Welcome to our weekly Apple Breakfast column, which includes all the Apple news you missed last week in a handy bite-sized summary. We call it Apple Breakfast because we think it goes great with a Monday morning cup of coffee or tea, but it’s cool if you want to read it during lunch or dinner hours as well.
Air to the Throne
igamesnews released its 15-inch MacBook Air review last week, and it’s fair to say we’re fans. The new laptop drew praise for its large, bright display and impressive battery life, and duly received a 4.5-star rating and an Editor’s Choice award. Consider it recommended, with our compliments to the chef.
But the funny thing about Apple’s erratic approach to Mac refreshes – new models appearing when the company feels like it rather than on an identifiable schedule, and in dribs and drabs rather than updating every line at a time – is that a good release can make the rest of the product line suddenly unattractive. Right now, in fact, all roads lead to the 15-inch MacBook Air.
Take the 13-inch MacBook Air, for example. Unlike its bigger sibling, this model offers a choice of processors, with Apple currently selling M1 and M2 configurations. You might find the M1 option appealing, given that it’s still a fast chip and will save you money, but after a recent price drop, the starting price isn’t that’s $100 less than the M2 model, and you get an older design and slightly smaller screen with thicker bezels. (Apple refers to both laptops as 13-inches, but the M1 model is actually 13.3-inches, while the M2 is 13.6-inches. Incidentally, the 15-inch Air has a screen of 15.3″. These are tough times for statistical pedants.) Is $100 in savings enough to justify choosing a laptop with 18 months less of a future? We would say no.
The M2 configuration is therefore a better choice than the M1. But again, there is a more expensive alternative that makes more sense. The 15-inch M2 Air starts at $1,299, and that extra $200 buys you a significantly bigger screen, a better processor with 10 GPU cores instead of 8, better battery life (an extra 92 minutes in our tests) , a larger trackpad, and a superior audio setup with two additional speakers. Again – and this is perhaps deliberate on Apple’s part, in a calculated upselling incentive – the smart choice is to spend a little more.
But again, the MacBook Pro models also suffer when compared to the newer Air. The 16-inch Pro is much more expensive; the 14-inch Pro is still significantly more expensive while offering a smaller screen, and the less said about the 13-inch Pro, the better.
It all reminds me of the emotional roller coaster that is the iPad lineup. In 2020, we reviewed the latest iPad Air and said it was “the best iPad for most people”. But over the next 16 months, Apple cannibalized the Air market in various directions with excellent updates to the 10.2-inch iPad, iPad mini, and smaller iPad Pro. By the time 2022 rolled around, the Air had been relegated to the bottom tier of the litter – before a new update made it the top pick again. The whole process is exhausting and confusing for customers who don’t know if a better alternative will soon render their new device nearly obsolete.
Apple seems committed to its secretive and idiosyncratic release schedule, and we’re unlikely to see a more predictable system – new versions of every Mac in the spring, new versions of every iPhone and iPad in the fall, for example – in our lifetime. . But the company would do well to consider the benefits of such an approach. Customers would feel more secure in their choices, on the one hand, and could make the best decision based on their needs and budget. (Yes, of course, sales would drop about a month before each update…but Apple could predict that and build that into its logistics planning. Sales would still happen, just at a different time.) would be a nightmare for customers. reviews, so maybe we should just forget about it all.
Foundry
The opinion corner
Trending: Top Stories
Apples Vision Pro Strategy looks a lot like the iPod.
Apples Game porting toolkit is the first real step to repair games on Mac.
Dan Moren discusses three WWDC software announcements that allude to new Apple home gear.
False eyes have it: Apple’s Vision needs a little refinementestimates the Macalope.
The first M2 Ultra Mac Pro benchmarks are really amazing.
If you have a iPhone 8 or iPhone Xyou should probably sell it now.
The first M2 Ultra Mac Pro benchmarks are exploding best intel models.
Intel responded to the Apple Silicone Mac Pro with its own ‘Ultra’ chips.
A Huawei “Vision Pro” brand could block the sale of Apple’s new headphones in China.
THE new Mac Pro is labeled as “Product of Thailand”, and no one knows why.
The rumor mill
Apple is already testing a faster 15-inch MacBook Air with a m3 chip.
What does the Macbook AirDoes the price drop mean for the iPhone 15?
Podcast of the week
The Mac takes center stage in this week’s episode of the igamesnews Podcast! We have a new 15-inch MacBook Air, a new Mac Studio, the unveiling of macOS Sonoma, and more!
You can watch every igamesnews podcast episode on Spotify, Soundcloud, Podcasts app or our own site.
Software updates, bugs and issues
Apples new Mac Pro already has a problem with its expandable storage.
And with that, we’re done for this week’s Apple Breakfast. If you want to receive regular roundups, sign up for our newsletters. You can also follow us on Twitter or on Facebook to discuss the latest news from Apple. See you next Monday, and stay Appley.
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