“Apple is widely expected to launch a new lower-priced notebook later this year, likely with a 13-inch Retina display and a starting price below $1,000,” Joe Rossignol writes for MacRumors. “It’s unclear if it will be branded as a MacBook, MacBook Air, or otherwise, but it’ll be a new lower-cost, lower-spec option below the MacBook Pro.”
“According to a translated report from Taiwanese publication Economic Daily News, the notebook will be powered by Intel’s eighth-generation Kaby Lake Refresh processors, released in the second half of 2017,” Rossignol writes. “The translated report suggests that Apple’s decision to use the Kaby Lake Refresh processors, manufactured based on a 14nm process, is due to repeated delays with Intel’s transition to Cannon Lake chips, based on a 10nm process. The latest word is that Cannon Lake won’t be ready until the end of 2019.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The jury is till out on whether these babies will be the first MacBook Air with a Retina display or if they’ll join the MacBook family, returning Apple’s mobile Macs to the simplicity of two quadrants: Consumer and Pro.
“The latest word is that Cannon Lake won’t be ready until the end of 2019.”
And who knows, by then Apple may be offering A-Series powered MacBooks (although I doubt it).
I want to believe in Apple so much, but I fear they will strip every 19 cent port, every item they deem unnecessary and expect everyone to go apeshit. Hope I’m wrong.
I’m not religious and don’t worship Apple like a god. It’s not that I want to believe in Apple so much. It’s that I want to be able to rely in them as I used to, in order to provide me with the tools that I need and which work.
In my opinion (which seems to be shared by many others), Apple continues to deliver excellent hardware and software. Not perfect, but still excellent.
The pros have a legitimate beef about the Mac Pro. Similarly, the headless compact Mac desktop crowd has a legitimate beef about the Mac mini. But the people who whine about sealed MBPs are doomed to disappointment. You will be hard pressed to find a Windows UltraBook that approaches the sleekness of the Apple MBP while offering significant improved upgradability or repairability.
Really! Come on. Do you think they would make a computer with no USB3 port. Ridiculous even to think about it!
Given that the touchbar-less MB Pro hasn’t been refreshed yet it seems like the natural choice to fill the gap left by the Air. The question is whether Apple will cut into its margins to drop the price, but maybe keeping Kaby Lake will present a cost savings. Given Apple’s tendency to streamline product lines, creating a new 13”Macbook seems unlikely. There would be nothing feature-wise to distinguish it from the “Escape” MB Pro. They’ll probably drop the “Pro” label and price and leave it as-is without the touchbar.