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Apple Discontinues 12-Inch MacBook
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This news is a bummer to me. I'll be keeping my 2017 MacBook until it falls apart. So easy to throw in my backpack without even noticing it was there. This is to me is a singular Apple product. It has some expensive parts (stepped battery, special super-tiny motherboard with Y-series CPU), so I suppose it could never be a "budget" laptop. Maybe the form factor will be brought back when an A-Series chip is ready to run MacOS.
Yes, any device running iOS fits the definition of a computer.
[doublepost=1562803324][/doublepost]The "What's a Computer?" ad was advertising a computer, just not what we see when we traditionally think of one. This is becoming more apparent as iPads are slowly gaining useful features that were once exclusive to Macs, but still have a long way to go.
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This.
Terrible oversight, never liked them. Newest MBA is far superior in every way.
Geekbench is geekbench. Passmark is passmark. You compared meter with ft. But whatever.
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Yep, the whole system on a big chip pretty much. I just love how light it is, so easy to bring anywhere and do real work instead of on a measly iPad.
Doubtful - it just means that form and function will be equally considered, instead of just a single design criteria outweighing everything else.
Which is how it used to be, and I welcome a return of this.
Except a lot of us value portability over all else in a notebook. The HP Spectre is lighter than the current Air while using a more powerful processor and having an aluminum case. The MacBook had a slower processor but was at least lighter than the Spectre. Now Apple’s lightest Mac is heavier than the Spectre with a weaker processor. How that’s progress I don’t know.
The 12" MacBook is my favorite Mac of all time. It is perfect for its vision/purpose. Uncompromising on size, weight, silence, beauty, not even to make room for more performance or connectivity. I really love it, and I cannot say the same for any other laptop. Obviously it's not for people who think the Air is better in every way, but I'm not looking forward to buying a big, noisy Air in a few years, when my 12" gives out.
Indeed...there seems to a school of thought that there is a "perfect" computer, without any recognition that other peoples's priorities might be different from their own, which results in some very silly comments from people who have probably never used a 12" MacBook.
It's all about having a clear laptop model line. Before it was really confusing. Apple had to kill the Macbook. I really like the design, but Apple should kill the Air or the MacBook. They decided to kill the latter and I understand it.
I hesitated a long time before buying my MacBook having previously had PowerBooks and MacBook Pros aplenty before it (all the way back to a trackball, 145, I think). This has been my favourite; small, light, and able to run photoshop, Filemaker, Indesign, surf, watch films, and anything else I needed. I will miss the opportunity to replace it when the time comes. I love this machine.
Couldn't agree more with everything you say, it is by far my favourite Apple product of all time.
I won't buy an Air in a few years though, i am not a power user so i will just carry on using my early 2015 until it dies, when it does i will just buy a second hand well looked after 2019 model. These laptops have at least 5 years use in them, my early 2015 still looks and works like new. Hopefully by then Apple will have release another 12" laptop, and you never know it might even be better than this one.
Yeah, smaller screen size and thinner design. But that’s about what this MacBook can offer.
I love my 11” MacBook Air even though it might be a bit heavier than MacBook.11” MacBook Air was.
EDIT: I was mistaken!
IT HAS FULL USB PORTS AND MAGSAFE CONNECTOR.
In turn, all ports but one are gone (excluding headphone jack), and dongle will easily add all the saved weights back during travel.
Too bad to see one less MacBook Air running macOS newer than high Sierra. Mojave killed my MacBook Air with its extremely poor performance, let alone Catalina. Luckily, one can easily downgrade MacBook to older version of macOS.
What a shame. I really liked the form factor and found the screen to be terrific. A MacBook Air is a very unsatisfying replacement — so heavy!
Apple kind of screwed up on the single USB-C port — it would have been terrific with two — and of course they were hobbled by Intel's inability to deliver on 10nm as promised. When I bought the first generation MacBook 12" in 2015, I did so on the expectation that Cannonlake would be coming Next Year™, and that Thunderbolt 3 would make the next iteration of MacBook 12" a wonderful clamshell PC. Alas, that never happened. I still went ahead and bought the 2016 model, and loved it until I accidentally spilled a Coke into the keyboard last autumn.
If Apple brought the MacBook 12" form factor back as an ARM-powered laptop with two TB3 (USB 4?) ports, I would jump at the opportunity to buy another one.
Apple kind of screwed up on the single USB-C port — it would have been terrific with two — and of course they were hobbled by Intel's inability to deliver on 10nm as promised. When I bought the first generation MacBook 12" in 2015, I did so on the expectation that Cannonlake would be coming Next Year™, and that Thunderbolt 3 would make the next iteration of MacBook 12" a wonderful clamshell PC. Alas, that never happened. I still went ahead and bought the 2016 model, and loved it until I accidentally spilled a Coke into the keyboard last autumn.
If Apple brought the MacBook 12" form factor back as an ARM-powered laptop with two TB3 (USB 4?) ports, I would jump at the opportunity to buy another one.
