Apple Adding 11-Inch MacBook Air Model and More to Obsolete Products List

[RinkDinkus]

Damn, my MacBook is "obsolete" now

Crazy... got that thing nearly 8 years ago to start university... still easily the best laptop I've ever owned. Still holds up under Mojave. Still waiting to replace the battery in it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Neepman]

I still use my 2010 First Gen. 11" air bought on first day of intro daily. I've replaced the battery myself once, when you could do such things... and its a constant companion. Light , easy to handle and well... airy. Maybe I should get out more often...

 

[imnotthewalrus]

I was working for Apple (Creative/Trainer) when the 11” MBA was released and there were a lot of first time Mac users that bought it. The Apple culture was on fire in those days, but alas nothing lasts forever…

 

[ignatius345]

These are still perfectly useful machines today.

They gimped subpixel text rendering a few years ago which made the text chunky on non-retina displays -- but other than that, quite usable. Great keyboard, great form factor. It was the perfect writing computer for me at the time. The portability was really hard to beat, even with that rather basic screen.

Between the two of them I owned, I think I used the 11" Air for like 8 years. I tried to replace it with the 12" Retina MacBook when that came out, but the Butterfly keyboard made it unusable for me. I made a hasty retreat back to the 11" Air -- until the 2020 MacBook Air redesign with its scissor switch keyboard. I'm using the M1 version of that machine now and it's amazing, but I still miss the ultraportability of the 11".

At this point, I kind of worry that Apple has decided to fill the ultraportable computer slot in its lineup with the iPad. Not much interested in that, myself, because the keyboard arrangement is clunky and iPad OS is quite irritating to work with. What I really hope is that they circle back to the 12" Retina MacBook design, but with an M-series chip and a good keyboard.

 

[Benjamin Nabulsi]

I guess iPad suppose to be the replacement, but I still think I would get Macbook Mini if they offer it.

 

[Derisnel]

Me: Reading this article on my MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2014).
Apple: Your device is obsolete.

 

[ColdShadow]

Perfect opportunity to revive and revise the 12” rMB.

Or bust out that unicorn 15” Air. Or both.

The 12 inch rMB is the worst MB ever.
beautiful but really flawed and weak.
I had a maxed out one and it was not only the worst Apple device I ever owned but one of the least reliable products I ever owned from any brand.
4x times top case replacement (under extended warranty) in 2.5 years due to flawed sticky kb design,god awful KB,very poor performance.

Screen resolution and bezels aside The MB Air was a completely superior design.

I still use a 11 inch 2015 as my dedicated Spotify player.love it.

 

[applicious84]

Uh oh. I'm glad this is an April Fools' joke because my 2014 MacBook Pro still works great!

 

[Matt Leaf]

Still using my 11” 2012. Works well and is still ‘instant on’ all these years later. Perfect for notes and browsing. One of the best value computers I ever purchased. 10 years!

 

[kyjaotkb]

True that. While the 2012 models added USB3 and TB2, the 2013 models doubled battery life due to the new (at the time) intel CPUs being so much more energy efficient. As a 2012 model owner, this hit hard.

As a 2011 model owner, I still remember the pain...

 

[thevofl]

And just think, I replaced my 2013 MBP in December when I got one of the new M1 MBPs. The old one had its quirks, but it is still working.

 

[Hombre53]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but they haven't even added the 2012 non-retina MBP to the obsolete list yet right?

Edit: Nevermind, they finally did a couple months ago. I wonder why it took so long.

IMO, the 15" Mid-2012 MBP Unibody (non-retina) was one of the best Apple laptops of all time. One of the last Apple laptops that was hardware configurable (Memory, HDD/SSD, Battery).

 

[wordsworth]

I still think the eleven-inch Air is a wonderful little machine – perfectly portable, and from the fine tradition of the PowerBook Duo.

I have a 2014 model Air and use it whenever I'm away from my home-office. A 2015 thirteen-inch Air is my desktop machine (plugged into a monitor). It's never really been used away from the desk and while I'm drooling over all the new M1 Macs, both my Airs are serving me so well that I am not really in the market for a new computer yet. Must resist the urge...

