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Is MBA dead?

oneMadRssn said:
I think you might be looking at the older polycarbonate Macbook thought somewhat rose-tinted glasses. If you remember, it started at $1000, which came with a last-gen Core2Duo processor and a small hard drive. In terms of power for money, or bang for buck, it was a pretty bad deal. It looked nice, and it offered all the basic features that Mac users expected at the time. However, at that same time, for $200 more, you could get an aluminum Macbook Pro 13" with double the RAM and a faster CPU. Pretty sure the MBP had better battery life too. So the polycarbonate Macbook was not such a good deal.

Also, the polycarbonate Macbook was discontinued in mid-2011 (though sold to education customers only through 2012). So they were not available from 2012 onward.

I think the current 13" MBA is the entry-level / education market laptop now. It will continue to be until they find a way to make the retina Macbook start at $999. For those that want a better screen have the option of rMB or MBP for $300 or $500 more, respectively. For $500 more, you can have a retina screen and ports. Or, for $300 more you can have a retina screen and maximum portability.
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The $1000 Macbook had the same CPU and ram as the Pro actually. Performance was nearly the same, you could just upgrade the Pro higher, and was a great value relatively speaking. It did have less ram, but that could be upgraded yourself. The white was just a less flashy version of the same basic computer, which is why I liked it.
 
Kulfon said:
Hello folks, do I u derstant it correctly that Apple will not bring the Retina MBA? It looks like it will only be a Macbook and a line of MBPs. Correct?
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Yes. The last remaining model, the 13"MBA, will linger on the shelves as a cheaper alternative to the MBPs, but it will not be updated any more, and it may not last for long. The new MBPs are smaller and more powerful. The Air USP is gone.
 
yeah it's pretty much dead. i wonder if apple will ever make a notebook computer again for around the price range of a mba 11".

i can't justify spending $1400-1700 on these newer models. I'm just going to ride out my macbook air 13" 2012. no need to upgrade unless my mba dies out on me.
 
Check out the refurbished section for savings. The 13" macbook air is selling out along with the 15" MBP.
Its obvious that people are ordering / buying the new systems, look at the delivery dates. Keep in mind with in a year or maybe a little bit more the new will be the old and in the refurbished section also.

Good Luck
 
jetlagged said:
yeah it's pretty much dead. i wonder if apple will ever make a notebook computer again for around the price range of a mba 11".

i can't justify spending $1400-1700 on these newer models. I'm just going to ride out my macbook air 13" 2012. no need to upgrade unless my mba dies out on me.
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@jetlagged I think you're absolutely right and not alone. I also think more and more people are going to realise this.

The improvements in processors we used to see, with capacity doubling every couple of years, are no longer possible. The technology has matured. Processor chips are not getting significantly faster, but the chips are getting more efficient and so the improvements are only incremental.

Smaller and lighter is great in a portable computer. But they are already pretty small and light. The speed increases now are negligible (I think 7% was mentioned in the launch event).

This is why I think Apple have badly misjudged the prices on their new machines. They're not selling twice the processing power in a smaller device, it's just slightly faster than last time, and slightly smaller. The price points should have been kept exactly as they were.

Of course, after a delayed update there is pent up demand. And Apple's launch events are brilliant. Their marketing is brilliant. But once the excitement fades, and cooler consideration is given to them, I think a lot of people are going to realise their current machines are almost as fast, and more than good enough, and that these prices are unreasonable.
 
I've just bought a used 11" MBA for this exact reason. The entry level Macbook is simply too slow, and the M7 one is more expensive than a Macbook Pro. The i7/8GB/512GB 11" MBA I just picked up will keep me going for a couple of years until the Macbook gets more powerful. And it was under $600, almost a third of the cost of a similar specced Macbook. I can live without a retina display (I spend most of my time hooked up to a monitor anyway.)

It doesn't bother me if it's a defunct model, but I genuinely think Apple have made a mistake effectively killing off their budget small laptops, the 13" MBA is simply too big for most people like myself who travel for work.
 
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@eddjedi I know what you mean. I think the 12" MacBook is meant to fill that role. But the price and the chip aren't what customers wanted. Sounds like you've got a good deal that should last you a while.
 
Yes its dead. You won't see any further updates. It will still be sold for a while though, think CMBP. You ether buy a MB or MBP.
 
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image.jpeg

MacBook Air isn't just dead, it was MURDERED!
[doublepost=1478385588][/doublepost]
image.png

Wait a minute, I may have been premature on the demise. Off to the Delorean to fix the flux capacitor!
 
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tim cook made a half of one-sentence referral to the air in the announcement of the new MacBook pros.
and has been mentioned in this thread that he seemingly positioned the non-touch bar model as appealing to mac air customers.
i don't think anyone can assume that the air is dead by any means.
there will be an A11 or Asomething processor in a MacBook sooner rather than later.
and this will make a fork in the road (again) for apple to switch developers and users over to a making apps for that.
a launch of new mac air with that processor would be useful as a marketing and manufacturing first step strategy.
 
niji said:
tim cook made a half of one-sentence referral to the air in the announcement of the new MacBook pros.
and has been mentioned in this thread that he seemingly positioned the non-touch bar model as appealing to mac air customers.
i don't think anyone can assume that the air is dead by any means.
there will be an A11 or Asomething processor in a MacBook sooner rather than later.
and this will make a fork in the road (again) for apple to switch developers and users over to a making apps for that.
a launch of new mac air with that processor would be useful as a marketing and manufacturing first step strategy.
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It's dead.

It's role was to provide a light weight, small laptop. It did it brilliantly, and created a new genre of laptops. Now all the manufacturers make them. So now, the 'Air' label has limited value.

But that role is now fulfilled by either the 12" MB or 13"MBP (without touch bar).

The 'Pro' label still has value, although whether it's short for 'Professional' or simply 'Profit' depends on your point of view.

I anticipate that the old MBA will remain for a year or so, to ease the transition to MBPs and then fade from the line up. It can only serve to cannibalise sales from the 13"MBP (without touch bar) at this time.
 
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niji said:
tim cook made a half of one-sentence referral to the air in the announcement of the new MacBook pros.
and has been mentioned in this thread that he seemingly positioned the non-touch bar model as appealing to mac air customers.
i don't think anyone can assume that the air is dead by any means.
there will be an A11 or Asomething processor in a MacBook sooner rather than later.
and this will make a fork in the road (again) for apple to switch developers and users over to a making apps for that.
a launch of new mac air with that processor would be useful as a marketing and manufacturing first step strategy.
Click to expand...
This is entirely possible. The only reason I doubt it is that Apple has moved everything over to retina screens, so if they continue the MBA it is going to be more than just an ARM switchout.

I think for all practical purposes Apple is killing off lower priced components and focusing on high margin items. They don't care to be the mainstream anything as long as they are taking the loin's share of profits in the category. My hunch is that the iPhone SE was an experiment about moving downstream and the metrics did not tickle the fancy of the financial gurus. Strategically they look like they are now moving upstream.

I for one am switching my MBA for the new MBP with touchbar. Its smaller and about the same weight, but has a great security step forward which is a separate processor for password validation. I often travel with my mac laptop so am susceptible to all of the hotel and coffee shop malware attacks. Security is important to me.
 
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I was hoping to get a MBA because I love the wedge shape. It is more comfortable to me for my wrists and hand position.

The square edges on the MacBook and MBP do not appeal to me and are not as comfortable for typing.

I thought the wedge was a wonderful idea and cannot understand why Apple wants to do away with it.

I was hoping the MBA would get updated for 16 GB RAM and Retina, but since that is unlikely, I may buy one anyway.
 
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