Welp, I guess my 11" Air is the last laptop I'll buy for awhile. I've owned two so far. They're the perfect travel laptop, great to use on remote photo sets, perfect for just about anything basic, even up to processing RAW photo imagery. Would never use it as a workhorse, but it's been a great little computer. The 13" always just felt too big.
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Apple Still Offering 2015 13-inch MacBook Air, 11-inch MacBook Air Discontinued
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As soon as I woke up to this news, I bought my wife the latest 11 inch from the Australian refurb store to replace her 2010 model.
This is a sad day for lovers of the 11 inch Air.
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I agree and I'm chuffed I got my 13 inch model back in September when a local retailer had it on a 15% sale. I love this machine. It's far and away the best balance of style, performance and price in Apple's lineup.
This is a sad day for lovers of the 11 inch Air.
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I agree and I'm chuffed I got my 13 inch model back in September when a local retailer had it on a 15% sale. I love this machine. It's far and away the best balance of style, performance and price in Apple's lineup.
I have a 2015 MBA 11" along with my rMBP 15". I love them both. At my work a large number of people have the 11" for portability. Its a cracking machine with a great keyboard (tried and just can't do the butterfly one).
The 11 inch was my daily driver for several years. John Gruber has said as much too and a survey of this site's forums shows that plenty of people agree. To this day, it represents the best balance of portability and performance and is almost universally loved by writers on the go.
It's quite easy to get used to it, however you appear to be a stuck record in your assumption that all of us 11" owners are wrong about usability. Just except the fact that some of us like the size and form of the 11" MBA.
Now we have to except that it's gone - maybe we'll start to look at the 12" MacBook (once it comes with a decent processor and price starts to drop)
Only one-week old and the 2015 "13 MBA is easily the best computer I ever had. Although I only owned three laptops prior and all were Windows. I would say the MBA is better than nearly every smartphone I ever owned. For about 1.5 years, I didn't own any laptop and MBA made me realize how much I miss using one. And when I use a laptop, I can use it for 12+ hours per day.
My only qualm is it starts to lag when Transmission is downloading way too many movies. And so used to a right click on Windows and was easier to copy and paste. But the great thing is it never gets warm after hours of usage. Truly a COOL device. Get it while supplies last! You are getting a Mac at its cheapest with two USB-A, SD slot, MagSafe, and glowing Apple logo. It also charges fast and has amazing battery life. Kinda like a no-brainer for value seekers who also purchased an iPhone SE this year.
If I could do it all over again, I would still take a 1.5 year old MacBook Air over any flagship smartphone released this year including iPhone 7 and LG V20. I would still pick it if the Note7 was never recalled. I would still pick it over a $300 PS4 slim because it is portable and isn't required to be connected to an outlet where I experience plenty of blackouts. The ability to drag and drop to transfer files and ability to stay cool is so important.
Long live the older MacBook Pros, Airs, iPhone 5/6 series, and Galaxy Note 3 & 4. The last models that weren't replaced by overpriced successors with divisive (ahem, courageous) decisions...
My only qualm is it starts to lag when Transmission is downloading way too many movies. And so used to a right click on Windows and was easier to copy and paste. But the great thing is it never gets warm after hours of usage. Truly a COOL device. Get it while supplies last! You are getting a Mac at its cheapest with two USB-A, SD slot, MagSafe, and glowing Apple logo. It also charges fast and has amazing battery life. Kinda like a no-brainer for value seekers who also purchased an iPhone SE this year.
If I could do it all over again, I would still take a 1.5 year old MacBook Air over any flagship smartphone released this year including iPhone 7 and LG V20. I would still pick it if the Note7 was never recalled. I would still pick it over a $300 PS4 slim because it is portable and isn't required to be connected to an outlet where I experience plenty of blackouts. The ability to drag and drop to transfer files and ability to stay cool is so important.
Long live the older MacBook Pros, Airs, iPhone 5/6 series, and Galaxy Note 3 & 4. The last models that weren't replaced by overpriced successors with divisive (ahem, courageous) decisions...
And it has 12 hours quoted battery life compared to the new MacBook Pro's 10 hours! So much better value.
Crikey, I didn't realise it had on 10 hours battery life. Another +1 for the Air. I only recharge mine a few times a week.
Apple, WTF is the point of using such a low-watt, low-power CPU if you can't get decent battery life? Isn't battery life a top design priority in a device sold for the wireless world?
Same amount of information as a 15MBP, and a vastly worse picture. Higher resolution is much better looking. Also you can still scale the MBP (or the rMB) to a ratio that gives it more space than the crappy displays on the air while still retaining higher resolution.
That's got to be hurting your eyes.
At that point, why not just use your iPhone?
I can't speak for a 11" Macbook Air but my girlfriend uses an 11" Chromebook and that thing's awesome. Had Apple decided to updated the 11" Macbook Air alongside the Pros today I'd be giving it a long hard look at when the time came for purchasing.
What puzzles me: Apple now offers 4 different 13 inch notebook models (MBA 13 inch, MBP 2015, MBP 2016 without touch bar, MBP 2016 with touch bar) and a 12 inch and they decide to kick the smallest one in favor to offer more 13inches?!
I really wonder why they kept the 13 inch but kicked out the 11. It's a perfect little machine for the go. I love mine from 2011 and will probably keep it for another while. Upgraded with 512GB ssd it still rocks even daily video editing, photoshop and coding tasks...
