Rumors are circulating of a new Macbook Air that's getting more anorexic than before. Taiwanese site DigiTimes reported that Apple will soon launch a new Air model with an 11.6" display and an Intel Core i-series low voltage CPU.
The device will be manufactured by Quanta Computer, according to Mingchi Kuo, senior analyst at Digitimes Research who cites discussions with upstream component makers.
Apple currently only offers the Air in 13.3" form factor and scaling down to a more compact size might be Apple's way of differentiating the Air from the Macbook and Macbook Pro models.
How likely is this going to happen? Steve Jobs has made it perfectly clear that he has no love for the netbook, and with the netbook market supposedly eaten away by Apple's iPad, makes this possibility even slimmer (no pun intended). That is, if you assume that Apple is aiming the Air at the netbook market (ie the sub-US$500 market).
What's more likely is that the new Air will cost more than US$1000 and is aimed at the status-seeking corporate execs who prefers to be seen with a showy business notebook, than be able to do any real productive work on it.
What's for sure, even if the new Air goes to market it will probably suffer the same fate as its older brother. Despite the ultra-thin, eye-grabbing design the current Macbook Air has never been one of Apple's top draws, being too pricey for what you get in return. With the new Air, I don't see this changing anytime soon.
Source: Apple readies 11.6-inch MacBook Air and new iPod touch
