the perfect macbook.

[fisherking]

imagine, if the next mac wasn't designed by apple, but by committee... by the users (at least, the serious ones, ie the ones on this forum).

there would be 2 models; one with the new keyboard, one with the old. 2 backlit apples (regular white, and a rainbow one for the nostalgic).

four (or maybe six) usb3 ports, 2 thunderbolt ports, two firewire (an 800 and a 400); a scsi port would be nice (get those umax scanners out of the garage). a magsafe port, hdmi. an sd card slot, and an optical drive. and of course a headphone jack, microphone jack, and a line-in audio jack.

the startup sound would play every time you open the lid. battery life should be about 24 hours... so you can truly get thru a day watching a couple of seasons of 'game of thrones'.

it would weigh 2 lbs, and be the width of the keyboard (yet the audio would be amazing).

it astonishes me that, with every new mac, people bitch and moan about what's changed; yet, some time in, people bitch and moan and wonder when apple will give us something 'new'.

no tech company can design products that make everyone happy. so apple, for example, moves things forward on their own terms. that's just how it works.

then we adapt, and get comfortable... and things change again. so it goes.

just wish there was less whining here, and more... helping, discussion, support. anyway.......

 

[Crazy Badger]

IMHO Apple were almost there with the MBA. If only they'd managed to put in a retina screen and maintain the battery life to 10-12 hours this would have been 'the perfect macbook'.

 

[fisherking]

IMHO Apple were almost there with the MBA. If only they'd managed to put in a retina screen and maintain the battery life to 10-12 hours this would have been 'the perfect macbook'.

check out the 12"; altho less powerful than my 2015 pro, it's my favorite macbook ever (and i started on the 2400c powerbook!)...

 

[Crazy Badger]

I've just bought a 2016 M5 and whilst it is a great machine, it feels like I'm making too many compromises:

- less power than my previous 2013 MBA (i7 model)
- 12" screen it just a little too small (although the retina display is much much better than the MBA)
- 1 USB-C port is at least 1 USB-C port too few
- verdict still out on the keyboard, but at the minute it feels like a step backward

 

[zhenya]

IMHO Apple were almost there with the MBA. If only they'd managed to put in a retina screen and maintain the battery life to 10-12 hours this would have been 'the perfect macbook'.

That's merely the opinion of one user though. What if I need to connect two monitors? What if I'd prefer four usb ports over two? What if I need to connect to an HDMI monitor rather than mini displayport? The port selection on the existing Air feels comfortable, but it's a compromise of a few ports to the exclusion of many others. The new design is a lot more flexible and a whole lot more powerful.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

IMHO Apple were almost there with the MBA. If only they'd managed to put in a retina screen and maintain the battery life to 10-12 hours this would have been 'the perfect macbook'.

Agree completely.

The post 2013 MBA (once it received the boost in power and long lived battery upgrade) was - is - the best computer I have ever had. Stunning, fast, powerful, portable, utterly reliable, with amazing battery life: a retina screen would have made it perfect.

 

[fisherking]

Agree completely.

The post 2013 MBA (once it received the boost in power and long lived battery upgrade) was - is - the best computer I have ever had. Stunning, fast, powerful, portable, utterly reliable, with amazing battery life: a retina screen would have made it perfect.

right, but it doesn't have the retina screen. meanwhile, the 12" does... and it's great. seems to be the 'air' people have 2 good choices if they want to move forward: a 12" macbook, or the new entry-level 13" pro.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

right, but it doesn't have the retina screen. meanwhile, the 12" does... and it's great. seems to be the 'air' people have 2 good choices if they want to move forward: a 12" macbook, or the new entry-level 13" pro.

There have been other threads on similar - or related - topics.

Retina screens are nice but, and this is the big but, everything else that the MBA offers is superb and is exactly what I want in a computer. For me, the retina is not a deal breaker, whereas the rest is.

My current MBA - a CTO - has 8 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD and a Core i7. This is what I have been able to use since late 2013, in a machine that is fast, powerful, portable, utterly reliable and has terrific battery life.

Apple took a long time to get the MBA right; the stunning form factor appeared in 2008 - and I promised myself I would have one eventually - but the early iterations were underpowered and under-spec'ed (much as, I suspect, the rMB is now) - and it only really becomes the computer it had always held the promise of becoming after the upgrades - to battery and power - in 2013.

And, as a middle aged female who travels an awful lot for work, portability matters. I used to have a 15" MBP, - a terrific computer - but it was frankly, far too heavy to comfortably carry when travelling. The MBA is a dream.

 

[fisherking]

There have been other threads on similar - or related - topics.

Retina screens are nice but, and this is the big but, everything else that the MBA offers is superb and is exactly what I want in a computer. For me, the retina is not a deal breaker, whereas the rest is.

My current MBA - a CTO - has 8 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD and a Core i7. This is what I have been able to use since late 2013, in a machine that is fast, powerful, portable, utterly reliable and has terrific battery life.

Apple took a long time to get the MBA right; the stunning form factor appeared in 2008 - and I promised myself I would have one eventually - but the early iterations were underpowered and under-spec'ed (much as, I suspect, the rMB is now) - and it only really becomes the computer it had always held the promise of becoming after the upgrades - to battery and power - in 2013.

And, as a middle aged female who travels an awful lot for work, portability matters. I used to have a 15" MBP, - a terrific computer - but it was frankly, far too heavy to comfortably carry when travelling. The MBA is a dream.

ok. and in the real world, the air is no more. so... check out the 12", it's amazing, small, light.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

ok. and in the real world, the air is no more. so... check out the 12", it's amazing, small, light.