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Well, the good news for me is that I’m probably good with my 256 GB / 16 GB 2017 Core m3 12” MacBook for another 5 years unless something significantly changes.
The performance is more than enough for my office type needs, it will be decent for surfing for that period, and it has full hardware HEVC acceleration for video support going forward. It also supports Sidecar for extended monitor support (with an iPad) if necessary, on the go.
I think my main reason to upgrade will either be if it breaks, or else if my young daughter decides she needs a laptop for school.
However, by that time I’ll either be using an 11” iPad Pro full time, or I will be in the market for a 12” ARM MacBook. Currently at least, I’m not interested in either the ~13” iPad Pro or ~13” MacBook Air/Pro.
The performance is more than enough for my office type needs, it will be decent for surfing for that period, and it has full hardware HEVC acceleration for video support going forward. It also supports Sidecar for extended monitor support (with an iPad) if necessary, on the go.
I think my main reason to upgrade will either be if it breaks, or else if my young daughter decides she needs a laptop for school.
However, by that time I’ll either be using an 11” iPad Pro full time, or I will be in the market for a 12” ARM MacBook. Currently at least, I’m not interested in either the ~13” iPad Pro or ~13” MacBook Air/Pro.
I am really gutted that Apple have discontinued it but I am hoping it is temporary. I bought my 2017 MacBook at a discounted price at the started of 2018 and it has been fantastic, probably my best ever purchase.
I teach part-time and create an education resources website the rest of the time, which involves screen-casting, video editing and web editing. The MacBook has been perfect for this. The portability is the key as I use it all around the house like an iPad, at the office and also whilst teaching.
I won't let Apple push me to the MacBook Air or Pro. I will keep using my little MacBook and then like others have said, I will will hope for an ARM Macbook or for Apple to develop the iPad further so I can do everything on that (I still can't, even with iPadOS).
I teach part-time and create an education resources website the rest of the time, which involves screen-casting, video editing and web editing. The MacBook has been perfect for this. The portability is the key as I use it all around the house like an iPad, at the office and also whilst teaching.
I won't let Apple push me to the MacBook Air or Pro. I will keep using my little MacBook and then like others have said, I will will hope for an ARM Macbook or for Apple to develop the iPad further so I can do everything on that (I still can't, even with iPadOS).
And I said MY opinion. Namely, that you need to get a grip. Add to that you need to take criticism better. None of which is personal, of course.
What was confusing about it? They had a 12” ultraportable, 13” budget model, and two 13” Pro models. Now they just have a 13” budget model and two 13” Pro models.
They also had a non Touch Bar 13" model and pricing was very close between all these models.
The Macbook shouldn't have been discontinued, it should have been the budget option, they could have improved it by adding an extra port & a 720P camera, improved the keyboard and gave it the specs they gave the air.
IDEAL LINEUP
MacBook 12"
i5 Dual Core
8GB RAM
256GB
1.3K$
For 1.8 - 2K u should be able to get an i7, 16GB and 512GB
MacBook Pro 13.3
i5 Quad Core
16GB Ram
256SSD
for around 2.5K u should get i7, 32GB and 512SSD
The Macbook should have replaced the air as it being the first laptop option and have it without the fan. IF they had marketing issues or the AIR name was stronger for some reason they should have made the 13 inch air the new Macbook and still have it with no fan, thats the best feature of the MacBook.
IDEAL LINEUP
MacBook 12"
i5 Dual Core
8GB RAM
256GB
1.3K$
For 1.8 - 2K u should be able to get an i7, 16GB and 512GB
MacBook Pro 13.3
i5 Quad Core
16GB Ram
256SSD
for around 2.5K u should get i7, 32GB and 512SSD
The Macbook should have replaced the air as it being the first laptop option and have it without the fan. IF they had marketing issues or the AIR name was stronger for some reason they should have made the 13 inch air the new Macbook and still have it with no fan, thats the best feature of the MacBook.
I cannot understand this kind of business decision by Apple.
The 12-inch MacBook was a unique laptop in Apple's line-up.
The new 13-inch MacBook Air was very similar to the 13-inch MacBook Pro: similar price points, similar sizes, and similar weights. While the new 13-inch MacBook Air was a welcome addition, there was also a clear overlap between those two. Now, the 13-inch Air seems to be a cheaper version of the Pro, a little bit lighter and less powerful, and without a touch bar.
But the 12-inch MacBook was a completely different thing. It weighed only 2.03 lbs, compared to 2.75 lbs of the new Air, and 3.02 lbs of the new Pro. Smaller and much lighter. And it was released in 2015, only four years ago. It seems strange to me that Apple decided to discontinue this unique line of laptops four years after its introduction, while keeping two similar lines.
Was the line-up confusing? Perhaps it was, but mostly because Apple introduced a new Air that rivaled with the new Pro. A solution could have been keeping a MacBook Air line (with 12 and 13-inch variants, the first being the MacBook rebranded) and a MacBook Pro line (with the 13 and 15-inch models). It would be similar to what they had in the past with the 11 and 13-inch Air and the 13 and 15-inch Pro.
Go figure.