[psmith2.0]

One is coming, it looks like. Two big articles, two days in a row, at MacRumors.com.

Here is the latest...white bezels, keyboard, M2, USB-C-only, MagSafe, iMac-like colors, etc.

I dig it.

Especially the white bezels/keyboard, which I mocked up/hinted at a month or so ago in that mockup/infographic about what I'd like to see Apple's future product grid look like.



From the article above:

Upcoming ‌MacBook Air‌ models will have a design that's "quite similar" to the new MacBook Pros, but with a thinner body, off-white bezels, and no wedge shape. It will come in color options that are similar to the 24-inch iMac, which we've heard rumored before. According to the leaker, the keyboard will be the same off-white shade as the bezels, and it will feature full-size function keys and a 1080p webcam. The machine will have no SD card slot or HDMI port, which, along with the design, will distinguish it from the MacBook Pro models. The ‌MacBook Air‌ will use a next-generation M2 chip, a followup to the M1. It is not expected to be as powerful as the ‌M1‌ Pro and ‌M1‌ Max as it will be aimed at lower-power devices.

This can be the M2/2022 MacBook thread (whether Air remains in the name will be seen). I kinda hope it doesn't.

Yesterday's article talked about how it would no longer have a wedge/tapered design (and it's mentioned in today's as well, quoted above).

Just call it "MacBook" and be done with it already.

[chucker]

Judging from the iPad, they seem to go for "Air is the mid range". But at the same time, they don't seem to want to do a low-end MacBook, for now. So perhaps we'll indeed see this be the $1099 M2 MacBook. The M1 Air stays around at $899 for a while. Eventually, the M2 MacBook becomes $999, and then they might consider adding a $1499 "Air", which is their more forward-looking product.

[chucker]

So anyway…

• white bezels? My gut says no, but the answer is probably yes. After all, we just got them on the iMac. Seems Apple wants to bring back the "consumer is light, professional is dark" distinction. It's just… isn't a light bezel kind of distracting? The white notch, in particular?
• white keyboard, just like on the iMac, and with very noticeable borders, just like on this week's MBPs
• M2! I'm guessing ~10% performance boost, so not much. Possibly some features from the M1 Pro — probably still limited to 16 GiB RAM (albeit now LPDDR5 instead of 4X), but possibly better support for external displays.
• absolutely USB-C-only, yes. But maybe one port on the right this time, instead of both on the left.
• the above also makes sense if one of the ports on the left gets replaced by MagSafe. So, left: MagSafe, USB-C, headphones. Right: USB-C; that's it.
• better camera, though maybe not quite as good as on the MBP.
• notch.
• display either goes to 2560x1674 (still 227 ppi), or to 2880x1874 (255 ppi).
• I'm inclined not to believe the mini-LED rumor. This is a Pro feature on the iPads, clearly, and they also have supply issues to the point where the 11-inch iPad doesn't have it yet.
• for the same reason, definitely not 120 Hz.
• colors, yeah, either those of the iPad Air or those of the iMac. Makes sense. I'm guessing gold is out, too.

[psmith2.0]

Being a Mac, I think they’d tie it to the colors of the iMac. Maybe not all of them. But it makes more sense that the same overall product family would share colors.

I like the idea of white bezels and keyboard, and visually, the pro stuff and the “for everyone else” Macs being very separate and distinctive.

The jellybeans and iBooks and white MacBooks all had the white bezels/surroundings.

I think it’ll be a neat return.

If they position this more as t he mid-range, in that ~$1,299 space, sure a fan goes back. And then yes, leave an M1-based wedge model around for a bit longer in the “cheap as possible” point ($899 or whatever). They just need something decent and sensible (and without “Pro” in its name) in that $999-1,999 range…and I think we’ll get it in early 2022.

When you think aboit what those original, slow-as-Christmas G3 iBooks cost upon introduction ($1,599, I think) bs. What we can get now for $999…we have nothing to complain about. And it’s probably about to get even better in the next 3-6 months.

[kieran]

If these are in the iMac colors, I can guarantee my wife and I will be buying them to match the iMacs we have.

Having an orange Apple notebook has been a wish of mine since I first saw the iBook in orange. Really hoping this happens.

I've avoided the Air since it went to the wedge shape (bought the original one way back when, but not since). If they drop the wedge shape, a MBA would be more than enough power for me in a laptop.

[psmith2.0]

A rumor round-up, from MacRumors, out today. Nothing all that new, just a nice one-stop "here's what we expect" article. I truly think this the Mac that many will jump on in 2022, even even half of those rumors/predictions pan out.

[chucker]

A lot of that rings true. I don’t think we’ll see mini-LED yet, chiefly because they can’t get those volumes yet, so they only put it in high-end devices so far (heck, not even both iPad Pro sizes).

A white notch might indeed be too distracting. Maybe not if they find clever tricks to make the menu bar blend in.

[psmith2.0]

The menu bar is white - or usually so - so there. I honestly don’t think it’ll be any more distracting than the black notch.

If the black notch is hidden by the more pro-y dark mode usage, then a white notch should be hidden by what most folks in that market/crowd are probably going to use. I don’t know a soul who uses dark mode in their Mac. The bulk of Mac users I know are non-pro “regular users, so they’ll have white menus until the day they die, as most MacBook Air type users will. I think the problem pretty much solves itself and that a white notch will likely prove less noticeable on a device where most users keep the traditional Mac look.

Update: I just realized/remembered the default macOS settings allow for translucent menu bar taking on the coloring of whatever desktop image is in place. So it’s be no different/worse than the black. It’ll just be part of the overall bezel/framing look, except off-white on an Air instead of black. And if people turn that setting off to where the menu is white at all times, the notch will be hidden quite nicely.

[kieran]

I'd 100% be ordering the orange to match my iMac on day one.

I've been wanting an orange Mac notebook since the iBook G3.

[psmith2.0]

You might be about to get it. Well, "about" as in "sometime in 2022, hopefully the first half".

If history is anything to go by, following the rainbow iMac colors this past April, the two colors a new MacBook might offer would be blue and orange.

But maybe they'll do all of them this go-around...pink, green, purple and yellow too. And then of course basic silver, for stick-in-the-mud types like me.

[turtle]

Red, don't forget (Product)Red. I would want one for the color but use the performance of a Pro.

[psmith2.0]

I'm surprised they've never sold a Mac like that. I'm pretty sure it would sell, and $1,499+ is a bigger cut to charity than one of the phones.

Speaking of which, I just noticed that the iPhone 13 Pro (both sizes) isn't available in the red, just the regular iPhone 13. And they still offer the Product[RED] (or however it's stylized) coloring on the iPhone 12, iPhone 11 and iPhone SE models they currently sell from their site. So, in a nutshell, the [RED] stuff is only offered on the smallest and/or oldest (and non-Pro/Pro Max) phones they sell. And it isn't available on any iPad or Mac either. Odd. Surely they'd be strong sellers if every Mac or iOS device was offered in that color. I'd at least think they'd have them across the entire iPhone lineup, and not that arbitrary cutoff between the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro. Do they think everyone opting for the 13 Pro phone isn't interested or wouldn't want to have that color?

[Frank777]

Looks like a 15.5" MacBook Air is coming soon. This will be incredibly popular.

[fincel]

Digital pianos and keyboards are extremely powerful machines that have made impressive improvements in recent years due to technological advances. https://pianoshub.com