Apple to shrink MacBook Air
Set for relaunch as 11.6in mini-laptop?
Wonder why Apple hasn't yet updated the MacBook Air the way it has with all its other notebooks? Because the skinny laptop is about to shrunk even further, it has been claimed.
According to a market watcher with Taiwanese newssite DigiTimes, Apple will re-launch the Air at some point in the coming months with an 11.6in screen and a thinner, lighter casing
The site says the sources for this information are component makers, who indicate the Air will be produced by Taiwanese contract manufacturer Quanta.
The Air current sports a 13.3in display, big enough to give the chassis space to hold a full size keyboard.
Dropping down to 11.6in would tap into the trend toward smaller, more compact notebooks that aim to combine netbook portability with laptop performance. In addition to the Air, Apple offers two other 13.3in notebooks: the MacBook - reviewed here - and the MacBook Pro.
Maybe it now feels that three 13-inchers is too many, and it's time to set the Air below these two.
If it does, it's in danger of appearing to dip a toe into the netbook arena, a market it has said isn't worth the candle and, in any case, is ably being taken on by the iPad. ®
COMMENTS
Not a FAIL
I have a rev A. Macbook Air that I bought the day they came out, and take it with me everywhere I go. I'm an I.T. Admin and visit multiple clients every day. The Air is a perfect machine. Light enough for carrying around, but big enough to RDP into a server and work comfortably. A netbook is just too small for that task.
I would not recommend it as a primary computer, but for those of us who travel it's fantastic. Just because it doesn't suit your needs doesn't mean it's a failure.
Yeah, but...
... when you see the price, and compare it to other netbooks...
(This is coming from a Macbook owner, but the Air has always had a daft price)
Fingers crossed
The lack of a small screen Apple notebook has been the only thing stopping me from purchasing one.
It fails in YOUR eyes.
Why make a small CHEAP netbook when you can make and successfully sale a thin, large, light notebook at a higher value? They're not flying off the shelves like some of their other products (it wasn't meant to be) but modestly none-the-less. If you can't afford it, move on 'cause there's someone right behind you who can. You forgot they made that sub-notebook PowerBook G4 back in 2003? -and that had aluminium keys! -how cool was that? What makes you think Apple got their 'strategy completely and utterly wrong' if they'er on the 2nd generation?
Clueless.
Sorry, have to ask
Will the wifi/3G/bluetooth antenna's be part of the case?
