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Why You Should Wait for the 2016 MacBook Air

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If you’re in the market for a new MacBook Air, it might be wise to wait until the 2016 MacBook Air releases if you can wait until then, and here’s why.

The MacBook Air has remained relatively the same ever since its initial launch back in 2008. It has the same overall design and it doesn’t even have a Retina display yet. Because of that, the MacBook Air is due for a major overhaul, and 2016 is when it could happen.

The MacBook Air is a tempting buy, especially when its price starts at just $899, making it the cheapest MacBook that Apple currently sells, but if you can wait until next year when Apple releases its 2016 refresh of the MacBook Air, your patience just might be rewarded greatly.

Earlier this year, Apple released the new 12-inch MacBook, and instead of giving it the “Air” or “Pro” moniker, the new MacBook stands alone as the “New MacBook.” It weighs just two pounds and is only 13.1mm thin at its thickest point, which is 24% thinner than the 11-inch MacBook Air.

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Overall, it sports a much slimmer design than the MacBook Air and includes a Retina display, as well as the all-new USB-C port, essentially making it the laptop of the future, and it tells us a lot about what this could mean for the future of the MacBook Air, and even though the performance of the new MacBook isn’t anywhere near the MacBook Air, we wouldn’t be surprised to see next year’s MacBook Air adopt some of the same features as the new MacBook.

Read: New MacBook vs MacBook Air: What Buyers Need to Know

The new MacBook is really just an overhauled MacBook Air if you think about it — Apple’s version of the MacBook Air if they absolutely, completely redesigned it from the ground up.

It’s perhaps the grand public experiment that Apple is doing to see if customers would enjoy a redesigned MacBook Air like this, and if so, 2016 could be the year that Apple finally upgrades the MacBook Air in a serious manner.

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Of course, Apple has refreshed the MacBook Air every year since its initial release, but all it has ever gotten year-over-year is a slight CPU performance boost and maybe more memory, depending on the refresh cycle, but the MacBook Air is a laptop that needs a serious overhaul soon, similar to what the MacBook Pro received in 2012.

The MacBook Pro got a thinner design and a Retina display for the 2012 model, sporting a frame that’s nearly half the thickness of the original design. The MacBook Pro sports the new design still to this day. While the MacBook Air is really thin as well, its design is getting a bit dated and could use an upgrade to resemble the new MacBook Air.

The new MacBook has an all-new keyboard and trackpad, with the keyboard being 40% thinner than the old style, but is actually more durable, as the dome switches are made out of stainless steel instead of silicone this time around. Each key also has its own LED backlight instead of a few LEDs thrown about to light up the whole keyboard, which is how the old style was laid out.

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As for the trackpad, the new MacBook uses Apple’s new Force Touch trackpad that takes the screen technology of the Apple Watch and puts it into the MacBook’s trackpad. It’s still the same glass material that MacBook owners know and love, but it’s now pressure sensitive and you can click it anywhere. The pressure sensitivity is used for “force clicks,” which allow you to press lightly on something to highlight it (for example), and then press down harder to select it.

On the inside, the new MacBook has a fanless design, which means no noise and no moving parts, which is rather impressive. The laptop doesn’t come with powerful components, so overheating shouldn’t be a huge issue.

The MacBook Air is still a really good laptop, and users who buy one now won’t be disappointed, but if you like the design of the new MacBook and don’t want to pay the starting $1,299 for it, it’s very possible that Apple could bring some of the qualities of the new MacBook over to the MacBook Air at some point soon, as the thin laptop is severely overdue for a Retina display and a design change.

10 Comments

10 Comments

  1. Robert Semerau

    07/16/2015 at 8:38 am

    -or- and just hear me out here: Don’t buy a new Mac at all. Face it, it’s a huge investment, and for a good reason. Macs last the long haul. It may be running a little slow, but that’s ok. You just need to speed it up with free software from https://tinyurl.com/detoxmac300 Detox My Mac is a program that simply de-clutters and fixes registry errors. By removing the build up of unnecessary files you get from downloads, Apple updates, etc., your Mac will run like new again! I even noticed my battery life improving a lot! Just stay on top of things and you won’t need a new Mac!

    • Rami

      07/17/2015 at 12:35 pm

      So this is spam…

  2. msg

    08/13/2015 at 8:02 pm

    SPAM. Don’t buy that software it’s a scam and spam!. Besides, I have 3 macbook airs and all are run very quick even with many programs running. Don’t fall for his spam BS…

  3. bard

    08/24/2015 at 6:17 pm

    OS X doesn’t have a registry….

  4. Tech Junky

    09/24/2015 at 2:54 pm

    I think I would wait for the 2016 model. Retina seems too tempting to leave!

  5. leonardo

    09/30/2015 at 3:41 am

    Macbook air will end next year. That’s why there’s the new macbooks. There’s no place for the air no more. It’s over. Pointless. With an ipad air 2, an ipad pro, macbook and the pro…why we need the air for?

    • SK

      10/01/2015 at 10:13 am

      Because Apple needs a product line that runs full-fledged osx that competes in the low price laptop segment in the market ($800~900). ios simply dont cut all of students’ need.

      • mejmemike

        01/11/2016 at 8:50 am

        totally agree SK, would be madness for them not to replace the air or at least make larger macbooks.

  6. RT

    01/20/2016 at 6:06 am

    There’s mis-conception here. USB type C hardware connector is the new connector of choice and necessary to support USB standard 3.0 & 3.1, and is backward compatible to USB2. In near future, all type A and B USB will be obsolete including smartphone and all other pheripharals. You will soon see display, printer, external hard drive all supply with Type C cable.

    Apple is perhaps just biting the bullet and run faster than others to embrace the change for the better. Someone just need to take the lead.

    1 major compliant is that Apple didn’t do a good job by just supplying a multiport adaptor as standard accessories with every new Macbook purchase. I guess the business and marketing folk just too eyeballing on profit margin and forget the loyalty folk like us who still holding on to lots of legacy pheripharals with type A/B & thunderbolt connectors.

    Yes, they want to squeeze every drop from us by selling it separately. But by not package the adaptor as standard is very bad for user’s out of the box experience.

    I still remember the time where Apple provide the remote stick as standard in box and now we just only have 1 set of power cable. It pathetic.

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