By now, you’ve heard about the rumored inception of the 13-inch MacBook that could finally kill off the outdated MacBook Air. Trouble is that the latter is still a great machine as opposed to single port-touting 12-inch MacBook which is only meant for a certain percentage of people. However, the lack of powerful hardware coupled with Apple’s lack of interest in setting up a refresh might kill off the portable machine once and for all.

MacBook Air Could Be Refreshed With a New Name, Less Expensive Price but Fewer Thunderbolt 3 Ports

It was also reported that Apple will not be introducing a MacBook Pro featuring a completely changed designso the same approach could be met with the 13-inch entry-level MacBook as far as aesthetics go. Unfortunately, having a single port solution brings more headaches and even though the 12-inch MacBook has astounding build quality and an amazing trackpad, there are just way too many compromises that will compel a majority of the user base to look for an alternative.

Instead, what Apple could do is to refresh the MacBook Air, but with a total of two Thunderbolt 3 ports, and a less crisp resolution than the higher end notebook family. In addition, another sacrifice that Apple could make in order to lessen the price tag of the MacBook Air refresh is to use a smaller battery capacity in the notebook.

With the astounding battery life that you’re already getting from these portable machines, the reduced resolution could actually become a blessing in disguise, with the only trade-off being that you will miss out on detailed image quality. The Touch Bar is obviously going to be omitted to reduce the costs, but we honestly hope that this refresh does not turn out to be a single port solution like the 12-inch MacBook.

The 13-inch MacBook Pro is not a cheap machine by any means and the lack of firepower from of the 12-inch MacBook will result in too many compromises for daily tasks. So how about a MacBook Air refresh that is able to deliver sufficient performance, offer a decent level of throughput in terms of ports and provide ‘above satisfactory’ battery life?

We certainly think that this can be done? Do you? Let us know down in the poll.

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30px;border-radius:3px;background:#eb0254;transition:background .2s}input[type="submit"].dem-button:hover,a.dem-button:hover,.dem-button:hover{background:#eb0254}input[type="submit"].dem-button:active,a.dem-button:active,.dem-button:active{background:#21935a;box-shadow:0 3px #21935a inset}a.dem-button:visited{color:#fff}Should the MacBook Air be killed off? Yes, Apple needs a new product to fill up this space No, the hardware should be upgraded instead

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News Source: MCR