Apple’s 15-Inch MacBook Air Set To Begin Shipping In March [Rumor]

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MacBook-Air

Apple’s MacBook Air has been an incredibly popular machine since the company introduced solid-state drives as standard and reduced its price tag back in October 2010. But for some, it just doesn’t come big enough.

However, dreams of a 15-inch model are about to come true, according to sources in Apple’s supply chain. And it’ll be here by March 2012.

DigiTimes reports that “upstream suppliers” have recently started shipping a small number of components to Apple for a 15-inch “ultra-thin notebook.” It’s unclear at this point whether the device is indeed a 15-inch MacBook Air, or whether it’s an all-new, ultra-thin MacBook Pro.

Whatever it may be, the suppliers have claimed that the device will appear as early as the second-quarter of 2012:

Estimated by the product planning, mass shipments of the notebook device will start in March and could be cataloged in either the MacBook Air or MacBook Pro line.

Like existing MacBook Airs, the 15-inch notebook will not feature an optical drive. That suggests the machine will join the Air family, but in Apple’s mission to eliminate optical media, it’s also possible the MacBook Pro will lose its SuperDrive in favor of a 0.8-inch-thin form factor.

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