[Capella]

Thread is live, updates to this post as they come in

• 4 colors (black, silver, space grey?, gold?)
• M2 processor, up to 24GB RAM
• Liquid Retina Display with 500 nits and 1bill colors
• camera: 1080p facetime with 2x resolution and low-light performance
• immersive spatial audio
• new compact power adapter with 2 USB-C ports and Fast Charge support
• touch ID on function row and large force-touch trackpad
• 18 hours battery life
• price: $1199

Shipping next month. old M1 MBA stays around in the lineup at $999.

[chucker]

RAM upgrade is nice.

What a bummer that it doesn't have the iMac's colors.

[kieran]

Very disappointed it doesn't come in orange to match my iMac, but that Midnight looks super sleek.

[chucker]

Hm, it does, doesn't it. Slightly blue-ish black.

[psmith2.0]

When I kept hearing about how the Air was going to lose that wedge/tape, I just thought it would get thicker-looking, like those new MacBook Pros (without that chamfer(?) no longer making them appear think from certain angles.

But these new Airs are really sleek. With the overall thinness and the squared-off edges, they remind me of the Titanium PowerBook G4. They look really sharp, I have to say!

Yeah, that new Midnight color does look great. Different enough to not be the same ol' thing (silver, etc.), but in no way loud or gaudy or something you'd be hesitant to pull out around others. Impressive.

If I ever got one, I think it would be a toss-up between midnight and starlight (and a matching SE). I'd give the silver aluminum a rest, after 18+ years...that's all I've owned since September 2003!

Starlight, at least on the MacBook Air, isn't gold but just a very muted metallic sand/champagne color? That might look sharp in real life too. I've never wanted a gold anything, ever, but this doesn't come across that way to me at all.

I know we can't make the same mistake we just got finished making (thinking the new Air would come in the iMac-like rainbow hues), so I wonder if the next iMac update, they go more understated/subdued? Maybe the rainbow colors was a one-year thing (the same way the jellybeans iMacs went from the fruit colors to Ruby, Sage and Indigo after a while).

I don't know if there's any blue to that Midnight. Is there? Some pics look like it is, but then some make it just look like a nice charcoal black...maybe not pure stealth black, but certainly a good bit darker than Space Grey. Real life shots will start to come out soon.

[chucker]

Originally Posted by psmith2.0 With the overall thinness and the squared-off edges, they remind me of the Titanium PowerBook G4.

Indeed. Which at the time was surprisingly thin, but by today's standards really isn't.

[709]

Originally Posted by psmith2.0 Starlight, at least on the MacBook Air, isn't gold but just a very muted metallic sand/champagne color? That might look sharp in real life too. I've never wanted a gold anything, ever, but this doesn't come across that way to me at all.

If it's the same starlight as the iPad mini (I assume it is) it is indeed very nice irl. Less yellow-ey than you'd expect, more like beach sand.

[psmith2.0]

Originally Posted by chucker Indeed. Which at the time was surprisingly thin, but by today's standards really isn't.

I don't remember it being that chunky, but it's been about 5,000 years. It's funny what we get used to or take for granted or "always been". I remember all the praise and talk it got for being so "sleek and thin" at the time. It looks like a dictionary!

I keep looking at shots of the new Air...that's a really nice-looking notebook.

Originally Posted by 709 If it's the same starlight as the iPad mini (I assume it is) it is indeed very nice irl. Less yellow-ey than you'd expect, more like beach sand.

Yeah, that's the visual I'm getting. Not yellow-y gold. More metallic khaki or something. Yeah, sand.

I see it's $400 to go to the 24GB. That's almost doable/sensible, even for my cheap ass.

At this point, 16GB seems like the absolute bare minimum, but to go to that nice middle ground between 16 and 32 is a nice, more affordable option.

Nothing to dislike in these new Airs.

[chucker]

Originally Posted by psmith2.0 I don't remember it being that chunky, but it's been about 5,000 years. It's funny what we get used to or take for granted or "always been". I remember all the praise and talk it got for being so "sleek and thin" at the time. It looks like a dictionary! I keep looking at shots of the new Air...that's a really nice-looking notebook.

It's funny how things keep changing.

Like, PowerBooks used to have expansion slots to the side where you could literally shove in an entire optical disc drive, floppy disk drive or additional battery. And there'd be Control Strip (I guess you could use Control Center for that these days) to help configure that…

But, of course, that added to the bulk. As did the curves. Making the G4 flat allowed it to be relatively thinner, and was also a shocking design change for the time.

"The power and the sex", as Steve said, a bit awkwardly.

