Apple Discontinues 12-Inch MacBook

[borgusio]

The reason they killed it is that if they would have upgraded it with TB3 or - even better - with a second USB port, it would have cannibalized the air 13”.

Now ask yourself: do they have better margins on the 12 or the 13?

A shame because it was Apple design at its best. Dark times expect us.

 

[SactoGuy18]

I knew once Apple updated the MacBook Air last year, it was only a matter of time before they discontinued the 12" MacBook.

 

[KPOM]

Obviously - and then you end up spending extra money, and dragging extra stuff around, to help Apple save a few cents, and rationalize a bad design decision.

Seriously, it’s like the Jony Ive Apology brigade.

Here’s my point - YOU would still love the 12” MacBook if it had a second port, since you only want and need one port - but a whole lot of people didn’t buy it because it lacked a second port... in fact, so many didn’t buy it that Apple discontinued it.

So, now is having that second port such a bad idea?

But to accommodate that second port they had to make a device that is considerably bigger and heavier. Apple no longer makes a single notebook that appeals to me. The Air is a bad value and an even worse design. HP can and does make ultraportables that are lighter and more powerful than the Air.

 

[Bel Marduk]

I am pretty sure Apple will release a lighter Macbook Air, taking the 12"s place. maybe this year

 

[Zen_Arcade]

Apple no longer makes a single notebook that appeals to me. The Air is a bad value and an even worse design. HP can and does make ultraportables that are lighter and more powerful than the Air.

Cry us a river . . .

And then go buy a HP.

 

[Rob_2811]

Supplying power while an external drive is plugged in (to use as Time Machine, for example - which is common)


Your guess is wrong - the SOC in use, as well as the CPU, handily support multiple USB ports. Furthermore, the Mac Pro models, as well as the MacBook Air have USB ports on both sides. This was a deliberate design decision, not a technologically imposed one.

They don't. The Macbook Airs ports are both on one side as are the base model MacBook Pro.

 

[Clix Pix]

The more expensive MBPs have four ports, two on each side, which is the most useful configuration.

 

[ZeitGeist]

Which then begs the question - could the Macbook have supported a second USB-C port while still maintaining its current form factor? That's one thing that virtually every criticism I see seems to conveniently not address.

Your selective reading doesn’t mean that it hasn’t been addressed - I *have* addressed that very question earlier.

Obviously, a second USB-C would fit, right where the headphone jack is currently located (a component which takes up more space), and the 12” MacBook’s SOC supports multiple USB ports, rest assured.

If you want two ports, the end result would essentially have been the retina MBA, which is way larger and heavier than the Macbook. In this context, yes, a second part seems like a bad idea if it comes at the expense of portability.

wow, you’re just not afraid to go all strawman in your apologistic defense of this, are you?

Might as well claim that adding a second USB-C port would effectively make the 12” MacBook into a Mac Pro ‘cheesegrater’, and that it would be too heavy to carry around then... seriously!

The component in the top right (the cable shown in the separate image) is the USB-C port, that attaches to the main logic board.

The component across from it, the much larger component, is for the headphone jack.

Nothing significant would need to be added to the logic board to support a second port.

A similar cable containing a second USB-C jack and the headphone port could have accommodated adding the second port. The added ‘weight’ of the USB-C component would have been offset by the amount of aluminum (or ‘aluminium‘) removed from the side of the case to fit the port, with maybe a net gain of ½ gram, and it would have added an additional 25¢ to the manufacturing cost (if that).

Yes, I’ve actually thought about this, before I adopted my current opinion and position.

A bad decision is not being rationalised here.

yes, that’s all that’s being done.

 

[ZeitGeist]

A shame because it was Apple design at its best. Dark times expect us.

I agree with you in that regard - it was a tour de force of minimalism and technology... at the same time, it was a Jony Ive vanity project, and it was neither very profitable, or sold a lot (and thus representative of Jony).

I would have liked to see a hybrid of the MacBook Air and of the MacBook eventually emerge - and I guess once the MBA received a retina screen, and the bad keyboard, that is that hybrid.

Ultimately, the MBA is a device that offers more flexibility, which translates into longevity, as you can easily expand the internal SSD when desired, or replace the battery.

Tangent : I still feel sacrificing the illuminated Apple logo on the back, and eliminating the startup chime are both shortsighted Jony Ive decisions. Hopefully, those will eventually return.

 

[ZeitGeist]

But to accommodate that second port they had to make a device that is considerably bigger and heavier.

No, they don’t. Adding a second port doesn’t turn the machine into a Macintosh Portable (if you remember what that is). Why do you apologists all have to use this completely irrational strawman argument?

