Apple is rumored to release a cheaper 13" MacBook Air in 2018

[captain_to_fire]

Source: CNBC

 

Quote

 

Apple could launch a cheaper MacBook Air this year, according to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who is known for his accurate insights into the technology firm's future products. The analyst, from KGI Securities, said that a new 13-inch version of Apple's thin laptop could be released in the second quarter of 2018.

 

"We expect Apple to roll out the new MacBook Air with a lower price tag in 2Q18. We forecast total shipments of MacBook models will grow 10-15 percent year-on-year in 2018 (versus 0-5 percent year-on-year decline for the Notebook industry), up from 15.5-16 million units in 2017," Ming-Chi Kuo said in a note obtained by the MacRumors website on Saturday.

I'd rather see Apple kill the current MacBook line and merge it with the MacBook Air as the pricing of the existing MacBook ($1300) with paltry specs like core m3 which simply doesn't make sense when you compare it to a 13" MacBook Pro ($1300) but with a dual core ULV core i5 and Iris Plus Graphics 640. I can see Apple ditching the unibody aluminum in favor of polycarbonate just like the 2008 MacBook but with better specs like SATA SSD which may not be as fast as the one in the current MBP but I'd take it since SATA SSD is still significantly faster than a hard drive. I appreciate Apple for not selling a laptop with memory lower than 8GB at the moment unlike Microsoft who still sells a $1000 Surface Pro but with measly 4GB of RAM. Another thing to keep the price down of the upcoming MacBook Air is actually using the core m3 as base model but I don't see the price drops to be that big, probably price cut of around $100 but for a college student with loans, it might be enough and I think a cheaper MacBook Air might be worth it:

• Unlike many Windows laptops, Macs don't come with trial bloatware that requires manual uninstallation
• The MacBook's multi-touch trackpad is still the best
• Unless your university or college gets you an Office 365 subscription (in many countries they don't), you get fully functioning productivity suite with iWork for free (Pages, Numbers, Keynote) which may not be as feature rich as Office but for a lot of your school stuff, it gets the job done and extra 50GB iCloud storage is cheap for only $1.
• It comes with apps that you might actually use like Garage Band for learning musical instruments and iMovie for basic video editing. Windows 10 doesn't have first party equivalents of those.
• You can run Windows on a Mac either natively via Bootcamp Assistant or by virtualization (Virtual Box, VMWare Fusion, Parallels Desktop) for those PC only applications.
• Unlike the hot mess that is Windows 10 with so many versions (yay fragmentation), macOS only has one.
• With macOS, software updates are unobtrusive. You can’t say the same with Windows 10.

 

[DrMacintosh]

I always thought the MacBook Air was a good machine. The only thing that is really holding it back is it’s dispay and price compared to other machines. 

 

I’d be all for changing up the Air so Apple could have a sub $999 laptop. However, cheap has never really been Apple’s thing so don’t expect much. 

 

But I’m all for more people using the best desktop OS on the market  

[Tieox]

This could be interesting if it is much cheaper, the issue is Apple will think 0.00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000049p will result in the internet having a collective orgasms.

 

Either that or they will take a page from EA and make every single fucking thing a cost extra, if it exceeds either of those expectations I am buying one.

 

[DrMacintosh]

1 minute ago, Kierax said:

Either that or they will take a page from EA and make every single fucking thing a cost extra

You mean there are companies that don’t charge extra for upgrades? I wonder how long they will be in business  

[captain_to_fire]

2 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

I always thought the MacBook Air was a good machine. The only thing that is really holding it back is it’s dispay and price compared to other machines. 

I loved my 2011 13" MacBook Air. If Apple is planning to further slash the price, I don't think they'll upgrade the display.

4 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

I’d be all for changing up the Air so Apple could have a sub $999 laptop. However, cheap has never really been Apple’s thing so don’t expect much. 

I think the price cut is maxed out to $100 unless they ditch the unibody aluminum in favor of polycarbonate which they've done before.

 

[captain_to_fire]

7 minutes ago, Kierax said:

Either that or they will take a page from EA and make every single fucking thing a cost extra

You mean Microsoft which will ship upcoming PCs with Windows 10S and later demand a $50 upgrade to Pro?

[BluJay614]

Still won't ever willingly buy an Apple product.

[mynameisjuan]

13 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

I’d be all for changing up the Air so Apple could have a sub $999 laptop. However, cheap has never really been Apple’s thing so don’t expect much. 

If they couldnt get a laptop with specs equal to current $300 laptops below $1000, then they never will. I am sorry but the current air would only be purchased by a fool. 

 

But why should apple get away with not being cheap? There are laptops with much better hardware around the $800 mark. Its not an excuse.

 

13 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

But I’m all for more people using the best desktop OS on the market  

I mean if you literally just use Facebook and Final cut, then maybe. 

[ProjectBox153]

19 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

I always thought the MacBook Air was a good machine. The only thing that is really holding it back is it’s dispay and price compared to other machines. 