[psmith2.0]

Okay, what's the official word on that Midnight color? Is there actually some blue to it, or is that just the photos/renderings from Apple? The Midnight iPhone SE looks to be pure black to me, with no blue cast/hue. I'm assuming the new Air is the same? I just can't imagine Apple using two colors, both with the same name, but have them be different on different devices? Nobody does that...car makers, guitar companies, etc.

They'd name it something different from the black Midnight (Comet Dust or something).

I think it's just a darkish, but not complete, black. It looks a bit blueish next to the Silver and Space Grey, or due to the renderings (hard to show just pure 100% black on something because you won't see any details, so you light it to where it conveys black, but you still allow for shadows, seam lines, textures, etc. to be seen).

[709]

In their hands-on article The Verge are calling midnight a "very handsome dark blue".

[psmith2.0]

That is so weird.

[709]

It is. On the other hand, I have 5 different devices that Apple has decided to call 'Space Gray' and I can tell you right now that none of them are the same Space Gray as the other.

[psmith2.0]

There's an article at MacRumors from a guy in the media who took some pics in the demo area, and he says, depending on the lighting, Midnight can look like a mix of navy blue and space grey.

Hmmm.

The pic in the article, it looks completely black to me (or super, super dark grey; I see no blueish cast in that photo).

I've seen where others have described it as "matte black".

I think Gurman mentioning "blue" in his report 2-3 days before the keynote has everyone seeing blue, when he himself probably saw leaked PR pics, which do look a tad blue-ish.

This is going to be the tech version of that whole "what color is this dress?" thing from a few years back, with half the population seeing one color and the other half seeing another.

[kscherer]

Why did they not just call this thing the "macBook" and be done with it? If the other Air is going to hang around …

I mean … Apple's marketing team is a bit lost these days, I think. There's just no rhyme or reason to the naming conventions.

We have a "slightly-more-than-13-inch" MacBook Air, an "almost 14-inch" MacBook Air, a 13" MacBook Pro that has no "Pro" in it, and then things suddenly make sense at 14" and 16"?

The new Air looks great — and has the power to back it up — but it has the wrong name.

In fact, this should have been the new 13" MacBook Pro at $1399. That would have made sense.

[psmith2.0]

Yeah, I can't figure out what their thinking on all that is. As of yesterday they now have [i]four[i] distinct notebook designs, sharing two product names, specs, etc. It's so needlessly convoluted.

We now have a 13.3" MacBook Air in the traditional wedge/taper with an M1

And now a 13.6" squared off model that looks more like the 14" and 16" Pro models in body style, notch, etc.

Then there's a smaller 13" "pro" MacBook with none of the body design/power/ports/specs of the 14" and 16".

And then, yes...the 14" and 16" MacBook Pros, which, currently are the only things making any sort of sense in that placement/naming.



Good grief, Apple...are you just trying to be silly?

[Matsu]

This 'might' (somewhat counterintuitively) arise from supply shortages. The older M1 MBA and MBP13" designs will have a set supply chain, and maybe rely on parts that are somewhat easier to source owing to having been in production form longer... so, they'd stay in the line-up as something to sell if they couldn't get enough supply online to build up the volumes of any single (newer) model just yet... Maybe in 6 months M1 MBA and 13"MBP are gone and it becomes and all M2 line-up of 13"MBA, and 14" and 16" MBP...???

But, I'm speculating and have no idea if what I'm saying even makes sense in a production logistics sense? It could, if the models in question came out of different factories or production lines and for some reason the lines couldn't be turned over to newer production just yet, and/or the newer lines couldn't ramp up for related reasons...

[kscherer]

That can all still make sense with a more rounded naming convention.

2020 13" Air M1
2022 13.6" MBP M2 (what the new Air is)
2021 14" MBP M1x
2021 16" MBP M1x

Which makes way more sense than what they now have, which is a convoluted mess!

We've already made our decision to go light on the new Air at first. The old thing is more than adequate for 90% of users, and it's $200 cheaper.

[psmith2.0]

Not sure I'd position a fanless notebook as a "pro" unit. Someone goes to pushing it and it might throttle down or act up more than something with a fan?

What I am okay with would be still selling the M1 wedge at $999 and called MacBook Air

Selling the new 2022 Air as just "MacBook" for that $1,199 starting price.

Yank the 13" Pro

Basically, I you think you need a fan, go pro. Otherwise, the sub-$1,999 notebooks are for you. Do you want a smaller one with a wedge design and an older processor for $999, or do you want to step up $200 for a larger screen, M2, etc. and own a MacBook?

