Apple Phasing Out White MacBook in Favor of Entry-Level MacBook Air?

Education market

Good Lord! Has Apple forgotten about the elementary school education market that has relied on the MB? Our parochial school is on a tight budget and was going to purchase 20 replacement MB's this fall after the refresh because we assumed there would be an upgrade in both storage and speed. (The white plastic issue doesn't matter to us one way or another.) Even the projected upgrades for the Air will not meet our school children's needs. I guess if Apple was to slightly lower the price of the low end unibody MBP, that might be a solution, but no way will the AIR fit our needs.

Good luck going back to 2008, when the MacBook was the best-seller and the Air was mocked as expensive and underpowered, and saying that the Air will replace the White.

"The MacBook is going to be discontinued! I swear! You're all going to buy a MacBook Air!"

Adidas Addict said:

Are you speaking of the old Macbook, I wasn't aware of any cracking problems on the current plastic unibody?

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Yeah to be fair I'm talking about the ones that have the same bodies as the 2007 model (that was mine).

I've heard the newer ones are better (From an Apple store employee so I'm a little suspect about bias there), but I've also seen threads complaining about the same thing happening on the newer ones too.

But I just don't trust Apple and plastic. I find when Apple does plastic, it tends to crack (the iphone 3G I know also has a reputation of cracking from the input port, mine did that as well but it was pretty small). I don't know if it is cause Apple insists on a certain design cause of aesthetics/usability that tends to be more stressful on the plastic (like the feet I was talking about causing stress points on the palm rest) or if they choose cheap plastic.

GSPice said:

I hate optical drives.

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I hate anorexic laptops.. There is a point where it's too damn thin..

Someone needs to force feed at least one of Apple's laptops a few BBQ Pork Sandwiches....

I'd still like to see an Apple ToughBook MacBook.. 15" LCD, user replaceable battery, express card slot, 2 FW800, 2 TB, 2 USB.. shrug..

Please Apple.. take my $$$ !!!

Sky Blue said:

MacBook Air: The notebook for everyone but 6 year old girls.

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And musicians.

striker33 said:

Optical media will never go away within the next 20 years at least.

Unless Apple seem to think that people who pass their driving test want to listen to engine noise instead of music when driving in their first car?

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By that logic tape players should still be around. People don't make their media decisions based on what their car can play. If anything they do it the other way around.

Oh, and last time I "used" my iMac's optical drive was when I missed the SD slot and put the SD card part way into the drive.

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Aww well that is unfortunate. I sold my late 09 one a few weeks ago before the prices dropped. It was a great machine as a first Mac. I'm finally switching to MacBook Pro but I still think Apple should still sell the white MacBooks. They're great for students.

I think it's a shame. I love my white MacBook! But I would never consider an Air, next time I would go for a MacBook Pro or iMac

Adidas Addict said:

If this guys guess turns out to be true, I think it's a terrible move from Apple. Phasing out a fully functioning laptop only to replace it with an 11" Netbook?

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No, phasing it out to get you to spend $200 more on a MBP.

And for your $200 extra, you get:

i5 vs C2D Processor
500GB vs 250GB HDD
4GB 1333 vs. 2GB 1066 RAM
FW, TB and SD slot vs MD Ports
Backlit keyboard

You lose:

nVidia graphics vs integrated.

All in all, probably worth $200 more.

GSPice said:

I feel sorry for you.

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Why? I feel sorry for you that you will never appreciate what uncompressed CD quality sounds like on a decent bit of high fidelity equipment. I assume you use the Apple white earphones to listen to music? That's sad.

I find it quite sad, the white MacBook was my first Mac that i saved up months to get. It still holds that iconic design to me.

johndoejohndoes said:

Say you got a Chromebook and used some type of cloud base storage (Amazon/Google) you could be all set if you don't need all the extra stuff.

I was actually checking them out and they look pretty cool.
But I'm not a fan of First Gen stuff...but it's had nothing but great reviews and it's 1/2 the price.

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The more you think about it, I'm sure most of the users buying MBs could be fine with something like a chromebook. Most of the time they're on web/email anyway.

theSeb said:

Why? I feel sorry for you that you will never appreciate what uncompressed CD quality sounds like on a decent bit of high fidelity equipment. I assume you use the Apple white earphones to listen to music? That's sad.

