Electricpig reports that “one anonymous vendor” is saying that Apple is likely to launch a 15-inch MacBook Air in April of this year, basically killing the MacBook Pro for the average consumer.
From the article:
Let’s be straight: this isn’t the first such rumour – word that a larger, 15-inch MacBook Air will drop in April has been fairly well covered. But to hear it said in such a certain manner from a premium Mac accessory maker was pretty convincing.
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.
The source said that while he wasn’t certain that this would completely destroy the Pro, Apple may hold onto the 17-inch model for awhile, he was sure that the shakeup would occur in April.
Apple has been trying to phase out the optical drive in its computers, and now that iCloud and the Mac App Store are in place, an optical drive is more and more superfluous. (I personally can’t recall using my optical drive in my Pro for anything other than an occasional DVD viewing session for over a year.)
As the MacBook Air lineup becomes more and more powerful, the possibility of a “Pro” phase-out looks evermore probable. Apple does like to streamline its offerings, and come April, their laptop lineup might become just a little more svelte.