Apple no longer makes a single notebook that appeals to me. The Air is a bad value and an even worse design.

The Air is actually quite decent value, and an elegant design, especially having a Retina display.

HP can and does make ultraportables that are lighter and more powerful than the Air.

HP systems can also easily be Hackintosh’d (if you know what that is), so you could have your cake and eat it too.

 

[ZeitGeist]

They don't. The Macbook Airs ports are both on one side as are the base model MacBook Pro.

Yes, they are, and look @KPOM, there are TWO of them, on a single component board that connects to the logic board.

Which actually would make it even easier to add that second port.

I kept talking about a port on the other side since Apple usually has an obsession with geometry of design - obviously, that’s no longer the case - so thanks @Rob_2811 for helping supporting my argument on how easy adding that second port could be.

 

[Rob_2811]

Yes, they are, and look, there are TWO of them, on a single component board that connects to the logic board.

Which actually would make it even easier to add that second port.

I kept talking about a port on the other side since Apple usually has an obsession with geometry of design - obviously, that’s no longer the case - so thanks for supporting my argument on how easy adding that second port could be.

I've no issue with the argument that Apple could/should have added a second port to the Macbook I was simply pointing out that the current MacBook Air and the base model MacBook Pro have two thunderbolt 3/USB C ports and they are both on the same side.

Only the higher spec 13 and 15 inch MacBook Pros (the ones with four ports) have ports on both sides.

 

[Z3man]

I am pretty sure Apple will release a lighter Macbook Air, taking the 12"s place. maybe this year

I think they will as well, they would be stupid not to.

 

[ZeitGeist]

I've no issue with the argument that Apple could/should have added a second port to the Macbook I was simply pointing out that the current MacBook Air and the base model MacBook Pro have two thunderbolt 3/USB C ports and they are both on the same side.

Thanks Rob, and I appreciate that - I need to clarify that the slightly sarcastic portion of my reply should have been addressed to the guy that insisted that adding a second port would make the MacBook too heavy.

 

[KPOM]

No, they don’t. Adding a second port doesn’t turn the machine into a Macintosh Portable (if you remember what that is). Why do you apologists all have to use this completely irrational strawman argument?

The Air is actually quite decent value, and an elegant design, especially having a Retina display.

But the Air is heavy and has basically the same Core M processor as the MacBook, just in Amber Lake. The base 13” Pro is a much better value. At least you get a quad-Core processor with the extra weight. With the Air you get almost all the extra weight without gaining much benefit. The extra port doesn’t add much value to me, particularly since you still need a hub to connect to legacy devices.

Given that the Air and base Pro have the two ports on the same side tells me it isn’t so simple to add a second port to the MacBook instead of the headphone jack.

My guess is that the high price is why the MacBook didn’t sell as well as expected. Perhaps they should have brought out a 128GB model for $1099 last year. Remember the “cheaper” Air had half the storage of the MacBook.

 

[MTD's Mac]

I had two 12” MacBooks (2015 and 2017) and loved them both. Never missed not having additional ports, enjoyed the combo of light weight, good display, and silent operation. I was willing to pay a premium for this combination of features.

Then in 2018 there was no MacBook update, but the iPad Pro was redesigned and I made the switch. It’s worked out great, especially with iPadOS, which I’m using in beta to do my work every day now.

So if others are like me and have relatively simple needs, Apple might be steering them toward iOS/iPadOS devices. The latest MacBook Air is sort of a legacy product, with a fairly low price, no cutting edge tech, and a traditional laptop form factor. For anyone who wants something with power there’s a full range of MacBook Pros, which will only get more interesting and productive based on rumors of a 16-inch model and more speculative talk of a dual-screen setup.

 

[ZeitGeist]

Given that the Air and base Pro have the two ports on the same side tells me it isn’t so simple to add a second port to the MacBook instead of the headphone jack.

... you’re not particularly good at reading comments just about preceding yours, or is that selective reading?

I have addressed that very point that you keep beating into the ground. Putting two ports next to each other on one side would be even easier - and the space is there.

I’ll assume that you don’t have much experience with engineering or hardware design, right?

My guess is that the high price is why the MacBook didn’t sell as well as expected. Perhaps they should have brought out a 128GB model for $1099 last year. Remember the “cheaper” Air had half the storage of the MacBook.

They never should have had 128GB models in the line up (just as they never should have had 16GB iPhones). Customer perception and reception of products is a fickle thing - didn’t matter that it had half the storage, it had more ports and you “got more” with the Air.