Leaving off "Air" and "Pro" instantly removes any expectations/demands that might otherwise be present. It isn't small and light/tapered, and it isn't full-on "pro". It's just a...MacBook. The notebook for pretty much anyone.

But they're just going to keep in interesting for another cycle, I guess. I hope we're still not having this discussion a year from now.

[kscherer]

Originally Posted by psmith2.0 Leaving off "Air" and "Pro" instantly removes any expectations/demands that might otherwise be present.

This would be fine.

But, calling it an Air at this point is just silly.

[psmith2.0]

I fully agree. It’s a bit of a disjointed mess at the moment (has been for a while). Maybe it won’t be in 12-18 months.

[chucker]

Originally Posted by psmith2.0 Not sure I'd position a fanless notebook as a "pro" unit. Someone goes to pushing it and it might throttle down or act up more than something with a fan? What I am okay with would be still selling the M1 wedge at $999 and called MacBook Air Selling the new 2022 Air as just "MacBook" for that $1,199 starting price. Yank the 13" Pro Basically, I you think you need a fan, go pro. Otherwise, the sub-$1,999 notebooks are for you. Do you want a smaller one with a wedge design and an older processor for $999, or do you want to step up $200 for a larger screen, M2, etc. and own a MacBook? Leaving off "Air" and "Pro" instantly removes any expectations/demands that might otherwise be present. It isn't small and light/tapered, and it isn't full-on "pro". It's just a...MacBook. The notebook for pretty much anyone. But they're just going to keep in interesting for another cycle, I guess. I hope we're still not having this discussion a year from now.

I don't particularly care for the "Air" moniker any more since I have no clue what it's even supposed to mean on the iPad Air these days ("mid-range"?), but the bottom portion of the Air is a lot thinner than that of the 14-inch Pro. Apple's specs don't really do it justice since they count the lid in both cases as well, and even seem to be counting the feet.

They say 1.13cm vs. 1.55cm (37% more). The lid seems to be about 4mm, and the feet about 1.5mm. That leaves about 0.58cm for the bottom. Assuming the same lid and foot thickness on the 14, that one has about 1cm for the bottom — 72% more.

And I do think leaving such a big gap without anything mid-range isn't great. Given that they've just redesigned the Air, clearly that one isn't the answer. Perhaps a new upcoming model will be.

[kieran]

I ordered one of these this morning. Shipping in 3-4 weeks (Which is about the same time as my Studio Display is supposed to arrive after I ordered it a few months ago)

Got the upgraded M2 with 1 TB and 16 GB RAM. This is primarily going to be a secondary computer that is used during travel and when I don't want to sit at my desk with the iMac.

Went with Midnight. Not sure how it's going to look in person, but it's definitely time for something different than Space Gray. Wish I could have gotten it in orange to match my iMac though.

[chucker]

I'm a bit confused that reviews aren't out of embargo yet. Is Apple slow-rolling them because them putting it on the online store is more of a soft launch, due to supply constraints?

Originally Posted by kieran Went with Midnight. Not sure how it's going to look in person, but it's definitely time for something different than Space Gray. Wish I could have gotten it in orange to match my iMac though.

Got my 14-inch Pro in Space Gray, and… I like it more than the increasingly dated Silver. But if Midnight had been available… probably would've gone with that. That ever so slight blue looks hot.

But indeed… tempting to get a living room iMac just for the color choices alone.

[709]

Originally Posted by kieran Went with Midnight. Not sure how it's going to look in person, but it's definitely time for something different than Space Gray.

I think that's the thinking of a lot of folks. Just for S&G I was poking around on the Store site a few hours ago looking at configs and projected arrival time, and the Midnight was far and away the most far out. The least? Space Gray.

The Midnight sure is purty, and if I didn't have the M1 already (both in Space Gray, natch ) I'd probably go for it.

[chucker]

Nothing too surprising in the reviews.

[709]

Overall very positive from the few reviews I read yesterday. Only negative was the slower SSD speed on the base model (same gripe as M2 13" MBP). That and the midnight blue is a fingerprint magnet, predictably.

[chucker]

Curious how fingerprints compare to the old BlackBook. Did that attract fewer because the plastic was matte?

[PB PM]

The plastic on the older machines was terrible, if the user had certain types of oils in there skin it would discolour the black, or white. That happens with the brushed aluminum as well, so over time they all fair poorly, for some people.

[chucker]

Originally Posted by PB PM if the user had certain types of oils in there skin it would discolour the black, or white.

Yep, I had that problem on my white iBook.