New rumors doing the rounds suggest that Apple could release a new 15-inch MacBook Air in 2023. This could either be the best decision Apple has ever made – or a big mistake.
The rumor comes from a report by Display Supply Chain Consultants which suggests that Apple is working on a MacBook Air that has a screen around 15-inches in size, which will launch alongside a “slightly larger” 13-inch MacBook Air.
This isn’t the first time a 15-inch MacBook Air has been mooted, of course. As MacRumors points out , Apple has apparently been toying with the idea as far back as 2008. But so far, the company has kept to a 13-inch form factor for its thin and light laptop.
The idea of a 15-inch MacBook Air has certainly excited a lot of people. At the moment, if you’d like a MacBook with a screen size larger than 13-inches, you need to buy a drastically more expensive MacBook Pro. Not only are the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros more expensive, they offer a level of performance aimed at professionals, so many people wanting a MacBook for more casual use would be paying for features and specs they simply don’t need.
A 15-inch MacBook Air could be the ideal solution, then, offering a more affordable large-screen MacBook with sensible specs. If done right, it could very well be the best laptop ever made, like the 13-inch MacBook Air (M1, 2020) currently is, but if these rumors are true (and that’s a big ‘if’) I won’t be buying one.
Analysis: 13-inch for the win
There are lots of reasons to love the MacBook Air (M1, 2020), but chief among them is the fact that it’s thin, light and easily portable. A lot of this is thanks to the fact that it has a 13-inch screen, and I’m concerned that any MacBook Air that comes with a larger screen could lose that portability.
Dell, one of Apple’s great competitors, has shown with the XPS 15 that it is possible to make a thin, light and stylish 15-inch laptop , but over the many years I’ve been reviewing and using laptops, I’ve always preferred 13-inch laptops .
For a start, I often work while commuting on bus and train, and a 13-inch laptop is much more comfortable to do that with. My old work machine was a 15-inch MacBook Pro , but it was simply too large to use on a pull-out tray on a train.
Work has since replaced the 15-inch MacBook Pro with a 13-inch Surface Laptop Go , and while on paper that may seem like a downgrade, I’ve actually found myself using the Surface Laptop Go a lot more than I ever used the 15-inch MacBook Pro, due to it being so easy to carry around and use on public transport.
It’s also why I fell in love with the MacBook Air, and why I recommend it to basically anyone looking for a new laptop. It’s also why I preferred the MacBook Pro 14-inch (2021) to the MacBook Pro 16-inch (2021) . Despite them essentially having the same specs, the smaller 14-inch model just felt more impressive and more convenient.
So if there is indeed going to be a 15-inch MacBook Air in the future, and even if it’s the best laptop ever made, I still probably won’t buy it. But, for those of you who like larger laptop screens, it could be a genius move by Apple.
Diablo Immortal is up for pre-order, but don't trust the release date rumors
Diablo Immortal, the upcoming free-to-play mobile spin-off of Blizzard’s acclaimed action RPG series, is now up for pre-order on iOS devices and pre-registration for Android users. But if you’ve seen a release date floating around, it might be best to ignore it.
When the pre-order pages first went live on March 28, some eagle-eyed fans quickly spotted that the iOS page listed its expected release date as June 30, raising their hopes that Diablo Immortal would hit digital devices in three months' time.
However, Blizzard has confirmed that the release date was only a placeholder, and the date has since been removed from the game’s App Store listing.
"As a point of clarification for anyone who pre-registers on iOS and iPadOS, players will notice that the game is listed with a launch date of June 30," Blizzard said to IGN .
"We want to make it clear that June 30 is not the official launch date of Diablo Immortal, and this is just a placeholder for the time being as we lock in our final plans. We will update the community with our official launch timing at a later date."
That means the mobile RPG likely won’t release on June 30.
Blizzard did share some more concrete details about the game, however. A new blog post describes how you’ll not only be able to change the cosmetics of your character on the fly but also their class.
Rather than requiring players to create alt-characters each time they want to test out another of the game’s six classes, you’ll be able to change your existing character to a new class. When you do so, you’ll retain all of that character’s level and item progression, and receive new items that suit their playstyle. None of the items you had equipped or kept in your stash will be removed.
Blizzard says the class change feature has been implemented because it didn’t “want to force our players into the hard choice of giving up progress on their main character to support an alt.
“We also didn’t want anyone to feel obligated to keep a roster of alt characters to gather rewards and resources, or to match the shifting demands of Leaderboards, Cycle of Strife, or other competitive systems.”
