innovation on computers and also holding back the viability of EVs for many consumers.

danmatte5• 12 years ago

A Retina Air would be more like a thicker Air than a thinner Retina MacBook Pro.

As for power, I deliberately didn't go into detail, but the short answer is Broadwell.

snowwrestler3• 12 years ago

The Air is 0.68" at the back. The Pro is 0.71". There's not much room there for a distinction between "thicker Air" and "thinner Pro," even if we think they'd be willing to make the Air less wedgey.

And when Broadwell chips roll out they will be placed in the Pro just as easily as the Air. They're both on Haswell right now.

Product differentiation matters to Apple. I just don't think a slightly slower processor and a 0.01" thickness cuts it.

ucha• 12 years ago

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• 12 years ago

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.

An 11.88” Retina MacBook Air

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