KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has called for updated MacBook and MacBook Pro notebooks this year with Intel’s latest Kaby Lake processors and a 32-gigabyte RAM option on 15-inch Pros. According to a Chinese-language Economic Daily News report cited by DigiTimes, Apple is likely to slash prices of 13-inch Pros without Touch Bar to increase its overall shipments in 2017.
Industry sources also claim that these more affordable 13-inch MacBook Pros without Touch Bar will eventually replace the 13-inch MacBook Air in Apple’s notebook lineup.
Market watchers think Mac sales will grow 10 percent annually to reach 15 million units in 2017 due to new Mac notebooks. This should be music to the ears of Apple’s notebook suppliers like Quanta Computer, Shin Zu Shing, Auras and Wistron.
Demand for the latest MacBook Pros with Touch Bar is still “rather strong,” sources said.
KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo thinks Apple will refresh 12-inch MacBooks in early second quarter, adding a new 16-gigabyte RAM option. Production of Kaby Lake-driven Pros should being in early third quarter whilst a new 15-inch MacBook Pro with 32GB memory won’t enter mass production until early in the fourth quarter, said the analyst.
I’m a big fan of MacBook Air and will be saddened to see it phased-out.
This has been my productivity machine for more than five years now.
When I’m not on the go, I’m using it connected to Apple’s 27-inch Thunderbolt Display. Despite my Air having only four gigabytes of RAM, it crunches pretty much everything I throw at its feet without breaking a sweat.
The phased-out 11-inch Air even handles 1080p video editing quite comfortably.
I’m fully aware that the Air lineup has not received a major refresh for quite some time now and that upgrading my desktop experience to 4K resolution is going to require a 4K-capable machine such as the new MacBook Pro. But until that inevitable moment arrives, I’ll be sticking with my rusty old 13-inch Air.
Source: DigiTimes