I really wonder why they kept the 13 inch but kicked out the 11. It's a perfect little machine for the go. I love mine from 2011 and will probably keep it for another while. Upgraded with 512GB ssd it still rocks even daily video editing, photoshop and coding tasks...
I see them all the time- just saw six at a Starbucks in Tokyo this morning. At least 10 executives in my company have them, I have one I use when traveling light, and they're very capable machines.
I have a loaded 27" 5k iMac, 15" MBP and an older 2010 11" Air, all for different uses/travel/etc. Was waiting to see if they updated the 11" today. Same thing - as SOON as I saw it was discontinued I bought the loaded 8GB/512GB 2.2 i7 refurbished 11" off the Apple refurb page.
The 11" fits in a small sling daypack and the latest model is plenty powerful. It's a shame they're discontinuing the 11" - the 12" just doesn't have the CPU power I'd like. If they update the 12" to make it a little more powerful I might go for the retina screen and sell my new MBA...
I had a 2011 13" MBA, switched to an 11" MBA in 2013 and like it so much more. As others have said, perfect for travel. And not crippled like the MacBook - I have the i7/8gb/512gb model and it's very fast. Don't especially care that they dropped the 11" MBA and are not updating the 13", the writing has been on the wall for awhile now. And my 2013 will last me a couple more years.
I'm just disappointed they didn't update the Mini, would like to replace the 2012 model I use as a dedicated video editing machine.
I'm just disappointed they didn't update the Mini, would like to replace the 2012 model I use as a dedicated video editing machine.
I haven't bought any Macs because they're just TOO EXPENSIVE for what they do. They're not that good of machines. They're not cutting edge. They're behind. They don't handle what they should. And you're not getting your money's worth.
That's why when this whole Mac event started I just crossed my legs and sighed. I knew they weren't going to be doing anything. They weren't going to make anyone excited to buy these Macs. They never do.
They're behind. Apple thinks they're innovating, they're not. They're playing catch-up.
I'm not sure when y'all gonna get this.
The 11 inch hit all the sweet spots for me, power, usability, size and price. All the other options out there have limitations compared to the 11. Retina Macbook is missing ports and power. The Macbook Air 13 inch is too large. Same goes for the Macbook Pro, but are also quite a bit more expensive. Sad to see it killed. It'll take a couple more iterations of the Retina Macbook to be viable for me, and that's if it ever drops in price.
Which makes me wonder if they ever will drop in price, now that Apple considers $1499 an 'entry level' model.
These new prices feel almost anachronistic, like we went into some alternate reality where computer prices never started to drop and become mainstream. In the future we will all regale ourselves about the magical time Apple sold a computer for only $899.
Which makes me wonder if they ever will drop in price, now that Apple considers $1499 an 'entry level' model.
These new prices feel almost anachronistic, like we went into some alternate reality where computer prices never started to drop and become mainstream. In the future we will all regale ourselves about the magical time Apple sold a computer for only $899.
11 inch hit the right side? For me 14" was the minium size that I could do. If you're gonna do 11", trust me it just doesn't look right. 11" you might as well just use your iPhone.
Yeah I really like the 11 inch screen size. I mainly use it for using Logic Pro X, and I tweak the interface so I get rid of all the clutter. I open any new editor into a new space. I 4 finger swipe to change spaces back and forth. I use key commands constantly. I feel more focused and in the creative flow state with a smaller screen.
The portability is just amazing. I've been carrying this thing literally everywhere, and I feel I'm always a moment away from getting something creative done. A larger computer would lose that portability.
I could get the same thing, portability wise, out of a retina Macbook. But then I would lose out on power and have to buy a bunch of extra crap to make it usable in my home setup. USB-C is the future, but it's not the present... and I frequently need to plug in the charger and a usb midi controller... doing that with an expensive dongle just so I can use a thinner computer isn't exactly a compelling choice.
Great... I have two Macbook Airs (2013 and 2015) that are being phased out and will no longer be supported in the near future (right?). And to think I was contemplating a Mac Mini. Bad idea.
Sorry to say but I am going to jump ship and buy a Razerblade Stealth and a NUC Skull Canyon. Both have i7 processors and better hardware.
Sorry to say but I am going to jump ship and buy a Razerblade Stealth and a NUC Skull Canyon. Both have i7 processors and better hardware.
Cook era Apple will simply sell the 2016 version of the Retina Macbook for a reduced entry level price in 2018 as a cheap but poor value proposition to the price sensitive consumer. As a result the machine won't be viable for nearly as long, forcing that price sensitive consumer to spend more in the long run.
Why would it be hurting my eyes?
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So why hang around on a Mac Forum making comments about computers you don't own and don't intend to buy?
Easily.
I do a lot of programming and writing. For these tasks, retina is cool but not fundamental. The 11" screen size is not a fatal issue either, even if I greatly appreciate when I can have a larger display.
When travelling, I also do some photo editing with it, and it works, even if not ideal.
So, it is a compromise for sure, but for me a very good one.
Before I got an iMac 27" at my office, I had a 27" display. I would hook the MBA to it, enjoy the double display, with that of the MBA 11" fitting just under the bottom of the 27", and enjoy the light weight and small footprint when carrying it home or on trips. Very cool!
And there are many cases where the smaller screen actually helps. Just consider how it is to use a laptop on an airplane, in economy class: when the seat in front reclines, only smaller laptop can be kept open at a convenient angle. I prefer a 11" screen comfortably open than a 13" or 15" screen that I cannot open fully and have to look at at an angle, or that requires me to take a position that strains my wrists.