Apple has been a confusing company for consumer since the iPhone C (color). When Steve was around he just want to make a perfect product one at a time and less confusing for consumer to pick and choose. Since Tim took over his first product is RAINBOW and UNICORN the iPhone C...and look at all the products line-up to this day. Tim is starting to profile the poor and the rich by differentiate in prices and design language.
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Apple's Confusing Mac Lineup: MacBook Air vs. MacBook
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Maybe I am in the minority, however I never felt the 13” MBP was heavy. Laptops used to weight much more in prior years, people are just spoilt considering tech.
I hike quite a bit, so I am used to having weight on my shoulders, back and hands, maybe it works out my muscles and strengthens my skeleton. If someone is lugging around weight their will strengthen those muscle groups, it’s a good thing. Never understood why people and Apple believe the human body is made of toothpicks and paper that the weight of these devices is crushing us.
I understand why phones and tablets are light, as it is held in one hand and manipulated with the other. Laptops are placed either on a lap or on a platform, people are not holding a laptop in one hand while typing with the other.
Heat dissipation should be re-engineered away from any body part while in use. There are other ultra portable laptops on the market with a slimmer bezel, smaller package and higher resolution screen. Build quality has narrowed over the last few years, other than macOS where is the cost:value ratio in Apples favour.
True, but it's the only Mac laptop left that doesn't have a trash keyboard ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Complexity and confusing product lines was one of the reasons that got Apple into trouble in the 90’s.
When a company grows larger like HP, products are offered at every price range to cater to every market. This causes confusion. Similar thing happened with Windows, there was a home edition, basic, student, pro, etc.
The majority don’t like thinking about the tech details when buying computers, I see this all the time at the Apple Retail Store. Customer wants to do XYZ, looks at all the products, reaches out to employee, informs customer their are better off with pro model, customer is disappointed as their were looking for something portable with low cost and I/O. Ends up buying the lowest cost item as it has I/O needed. There seems to be enough room on the 2018 MBA to have three USB-C ports and an audio port or maybe a microSD slot. Nope buy those dollar raining dongles.
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I would 100% go with that 2015 MBP. It's definitely gonna be fast, and you get MagSafe, good usable ports and perhaps most importantly a real, usable keyboard. AND you keep $1K more cash in your pocket? Seems like a no-brainer to me.
I would phase out the MacBook and reintroduce it once TigerLake / Sapphire Rapids comes to market and makes those ultra portable machines viable for most consumers. For now, the MacBook Pro will still be the flagship and hopefully be sporting LPDDR4 next year.
Me thinks the MacBook should be the cheap 'student' unit, the AIR should be a couple hundred$ more for the premium design and then the MacPro tops the lineup.
Yea... but I heard they now give you two Apple stickers in the box instead of just one.
The 12" MacBook has the best portability, complete silence (no fan), and normal size trackpad which my hands don't have to rest on while typing. Right now it's the only laptop in the line-up worth considering for me.
12” MacBook is a 2 lb. ultraportable and definitely has a place, there is no other 2 lb. notebook.
If anything, the Air will kill the dual-core 13” nTB MacBook Pro. The MBP is faster and has a better screen, but other than that the Air and nTB are mostly the same (and the Air has better battery life, and TouchID).
The 256GB 13” quad-core MBP, at $1,799, is a much better value than the dual-core nTB version at $1,499.
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Apple is testing the compatibility of iOS apps with MacOS. Once it's comfortable enough, and with the next generation of "A" processors, Apple should just release the MacBook with an "A" processor. So they will get the differentiation they need and, moreover, be able to develop the CPUs on laptops, independently from Intel. In some years the whole laptop lineup will be "A" powered. My guess is that the MacBook will get the "A" processor sometimes next year. Unless Apple feels comfortable enough to just ditch the MacBook altogether. The iPad, which is the best solution for web browsing, spreadsheet and so on, already is getting some pro apps (Photoshop, Lightroom and the like) and has sold WAY more units than the MacBook. So maybe, at the end of the day, Apple is evaluating the whole laptop lineup and what sense it makes in the context of the always more powerful iPads. It's not an easy problem to solve.
