A yet another company seems to be getting out of premium wide-screen 13" notebooks segment after Dell and Lenovo. According to media reports, Apple is wrapping up its Macbook Air 13" in favour of a smaller model.
Laptops in 13" form-factors pose a number of advantages compared to both 12" and 14"/15" notebooks. For example, Lenovo Thinkpad X301 with 1440x900 screen resolution and a DVD drive provided better user experience that the vast majority of 12" and 14" notebooks while being very slim and generally smaller than any 14" machine. However, it came at a too far premium price since models like X301 feature a plethora of first-class capabilities.
Unfortunately, it looks like the end of premium 13" laptops is near. Lenovo has scrapped the X3-series with optical drive. Dell Adamo XPS, which was among the slimmest notebooks on the market, eventually appeared as a proof of engineering and is not currently available widely. Original Dell Adamo that used to cost around $1500 is now available for some $899 in U.S. Dell online store. According to a report, Apple Macbook Air will be another victim of the trend.
According to AppleInsider web-site, supplies of Apple's MacBook Air have dried up throughout indirect sales channels, something that seems to be "abnormal trend in regards to the Macbook Air since it began tracking availability" of Apple's Mac line since 2008. Generally, it is believed that Apple preps a Macbook Air in 11.6" form-factor, an iPad with a keyboard as some would said, to compete for very mobile customers with text.
Although a lot of executives do only text, spreadsheet or presentation work, many need additional comfort and functionality, which does include security along with reliability and multimedia. Something, that is packed by a Thinkpad X301/X200-series. Although dropping the 13" market will be a temporal defeat from Apple, it is absolutely likely that the company will come out with a new small form-factor notebook sooner than everyone would think.
Numerous companies will continue to sell consumer notebooks at consumer prices with 13" form-factor.
Apple did not comment on the news-story.
Tags: Apple, Lenovo, ThinkPad
Comments currently:
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Discussion started: 10/09/10 10:43:50 AM
Latest comment: 10/14/10 12:45:19 AM
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11.6 Air ... hmmm... if Apple will build it, they will sell. Still I have a hard time coming to terms with paying >$1000 for an 11.6 laptop which will be just about useless for professional productivity environment. Prob. targeting the fashion concious or high-end executives who check their email on their private jets.
Hoping that this will have a decent graphics card like Alienware m11x is probably out of the question too.
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Posted by: BestJinjo
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Date: 10/09/10 10:43:50 AM]
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good quality/reasonably powerful 12~13" lappies will always be available, far better than lugging around heavy 15" plus monsters
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Posted by: alpha0ne
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Date: 10/14/10 12:45:19 AM]
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