No.
Did the original Macbook kill the Macbook Pro or original MBA when it came out?
All Apple is doing is backfilling their lineup when the original Macbook was discontinued.
BL.
You're confused. If you think Apple is going to keep a thicker "air" and release a thinner and lighter "macbook" you're delusional. They're basically discrediting their entire branding. The term air was used to indicate it's the thinnest and lightest. Now the air isn't the thinnest nor lightest. If you think that name is going to be around in a year, I'd love to hear how you see the roadmap playing out.
Technology is flattening when it comes to laptops and tablets. No longer to consumers need one maker to feature 4 size screens and 3 different product families. There's workhorse, and thin and light. Thin and light means small screen, hence the merger of 11" and 13" to flatten the product line into a single product. The Air release today was the necessary spec bump to keep offering a thin and light because they're not ready to ship the ultralight yet. Once they do, rest assured, the Air will be gone.
The problem with these buzz words is like the iPod demonstrated... Classic > Mini > Nano > Shuffle... if you assign a word to a product with an evolutionary cycle of getting smaller\thinner\lighter, you eventually run out of words, or the descriptive product name becomes irrelevant. Nobody who saw the release today thinks the "Air" should be called the Air... it's a fat beast in comparison, and it's heavier in comparison.
If you want to think there's a place for the air\pro\macbook, think as you want.... but I bet within a year the air is gone....
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You must be kidding. There's no way a fanless dual-core tablet-CPU 5W powered laptop can replace a 65W quad-core MBP, not even a 28W one. The Airs have the risk of being ditched (a Macbook Revenge for what happened in the past in the other way?

), the Pro's will remain untouched, at least if Apple wants to remain as a computer vendor instead of a toy vendor.
Not sure why everyone is throwing a fit over this. The Macbook released today is not intended to replace the pro, it's intended to replace the air. Was that not blatantly obvious by all of the comparisons to the air? When Apple releases a product, they ALWAYS compare it to the product it's intended to replace. In this case, the air.
Everyone should clam down... Apple usually doesn't update the thin and lights and pro models at the same time... this won't be any different. The Apple Watch event was a consumer-targeted event (the Watch is not a pro device)... WWDC is 90 days away.. WWDC is a pro-targeted event, so you can expect a pro-targeted device launch at the event. Calm down, breathe.
It's so weird people are whining about it, but the capabilities overall are almost identical to the Air. The only real downside to this thing is the one-port-for-all thing, which I'm not too keen on, but the upsides far outweigh the downsides in my book. But I don't use it as a primary computer. If I did, I would say MBP all the way... but this is a 100% travel computer, and it's going to be AMAZING for that!