The MacBook Air may be facing its extinction next year as Apple streamlines its laptop offering using the Apple Silicon.
The biggest laptop announcement by far this 2020 is Apple’s shift to the Apple Silicon. Pundits have weighed on the matter. They are confident that Apple will be able to deliver on its promise of a smooth shift.
Dropping Intel for the Apple Silicon is the company’s strategy to pull off a tighter-knit ecosystem. By using the new chipsets, it will be able to control the development and design of their devices better. It also means that major changes are about to happen with Apple’s computers.
Apple Silicon chipsets
ARM chipsets and Intel chipsets are more different than similar. Both provide excellent processors, but their unique selling propositions are different. Earlier reports indicate that the Intel chips provide more grunt than the ARM chipsets.
On the other hand, the ARM-based processors provide better battery management and overall efficiency on devices. ARM chipsets have already shown promising results with the Apple-designed chips on the iPad and the iPhone.
Having a more power-efficient chipset on a laptop means that its internal structure can be tinkered with. Apple tried to implement a fan-less laptop with the MacBook but failed miserably. As a result, the entire product line was discontinued.
Byebye MacBook Air?
The Apple Silicon will not just magically replace all Intel chips across Apple’s Mac lineup. Instead, the transition will be slow and gradual, starting with the iMac and the MacBook Pro. No one can confirm whether Apple will go for a fanless MacBook Pro right away, but it will arrive sooner than later.
As a result, the MacBook Air will face an existential crisis within the Mac lineup. If the MacBook Pro indeed goes fanless, it can come out even thinner and lighter than the MacBook Air. Therefore, there will be no need for the selling proposition of the MacBook Air anymore.
Earlier rumors are speculating that Apple will streamline its Mac laptops into just the ‘The New Macbook’ or just ‘Macbook.’ The main difference across all will be just be the screen size and chassis size.
Modular performance
The most interesting question moving forward with the Apple Silicon is how the company will differentiate the processors across its computers. One rumor points to the fact that Apple will work on a modular performance model. In other words, as the computer models upgrade, more chipsets will be installed.
For example, if the MacBook Pro base model uses one Apple Silicon, the higher model may have two or more chips for more power. The first Mac computer that will use the Apple Silicon will be released sometime in 2020. Only time will tell if this shift will be as smooth as promised by the company.
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