The 12-inch Retina Display MacBook Air may be fanless thanks to Samsung.
Per 9to5Mac and The Verge, Samsung has pre-announced the Ativ Book 9 ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show. Interestingly, this notebook features many of the technical specifications that have been rumored for the future 12-inch Retina MacBook Air. The announcement of the Ativ Book 9 validates that a fanless high-resolution ultrabook is indeed possible in the short term.
The Book 9 laptop features a 12.2 inch screen with a 2600×1600 resolution, implying a 250 PPI. At normal viewing distances, Apple could easily describe the display as ‘Retina’. For comparison, the ‘Retina’ 15 inch MacBook Pro has 216 pixels-per-inch. The Book 9 is powered by a next-generation Broadwell CPU, which has drastically lower power consumption and heat dissipation enabling the product to be fanless.
The Book 9 is slated for release in early 2015, which just happens to be the same timeframe that the 12-inch MacBook Air is rumored to be announced.
As of now, the latest reports on the next-generation Retina Air say that it will be available in gold and space gray, like the iPhone. It will also reportedly feature a keyboard that goes edge-to-edge across the laptop and a reversible USB Type C connector. This is something that is not seen in the Samsung product but has been done in the past.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.