Apple’s New MacBook Air Likely Won’t Be Announced In March

Those hoping that Apple would announce the updated version of its outdated MacBook Air won’t be happy. According to MacRumors and other sources, there will be a new 4-inch iPhone introduced this year as well as new colors and styles of the Apple Watch, but no updated Watch hardware. There may also be an iPad Air 3. However, people who were hoping Apple would announce an updated MacBook Air will likely be disappointed.

The MacBook Air, which first came out in 2008, was revolutionary in that it brought about an era of ultraportable notebooks. It was as thin as a (thick) envelope and controversially left off an optical drive. Apple was, once again, ahead of the curve.

CNET gave the first MacBook Air three-and-a-half stars. They said the device was incredibly thin, yet surprisingly sturdy. They thought the new trackpad gesture controls (which would soon be implemented on the MacBook Pro) were very useful. However, they did not like the very limited connectivity and the fact that the system ran very slow. However, speed is certainly not an issue with the most recent versions of the MacBook Air.

The current version of the MacBook Air comes in 11-inch and 13-inch versions. The top 13-inch version has a 1.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor (turbo boost up to 2.7GHz), 4GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD drive. Unfortunately, the screen only has a 1440 x 900 pixel resolution, while most notebooks in the same category have Quad HD or Quad HD+ screens. A 1400 x 900 screen resolution was considered high in the year 2010.

It’s possible that the MacBook Air may have been replaced by the MacBook, a 12-inch device with a Quad HD screen, in 2015. Even though it’s a first generation device, Engadget gave the MacBook a very high rating.

“Even though Apple went with a less-powerful processor than on the current Air, this new model still delivers brisk boot-up times, quick disk speeds and fast everyday performance. Although the keyboard is flatter than on other Macs, it’s almost as comfortable to type on; in that respect, I could easily make the new MacBook my daily driver.”

However, not everybody was thrilled about the possible new MacBook Air replacement last year. Gizmodo thought it was just way too thin.

“The new MacBook is a marvel of engineering. It’s beautiful, and far more functional than a computer this size has any right to be. But it’s not for me, and I doubt it’s for you, either. It’s just too damn thin,” Sean Hollister claimed in April of 2015.

Hollister added that even though the MacBook produced love at first site, it was more trouble than it was worth. The MacBook’s keyboard is a challenge to adjust to and doesn’t have the key travel that the MacBook Air has. It almost hurts your fingers to type on the MacBook.

In the end, the MacBook didn’t become the huge hit that Apple had expected and made people further speculate if Apple is losing their touch. However, there has been no indication that a MacBook upgrade will take place anytime soon. However, there has been some speculation that a new MacBook Air with a Retina screen would see the light of day during the first half of 2016. Apple would be smart to release the MacBook Air soon; there are plenty of other quality ultraportables that people can buy instead.

[Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]