MBA should come in 13" and 14.2" sizes and have a proper port selection. Change my mind.
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Hands-On With the 2024 M3 MacBook Air
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Ports belong to the MBP. Now that we have a clear distinction, the MBA should focus on being as thin and light as possible - if anything, it should have less ports, since most people are not going to use 2 USB-C at the same time.
I’d rather 4 usbc and no SD card slotsl I’m leaving behind my 2016 MBP with 4 usbc and don’t even get that in a pro now.
Nope. Ports belong on all Macs to make all Macs practical. People who prefer the thin form factor should not have to suffer a less practical machine nor annoying and cumbersome dongles. MBP differentiates by having way more power, having a high-end display, having fans for cooling for longer workflows, a giant screen option and possible upgrades to-the-max. My MBA from 2015 has SD Card, they removed MagSage and then brought MagSafe back. Fix this damn machine.
Well, the Pro should have 4 for sure. SD Card is needed so people who have DSLR cameras (many people) are not punished for preferring a thin form factor. 2017 MBA and earlier has SD Card and that machine was only better for it.
In my perfect world, everything would be on USB-C by now.
We don't live in that world. Apple tried to get there but everyone wanted the ports back, so they brought them back but to only half the machines. They brought MagSafe back to MBA, but not SD Card. MBA should also have HDMI for maximum projector compatibility. The machine has 18 hours of battery life and is a great form factor/battery life combo for office workers, teachers, events and such, but needs a full complement of ports to excel in those worlds. MBP should be the power-house machine—get rid of the 'M3' version, including only M3 Pro and M3 Max options, and give MBA Air at least one of all of the ports MBP has. People who love the Air form factor should not have to suffer dongles.
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You know you can get SD card readers that are USB C , cost $10 and are hardly bigger than an SD card. They also handle Micro SD and have USB-A
I get that you hate them but I don't get why it matters that much. Furthermore, the readers change with the technology and get faster which is never true with the machines
Same for HDMI, you can get a cable that's HDMI on one end and USB-C on the other. You've got to have a cable anyway so for most people it really isn't such a big deal.
This is the one area that I am personally rather disappointed in - that Apple was not able to drag more people into the usb-c future they envisioned. We often talk about wanting Apple to embrace the latest technologies and standards, yet waffle when it comes to making the same technological leap ourselves.
A 16" MBP with nothing but usb-c slots on both sides would have been sheer perfection.
I can maybe make the case for sd-card slot (even though I personally have zero use for it), but I don't see how you would expect to fit a HDMI port on either side of the MBA and expect to still keep it as thin as it currently is. My first MacBook was the 2012 11" MBA, and it had this mini-display port and you had to get the appropriate dongle for the right port (and I had both the HDMI and VGA variants).
As such, I am okay with the MBA lacking HDMI, and indifferent to it sporting an SD card slot.
I am also somewhat divided on the M3 MBP as well. I personally wouldn't buy one ever (for the same price, I would go with the 15" MBA with 16g ram), and you can still get refurbished M1 Pro MBPs for cheaper, and I do wonder if Apple does see a legitimate market for it, or if it's there solely to upsell users to the more expensive MBP models.
We've been through this many times. People made the same arguments before Apple brought ports back. People like ports. Death to dongletown. Forever and ever and ever.
"Not a thing" if you ignore the thousands of games available. Here are 43,000 options on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/search/?os=mac
You might not like any of those thousands of games, but I play some of them. I didn't buy my Mac for gaming, but it does well when I play games. I think people saying they can't game on a Mac really mean Macs don't have some of the games they play.
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Does anyone know how much is the 15" version without that ugly notch?
I can't seem to find it anywhere.
And I believe it must exist.
I can't seem to find it anywhere.
And I believe it must exist.
Agreed, I'd rather have Apple upsell screen tech than RAM and SSD.
He said it is worth upgrading from the m1 to the m3. So I guess upgrading from my macbook pro 2016 to macbook air m3 will be huge?
Because 8GB is plenty for may users and allows a lower price point for an entry level machine.
Since you already have to attach a cable an adapter really is no big deal. If the added HDMI people would complain they made it thicker by adding a useless port.
I think removing the HDMI port and adding a fourth USB-C slot would be a better move since it gives you a lot more flexibility in what accessories you will use. That would allow connecting to all sorts of projectors, including older ones without HDMI.
Apple will never make a machine that has everything every user wants; every design is. tradeoff to come up with ones that make the most money for Apple.
SD cards have been superseded by newer technologies. Instead of outdated SD card slot which belongs really to USB A era, USB-C is much more universal and allows for more types of memory attached and with much higher reader speed. Moreover, not everyone uses SD cards but most use USB peripherals. Having 2 USB-C slots and Magsafe is a solution which is pretty universal and flexible.
You would be happy to get better specs and the same price though. That's the value problem which Apple fails through their price gouging by Tim Apple.
There's no connection between thinness and number of ports. Plenty of PC laptops have more ports and are not much different. What you have is Apple trying to gouge folk.
remove the notch.I had absolutely no idea the Airs throttled so heavily even with Apple Silicon. The whole line is obsolete for anything else other than sending email and Notes, imo.
Excuse me for the drastic conclusion but really, why do a fanless laptop if the silicon throttles so badly? I’m glad I found out, now it’s definitely a mini I’m going for.
Excuse me for the drastic conclusion but really, why do a fanless laptop if the silicon throttles so badly? I’m glad I found out, now it’s definitely a mini I’m going for.