MACBOOK AIR TOO HEAVY / POINTLESS

[wowee]

I'm a huge fan of the Macbook 12 inch. Having owned (and still owning) 15inch Macbook pros, I find myself almost exclusively using the 12 inch form factor. Its perfect for traveling and just having on hand. I use it extensively for heavy Lightroom work and although import and exports are a little slow, I find it capable and am willing to take the speed hit for the portability.

I was eagerly awaiting a refresh but was sad to see they discontinued it - which leads me to some thoughts...

The Macbook Air is only .2 pounds lighter than the 13 inch Pro - which is more than twice as fast. SO what is the point of the "air?." It is NOT light enough to consider over the pro as far as I am concerned for the tradeoffs.

Do you think it is possible they will shrink the size of the air by reducing screen bezels - essentially making a new air close to the size and weight of the 12 inch Macbook?

I read rumors that they are releasing a new air, a new 13 inch and a new 16 inch in October.

I think it would be great if the following happened:

NEW Macbook Air = close to 12 inch Macbook form factor but with bigger screen due to reduced bezels

NEW Macbook pro 13 inch-> Now becomes a 14 Inch computer based on smaller bezels

New Macbook Pro 15 Inch -> Now becomes a 16 Inch computer based on smaller bezels

Anyways just wondering out loud...

 

[Shirasaki]

MacBook Air was truly a thin laptop back when it was released. It did not have ports, but had the option to use 64GB SSD.

Nowadays MacBook Air is just a thinner MacBook and that’s pretty much it. I have MacBook Air 11” and absolutely loved it for over four years because of its unmatched portability despite a smaller screen size. But for other MacBook Air, not so much.

I doubt the bezel can go even thinner without shrinking the screen size though, unless Apple somehow manage to stick 13” screen into a 11” form factor. Sony did this, with a portable PC including ALL DA PORTS. Not sure how Apple would achieve that, without ports.

Here is the link for reference.
https://pur.store.sony.jp/vaio/products/SX12/VJS1211_purchase/
(Japanese market only)

 

[uniquexoxo]

MacBook Air was truly a thin laptop back when it was released. It did not have ports, but had the option to use 64GB SSD.

Nowadays MacBook Air is just a thinner MacBook and that’s pretty much it. I have MacBook Air 11” and absolutely loved it for over four years because of its unmatched portability despite a smaller screen size. But for other MacBook Air, not so much.

I doubt the bezel can go even thinner without shrinking the screen size though, unless Apple somehow manage to stick 13” screen into a 11” form factor. Sony did this, with a portable PC including ALL DA PORTS. Not sure how Apple would achieve that, without ports.

Here is the link for reference.
https://pur.store.sony.jp/vaio/products/SX12/VJS1211_purchase/
(Japanese market only)

I have the 2017 MBA and it’s heavy for me lol

 

[Shirasaki]

I have the 2017 MBA and it’s heavy for me lol

2017 MBA is 13”, which is noticeably heavier than 11” 2014 MBA. I can understand.

 

[Steve121178]

The Air is not in anyway 'heavy'.

 

[uniquexoxo]

The Air is not in anyway 'heavy'.

It’s heavy

 

[Steve121178]

It’s heavy

1.3KG is not heavy for an ultrabook. It just isn't.

What are you comparing it to? Most ultrabooks are around 1.3-1.7KG.

 

[nicho]

It did not have ports, but had the option to use 64GB SSD.

It had twice as many as a macbook if you include the magsafe connector...

 

[uniquexoxo]

1.3KG is not heavy for an ultrabook. It just isn't.

What are you comparing it to? Most ultrabooks are around 1.3-1.7KG.

It’s heavy for me. Maybe not for you.

 

[Bending Pixels]

Bicep curls should help

 

[wowee]

The Air is not in anyway 'heavy'.

What part of the post did you read?

You understand we are speaking relative to the MacBook 12 inch and other options right? Not relative to say a bag of bricks.

Try reading the post again.

 

[Steve121178]

What part of the post did you read?

You understand we are speaking relative to the MacBook 12 inch and other options right? Not relative to say a bag of bricks.

Try reading the post again.

I did and it's still not heavy in relative to the 12" MacBook or any other Ultrabook. There's about a 300g difference which is barely a third of a kilo.

 

[mrex]

there is no reasonable thing in Air at all nowadays and i dont find a single reason to buy it instead of mbp 13”.

macbook 12” only needed faster usbc (tb) to be able to benefit from an egpu and it needed a better camera. then i would have bought it.

13” is not small enough and not light enough.

current air 13” is like ”a mistake purchase” when you dont understand tech and computers.

 

[SandboxGeneral]

Maybe the OP shouldn't SHOUT the thread title like that with a click-baity type of rant. Expecting people to compare the weight of the laptop and its available features and performance to that of another laptop based on that title is a bit unreasonable.

 

[Steve121178]

current air 13” is like ”a mistake purchase” when you dont understand tech and computers.

Disagree. The Air is fine for people who just want to browse the web and perform light tasks & basic productivity work.

 

[mrex]

I did and it's still not heavy in relative to the 12" MacBook or any other Ultrabook. There's about a 300g difference which is barely a third of a kilo.

lets add a better battery in phones, adding 100g more weight and people would go crazy. c’mon, it is only 100g! everybody can hold it! However, 100g more in your pocket is 100g more.

