Honestly, and from experience, I think the price is pretty much a priority for many customers.
First, that it runs macOS. Then the price. And portability.
I've been around long enough. Back when the first MBA came out, it was pushing 2k in price. It had *one* USB port. It was WAY overpriced for what it was. At the time, you still had the normal Macbook and you had the Macbook Pros.
People were predicting left and right that this one will just be sitting on the shelves, because who would be that stupid to pay that amount of money?
Guess what: It sold like hotcakes. The Air was a HUGE success so much so that it's still around.
Because there was a market for the Air that neither the Macbook nor the Pros could satisfy: portability.
I was one of them. I had a powerhorse at home, but I *needed* portability as I was travelling a lot with a metric sh*t ton of stuff and I'm short. Every ounce counts. And I was more than willing to pay premium for that. The Air was never going to be my only or main mac. It didn't need to be able to do *all* the jobs done, it only needed to get *most* of the jobs done.
Over time, the Macbooks that were considered the "entry-level" macs became the small 12" Macbooks, still targeted as the entry-level, price-wise. But anyone who's doing a lot of writing will tell you they will never go smaller than 13". I want and need a fullsize keyboard and that's not something I'll ever compromise on.
Well, the Macbooks went extinct and left a vaccum in that lower price range, so people started really trying to push the Air into that niche that it was never supposed to occupy.
Long story short:
Price definitely is a priority for a specific demographic.
And price is not a priority for a different specific demographic.
It's the same spiel with the iPhones every damn time as well. For some reason that eludes me, people equate 'budget' with 'small'.
Since 2008, when the first MBA was introduced, MBPs have become much lighter and thinner. But if you've ever had both an Air and a Pro, you'd know they're just not the same, still not. And they don't want to be the same. Different markets. Different priorities.
I'm currently on a MBP because at the time I needed to upgrade my 2nd-gen Air, the Air still came without a Retina display and that was not something I was going to buy at that point. The alternative would've been the 12" MB. So I went with the Pro. Not exactly by choice.
I don't need a MBP. As I said, this will never be my main/only mac. I don't *need* all that power that comes with a MBP and I don't need that surchage. I do not like the form factor at all. Nevertheless, I do need *some* power, probably more than an entry-level MB would provide, and I do like some of the premium things that tend to be excluded in the entry-level versions.
As I said: there is a demographic for the Air. It's neither those looking for budget entry-level Macs nor those that want all the power and in reality should be looking at MBPs. The Air really sits in the middle between those two. Or rather, should, as currently it's not split up like that and the Air is supposed to fill two different roles.
do people *really* care that much about magsafe?
Yes, people *really* do care that much about Magsafe.
