Apple's Surprising Decision on MacBook Air

With Apple concentrating more on MacOS now that the transition to ARM is on the way, details are being released about the new Mac hardware, and there are some exciting moves to come next year.

Extensive details on the updated hardware plans come from J Glenn Kunzler at SonnyDickson.com, and focus on the ARM benefits:

"It's like this: even at this early stage, Apple already knows with certainty that their existing A12Z chip (or a lightly tweaked modification thereof) works brilliantly as a Mac Mini. The first benchmarks we know of on their Developer Transition Kit already shows impressive performance, even running under Rosetta rather than natively on the machine."

One probable change in front of the house is the MacBook Air. Apple's once-revolutionary laptop will end with Intel.

Apple's estrangement from Intel is driven by many small benefits, including closer integration between software and hardware. Earlier ARM has been viewed as a lack of grunt by Intel. With Windows 10 on ARM-powered Surface Pro X from Microsoft, it's clear a pivot point has been reached, and the ARM architecture may match Intel's preferred x86 platform.

And the initial benchmarking of Apple's Mac Mini development kit with ARM technology shows that it outperforms the aforementioned Surface Pro X and offers parallel performance to low and mid-range Intel hardware. Which puts the MacBook Air in focus on the chopping block.

As we have noticed, the designs of the 13-inch MacBook Pro and the MacBook Air machines released earlier this year are very similar. There are differences in terms of chipsets, so the MacBook Air has slightly less power compared to the more expensive Pro machine. Still, if you erase the names, Apple has its classic 'good / better / best' triplet with the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro with 8th generation Intel and MacBook Pro with 10th generation Intel.

What we've heard, and which makes a massive amount of sense, is that going forward, Apple will offer only a single line of notebooks, which will be called "The New MacBook", or just "MacBook"."

The recent use of a standalone "MacBook" in the MacOS range of laptops was for the lightweight, fanless eponymous computer, a retina display, and a smaller footprint for the MacBook Air. Looking at the ARM advantages, powerful chips suitable for a mid-range laptop ... less cooling needed... more efficient power use to extend battery life.

From a business standpoint, Apple needs a strong statement of intent that MacOS and MacBook will thrive under the ARM brands. Leaving "Air" behind to represent the historic lightweight Intel, and moving forward with the monolithic "MacBook" for the future is the strong statement needed.