 

I’d be all for changing up the Air so Apple could have a sub $999 laptop. However, cheap has never really been Apple’s thing so don’t expect much. 

 

But I’m all for more people using the best desktop OS on the market  

I agree. I's still use my 2008 Original Air if it still worked right. 

[captain_to_fire]

1 minute ago, Jamiec1130 said:

I agree. I's still use my 2008 Original Air if it still worked right. 

Is that the one Steve Jobs unveiled from an envelope? My purchase of the 2011 13” MacBook Air is so worth in in my experience. Too bad it died in December 2015. 

[Murasaki]

cheaper? apple? this isn't the 80s anymore sadly

[DrMacintosh]

17 minutes ago, mynameisjuan said:

I mean if you literally just use Facebook and Final cut, then maybe. 

Guess you’ve never used macOS before. Windows can’t do much of anything more that macOS can’t do. Unless you have highly specialized work, Macs do everything. 

[captain_to_fire]

Just now, ModuleLFS said:

cheaper? apple? this isn't the 80s anymore sadly

 

[mynameisjuan]

16 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Guess you’ve never used macOS before. Windows can’t do much of anything more that macOS can’t do. Unless you have highly specialized work, Macs do everything. 

I actually have quite a bit of experience with it and was IT for a company that had over a 500 macs in service. So what was that again?

 

Also I see you ignored my argument about its cost and not going to be cheap because Apple

[Commodus]

11 minutes ago, mynameisjuan said:

If they couldnt get a laptop with specs equal to current $300 laptops below $1000, then they never will. I am sorry but the current air would only be purchased by a fool. 

 

But why should apple get away with not being cheap? There are laptops with much better hardware around the $800 mark. Its not an excuse.

 

I mean if you literally just use Facebook and Final cut, then maybe. 

Eh, having used $300 laptops, you can see where some of the money goes (better construction, better input, quality support, faster SSDs, excellent battery life).  The display and CPU desperately need upgrades, though, and the ports likely need a revamp as well.

 

And there's a simple reason why Apple should avoid being cheap (within reason): because we need a brand that resists the "ever cheaper, ever crappier" decline that defines the Windows PC market.  I'm tired of people thinking that flimsy plastic, horrible battery life and 2-hour calls to clueless tech support reps are acceptable tradeoffs because hey, I got a quad-core CPU on the cheap!  There's more to a computer than the spec sheet, and while I don't think Apple should have carte blanche to charge whatever it wants, we also shouldn't be asking every OEM to make compromises.

[DrMacintosh]

Just now, mynameisjuan said:

I actually have quite a bit of experience with it and was IT for a company that had over a 500 macs in service. So what was that again?

 

Also I see you ignored my argument about its cost and not going to be cheap because Apple

Cost is not a a bases for an argument imo. Yeah, Macs cost a lot, if you can’t justify the price then you clearly won’t say they are a good buy. 

 

If you can justify the cost, or if the cost doesn’t matter to you, then you probably like the machine. 

 

And what does working in IT mean? My schools IT department hates every computer because when deployed in large numbers and used constantly, everything breaks and nothing works the way it should after a few months. 

[captain_to_fire]

2 minutes ago, Commodus said:

And there's a simple reason why Apple should avoid being cheap (within reason): because we need a brand that resists the "ever cheaper, ever crappier" decline that defines the Windows PC market.  I'm tired of people thinking that flimsy plastic, horrible battery life and 2-hour calls to clueless tech support reps are acceptable tradeoffs because hey, I got a quad-core CPU on the cheap!  There's more to a computer than the spec sheet, and while I don't think Apple should have carte blanche to charge whatever it wants, we also shouldn't be asking every OEM to make compromises.

And I don’t want Apple to ever license macOS to PC OEMs because they’ll just bastardize the user experience. 

4 minutes ago, Commodus said:

Eh, having used $300 laptops, you can see where some of the money goes (better construction, better input, quality support, faster SSDs, excellent battery life).  The display and CPU desperately need upgrades, though, and the ports likely need a revamp as well.

Considering that a SATA SSD with decent capacity is at least $100 and that doesn’t include the RAM just yet, I don’t think Apple is going to ever stoop that low on the $300-$500 laptop territory. 

[mynameisjuan]

6 minutes ago, Commodus said:

Eh, having used $300 laptops, you can see where some of the money goes (better construction, better input, quality support, faster SSDs, excellent battery life).  The display and CPU desperately need upgrades, though, and the ports likely need a revamp as well.

 

And there's a simple reason why Apple should avoid being cheap (within reason): because we need a brand that resists the "ever cheaper, ever crappier" decline that defines the Windows PC market.  I'm tired of people thinking that flimsy plastic, horrible battery life and 2-hour calls to clueless tech support reps are acceptable tradeoffs because hey, I got a quad-core CPU on the cheap!  There's more to a computer than the spec sheet, and while I don't think Apple should have carte blanche to charge whatever it wants, we also shouldn't be asking every OEM to make compromises.

