The new MacBook Air broke the news: the biggest appearance upgrade
Remember the MacBook Air that Steve Jobs took out of the envelope? At the time, heaviness was synonymous with laptops. Because of this, the advent of the MacBook Air has amazed the major technology media, consumers and even the PC industry.
After so many years, the MacBook Air has once again attracted the attention of the tech media and consumers. According to existing reports, this year's MacBook Air will usher in a major upgrade, and Apple may announce this new product at WWDC 22.
In May last year, Apple whistleblower Jon Prosser said that the new MacBook Air will add a variety of colors, similar to the 24-inch iMac.
Friends who have a certain understanding of Mac should know that Apple launched a desktop computer called iMac G3 in 1998. Its colorful and translucent shell changed people's perception of desktop computers and saved the slump at the time. Apple Inc.
In fact, I'm not surprised that the new MacBook Air will be available in multiple colorways, since Apple has launched a number of colorways for the iBook G3 as early as 1999.
Unfortunately, it backfired. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said in his latest report that the new MacBook Air may offer an additional color (blue) on top of the three colors (space gray/silver/gold).
Regardless of whether the news is true or not. From the perspective of product positioning alone, the iMac 24-inch and MacBook Air correspond to the entry-level models of desktops and notebooks respectively, and they are both thin and light.
According to Apple's idea of making products, only its own high-end products will provide three solid colors. For example, compared with the iPhone 13 series, the iPhone 13 Pro series is not as bright in color matching and has fewer types.
Considering that the iMac 24-inch has launched a variety of colors, in order to better distinguish it from the MacBook Pro, it is not impossible for the new MacBook Air to launch a new color.
The wedge-shaped design of the MacBook Air has remained the same since its inception in 2008. However, 2022 may be a new turning point for the MacBook Air lineup.
Previously, ZONEofTECH released a rendering of the new MacBook Air. As can be seen from the picture below, the new MacBook Air no longer uses the previous wedge-shaped design, but uses the same right-angled cut edge design as the iPhone and iPad.
From a visual standpoint alone, although the new MacBook Air isn't as thin and light as the old one, it's more integrated. Moreover, the charging interface has also been changed from the original Type-C to Magsafe, and the 3.5 mm headphone jack has also been moved from the right side to the left side of the fuselage.
To be honest, I personally feel that the probability of the new MacBook Air adopting right-angle trimming is quite large, because in recent years, whether it is iPhone, iPad or Mac, the design language of its products is gradually becoming unified.
Therefore, it makes sense that the new MacBook Air cancels the wedge-shaped design and uses a right-angled cut edge instead.
Last October, Apple launched the 14-inch MacBook Pro. Compared with the 13-inch MacBook Air/Pro, the body of the 14-inch MacBook remains the same as the former, but the screen frame is narrowed. Of course, the 14-inch MacBook is also more powerful.
I thought the 14-inch was exclusive to the MacBook Pro, but the new MacBook Air may also be used.
According tomedia 9to95Mac, they found a 14-inch MacBook Air on the website of Apple's authorized retailer B&H.
Although this page does not have any pictures and detailed introductions about this product, we can see that in addition to the larger screen size, the new MacBook Air is also equipped with an 8+256GB storage combination and the latest M2 chip.
To be honest, the screen of the new MacBook Air has become larger, which can be said to be expected, because the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros have used the ultra-narrow bezel notch screen, and currently only the 13-inch MacBook/Air is still available. Use the old full screen without bangs.
Therefore, it is reasonable for the new MacBook Air to use a narrower full screen, it is just a matter of time.
Not only is the screen bigger, the new MacBook Air may also support Face ID. According to the latest report from foreign media iDropNews, due to the narrowing of the screen frame, the new MacBook Air will use a notch design, but will not support Face ID.
Personally, I agree with this news. This is like the iPhone SE2, which is also Apple's entry-level mobile phone. In order to differentiate itself from its own digital and Pro series, the iPhone SE 2 not only does not use a full screen, but also uses Touch ID (fingerprint recognition) for unlocking.
The MacBook Air, which is also an entry-level model, and the MacBook Pro series did not use Face ID, so why did they use it first?
The Liu Haiping of the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro just upgrades the front lens from the original 720P to 1080P, and integrates computing video technology, which can automatically center the character and always keep the same position, and the actual unlocking method is also fingerprint recognition. Therefore, the credibility of the new MacBook Air using Face ID is not high.
Unlike Face ID, OLED will bring a higher screen quality to the new MacBook Air. Foreign media The Elec broke the news that BOE will supply OLEDs for the iPad and MacBook Air.
Previously, the foreign media also said that both LG and Samsung are planning to open new OLED production lines, the purpose of which is to win OLED orders for Apple's iPad and MacBook series.
Personally, I feel that Apple should not launch the OLED MacBook Air so soon, at least not this year. In theory, OLED color performance is better than Mini LED, but the service life is shorter than the latter.
Apple only launched 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros with Mini LEDs last year. Before that, MacBooks had been using LCD screens. If Apple releases an OLED MacBook Air this year, it will put the MacBook Pro series in an awkward situation.
About the screen changes of the new MacBook Air are probably these, and in terms of performance, foreign media DigTimes reported that the M2 chip will use a 4 nm process technology, which is better than the current 5 nm in terms of performance and energy consumption. Compared with the 8-core GPU of M1, the number of cores of M2 GPU has been expanded to 10. However, the M2 CPU core count remains the same as the M1, with 4 performance cores and 4 energy efficiency cores.
From the paper parameters alone, the theoretical performance improvement of M2 may not be so obvious. Considering that there are M1 Pro, M1 Max and M1 UItra on the M1, if the theoretical performance of the M2 exceeds the M1 Pro, it means that the entry-level Mac Book is stronger than the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro equipped with the M1 Pro.
Therefore, no matter how the performance of the M2 is improved, it should be weaker than the M1 Pro. If this assumption is true, Apple may also launch a full-blooded and residual-blooded version of the M2. After all, the mobile phone and iPad have learned from the past.
For example, the A12Z of the iPad Pro 2020 model unlocks a GPU core compared to the A12X of the iPad Pro 2019 model; another example is the A15 Bionic of the iPhone 13, which has one less GPU core than the A15 Bionic of the iPhone 13 Pro.
Although the M1 MacBook Air and the 13-inch MacBook Pro, Apple maintains a non-discriminatory attitude, but from time to time, who can predict whether Apple will move this chip strategy to the MacBook?
Based on the existing information, the probability of the new MacBook Air being unveiled at WWDC 22 is quite high, but considering the impact of the epidemic on the global supply chain, the new MacBook Air may also be delayed until the second half of this year.
It is said that the change in the appearance of the product is what can make consumers feel the strongest. This is true. Just as the visual impact of a folding screen mobile phone to consumers is greater than that of a traditional mobile phone, the new MacBook Air can indeed bring them. Come fresh, especially those friends who have a higher pursuit of product appearance.
Aside from the new look, all that's left is regular hardware upgrades. From the practical point of view of the product alone, compared with the previous generation, the new MacBook Air has not changed significantly in function and interaction, which may not be so attractive to old MacBook Air users.
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