As long as there is not a lot of battery cycles or SSD wear they should last a long time.
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Apple should make an M1 MacBook
- Thread starter glhiii
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My girlfriend has one (although not a maxed out one) that I can use if she isn't using it. Not he same as owning one for myself, but close enough that it doesn't justify a purchase. Sadly
I wonder into this part of Macrumors from time to time.
There is only one Apple product I regret not buying - it is the 2017 rMB. 4 years later I still look at my rMBP 13 and think "Wow, it would be really nice to have an iPad with a keyboard, which would run macOS and I could take anywhere and still could accomplish the same tasks."
I mean just put the M1 chip into the same chassis, keep the same screen, they can even keep a single USB-C port, I don't care... it would be an instant buy for me.
There is only one Apple product I regret not buying - it is the 2017 rMB. 4 years later I still look at my rMBP 13 and think "Wow, it would be really nice to have an iPad with a keyboard, which would run macOS and I could take anywhere and still could accomplish the same tasks."
I mean just put the M1 chip into the same chassis, keep the same screen, they can even keep a single USB-C port, I don't care... it would be an instant buy for me.
there are deals to be had for this on eBay. I still use my rmb 12 inch i7 16gb 512gb as my travel machine. Just bought a base rmb (M31w, 8gb, 256gb) for my senior citizen mom. She’s currently using an ancient 13 inch mbp with optical drive. I upgraded it to 256gb a long while back and she’s used… 60gb-ish. But the touchpad has died.
It's still pretty heavy actually, it's about 40% heavier than the 12.
I think the 12 inch was probably the perfect size for a machine only intended to be used on light tasks, one that you can carry to multiple places all day.
But I think the 13" next gen MBA (or whatever the name would be), is likely to get pretty close to the original 12 inch size, given the expected bezel reductions. The size would be perfect, a heritage from all the way back when there was the 12 inch powerbook.
I don't consider "heavy" and "heavier" the same thing. They're both very light as far as laptops go.
[ For those reading this thread who are curious, the 12" MacBooks weighed 2.03 lbs. and the 2020 MacBook Air M1 weighs 2.8 lbs. (37.9% heavier). ]
Yes, it will be interesting to see how much smaller they can make future MBAs.
Right, I meant the air is heavy for ultra portable machines, but in grand scheme of all laptops it's certainly light.
Yes, but in the grand scheme of all laptops - 16'' MBP is light.
MB is iPad Pro (+Magic Keyboard) light.
Not even close. The average weight of all laptops sold in the US today is slightly less than 4 lbs.
MacBook 12” and MacBook Air 13” were selling simultaneosly in 2019, and the rMB adopt the gold 2018 color instead of yellow gold/rose gold colours.
BTW it was the last 2017 hw upgrade vs the new MBA upgrade (Intel chip obviously), but rMB was hated from more ‘cause it’s the Ive masterpiece with the PowerBook 12”. I remember how it was hated for is one port, the price and the webcam, but these haters still don’t undestand what it was with no fan, an iPad portability with macOS, the REAL lightness instead the ever chunkyness of the Air.
I’m glad of purchased one in 2015 and one in 2020, last edition from july 2019 when it was retired, but I don’t believe people really understand now how a 12” is better than the chunky 13”, also here most owners hopes in 13” screen with small bezels. ??
BTW it was the last 2017 hw upgrade vs the new MBA upgrade (Intel chip obviously), but rMB was hated from more ‘cause it’s the Ive masterpiece with the PowerBook 12”. I remember how it was hated for is one port, the price and the webcam, but these haters still don’t undestand what it was with no fan, an iPad portability with macOS, the REAL lightness instead the ever chunkyness of the Air.
I’m glad of purchased one in 2015 and one in 2020, last edition from july 2019 when it was retired, but I don’t believe people really understand now how a 12” is better than the chunky 13”, also here most owners hopes in 13” screen with small bezels. ??
I really liked the 12" MacBook form factor. As I have wrote in other threads, I really though the first Apple Silicon Mac was going to be a 12" MacBook to even show off further the performance per watt advantage.
Since I bought a 13" MBA M1, and absolutely love it, I probably wouldn't be in the market anytime soon for one now.
Since I bought a 13" MBA M1, and absolutely love it, I probably wouldn't be in the market anytime soon for one now.
DriveDX will show wear and you can compare against what Apple says the lifetime should be.
