MacBook Air 2014 Retina Release Date, Specs & Features: Fanless Laptop With 14nm Intel Broadwell Chips Possible

Intel has recently revealed more details about its Broadwell chips and it seems that the features are pointing to a possible fanless next-generation MacBook Air.

The company described the yet-to-be-released processors in a press release, saying that they will be "thinner" and will "run silent and cool."

"Intel architects and chip designers have achieved greater than two times reduction in the thermal design point when compared to a previous generation of processor while providing similar performance and improved battery life," the company added.

According to Intel, the 14-nanometer Broadwell-Y Core M chip is suitable for "a wide range of high-performance to low-power products including servers, personal computing devices and Internet of Things."

It has long been rumored that the said chip is also making its way to Apple's alleged MacBook Air 2014 Retina, Mac Rumors reported. The outlet said that the 14nm chip's suitability for use in thinner devices is right on, making fanless MacBook Air laptops quite possible.

However, Mac Rumors pointed out that the current-generation MacBook Air laptops make use of 15-watt Haswell-U series chips whereas the upcoming 14nm Broadwell-Y Core M chip "operates at approximately 5 watts" only.

This makes it unclear if the said Broadwell chips will truly be under the hood for the upcoming MacBook Air 2014, as previously rumored.

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo was first to speculate about a new MacBook model which has "a fan-less design with fewer inputs and outputs, and a new click-less trackpad," Apple Insider reported.

The MacBook Air is also alleged to have Retina display. Extreme Tech said that the upgrade is more of a necessity than a luxury. "When you look at the 11-inch MacBook Air's paltry 1366×768 resolution compared to the 2048×1536 display in the 10-inch iPad, it's actually a bit embarrassing," said the outlet.

"In fact, the MacBook Air's display is a lot closer to the 1136×640 display included with the four-inch iPhone than the high-res displays commonly found in comparable 10-inch tablets," Extreme Tech added.

Based on Intel's Broadwell chip press release, the first systems will be out by the holiday season, "followed by broader OEM availability in the first half of 2015."

Mac Rumors reported that the first devices with Core M processors could be out before the end of the year and this may or may not include the alleged MacBook Air 2014 Retina display. Apple Insider, on the other hand, said that the vague release date as well as rumored production delays "strongly [suggests] that more powerful Broadwell chips may not hit the market until next year."