MacBook Air gets a redesign, might appear in gold and space grey

The Apple rumor mill is once more running at full speed while the company itself is keeping quiet as usual. Right now, most speculations are centered around the next-generation MacBook Air. Various sources claim that it will finally get the long-expected "Retina" screen, bringing it on par with the MacBook Pro Retina in terms of pixel density. It's also very likely that the ultrabook will do away with active cooling, utilizing Intel's Core M processor based on the new Broadwell architecture. Among the installed ports should be the new USB Type C, designed specifically with thinner devices in mind. One standard USB 3.0 should be still installed as well as an SD cardreader. While the MacBook Air is not meant for users who need to connect a lot of peripherals or external screens, it's a very efficient and long-lasting ultrabook for basic tasks such as web browsing and video calls; the new Core M should further improve battery life while maintaining sufficient performance for such tasks.

A significant chassis redesign is rumored as well. The keyboard has allegedly been reworked to be as narrow as possible, decreasing the spacing between the keys without altering their size and spanning the entire top panel edge-to-edge. The corners now appear more rounded while the thickness of the case has decreased thanks to a fanless design. Moreover, 9to5mac has now brought up the possibility of additional color schemes apart from the traditional silver-grey, namely space grey and gold. Considering that new iPhones and iPads already offer these colors, this seems rather plausible. Many Apple fans still lament for the times when MacBooks also came in black, so offering more color choices certainly won't hurt sales.

The new MacBook Air will most probably be unveiled during Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in California, traditionally serving as a platform for the company to officially introduce its new hardware. There is still a lot of time left until summer, and we'll be sure to update our readers on any interesting new rumors. Currently, it looks like Apple's competitors have their work cut out for them: so far only Nokia's N1 tablet features USB Type C but the popularity of the new reversible connector is growing very fast and many potential buyers expect it in their new laptops. Depending on how soon it will appear in Windows ultrabooks, it will either become a major advantage for the new MacBook Air or just an expected standard.

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