With rumors surfacing that the MacBook Air is on its way out and some analysts affirming, the attention is trained on a new generation of the MacBook Pro that for 2016 is believed to become even slimmer and lighter. But the upcoming ultraportable MBP on release date is packed with even more power, with the hardware specifications greater than the previous models.
Such was the proposal from 9to5Mac, picking up on the mounting rumors that Apple will streamline its MacBook business and the first casualty will be the MacBook Air. The same report welcome the likelihood of Air retirement and in its stead will be three main MacBook models that will only come with high-end specifications.
Earlier, a blog post from Jack March claimed that Apple is about to kill the MacBook Air. "Although Apple have been rumored to launch new MacBook Air's this year, I've been given strong indication from a source that's not going to happen. It's more likely that Apple will launch new MacBook Pro's that are thinner (at thickest point) and lighter than the current MacBook Air models," March wrote.
March was credited for his spot-on prediction that the 12-inch MacBook will launch in early 2015 instead of a MacBook Air refresh. Now analysts are saying that the Air is indeed up for retirement. Bumping off the device are two ultra-slim MacBooks, as mentioned in the Jack March story, with 13-inch and 15-inch screen sizes.
In its opinion piece, 9to5Mac is ready to say goodbye to the MacBook Air if that is what it will take "to rationalize Apple's MacBook lineup." But the move should also entail huge step up that will categorize the Apples laptops in three major categories - Entry-level, Good and Better MacBooks. And the display sizes should be 12-inch, 14-inch and 16-inch though 9to5Mac said that seeing the re-entry of a 17-inch Mac notebook is always welcome.
The 12-inch MacBook is the basic model with reasonable price tag that Apple fans on budget can pick up. The 14-inch and 16-inch flavors are the premium builds. Retina display and Intel Skylake chip should part of the package with the hardware specifications starting at 512GB SSD and 8GB of RAM. And there has to be a bump up option - up to 1TB of storage and 16GB RAM.
It remains to be seen though if the above feature upgrades or rumored Mac rationalization (thus, the MacBook Air exit) will be part of the MacBook Pro 2016 release date plans, the details of which Apple is expected to provide via the 2016 WWDC in June.