Apple unveiled the MacBook Neo earlier this month, and in my opinion – it completely breaks the MacBook lineup as we knew it. If you’re someone who previously bought a MacBook Air, and you don’t need 16GB of RAM for heavier multitasking – why wouldn’t you buy the MacBook Neo now?
In my eyes, the MacBook Neo is just as good of a general purpose laptop as the MacBook Air was, and besides more RAM, a much faster processor (though still a thermally limited one), and a larger display, it doesn’t feel like MacBook Air has much going for it – at least for now. Here’s how I’d improve it.
Better display
Luckily, this one is already in the rumor mill, and isn’t a farfetched dream.
In 2028, MacBook Air is rumored to make the switch to OLED, just two years after the MacBook Pro. It’ll be the fifth major Apple product to do so, following iPhone, iPad Pro, this year’s iPad mini (rumored), and the redesigned MacBook Pro.
And while it will be gaining OLED like the MacBook Pro, it probably won’t be gaining touch support. From Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman:
At this point, Apple hasn’t decided whether to bring touch to any Macs beyond the MacBook Pro (a model that’s slated to arrive as early as at the end of this year). So I highly doubt touch is being considered for Apple’s lowest-tier Mac. The popular MacBook Air would make more sense to come first, but even that isn’t due to get an iPhone-style OLED screen for at least two years.
Nonetheless, this’ll be a pretty substantial improvement for MacBook Air, putting it a league above MacBook Neo.
One thing the rumors doesn’t make clear is whether or not it’ll have 120Hz. To me, this feels like an easy add for the price point. People are ultimately buying MacBook Pro for peak performance, better thermals, and having the best of the best – and MacBook Air could easily include 120Hz without cannibalizing MacBook Pro.
Better thermals
MacBook Air is a passively cooled machine, and it should stay that way. That said, there’s loads Apple could do to improve the performance of the MacBook Air without adding a fan.
iPad Pro, for instance, uses graphite sheets and a copper heatsink that dissipates heat through the Apple logo. iPhone 17 Pro utilizes a vapor chamber, which is also rumored to come to the iPad Pro. It’d be nice to see some form of thermal improvement made to MacBook Air, which doesn’t currently deal with heat in an effective way.
Push the design
Lastly, I feel like the MacBook Air could be more radical. Now that it isn’t focusing on being Apple’s cheapest Mac as it has been for the past decade or so, Apple could likely push the design further. Even thinner, even more portable, and more experimental.
Loads of people yearn for something more like the 12-inch MacBook, and I think a MacBook Air at a $1299 starting point could push the limits of what’s possible in a laptop form factor.
What would you like to see with the MacBook Air? Sound off in the comments.
My favorite Apple accessory recommendations:
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