Start saving your dollars. We already told you that Apple was working on a larger 15-inch MacBook Air and now a "premium Mac accessory maker" has informed tech blog ElectricPig that 15-inch Air's are coming in April. Whoo boy! The news comes hot off yesterday's speculation that Apple has ditched Nvidia's Kepler GPUs for integrated graphics in its 15-inch notebooks.
Here's the skinny straight from ElectricPig:
This particular company is a key player in MacBook docking solutions, so they've got to keep abreast of the finer details of what's coming. And what is coming? If you take our source's word for it, a 15-inch MacBook Air with ports on both sides, no optical drive and no ethernet cable.
ElectricPig's source went on to say that its not sure if Apple will completely do away with the "Pro" brand and that the 17-inch MacBook Pro could stick around. That sounds about right, for now.
It all makes perfect sense. The MacBook Air is no longer the underdog in the Mac family. It's estimated that the MacBook Air now accounts for 28 percent of Apple's notebook shipments, fueling the increased demand for solid-state drives and long-lasting batteries.
Look no further than at Intel's Ultrabook rally and it becomes even more clear that the Air and its svelte shape is the blueprint for all notebooks moving forward.
If Apple does drop 15-inch Airs next month, expect them to have everything a 13-inch MacBook Air has (11-inch MacBook Airs don't have an SD card slot), but with new Ivy Bridge processors and likely larger batteries.
You should also expect to pay more for a 15-inch Air as well. Current 13-inch Airs top out at $1700 (custom made-to-order 1.8GHz processor), so expect that figure to be higher for the larger screen andpossibly higher resolution.
Not an Apple fan? That's alright too because Asus and Acer are reportedly readying their own 15-inch Ultrabooks as well.
It's going to be a great year to buy a laptop — Apple-branded or not — ones that won't kill your back.
ElectricPig, via AppleInsider
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