I love the design language for the M2 MBA so far in photos/videos. TBD on living with it. No wasted wings to create optical illusions of thinness, and no maddening angle to the keyboard trying to bend my hands back more. I agree with the others that said it was iconic, I just don’t agree that it was good.
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Apple Executives Discuss MacBook Air Redesign and Reflect on 12-Inch MacBook
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The boxy design of the MB Air M2 allows for a reasonable battery and a full-size scissor keyboard. The wedge-shape MB 12" still needed that complicated terrace battery and the unreliable butterfly keyboard.
Never will an M2 MB 12" have the wedge shape design, it would be perfectly fine to design a 12.5" version of the current MBA M2.
No, because with Apple you pay for the experience, not the parts. The MacBook was lighter than the MBA - and, arguably, looked better than the wedge-shaped MBA. In a sense, the new MBA is basically the old MacBook, but with better parts (and slightly heavier).
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Isn't that what the new MBA is - a better MacBook? Fanless design - check; squared design - check?
the 12 inch was, and, amazingly still is, the best laptop ever made
Wow, so much love for the wedge! I never cared for it much. It was unbalanced, and a functional compromise just to make the form look/feel thinner. I didn't hate it, but it never seemed like the optimal design to me--more like a transitionary design. This is the same thing they did with the iPhone. 4-5S, squared off and wonderful. 6-11, rounded jelly beans I never loved. 12/13, back to perfection.
I still have mine. it was slow, but that was then Intel and now M(chips). the keyboard was a weak point, had to clean mine a lot.
mine still works, liked the footprint, was pricey, a new design with same footprint and a lower price and I would reconsider if the keyboard and speakers are better.
Is there any functionally to the wedge design? Or is it just Apple should keep it because it was iconic?
And discontinue supporting products that were sold to the public years after being old *faster* than normal
What is your source that it’s cheaper to manufacture because it doesn’t have a wedge shape?
Unpopular opinion, but I don’t miss the wedge-shaped design. I like the new design. I image engineering-wise it’s also far more efficient to fit components in a flat design than use all sorts of wasteful tricks, like layered battery, to get the components to fit into a curved chassis.
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We are comparing a 2022 13.6" screen MBA weighing 2.7 lb to a 2017 12" screen MBA only weighing 2.03 lb. Netbooks use to be very popular compared to laptops, but they just lacked decent display and processors.
I absolutely love the slanted (tapered) keyboard angle the MacBook Air had before they redesigned it to be parallel to the desk like MacBook Pro.
In my honest opinion, typing on MacBook Air felt more "natural" than MacBook Pro. I don't know for sure but the redesigned Air is starting to look like MacBook Pro!
In my honest opinion, typing on MacBook Air felt more "natural" than MacBook Pro. I don't know for sure but the redesigned Air is starting to look like MacBook Pro!
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No. You pay for Apple's COGS and GPM. No more complicated than that.
Because it shares the same manufacturing process as the bigger sibling. It’s just thinner with less holes for ports.
Exactly, I wish they would make bigger Airs with base specs to keep the price down. Right now there's way for a decently sized screen without going into the $2ks
Apple is offering bad design with revolutionary chips, so they can later offer better design with evolutionary chips. Makes for a 10 year hot sales arch.
Indeed... have the latest 11 and 12.9 iPad Pros and Magic Keyboards, but when sitting on the couch or running to hang at the cafe on the corner, it's my still my old, 2015 MacBook 12 that comes with me... lighter, more handy, more versatile than the iPad for most of my (even dilly-dally) workflows (e.g. code review, complex browsing for research).
I think the tapered front edge of the Air was more than just a "game" to make it look thinner. It actually makes it more comfortable to type on. I have exclusively owned Airs for the past 10 years or so, with the exception of one 2012 MacBook Pro. I always felt a bit like the front edge of the MBP was digging into my hand a little more when I typed on it for a long time. Not unusable by any means, but that taper of the Air really does fit the hand nicely and I'm sad to see it go.
The clunky, rectilinear design of the new imac and macbook air are so inelegant I just can’t replace old machines with these. I stopped being an Ive fan when the MBP’s were stripped of their features and ports & OS’s flattened before fancying himself a fashionista and spinning off into an orgy of self love, but if there were any elements of his legacy worth preserving, Apple has failed to recognize their quality in reverting to the Macbook Pro Gen 1 design for the M-series models.
Polarizing? That means (most?) people loved it. Including myself. I can deal with one port - so please and thank you -- SHIP A 12" APPLE SILICON MAC. Use the M3 and the guts of the current M2 Air.
Can they please comment on the concept of putting an M2 chip in a MBP design that’s six years old?
Indeed. That's absolutely right. Now with limited vision, the pixel density is important to see the edges of the characters, but I also need slightly larger character size than what I was using 20 years ago, therefore I need a slightly larger screen.