Yeah but out of the cost of a laptop, the display and CPU are a huge majority of the cost. My point being that current $300 laptops have been specs with a shitty plastic shell and poop trackpad. You then move to the $800 price range and you get nice very well built laptops even with 4k displays and decent i5s and decent connectivity...oh and touchscreens. 

 

You cant honestly be defending the Air being so high quality it deserves it grand price tag when you compare it next to its competition and being blown the fuck away. If apple really wants to compete then it needs to release an Air with at least a 1080 panel and an i5 8xxx and priced around $700-800.

 

12 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Cost is not a a bases for an argument imo. Yeah, Macs cost a lot, if you can’t justify the price then you clearly won’t say they are a good buy. 

 

If you can justify the cost, or if the cost doesn’t matter to you, then you probably like the machine. 

 

And what does working in IT mean? My schools IT department hates every computer because when deployed in large numbers and used constantly, everything breaks and nothing works the way it should after a few months. 

Cost is a base for argument. Again like your comment in another thread, we get you have a shit ton of money to blow on anything, but in the real world people compare before buying (unless they are isheep) and if you hold an air next to any $1000 laptop, the air just embarrasses Apple. 

 

I dont see how anyone could justify the cost. A laptops biggest component is the screen, and it is utter dog shit, I mean this thing is terrible and combine that with a CPU that chokes on the smallest task makes for a shit experience. 

 

What do you mean what is working for IT? It means working in the IT dept, service desk, technician... Pretty self explanatory. Every OS has problems, this is not a OSX vs windows vs linux. But out of all I hated OSX...dumb navigation, dumb file explorer, much more locked down than windows...With about 500 macs and 1500 windows machines, at the end of the year the ticket count was almost equal. They just ran into more problems than any windows machine, especially when I fine tuned the images and from then on out windows was rock solid.   

[Tieox]

I fully expect a budget MBA to come with a single USB Type C port for charging, so #donglelife, they will also probably solder ALL TEH THINGS, but if it the price and build quality is right, I'm down.  Could use a solid portable workout and the last MBP I bought ( 2011 ) is still going strong.

[DrMacintosh]

26 minutes ago, mynameisjuan said:

we get you have a shit ton of money to blow on anything

If you browsed my profile you would know that’s the furthest thing from the truth.

[DrMacintosh]

27 minutes ago, mynameisjuan said:

What do you mean what is working for IT? It means working in the IT dept, service desk, technician... Pretty self explanatory.

The context of that question clearly went over your head.

[DrMacintosh]

28 minutes ago, mynameisjuan said:

dumb navigation, dumb file explorer, much more locked down than windows

In my experience I would have to disagree.

 

Nothing is wrong with macOS navigation, it’s just different. 

 

Finder is much more refined and has significant advantages over FileExplorer such as: a tab system, a search function that works for anything, tags, and a better interface with more logical sorting options by default. (And yes, it does have a filepath)

 

As for locked down, macOS is pretty customizable with terminal commands, tons of applications can change the way the entire OS functions. macOS is actually very flexible in certain ways that Windows isn’t by the nature of its foundation. 

[Mira Yurizaki]

57 minutes ago, Commodus said:

And there's a simple reason why Apple should avoid being cheap (within reason): because we need a brand that resists the "ever cheaper, ever crappier" decline that defines the Windows PC market.  I'm tired of people thinking that flimsy plastic, horrible battery life and 2-hour calls to clueless tech support reps are acceptable tradeoffs because hey, I got a quad-core CPU on the cheap!  There's more to a computer than the spec sheet, and while I don't think Apple should have carte blanche to charge whatever it wants, we also shouldn't be asking every OEM to make compromises.

On one hand, sure, it's annoying to see OEMs cutting corners just to stuff more powerful hardware or whatnot because people see a number and think higher is better.

 

But on the other hand, cheap computers have their place in the market. If you need something to get on the internet with and you don't have a lot of money, a cheap laptop is a godsend. And while you could go to the used market for something better, it's still a used product and you potentially spend more time and energy getting to the point of having a computer.

 

If anything, it's just people don't know how to make informed decisions.

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

If that does occur I might just have to pick one up for school. They need a Mac for stuff and the white Macbook I'm currently using... yeah...

[mynameisjuan]

7 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

In my experience I would have to disagree.

If its what you prefer I cant argue that. 

7 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Nothing is wrong with macOS navigation, it’s just different. 

 

Finder is much more refined and has significant advantages over FileExplorer such as: a tab system, a search function that works for anything, tags, and a better interface with more logical sorting options by default. (And yes, it does have a filepath)

Its not just different, its not intuitive at all nor better at finding what you need. Not sure what you mean about logical sorting, you can literally sort by anything in explorer. In the end they both give the same result, finder is just worse at actually finding things ironically 

9 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

As for locked down, macOS is pretty customizable with terminal commands, tons of applications can change the way the entire OS functions. macOS is actually very flexible in certain ways that Windows isn’t by the nature of its foundation.

Im not talking about locked down in terms of customization.