Once they finally added the retina screen to the Air, the 12” was doomed. Furthermore, the profit margin was higher in the Air, with an established and inexpensive production process (though moving the SSD to soldered on has now become a dealbreaker for me - ultimately, the lack of flexibility and expandability in the existing lineup is what pushed me to hackintosh). I can’t even buy a Mac mini anymore (for over $1,000 in a functional configuration), so instead I’m using a $500 intel NUC. Apple’s loss.

 

[toke lahti]

Did they have to wait for Jony to seal the resignation to discontinue this?
Another product that hit the thermal envelope from 2013-2015 era.
Which was before Jony felt "tired".
How "design driven" the company has to be to put i7 to a laptop with passive cooling?

 

[Abazigal]

I have addressed that very point that you keep beating into the ground. Putting two ports next to each other on one side would be even easier - and the space is there.

Your argument is all over the place.

First, you say that it's possible to place a 2nd USB-C port on the right hand side of the Macbook (where the headphone jack is located), then you say that it's also possible to place a 2nd port on the left-hand side alongside the 1st when others point out the space needed to run an extra cable.

My point isn't that there isn't enough internal space to fit a 2nd USB-C port, but that the tapered design of the Macbook simply doesn't allow the for addition of a 2nd port on the left. Even if you want to make a concession and rotate the port downwards at an angle to fit into the slope.

And maybe my point about the laptop being heavier wasn't clear enough, so I will explain it one more time. When I said it would increase the weight of the Macbook, I wasn't talking about the few grams added by a second port. Rather, I was looking at the difference in size and form factor of the 12" Macbook and the 13" MBA. Basically, to have 2 USB-C ports on one side, the laptop will have to thicker (ie: the size of the 13" MBP or MBA) to accommodate them.

And when the laptop is bigger, everything changes. The screen is larger (because why not?), which in turn necessitates a larger battery to power it, which is what contributes to the additional weight, even if nothing else changes.

I’ll assume that you don’t have much experience with engineering or hardware design, right?

So this is what it comes to. An appeal to authority when all else fails.

 

[adamfozzy]

Easy chaps. It's only a computer!

 

[Precursor]

Dell 13 XPS 7390 is coming out next month with intel core i7-1065G7 4-core processor that has native Thunderbolt 3 support and the newest Iris plus graphics chip. Albeit this is a 15W TDP chip, this Dell XPS is in a smaller chassis than 12" Macbook and even has active cooling. Could Apple have updated Macbook the same? Sure they could have, but that would have instantly made their beloved Macbook Air an obsolete trash.
My dream laptop would be 12" Macbook with that chip and an OLED screen!

 

[ZeitGeist]

Your argument is all over the place.

No, it isn’t.

My point isn't that there isn't enough internal space to fit a 2nd USB-C port, but that the tapered design of the Macbook simply doesn't allow the for addition of a 2nd port on the left.

Tapered, you say? Not enough space for a second port, you say?

Moving on.

And maybe my point about the laptop being heavier wasn't clear enough, so I will explain it one more time

Oh no, it was quite clear that you seek refuge in presenting unrealistic scenarios as strawman arguments.

So, in order to accommodate 2 USB-C ports, a laptop would *need* to be the size of a 13” MacBook Pro? Really?

I rest my case.

So this is what it comes to. An appeal to authority when all else fails.

Well, considering that your entire argument is dressed up in strawmen and irrational scenarios, and I’m supporting my opinions with facts, I would think that “when all else fails” applies to you, here.

 

[cmaier]

MacBook will be back next year. Lighter, with an ARM processor and a unique form factor.

 

[adamfozzy]

MacBook will be back next year. Lighter, with an ARM processor and a unique form factor.

I hope so, I don't want to be pushed to an Air or Pro or the other way to iPad.

 

[ZeitGeist]

MacBook will be back next year. Lighter, with an ARM processor and a unique form factor.

What’s with this persistent rumor of the switch to ARM processors?

This would only make sense of Apple could eventually roll this out across the entire Mac line - the renewed emphasis on Pro equipment, like the Xeon based Mac Pro or iMac Pro, make this unlikely. Ditto with the Mac Pro line based on the core i9.

It would make no sense to restrict this to just a line of light portables or ultra-portables.

Plus, with what seems to be Apple’s renewed interest and pivot towards simplifying their product line, and emphasizing actual desired functionality makes this even less likely.

Especially since those machines would lose x86 compatibility, which is needed in order to for the various virtual machines apps (like VMware or Parallels) to do their job (yes, those apps could emulate an x86, but performance would suffer - and there has been no sign of Apple adopting the ARM architecture with an x86 co-processor, which was exciting 5-6 years ago, but hasn’t had any updates since then).

Could such a switch happen eventually? Possibly, but not within the next 5 years, and not as long as intel delivers.