New MacBook Air: Apple to drop USB ports to make way for new thin laptop

New thinner, lighter laptop could launch in 2015

Apple is set to launch a new, slimmed down MacBook Air in 2015.

The new laptop will drop full-sized USB ports in favour of new features like a keyboard that goes all the way across its body and a new higher-resolution display, according to reports from 9to5mac. It will be thinner and lighter than ever before.

The new MacBook Air is expected to ship in mid-2015, and reports claim that it is nearing production. It’s unclear how much it will cost or how exactly it will fit into the rest of the MacBook range.

The laptop has the fewest amount of ports ever, mostly relying on a new kind of USB port that will allow it to ditch all of the other ports in the current MacBook Airs, apart from the headphones. The new laptop will not have the standard USB ports, SD Card slot, Thunderbolt and MagSafe charging plug that are on the current laptops.

The new version of the laptop will be 12-inches, between the current 11-inch and 13-inch models. The entire body of the computer has been revamped, according to reports, with changes made to the keyboard and trackpad as well as the speakers. Because the keyboard now spreads across the whole width of the laptop, like it did on the old PowerBook, Apple has redesigned the keys to ensure that they fit.