 

[minik]

Although I have plenty of other Mac to use at work, I still grab the 11-inch MacBook Air due to the overall size. It's still running macOS Catalina, the 1366x768 pixels resolution is okay for what I do and the silver screen bezel never bothered me.

 

[BornAgainMac]

I used my old MacBook Air to run old games and 32-bit Mac applications that were lost forever during the 32-bit purge a few years ago.

 

[Populus]

Perfect opportunity to revive and revise the 12” rMB.

Or bust out that unicorn 15” Air. Or both.

Definitely, I would buy a 12” MacBook with an M2 or M3 chip inside, with even a smaller form-factor than the 12” rMB. Or even at the same size, I would definitely buy it.

 

[MauiPa]

It would be nice if as Apple transitions away from Intel chips if they kept supporting products for longer. e.g. make the 7 years, 10 or something. Of course, I'd still like a new 17" portable so what do I know.

That makes no sense. Products go on obsolete list because parts are no longer available. Like you know obsolete Intel chips and such. Devices will continue to run, might need a new battery. But technology moved on

 

[LotusLord]

One of the owners of my company travels with an 11 inch Air. He loves it, to the point he insisted we get a new drive put in when it failed rather than get a replacement device. I'm pretty sure he's using an iPad pro now more, but quite the life on that old 11, traveling the world.

 

[MauiPa]

My 2014 Macbook Air 11 still can do more than my loaded 12.9 M1 1TB/16gb with magic keyboard. It also has upgradeable SSD! Miss the form factor. Apple also killed the 12" rMB which would've been a perfect M1 laptop!

Haha, not even close

 

[dannyyankou]

Akshually, it’s not even Vintage yet! (Though due for it, I expect it any day). The reason is that it’s based on the date they STOPPED selling it, not when they started. The non-Retina 13” Mid-2012 MacBook Pro was sold until October of 2016… so it’s just barely past 5 years now. Whereas the 15” version, introduced at the same time, is already OBS - it was discontinued fully 3 years earlier than the 13”.

Oh I see. That's right, they continued selling it longer for people that wanted an optical drive and the base version. I had one, it served me well for 7 years. It was great because I was able to upgrade the ram and swap out the hard drive for an SSD with nothing more than a screwdriver. But those days are gone.

 

[Sir_Macs_A_Lot]

Apple, you may consider these products 'obsolete'...but so many of them are still going strong!!!

 

[The Man]

2013 introduced Haswell! These were the peak, in my view.

Agree. 2013 was peak MacBook Air. Before 2013 Haswell, battery was soso. Haswell gave performance AND great battery life. That's why I waited and bought 2013 11" MacBook Air. Still use it today. Changed battery a few times. Upgraded SSD. Hopefully a few more years life left.

 

[thadoggfather]

The 12 inch rMB is the worst MB ever.
beautiful but really flawed and weak.
I had a maxed out one and it was not only the worst Apple device I ever owned but one of the least reliable products I ever owned from any brand.
4x times top case replacement (under extended warranty) in 2.5 years due to flawed sticky kb design,god awful KB,very poor performance.

Screen resolution and bezels aside The MB Air was a completely superior design.

I still use a 11 inch 2015 as my dedicated Spotify player.love it.

That’s why I said revived AND revised.

I loved my 2015 12” rMB for the year I had it, it was just slow with Core M. I think a perfectly fine laptop for people with basic uses, in that regard my 2016 NTB 13” was no better or worse but I appreciated better screen and performance and speakers.

It will go down for introducing butterfly keyboard era too, and USB-C only era (and one port at that) first Mac with it.

 

[svish]

Was a small and really portable computer!!

 

[Propine]

I remember back in 2014 everyone was ranting about poor TFT display, with low resolution and bad viewing angles. I am still using it besides M1 MacBook Pro and the screen is still okay even in 2022, not crying while using it.