Suppliers will begin shipping components to Apple this month for an ultra-thin 15″ MacBook this month, reports DigiTimes. Retail shipments of the new MacBook are reportedly set to begin in March of 2012.
From DigiTimes:
Upstream suppliers of Apple have recently started shipping a small volume of components for a 15-inch ultra-thin notebook model from Apple in November and the device could be either MacBook Air or just a thinner MacBook Pro. The new MacBook is expected to appear as early as the second quarter of 2012, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.
The report does not specify whether the parts are intended for a 15″ MacBook Air or a thinner 15″ MacBook Pro. In October, we reported that the new machine was nearing production.
It’s estimated that mass shipments of the notebook device will start in March and could be categorized as either a MacBook Air or a MacBook Pro. Apple currently has three screen sizes in the MacBook Pro line – 13.3-inch, 15.6-inch and 17-inch.
A further report from early this year claimed that Apple would be releasing radically redesigned Macs in the future. A thinner, lighter MacBook Pro, perhaps without an optical drive, is just the sort of direction Apple seems to be heading in.
Alternately, many individuals I have spoken to have said they’d be glad for a 15″ option on the MacBook Air. Perhaps Apple will kill two birds with one stone, and combine components from the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro lines into a single class of device? I wouldn’t be surprised.