However, while you’ll be able to switch to any class you fancy, there’ll be some limits on the frequency and number of times you can change. Blizzard also says players who focus on a single class will have some advantages, such as a broader selection of available character builds. The class change feature won’t be available when Immortal launches but will be added after release in a patch.
On the cosmetic side, you’ll be able to find, earn and buy new gear to change the appearance of your character. Complete cosmetic sets are available to every class and a new one will be rolled out monthly, themed around that month’s Battle Pass. The visual appearance of your Legendary items will also change as you level up their gems' Resonance stat. That means your armor and weapons will become beefier, more intricate, and emanate brighter light as you progress.
Blizzard says it wants players to keep varying their characters’ looks as they play, while Diablo Immortal’s visuals will change “like any living game”.
A pre-order bonus has also been announced. If 30 million people pre-order or pre-register for Diablo Immortal before its release, the Horadrim Cosmetic set will be available for anyone who completes the game’s tutorial within the first 30 days of its release.
Check out the iOS pre-order page on the App Store and the pre-registration page on the Play Store .
Summer Game Fest 2022: everything we know so far
Summer Game Fest is returning again this year, with Summer Game Fest 2022 set to mark the third year of Geoff Keighley's season of gaming.
Like in previous years, Summer Game Fest 2022 will launch with a live Kickoff show, hosted by Keighley, which will then be followed by a series of digital live stream showcases from a range of publishers and developers.
When exactly this year's Summer Game Fest will take place, and who is attending, hasn't been confirmed yet, but previous years have seen appearances of games from PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo, to name a few. So it's absolutely worth tuning in to the globally streamed showcases, as they'll likely include some of the biggest game announcements of the year.
Want to find out more? Read on for everything we know about Summer Game Fest 2022 so far.
Summer Game Fest 2022: cut to the chase
Summer Game Fest is a season of digital events from game publishers and developers. Summer Game Fest isn't exactly an event - though its annual Kickoff Live show is - instead it's an overarching umbrella that encompasses many different publisher live streams.
Summer Game Fest was set up by The Game Awards host Geoff Keighley and made its debut in 2020 – filling in the gap left by the canceled E3 2020. The festival ran from May until August in 2020, bringing together 16 of gaming's largest publishers, including Microsoft, Sony, Activision, Valve and Bethesda, in a four-month cavalcade of news, trailers and game demos.
Fortunately, Summer Game Fest 2021 was "more condensed" but somehow bigger than ever, running from June through July 2021, and featured a bunch of digital live stream showcases from a range of notable publishers and developers including PlayStation, Xbox, Ubisoft and Bandai Namco.
When it comes to Summer Game Fest 2022, we're not quite sure what to expect. Organizer Geoff Keighley has confirmed the season of gaming will return "summer 2022" but when it will kick off, and how long it will last, hasn't been revealed.
No registration is needed for Summer Game Fest 2022, with every conference available to watch for free online on the streaming platform of your choice.
Currently, there is no set date for Summer Game Fest 2022 to kick off, with the promotional image only stating that it will return in "summer 2022". Typically Keighley's season of gaming begins around May or June and lasts for a couple of months at least (last year it ran from June until July).
Like in previous years, Summer Game Fest 2022 will take place digitally and with each showcase under its umbrella streamed globally for free.
Summer Game Fest 2022's partners haven't been confirmed yet but, based on previous appearances, we can make an educated prediction on which developers and publishers may take part in the season of gaming.
Last year we saw appearances from over 25 publishers, platforms and partners who either contributed content or hosted an event at Summer Game Fest 2021, including PlayStation (which was noticeably absent from E3 2021), Bandai Namco, Square Enix, Xbox, EA and Epic Games.
We expect many of these partners will partake in Summer Game Fest 2022, with confirmations likely to start rolling in from around April or May.
We will update this section as soon as Summer Game Fest 2022's partners start being confirmed.
Summer Game Fest 2021 was packed full of juicy announcements, updates and reveals. Some of the biggest announcements from last year include the Elden Ring reveal , the reveal of Death Stranding Director's Cut for PS5 , the announcement of Tiny Tina's Wonderlands and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora , and a 2022 release window reveal for Breath of the Wild 2 .
You can check out our roundup of the other big announcements from last year's Summer Game Fest, below:
TechRadar Gaming will be covering all the biggest announcements, reveals and updates from Summer Game Fest 2022 live as they happen. Until then, make sure to keep an eye on this page as we'll be updating it regularly as more details are revealed.