Fingers crossed
The lack of a small screen Apple notebook has been the only thing stopping me from purchasing one.
Wonder why Apple hasn't yet updated the MacBook Air the way it has with all its other notebooks? Because the skinny laptop is about to shrunk even further, it has been claimed. According to a market watcher with Taiwanese newssite DigiTimes, Apple will re-launch the Air at some point in the coming months with an 11.6in screen …
I've been waiting years for Apple to come out with a smaller laptop and ended up getting the 13" Macbook just before the Air was released. I've thought about moving to the Air, but the MBP 13" is so much better and not really that much heavier or bigger, so why Air? If they come out with a smaller Air, well then, all bets are off and this definitely has my attention! Will be very interesting to see if this one is true!
For me the biggest advantage to the Air form factor is the lack of an optical drive - they just aren't needed 100% of the time so why do we have to lug this thing around all the time, give us an option of a model without one integrated but have an option to plug an external in the one or two times a year (if that many!) I need one.
11.6" is basically the 12" ultraportable form factor that's been around a lot longer than netbooks. An Air using a low voltage Core i5 or similar is very much an ultraportable... shame it'll probably be twice the price of something like an Acer 1830T.
Just because some have stuck an Atom in an 11.6" chassis doesn't make it a netbook, really a crap ultraportable, back in the day would have used to use single core Celerons.
I can absolutely see the point of going smaller.
Three 13.3 incher is one too many. However i wouldn't go all the way down to 11.6 inch.
Probably 12 would be the best fit.
It would bring back the original powerbook 12 size and could justify the "new air" moniker.
I wish they shrink the price a bit two...and add one USB plug.
I have a rev A. Macbook Air that I bought the day they came out, and take it with me everywhere I go. I'm an I.T. Admin and visit multiple clients every day. The Air is a perfect machine. Light enough for carrying around, but big enough to RDP into a server and work comfortably. A netbook is just too small for that task.
I would not recommend it as a primary computer, but for those of us who travel it's fantastic. Just because it doesn't suit your needs doesn't mean it's a failure.