I had a single key fail on a 2017 12" MacBook, but Apple was able to fix it in store. I would purchase an M3-equipped 12" MacBook that was slightly thicker to accommodate a "Magic Keyboard." Upgrade the port to Thunderbolt 4 and potentially add a second one, and it would be as close to perfect for me as possible.
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Apple Says Original 12-Inch MacBook Will Be Obsolete at End of June
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Probably not 12" anymore, considering bezel sizes have come down, even for Apple laptops. It would be 12.5", 13.3" and 15" or so.
Still would buy one, I just retired my MBA 11" and it was a really nice computer.
apple's obsolete product is still way better looking than most current PC laptops
I think it would be a great time to bring it back. The new architecture would be an excellent fit for it.
I had the 2017 12", loved the little thing, sold it though for funds towards my M1 MacBook Pro, would love an identical looking one with an M2 in it.
Air and 12” are two different lines: Air is cheap, 12” is niche.
It's like comparing an iPad and an iPad mini: iPad is cheap, iPad mini is niche, being a smaller iPad Air.
The same thing happened with the first iPhone SE: it was not cheap, it cost €605, a few dozen less than the 6s, but the public took it for the cheap iPhone, and Apple placed the SE2 and the SE3 lower, with a lower price.
MacBook 12”, iPad mini and iPhone SE are products from Ive, for one simple reason: approach miniaturisation as a challenge is, as was the case until a few decades ago, miniaturisation was expensive. Now it's hard to explain it to those who evaluate the goodness of a product from the diagonal of the screen.
That's why I hope that MacBook 12” has no heirs: it wouldn't be understood.
Would have loved to see a M1 MB 12“ with an additional port and a good keyboard. However the M1 MBA was pretty great!.
Oh, one more thing: I am firmly convinced that Apple is no longer able to design miniaturised hw, nor does it want to do so, as it is not profitable.
It practically lost all the challenges on miniaturisation:
Mac Pro 2013, MacBook 12” Retina, MacBook Pro 2016, iPhone SE 2016, iPhone mini 12 and 13, Apple Watch 38/40.
The only one that survives, and in my opinion because there is still Ive's hand, is the iPad mini, but soon he will die too.
Please don't bring the example of the Mac mini (which Apple never wanted and in fact gets worse from year to year) or that engineer’s obscenity that is Mac Studio.
Apple wants to sell, if the diagonal of the screen charges more for Apple's products it can only be fine: bigger products are less complicated and they charge more.
Even in the sw they are no longer able to make a UI that is not a FisherPrice: MacOS from Big Sur is a blow to the heart of those who have seen Aqua born and used Mac OS X for decades.
It practically lost all the challenges on miniaturisation:
Mac Pro 2013, MacBook 12” Retina, MacBook Pro 2016, iPhone SE 2016, iPhone mini 12 and 13, Apple Watch 38/40.
The only one that survives, and in my opinion because there is still Ive's hand, is the iPad mini, but soon he will die too.
Please don't bring the example of the Mac mini (which Apple never wanted and in fact gets worse from year to year) or that engineer’s obscenity that is Mac Studio.
Apple wants to sell, if the diagonal of the screen charges more for Apple's products it can only be fine: bigger products are less complicated and they charge more.
Even in the sw they are no longer able to make a UI that is not a FisherPrice: MacOS from Big Sur is a blow to the heart of those who have seen Aqua born and used Mac OS X for decades.
Wife bought rose gold one in 2016 and is still using it to this day. For browsing, Neftflix, light video editing in iMovie, writing in Pages etc. Great machine with great footprint. To those who say it was/is underpowered - I was able to edit multi layered PSD files on it when I was away for a week and while it was not a strong perfomer, it handled everything with grace. As many people before me wrote here, if Apple released even M1 version of it, it would be a instant buy for my wife. She doesn't want to let go of it cause Air is too large for her.
Wild to me that Apple hasn't yet taken this chassis and just stuck an M1 or M2 in there. It was a brilliant form factor and the performance would take a phenomenal leap forward with Apple Silicon.
Arbitrarily short? Insane? This product is over 7 years old, that's a really long life for a computer. Not to mention it was underpowered from day 1. It's had a pretty dang good run all things considered. If it had gone vintage a couple years after launch, sure you'd have a point, but after more than 7 years? No.
Last one was selled officially on July 19, 2019. Unofficially it was selled months after from Apple Resellers.
So the last ones are less than 4yrs old, as mine, or 5yrs, if bought from Apple Store.
Houston, we have a problem.
I still use mine for running my virtual desktop when working from home. Great machine
I’m glad we’ve come so far over the past 8 years! Oh wait
Agreed, this form factor was super sleek when it came out, but the Intel Core M just wasn't up to snuff performance-wise... Now with Apple Silicon, it does feel like there would be a not insignificant group of customers who want this size in an ultra-portable, in a full laptop vs tablet/hybrid.
How much will this cost? You just bring it to a store? Do you wait or leave it and come back. I need to do this but never have before.
So bummed that Apple doesn't care about ultra lightweight laptops. Yeah they want to sell more iPads but iPads don't run standalone apps, everything is cloudified.
Amen, my wife has one, now supplanted as her daily driver by an M2 Mini, and its form factor is fantastic. I'll add one note: it also had that irritating keyboard, we need an M-powered one with the current keyboards
I don’t think they knew about the Apple Silicon transition back in 2014 when it was being designed.
It's 2023 now, and the world still hasn't transitioned away from USB-A... been 8 years.
I still have and love my 2017 12" MacBook, which I use around home from time to time and it is still the one I will continue to use for travel.... I would be absolutely thrilled if Apple surprises us with a new 2023 updated version (M2, anyone?). I would snap one of those up in a heartbeat.
Yes, there are compromises but there is nothing that can beat the portability of the 12" MacBook, and for some people it more than serves as an ideal travel companion, whether it be around town or around the world.
Yes, there are compromises but there is nothing that can beat the portability of the 12" MacBook, and for some people it more than serves as an ideal travel companion, whether it be around town or around the world.
I mean, nowadays you can buy yourself a very decent unit of the 2017 12" model for just a little more than how much the new battery will cost you... Especially the i5/i7 - powered ones with 16 gigs of ram are a blaze compared to the M-based 2015's.
Still use it for travel. Love the light weight and a work horse for light computing.