Production delayed for 2018 Apple MacBook Air - is it really Chromebook Killer?
The MacBook Air is anything but dead, and it’s expected to make its glorious comeback as the ultimate budget MacBook in 2018, according to multiple sources close to the supply chain. KGI Securities top Apple watchdog Ming-Chi Kuo initially prognosticated an April-June official announcement.
New information appears to indicate that the production of the upcoming new laptop has been pushed to the second half of 2018.
No information have been released on the reason why Apple has pushed back production, but further rumors have it that processors supply may be at the core of the issue.
The rumors may seem rather shaky, considering that other products such as the MacBook Pro and the iMac Pro, have not suffered similar issue, but if such is the word on the street, this might be a clue to a bigger mystery: will the upcoming MacBook Air be powered by an Intel processor... or something entirely different?
Based on what we know of Apple’s plans to develop its own CPUs, the official deadline is 2020 for most Macs, but such a radical piece of news hardly ever comes straight from Apple itself. The typical length of circulation for previous radical releases, as it happened for the iPad Pro, Apple Pencil and iMac Pro, ranges from months to years, mostly because such products may not even be in production, or in design review at the time the rumor mill starts spinning.
This time around, the news of proprietary ARM processors is coming straight from the source, which may suggest that 2020, as tentative a date as it may seem, sounds more like a hard deadline. This means that for some products, Apple’s new ARM CPU may come much sooner, especially for an entry level product like the MacBook Air.
Also, ARM is a most suitable choice for a Mac laptop designed to rival, and allegedly “kill” the Chromebook, because it would adopt the same kind of architecture, with perhaps more than a few refinements in term of 64-bit Mac apps support, battery life, speed, and finally, a much awaited display overall that may very well include a Retina display.
Keep in mind that an ARM-powered MacBook Air is pure speculation, and in no way backed by Apple, or any other valid source.
With a tentative price tag of $799, the rebooted 2018 MacBook Air sounds more like a Chromebook “bruiser” than a “killer”, however it is certainly going to square off with its fair share of Windows 10 laptops in the entry level category, and even kill a few, whether it will be powered by Intel, or by Apple’s own new brand of in-house processors.
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Looking for a great Mac laptop but the budget is tight? The Apple MacBook Air, is still a great choice for students and entry-level users.