Just ran SSDReporter before I saw your message.
Mac System Software says 161 cycles, battery is "normal".
SSD Reporter says -
I'm good to go?
161 cycles isn’t excessive so you should be ok there. What is the % health reported?
Download DriveDX and look at the total TB written. That’s better than these supposed “health” indicators for SSDs.
But I think you are ok.
I have a 12" MacBook. In fact, it's subbing in right now as my secondary desktop, since my 2007 Mac Pro is on the fritz. I have the MacBook mated to a 30" Apple Cinema HD Display. It's glorious. It's a Core m3-7Y32 2017 model with 16 GB RAM, and the performance is very good for what I need it for.
However, there were four main problems with the MacBook as I saw it, so no wonder it wasn't popular.
1) Ports. It just has one USB-C port and a headphone jack. The single USB-C port has been repeated source of frustration to me. It's really irritating. It needs at least two USB ports, and it's no surprise the M1 Air has two USB ports. Plus, the single USB-C is not Thunderbolt. This causes even more frustration, because it limits its usefulness. However two USB 3.1 ports would have been better than a single Thunderbolt 3 port.
2) Price. It shouldn't have cost so much more than the bigger MacBook Air.
3) Keyboard. The 2017 has a significantly improved keyboard over the 2015, but it's still not great. After all these years, I'm still not impressed with the keyboard. Furthermore, these keyboards are notorious for having problems years later.
4) Trackpad. The 12" MacBooks have noticeably inferior trackpads to the MacBook Pros. The feedback click strength for that trackpad is noticeably weaker than the 2017 MacBook Pros. I like strong feedback and the MacBooks at the max strength setting are about the strength of medium or less on the MacBook Pros. I know it's not just my unit, since I've tested several store models with the same result.
AFAIK, all of these were addressed with the M1 MacBook Air (although I'm not sure about the trackpad since I haven't had much chance to test that part).
Would I buy another 12" if they put say an M2 in it? Well, probably not now, since I'm working from home 95% of the time. I no longer need a laptop. If I did though, I'd most definitely get another 12" for the form factor and lower weight, but only if the above problems were addressed. I could see the weight going up somewhat but I wouldn't want the bigger 13.3" form factor. Perhaps what would be good would be a 12.5" model with thinner bezels.
It's a Core m3-7Y32 2017 model with 16 GB RAM, and the performance is very good for what I need it for.However, there were four main problems with the MacBook as I saw it, so no wonder it wasn't popular.
1) Ports. It just has one USB-C port and a headphone jack. The single USB-C port has been repeated source of frustration to me. It's really irritating. It needs at least two USB ports, and it's no surprise the M1 Air has two USB ports. Plus, the single USB-C is not Thunderbolt. This causes even more frustration, because it limits its usefulness. However two USB 3.1 ports would have been better than a single Thunderbolt 3 port.
2) Price. It shouldn't have cost so much more than the bigger MacBook Air.
3) Keyboard. The 2017 has a significantly improved keyboard over the 2015, but it's still not great. After all these years, I'm still not impressed with the keyboard. Furthermore, these keyboards are notorious for having problems years later.
4) Trackpad. The 12" MacBooks have noticeably inferior trackpads to the MacBook Pros. The feedback click strength for that trackpad is noticeably weaker than the 2017 MacBook Pros. I like strong feedback and the MacBooks at the max strength setting are about the strength of medium or less on the MacBook Pros. I know it's not just my unit, since I've tested several store models with the same result.
AFAIK, all of these were addressed with the M1 MacBook Air (although I'm not sure about the trackpad since I haven't had much chance to test that part).
Would I buy another 12" if they put say an M2 in it? Well, probably not now, since I'm working from home 95% of the time. I no longer need a laptop. If I did though, I'd most definitely get another 12" for the form factor and lower weight, but only if the above problems were addressed. I could see the weight going up somewhat but I wouldn't want the bigger 13.3" form factor. Perhaps what would be good would be a 12.5" model with thinner bezels.
For me, I notice they rMB has poorer palm rejection as compared to, say, the Intel 16” MBP, which my wife has. I really have to focus on keeping my wrists from touching the touchpad while typing, or otherwise the cursor will jump.
I was meditating a bit on the to or not to be of a future Macbook.
Basically it went like this:
The Macbook Pro has all your performance and ports and comes in 14 and 16" sizes.
