Apple has traditionally been restrictive with its hardware choices, especially in its MacBook range. Beyond memory and storage options, your choices over hardware elements like the screen, ports, and physical size have been Apple’s decisions that you have no choice but to accept.
That attitude is lessening with more Apple Silicon powered MacBook models (both Air and Pro variants) filling in some gaps – and Apple is going to make an important step next year and finally offer something that MacBook Air fans have been asking for over many years. A larger screen.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – JUNE 11: Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide product marketing Phil … [+]
Details on this new larger MacBook come from display analyst Ross Young and his regular look at the consumer electronics supply chain. Chris Smith reports:
“…the big MacBook Air might be here as soon as spring 2023 rocking a 15.5-inch screen. Interesting. According to Mr. Young, Apple would make the 13.6-inch M2 model the smaller of the two, having long offered 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air machines. The 11-inch model was discontinued a good while ago though, leaving only a single option for Air fanciers.”
The screen size is a curious one. 15.5 inches on the diagonal does not match up with either of the ‘professional’ MacBook Pro models that measure 14.2 inches and 16.2 inches, respectively. What it does match up with is the display in the last 15-inch MacBook Pro powered by Intel’s x86 chips.
Apple may have redesigned the MacBook Pro when it launched the M1 Pro and M1 Max models in the 14- and 16- inch sizes with a more angular look, more ports, the return of sensible features such as the MagSafe charging connector, and a notched display to accommodate the camera and sensors.
The M2 MacBook Air also picked up these design changes, although the M1 Air, retained in the portfolio so Apple can continue to offer a $999 macOS laptop, has not moved on from the old and tired Intel design.
I’d expect a new MacBook Air to follow Apple’s new design language. Presumably, the geekerati following Apple would as well. Yet the reported size of the display matches the old tired design. I have a horrible feeling that Apple will make another curious choice to create an artificial separation between its laptops.
Yet there is already a distinction there. And it’s nothing to do with the size of the laptop or the design of the laptop. It’s a split between the laptops with enough power for consumers in daily use, and the laptops with a ridiculous amount of power for professionals.
Previously if you wanted a larger screen, you needed to go for both a physically larger machine with more performance. The idea of just three Apple machines that were good/better/best left very little room for something as dramatically awkward as ‘large screen but with only a reasonable amount of power.’
This new model for 2023 means MacBook consumers who want a larger screen will have a sensible choice of a consumer-focused laptop with a larger screen, instead of being upsold to a larger laptop with an unwanted excess of power.
If you’re looking for a larger screen for your MacBook, now is the time to ignore the MacBook Pro; Apple has something better on its way. You’ll get a much more appropriate model, at a more consumer-friendly price point, early in 2023.
Now read the latest Mac, iPhone, and App Store headlines in this week’s Apple Loop news digest…
