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Apple SVP of Global Product Marketing Phil Schiller unveils the new MacBook Pro
Apple has traditionally been limited in its hardware choices, especially with regards to the MacBook line. In addition to memory and storage options, hardware elements like screen, ports, and physical size were Apple decisions that users had no choice but to accept.
This situation is improving with more Apple Silicon MacBook models (Air and Pro variants) on the market filling in some of the gaps – Apple will make a big move next year when it finally offers what MacBook Air fans have been asking for for years: a bigger screen. .
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Details on the new, larger MacBook are provided by display analyst Ross Young and his longtime consumer electronics supplier. According to Chris Smith, “…a big MacBook Air with a 15.5-inch display could arrive in the spring of 2023. Interesting. Apple will make the 13.6-inch M2 the smaller of the two, Yang said, as it has long offered 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air machines. The 11-inch model has long since been discontinued, leaving Air fans with only one option.”
The screen size is curious: 15.5 inches diagonally does not match any of the “professional” MacBook Pro models with a diagonal of 14.2 and 16.2 inches, respectively. It matches the display of the latest 15-inch MacBook Pro powered by Intel x86 processors.
Apple may have redesigned the MacBook Pro when it released the M1 Pro and M1 Max in 14- and 16-inch sizes, with a more angular look, more ports, the return of important features like the MagSafe charging port, and a notch to house the camera and sensors.
The MacBook Air M2 also adopted these design changes, although the M1 Air, left in the portfolio so Apple can continue to offer a $999 macOS laptop, didn’t change the old design or get tired of Intel.
It would be interesting if the new MacBook Air followed Apple’s new design language. Presumably “geeks” who also follow Apple. However, the size of the new screen matches the tired old design. I have a terrible feeling that Apple will make another curious choice to create an artificial division between its laptops.
However, there is already a difference. And it has nothing to do with the size or design of the laptop. It’s the gap between laptops with enough power for casual users and laptops with insane power for professionals.
In the past, if you needed a bigger screen, you had to choose a physically larger machine with more performance. The idea of just three Apple machines that were “good/better/even better” left very little room for something as dramatically awkward as “a big screen but a decent amount of power.”
This new 2023 model means that MacBook consumers who want a larger screen will have a smarter choice of laptop designed for consumers who want it, not those who don’t.
If you’re looking for a bigger screen for your MacBook, now is the time to skip the MacBook Pro because Apple has something better. At the beginning of 2023, you will receive a much more suitable model at a more attractive price.
*Ewan Spence is a contributor to Forbes USA and has been following the industry for ten years.
