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Apple Discontinues 12-Inch MacBook

None of my Macs have cellular data -- only WiFi. I don't like to use a computer during a thunderstorm with lightning and all that. My iPads both have cellular data in addition to Wifi, which is great for travel and also for at-home use. I'm not interested in any sort of Surface laptops, thank you, I'm happy with my Macs, iPads and iPhone.
 
Clix Pix said:
None of my Macs have cellular data -- only WiFi. I don't like to use a computer during a thunderstorm with lightning and all that. My iPads both have cellular data in addition to Wifi, which is great for travel and also for at-home use. I'm not interested in any sort of Surface laptops, thank you, I'm happy with my Macs, iPads and iPhone.
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You can use your Mac laptop during a thunderstorm just fine running off the battery. You can also tether it to your phone and get internet access that way as well.
 
Thanks, I know that but no need to fool with tethering off the iPhone when I've got an iPad sitting right here which has the cellular data and such and if I'm just interested in browsing/participating in forums to keep myself amused during the storm, and if we have a sudden power outage I'm already set up on the iPad anyway, Mac shut down. Power outage means that I wouldn't be able to continue on WiFi since my modem and router would be affected by the lack of electricity, so while I could still use the Mac on battery for doing something which doesn't require being online, most of what I do does seem to involve being online.
 
Fair enough. ;)

I have a battery backup on my router and modem. I'm typically able to continue using internet and laptop a while during a power outage.
 
I used to have an APC battery backup and that is indeed very useful to have! I had it on the computer back when I had an iMac and it was handy a few times during outages. Eventually I sold the machine and the APC to someone and never bothered replacing it. That is a good idea, though, to put one on the modem and router....... Hm......
 
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I'm late on commentary for this thread ..

Hazmat401 said:
Guess those profit margins were hella low

Seriously... base model aside, why buy a MacBook when you can get a better performing Air
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Reasons ... it was much better than the aging MacBook Air and by dimensions, still even the new MBA ... only failing in: screen resolution and exhobitant pricing (showing Cook's greed).

2017 MacBook
.14-.52 x 11.04 x 7.74

2019 MacBook Air
.16-.61 x 11.97 x 8.36
Measurements are inches while closed - minimum height to maximum height by width by depth; courtesy of Everymac

DrJohnnyN said:
Good. 12" is way too small. ;)
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Bump the resolution it would indeed be a much better machine. To be quite honest I had wished Apple kept the lineup, pushing Intel to continually innovate on a powerful cpu needing no fan!

Wait for a rebirth in 3yrs using an Arm based cpu for Apple to gloat over ALL competition.
 
i dont get it.. macbook was a portable small laptop, while air is more like mbp (and costing almost the same but having much less). they should have ditched the air and kept the macbook. if you want something like air, better to buy mbp. if you want something like macbook, better to buy... oh wait nothing to buy now. i dont understand the purpose for current air at all. when air came it was a quite differend product than mbp, but now they are almost the same computer. i dont understand why anyone would buy air rather than mbp, it only costs couple hundreds more but having much more.

macbook only needed a better camera and faster usb-c (tb) for an egpu for example. then i could have bought it. a second port would have been nice too. but no macbook anymore then...
 
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The 13" Air and 13" Pro are really too close in features now. That price difference isn't big enough to stop people from going to the Pro which may be the desired effect of the discontinuation of the 12".
 
mrex said:
i dont get it.. macbook was a portable small laptop, while air is more like mbp (and costing almost the same but having much less). they should have ditched the air and kept the macbook. if you want something like air, better to buy mbp. if you want something like macbook, better to buy... oh wait nothing to buy now. i dont understand the purpose for current air at all. when air came it was a quite differend product than mbp, but now they are almost the same computer. i dont understand why anyone would buy air rather than mbp, it only costs couple hundreds more but having much more.

macbook only needed a better camera and faster usb-c (tb) for an egpu for example. then i could have bought it. a second port would have been nice too. but no macbook anymore then...
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100% agree. I have two theories;
1: Apple discontinuing the MacBook is temporary (as they couldn't get away with selling it with current specs) and it will return, either later this year with IceLake processors or next year with ARM. The 5 out of the 7 MacBook models numbers registered certainly point to more Macs coming later this year.
2: Apple wants the MacBook 12 inch lovers to move over to iPad as, to Apple, they share the same customers.

My heart wants it to be option 1 but my head says option 2.
 
adamfozzy said:
100% agree. I have two theories;
1: Apple discontinuing the MacBook is temporary (as they couldn't get away with selling it with current specs) and it will return, either later this year with IceLake processors or next year with ARM. The 5 out of the 7 MacBook models numbers registered certainly point to more Macs coming later this year.
2: Apple wants the MacBook 12 inch lovers to move over to iPad as, to Apple, they share the same customers.

My heart wants it to be option 1 but my head says option 2.
Click to expand...
The reason I question option one is that they have no problem at all selling very out of date Macs for their original price, such as the prior Mac mini (finally updated late last year) and the trashcan Mac Pro. Sure, sales would be bad until they got updates, but I have to imagine sales of the 2013 Mac Pro were almost non-existent the last few years, and they kept it at full price until they released a new one.
 
QCassidy352 said:
The reason I question option one is that they have no problem at all selling very out of date Macs for their original price, such as the prior Mac mini (finally updated late last year) and the trashcan Mac Pro. Sure, sales would be bad until they got updates, but I have to imagine sales of the 2013 Mac Pro were almost non-existent the last few years, and they kept it at full price until they released a new one.
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Agreed. Option 2 is most likely for that reason - I just keep thinking back to those MacBook model numbers.
 
The MacBook 12” was a Jony Design - with little consideration on cost of manufacturing. That’s why it was expensive. It also wouldn’t have been able to accommodate the fiasco keyboard or Touchbar - which Apple has now standardized on across the laptop line.

Adding those in would have increased the price of 12” MacBook into unaffordable territory.

Again, it’s no coincidence that it was discontinued the moment Jony Ive was out of the building and no longer had any influence. These decisions and timelines were made and laid out years ago and are now playing out.
 
Clix Pix said:
Thanks, I know that but no need to fool with tethering off the iPhone when I've got an iPad sitting right here which has the cellular data and such and if I'm just interested in browsing/participating in forums to keep myself amused during the storm, and if we have a sudden power outage I'm already set up on the iPad anyway, Mac shut down. Power outage means that I wouldn't be able to continue on WiFi since my modem and router would be affected by the lack of electricity, so while I could still use the Mac on battery for doing something which doesn't require being online, most of what I do does seem to involve being online.
Click to expand...
Okay, so buying and installing UPS for your modem is less "need to fool" than clicking that wifi icon in menu bar on your mac and selecting your ipad (which already has internet sharing selected on), when the wifi of your modem dies out because of power outage?
 
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