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Do you mean the MacBook Speakers for "decent bit of hi-fi equipment"?

Given how Apple's been pushing the Air, we already saw this coming.

It's very, very significant that Apple will use the Air as the entry model. It's a sign of things (form factors especially) to come in terms of future Macs.

I'm liking what I see.

GSPice said:

I hate optical drives.

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dumping the macbook only makes sense if they feel they can't upgrade it anymore without it getting too close for comfort spec wise to their base model mbp

gpat said:

Do you mean the MacBook Speakers for "decent bit of hi-fi equipment"?

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I think it's rather obvious that I don't.

theSeb said:

Why? I feel sorry for you that you will never appreciate what uncompressed CD quality sounds like on a decent bit of high fidelity equipment. I assume you use the Apple white earphones to listen to music? That's sad.

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tsk tsk.. assuming a bit much. Another audiophile who thinks he's the only one for miles..



It's ok, big guy. You can zip up your pants.

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Exactly as one would expect. Those White MacBooks are like entering the vintage section on Apple's site.
Also expect the next generation of MacBook Pros to drop the optical drive and then later the iMac too. It would be nice if the next software update to the time capsule would allow network use of the external optical drive, would reduce the negativity around having an external super drive like the old days.

I find this a bit hard to believe, my 3 sisters and mother all have the white macbook, case closed

In the unlikely case that this rumour is true I can't see it going down too well with some people if the updated line of macbook airs doesn't really improve enough to replace the macbook. With no DVD-ROM drive, less battery life, much smaller hardrive (I consider 128Gb small) and a slower processor I doubt apple will be able to make what I would call a viable alternative.

GSPice said:

A less-powerful, cheaper MBP? Try the Macbook.

::facepalm::

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The one that's being phased out (allegedly)?

http://www.nooooooooooooooo.com/

I was hoping they would update it. I kind of want more from a secondary computer than an Air, but didn't need to spend for an MBP. It would have fallen perfectly in my price/performance window (provided they made similar updates).

Guess the Pro is in my future (not that I'm complaining)

johndoejohndoes said:

Edit - The only way a MBA is good as you're ONLY computer is if you get an Ultimate. Other than that the Air is for portability...IMO.

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I disagree. For most people, the current 11” 64GB/2GB Air is all they need AND more (possibly with an external screen added while at home). Most people, of course, does not refer to us tech-forum-goers

However, even high-end users are well-served by an Air. I’m using a 3-year-old first-gen Air, without even an SSD, all-day every day, for work and play, and it meets my professional needs (Flash, Photoshop, office docs) as well as light gaming. My HD is only 60 GB full (my photo library is on this machine; my iTunes library is not). I am a power user, and this machine that is SO much worse than today’s Air, is enough. Not ideal in every way, but enough.

Tomorrow’s Air will blow it away! (And I’ll buy one ) With extra RAM (useful for most people) and storage (useful for some people) it will be the machine I’d recommend to any random computer buyer unless I knew a specific good reason to send them elsewhere. (Like an iMac for better 3D gaming.)

Now for some, the Air is a compromise. But so is a MacBook Pro or any other machine, and I’m convinced that for the largest number of computer owners, the Air is a better compromise than anything else out there. Portability isn’t just a nice “extra”—it’s fundamental to how well your laptop serves you. I take my Air MANY more places than I did my full size laptop. A laptop you leave home (or in the other room) is useless. A one-hand-grab laptop is the only kind I will ever buy! Anything bigger has too many sacrifices, and I consider those niche products Many (not all) people buying full-size MacBook Pros would be served better by an Air whether they know it or not.

Let's see if it get's a collectors item. I don't know the strategy that apple is going to take, but by the looks of it they are going to dumb down laptops. Anyway the macbook air ain't an macbook replacement. Let the sandy bridge models out and let's see, they most likely aren't out yet due to heat issues.
Apple is treating laptops like mobile phones where you can't upgrade anything.

I had no idea the Air was only $999. When did this happen?

Drunken Master said:

The one that's being phased out (allegedly)?

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Ok maybe you didn't get it. A cheaper, less-powerful Macbook Pro would take the "Pro" out of "Macbook Pro". I wasn't debating the notion of the Macbook being phased out.