Edit: spelling
Edit: spelling
If you’re “confused” by the Mac laptop lineup, then you probably shouldn’t be operating a Mac in the first place.
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This just isn’t meaningful testimony. Anecdotally or by classifying some unquantifiable group as “pro.” My hunch is the percentage of Apple customers who run a licensed copy of windows on a Mac is in the low single digits. And further, I think the idea that needing to run windows on a Mac as something that should hold back the move to an A processor on a macbook doesn’t hold water.
But regardless, you’ll still have the mbp and mba line to choose from so there will be no pain for this group for some time.
So you don't believe in "The Computer for the Rest of Us"? (© Steve Jobs)
https://www.irishtimes.com/business...mputing-possible-for-the-rest-of-us-1.1672329
Don't be silly. I would never buy it in its current state. Even a 4+ year old windows tablet I have has more ports.
But if the extra port is the reason you prefer the new Air, why don't you go with the 13MBP? It's far more powerful, better screen, same dimension and just 120g heavier than the new Air.
Sometimes I wonder what people do at work when they are suggesting using an iPad instead of a laptop/PC. I would operate at 18% speed with an iPad. I tried to go from dual 24"-monitors to a single, but found myself minimizing and maximizing windows a lot more.
I agree with you. We have 2016 12-inch Macbook with m3 CPU at home, my wife uses it for very light work but I also tried using Photoshop there with my usual workflow (photo editing using multiple layers + 3rd party plugins) and I was very surprised that it could even handle multiple PSD files open before getting laggy and stuttery. People who never used it seem to go against it (as always).
Like many others wrote before, I am thining that they will try to get their ARM-based A-Line CPUs into the MacBook. It will eventually turn into an iPad Pro with permanently attached Keyboard and more than one USB/Thunderbolt connection. I also think they may introduce coloured MacBooks again. Like with the iPhone XR, the MB is placed more or less at the "cheaper" end of their line-up, so this would make a lot of sense to make the shell from plastic and coloured. The lower power-consumption of the A-CPU, the slightly smaller LCD and the non-full-aluminium-housing will accomodate for the slighly lower pricetag to place the "All New (amazing) MacBook" below the Air.
The new MB and the iPad Pro will somehow be in the same price-range, but this helps. Peolpe want an Apple-Product, but cant decide whether it should be more a tabplet or more a laptop. Tada!! No matter what you choose, your money will settle down at Apple.
This could also lead to a coloured iPad (non Pro) which sits even below the MB.
The new MB and the iPad Pro will somehow be in the same price-range, but this helps. Peolpe want an Apple-Product, but cant decide whether it should be more a tabplet or more a laptop. Tada!! No matter what you choose, your money will settle down at Apple.
This could also lead to a coloured iPad (non Pro) which sits even below the MB.
The 12'' Macbook is serving a really tiny niche market.
It is lighter than the retina MBA, but not so much and if one needs the lightest possibile machine iPad is way more powerful, and I'd say is ok for that use case. If you really need macOS and a light machine you can get the rMB, but the rMBA is more powerful, has 2 ports and isn't that heavier. It has a bigger display too.
Either they cut the price of the rMB or they switch to ARM next year and give it an extremely great battery life, otherwise it has little reasons to exist
It is lighter than the retina MBA, but not so much and if one needs the lightest possibile machine iPad is way more powerful, and I'd say is ok for that use case. If you really need macOS and a light machine you can get the rMB, but the rMBA is more powerful, has 2 ports and isn't that heavier. It has a bigger display too.
Either they cut the price of the rMB or they switch to ARM next year and give it an extremely great battery life, otherwise it has little reasons to exist
But the Macbook and Air and nearly identical. The Air seems like this year's update for the Macbook. Really no need for both in their current states. It's a mess.
Thats the way updates go when you work for a small company
Not Mac lineup but MacBook lineup.
Their desktop line is nicely organized. iMac and iMac Pro, and then you have Mac Mini and (ancient) Mac Pro.
Their desktop line is nicely organized. iMac and iMac Pro, and then you have Mac Mini and (ancient) Mac Pro.