While laptop sales continue to drop, Apple's MacBook Air has managed to remain popular and perform well. This year, Apple is set to launch a 12-inch MacBook Air, which could just be Apple's biggest product in 2015.
After being rumored for quite some time, the new laptop from Apple has just been confirmed by the latest report from Mark Gurman of 9to5Mac. Apple has made a number of changes in the MacBook Air, removing and redesigning what users know and love about the machine.
"Apple is preparing an all-new MacBook Air for 2015 with a radically new design that jettisons standards such as full-sized USB ports, MagSafe connectors, and SD card slots," said Gurman.
The new 12-inch MacBook Air is said to be smaller than its 13-inch sibling and a bit thinner than the 11-inch version. It is also a quarter-of-an-inch taller than the latter, which allows it to keep a slightly bigger display. The bezels around the display have also been reduced, giving the front part of the machine a brand new look.
Much of the larger proportion of the machine's usable area will be occupied by the display panel and the keyboard. Apple has noticeably deviated from the standard keyboard of the MacBook Air by cramming the keys in order to decrease the spaces in between.
Other key changes include the transferring of the power button from the upper left-hand corner to the left side of the escape key and the removal of the travel on the track pad as a way to keep the laptop's slim build.
The new MacBook Air is also a minimalist when it comes to ports as it will only be sporting two, namely the headphone jack and a USB Type-C port. This means that fans of the machine will have to do away with the Thunderbolt connection and the MagSafe charger.
However, the specs of the new USB indicate that the Type-C can support driving displays and device charging.
"The new USB Type-C connector is smaller, faster, and more capable than the standard USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports on existing computers," added Gurman.
Apple is yet to make an official announcement on the new MacBook Air. The laptop is speculated to ship in mid-2015 and is expected to use one of the new dual-core Broadwell chips from Intel.