The Macbook Air is (a bit) like the Iveian Pros of yore. It has all the ports and screen sizes of the Pro (above), but it uses less potent silicon. Say that it's limited to the M# pro chips and perhaps slightly underclocked in comparison to the Macbook Pro. And focuses on making it as slim and light as possible.
The Macbook is basically what the current Air is. it uses the standard M#, two thunderbolt ports, magsafe and a headphone jack. And that's it.
That is [consumer] => [pro focused on portability] => [pro focused on performance]
With that said, this "Air Pro" would cannibalize the Pro, but at the same time pull up a few more from the Macbook. Perhaps good. But at the same time, if it doesn't grow the market, then all you do is increase inventory complexity and reduce your purchasing power for any individual SKU.
Basically it went like this:
The Macbook Pro has all your performance and ports and comes in 14 and 16" sizes.
The Macbook Air is (a bit) like the Iveian Pros of yore. It has all the ports and screen sizes of the Pro (above), but it uses less potent silicon. Say that it's limited to the M# pro chips and perhaps slightly underclocked in comparison to the Macbook Pro. And focuses on making it as slim and light as possible.
The Macbook is basically what the current Air is. it uses the standard M#, two thunderbolt ports, magsafe and a headphone jack. And that's it.
That is [consumer] => [pro focused on portability] => [pro focused on performance]
With that said, this "Air Pro" would cannibalize the Pro, but at the same time pull up a few more from the Macbook. Perhaps good. But at the same time, if it doesn't grow the market, then all you do is increase inventory complexity and reduce your purchasing power for any individual SKU.
Well, I don't need a Pro machine, or even pro numbers of ports on my laptop. All I really want to be able to do is charge my computer while plugging in a peripheral at the same time, or else plug into two peripherals at the same time, without having to trot out dongles to do this.
Having just 2 USB-C ports would solve this problem.
With 14/16” screens now in the MacBook Pro lineup, a body refresh due next year on portable non-pro’s, and Air brand being too valuable / recognizable to drop, I predict 12/14” MacBook Air (and MBP13” dropped).
Hopefully a MBA 12” would bring back portability of the MacBook 12”.
Just did a clean install of Monterey on wife’s m1 to get a few more months out of it until next wave of portable refreshes. She runs InDesign / Illustrator and still just passable.
Hopefully a MBA 12” would bring back portability of the MacBook 12”.
Just did a clean install of Monterey on wife’s m1 to get a few more months out of it until next wave of portable refreshes. She runs InDesign / Illustrator and still just passable.
Quick question for those who may have experienced this -
On my 2017 MB 12", when the 29w charger is plugged in, system report/power identifies it correctly as an Apple 29w charger.
But when the kid's Air M1 30w charger is plugged in to my 12" MB, it doesn't identify it as an Apple charger.
Any ideas? Screenshots attached.
On my 2017 MB 12", when the 29w charger is plugged in, system report/power identifies it correctly as an Apple 29w charger.
But when the kid's Air M1 30w charger is plugged in to my 12" MB, it doesn't identify it as an Apple charger.
Any ideas? Screenshots attached.
My wife and I both got early 2016 MacBook's with the M5, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD; I got rid of mine last year and got the 13-inch M1 Pro. She will not let me replace her MacBook - she loves it and its still working great for her. I think if Apple were to release another MacBook with the same form factor, I could probably convince her to upgrade.
For me, the biggest shortcoming of my 2017 maxed-out MacBook is its single port. After years of consistent use, my keyboard still works perfectly and I find speed is fine for what I do (I have the i7 and 16gb ram). I also have an M1 MBA, but for some reason I don't like it as much as the MacBook -- it seems a bit ungainly, neither here nor there, and if Apple produces a new, lighter machine I'll trade it in.
Oops - didn't finish that thought. Anyway, I bought a 2017 MacBook with 8GB/512MB on sale from Adorama camera in February of 2020 for $1199. Before that I had an 11" MacBook Air that I used until it was finally too slow. I really like having the smallest form factor possible for a laptop. I bought my wife a 13" MacBook air and it seems really large to me. Now, to throw a monkey wrench into all that, I have ordered a 14" MacBook Pro. It'll probably seem like a monster to me after all these years of really small Mac laptops. But the MacBook is quite slow when using Capture One for photo editing, so I'm jumping into the MacBook Pro lineup. For anything else the MacBook is fine, so I'll keep it for traveling.