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With the promise of miniLED screens, an uprated M1X processor, and
the potentially welcome death of the Touch Bar
, there’s a lot to look forward to with the upcoming MacBook Pros. But wait. You might be better waiting for MacBook Air.
NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 30: Tim Cook, CEO of Apple unveils a new MacBook Air during a launch event at
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the Brooklyn Academy of Music on October 30, 2018 in New York City. This is Apple's first full upgrade of the laptop in three years. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)
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First of all, this MacBook Air will feature a physical redesign. Expect a more angular design to the edges, the loss of the ‘wedge’ to be replaced with a flatter and thinner design, allowing for a larger trackpad.
Then you have the display. The MacBook Air will follow the expected update to the MacBook Pro due by the end of this year by using miniLED for the display. This will offer a brighter screen with vivid colors and deeper blacks, all with better energy efficiency.
Hopefully the supply issues will have been worked out by that point
.
Finally there’s the hardware inside the case, and the Apple Silicon processor in general.
Last year saw the first Apple Silicon processor ship inside a Mac, specifically in lower end MacBook Pros, a mac Mini, and the MacBook Air. The M1 processor scored higher benchmarking scores to similarly priced Intel hardware, and in practice these machines have an excess of power for most consumers and many professionals as well.
The launch of those new MacBook Pro machines at the end of the year will see an uprated M1 processor alongside the new 14-inch and 16-inch miniLED screens, and no doubt the presumptively named M1X processor will be an improvement over the M1.
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And the upcoming MacBook Air? That’s going to debut the next-generation M2 processor.
CORTE MADERA, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 27: A customer enters an Apple Store on June 27, 2019 in Corte
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Madera, California. Apple announced a recall of an estimated 432,000 15-inch MacBook Pro laptops due to concerns of overheating batteries that could catch fire. The recall is for 15-inch MacBook Pro laptops sold between September 2015 and February 2017. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Getty Images
The MacBook Air is going to offer the new design and improved screen, but as the second iteration making these choices any problems or flaws discovered by users of the new new MacBook Pro laptops will be fed back to improve the MacBook Air design ahead of its debut.
The same is true of MacOS. Although available in beta, its first public version launches in late September, presumably with the new hardware. No operating system nails it out of the box, it typically takes a few months for the significant bugs and flaws to be ironed out. Just in time for the 2022 MacBook Air launch.
And the new processor, which will bring with it all the lessons from the M1 generation will bring with it more performance, more endurance, and more potential. While the professional market will benefit from the higher end MacBook Pros, they are arriving at the end of a silicon cycle, not the beginning of a new one.
A new design, tried and tested software, and improved performance. If you’;re looking for the MacBook that is going to push the envelope in every way possible... you’ll be waiting for the MacBook Air.
Now read the latest Mac headlines in Apple Loop....