330g more in your bag is 330g more and it is not only the weight, but you need a larger bag for 13” air, which probably adds more weight and it is quite hard to find small, decent looking 13” bag which doesnt look like a laptop bag and add more space for extra stuff that you can almost put 15” mbp inside it.

macbook vs air
length: 28,05 cm vs 30,41cm
depth: 19,65cm vs 21,24cm
height: max 1,31cm vs 1,56cm

on the paper they looks abit similar, for sure, but in a real life keeping the air on your right hand and macbook 12” on your left, you notice how big the difference really is.

Disagree. The Air is fine for people who just want to browse the web and perform light tasks & basic productivity work.

even price difference is so small, that i cant see a reason to save couple hundreds and get a crippled macbook pro. and that is my opinion.

 

[JBGoode]

current air 13” is like ”a mistake purchase” when you dont understand tech and computers.

Disagree. The Air is fine for people who just want to browse the web and perform light tasks & basic productivity work.

And don't want to spend several hundred dollars more to surf the web and watch Netflix

It's never a 'mistake' to save money by not buying expensive tech that you don't need.

 

[Steve121178]

lets add a better battery in phones, adding 100g more weight and people would go crazy. c’mon, it is only 100g! everybody can hold it! However, 100g more in your pocket is 100g more.

330g more in your bag is 330g more and it is not only the weight, but you need a larger bag for 13” air, which probably adds more weight and it is quite hard to find small, decent looking 13” bag which doesnt look like a laptop bag and add more space for extra stuff that you can almost put 15” mbp inside it.

macbook vs air
length: 28,05 cm vs 30,41cm
depth: 19,65cm vs 21,24cm
height: max 1,31cm vs 1,56cm

on the paper they looks abit similar, for sure, but in a real life keeping the air on your right hand and macbook 12” on your left, you notice how big the difference really is.



even price difference is so small, that i cant see a reason to save couple hundreds and get a crippled macbook pro. and that is my opinion.

Stupid argument. The iPhone Xs weighs 177g so of course adding 100g would be noticeable.

The difference between the Air & 12" MacBook is negligible. Ultimately, if the extra 300g will cripple you and is that important, then there are a selection of sub 1KG Windows based Ultrabooks available.

I'd wager Apple will have some ARM based prototypes in their labs that weigh less than a kilo. I wouldn't be surprised to see something like this see daylight in around 2 years.

 

[racoop]

I agree with the OP. Was really hoping for an updated MacBook. Holding onto my maxed out 2015 MBA 11" as long as I can, which still performs just fine. Apple needs a new small laptop, IMO of course, since I want a new one with a retina screen.

 

[bbednarz]

there is no reasonable thing in Air at all nowadays and i dont find a single reason to buy it instead of mbp 13”.

macbook 12” only needed faster usbc (tb) to be able to benefit from an egpu and it needed a better camera. then i would have bought it.

13” is not small enough and not light enough.

current air 13” is like ”a mistake purchase” when you dont understand tech and computers.

13" Air is perfect for me so far. Excellent battery life, light, extremely portable. Does some light xcode work very well. I'm not editing video or pictures on it and am very happy with it. At the time of purchase the MBP was $1299 and the Air was $999. $300 is a large price to pay for an upgrade that will not effect me one iota.

 

[wowee]

Stupid argument. The iPhone Xs weighs 177g so of course adding 100g would be noticeable.

The difference between the Air & 12" MacBook is negligible. Ultimately, if the extra 300g will cripple you and is that important, then there are a selection of sub 1KG Windows based Ultrabooks available.

I'd wager Apple will have some ARM based prototypes in their labs that weigh less than a kilo. I wouldn't be surprised to see something like this see daylight in around 2 years.

Still not understanding the the concept of “heavy relative to”...

I’m not taking about raw weight here.

Some people understand it. Thanks to those.

Oh well. Better things to do than keep trying to explain it.

Let’s hope they come out with another actual light option - not just a dumbed down MacBook Pro that has almost zero RELATIVE weight difference.

 

[mrex]

And don't want to spend several hundred dollars more to surf the web and watch Netflix It's never a 'mistake' to save money by not buying expensive tech that you don't need.

1) buying air just for web and netflix is a real waste of money, imo. but if apple is the only choice, the price has to be paid then..

2) price difference is only 250 euros: 1279e vs 1529e. if you sell the laptop later, mbp propaply has better value because even a basic model has much better specs than air. for 250 euros you get:
- 4 core cpu instead of 2 core (U series instead of Y series)
- brighter display
- much better, accurate, colourful display (P3 gamut instead of much limited srgb colour space)
- better igpu
- touchbar
- newer bluetooth (5, instead old 4.2)
- better external multidisplay support
- larger trackpad
- better sound from speakers
- faster ssd speed

when the price difference is so small, i cant see why i would buy air. i gladly would pay 250e just for a better and brighter display the mbp has. air is as large as mbp, but crippled all the way. compairing macbook 12” and mbp 13” the difference was huge and i understand why there was 12” macbook. but now, i dont understand macbook air 13” at all. in my opinion, apple should have kept macbook 12” and ditched the air.

 

[Macdctr]

SMFH.....

 

[ziyuel]

Just forget it, nothing thinne.

 

[rosegoldoli]

macbook air is better because it comes in blush gold