"The real world"?

It is available as a refurb, and I daresay can be sourced by those actively engaged in a serious hunt.

Re the rMB, it is still not the computer that the post 2013 MBAs are.

As an Air aficionado, the current iteration of the rMB reminds me of some of the earlier Airs; I bought my first MBA in 2010, it was the old 'Rev-C', and, while it was a terrific little computer, it was a bit underpowered, and - candidly - wasn't a patch on the Airs I was able to order in - and after - 2013.

What rMB computer - and I ask that question seriously - would equal my Air for power, portability, reliability, battery life and specifications?

 

[Crazy Badger]

My first Mac was a 2008 MBA. Having spent many years dealing with Windows laptops where the trend seemed to be 'bigger is better', seeing Steve pull a MBA from a manila envelope had me (well, that and the fact it had an Intel chip so could run Windows).

For the money, it was a very poor specification with a single USB and headphone port but the weight kind of made up for it. I eventually added a 128GB SSD into mine (couldn't afford the launch version Apple offered) which gave it a new least of life through to 2010 when I upgraded to a top of the range MBA (256GB SSD, 4GB RAM).

This was a much better machine, although for some unknown reason Apple chose to remove the backlit keyboard which I really missed. It's still working fine today running macOS although I suspect I'll be selling shortly as I no longer need it and they are still fetching £300-400!

I replaced it in 2013 with another fully loaded MBA (512GB SSD, 8GB RAM and i7 CPU) and this was just about perfect. The only weak link for me was the screen, which hasn't really moved on from the 2008 version. Especially with other devices having wonderful 'retina' displays, and my eyes getting worse.

You might have noticed the trend for refreshing my machines every 3 years, so it was time to 'upgrade'. I really like the wedge-form of the MBA, but as I'd decided I needed a better screen I'd been looking at the rMB and rMBP. I think the new MBPs look really nice, but I'm also struggling to justify spending £2000+ on one, so I ended up buying a rMB for £1300.

I've only had it a few days and the screen is stunning, although I think it would look even better if it were an inch bigger! I can live with 1 USB-C port (I did in 2008) although another would have been nice (like in 2010 and 2013) and I don't think the storage will be an issue (I've finally decided to ditch my bootcamp partition) but it doesn't feel as quick as my 2013 MBA today, so I wonder what it might be like in another 3 years and whether at some point I might regret my decision.

Time will tell, but for me a retina screen in a high speced MBA would have been a perfect device.

 

[fisherking]

"The real world"?

It is available as a refurb, and I daresay can be sourced by those actively engaged in a serious hunt.

Re the rMB, it is still not the computer that the post 2013 MBAs are.

As an Air aficionado, the current iteration of the rMB reminds me of some of the earlier Airs; I bought my first MBA in 2010, it was the old 'Rev-C', and, while it was a terrific little computer, it was a bit underpowered, and - candidly - wasn't a patch on the Airs I was able to order in - and after - 2013.

What rMB computer - and I ask that question seriously - would equal my Air for power, portability, reliability, battery life and specifications?

if the air works for you, and you can find it new, refurbished... whatever, over the next few years, that's great. but i wouldn't trade the 12" macbook for one; for me, the screen, the design, the functional and aesthetic qualities in the 12" kill the airs, and the new 13" pro is also amazing in comparison. still, whatever works.

 

[pika2000]

I hear you. People that are complaining are using Surface Pro and Surface Book as alternatives, yet those don't support 32GB RAM either, and worse, only have USB3 as its fastest I/O. Heck, the Surface Pro 4 only has one USB port, but people just gloss it over while ranting on Apple.

My ideal next laptop purchase would be a 13" retina Macbook (meaning lighter than current Macbook Pro) with at least 12 hour of battery life (matching the current 13" Macbook Air), and equipped with the Touch bar, or at least Touch ID. I don't even mind Core M CPUs if Apple can give me 12 solid hours of battery life and a lighter laptop. These things are actually quite powerful, but people got eaten up by intel's own marketing that they think they need core i5/i7.

 

[Yr Blues]

The backlit Apple is horrible when you have sunlight coming in through the back of the lid. Then you have a giant glowing apple in the middle of what you're working on.

I hate the startup sound, but it should be a preference option.

I think the Touch Bar needs haptic feedback.

More battery life. I think it's too thin.

The magsafe cable is terrible on the couch or in bed. Also, it shouldn't be hardwired to the brick.

I wouldn't mind a magsafe breakaway cable only that breaks in the middle of the cable.

 

[Peasant90]

I've only had it a few days and the screen is stunning, although I think it would look even better if it were an inch bigger! I can live with 1 USB-C port (I did in 2008) although another would have been nice (like in 2010 and 2013) and I don't think the storage will be an issue (I've finally decided to ditch my bootcamp partition) but it doesn't feel as quick as my 2013 MBA today, so I wonder what it might be like in another 3 years and whether at some point I might regret my decision.

Time will tell, but for me a retina screen in a high speced MBA would have been a perfect device.

When reading the reviews of the rMP i picked up on them saying it was about the same speed as a few generations old MPA but when i compared the Geekbench scores along with a few others the skylake rMP seems to come out within the same ballpark as the 2015 MBA?

I guess benchmarks can't tell you everything and i suspect that the low power Core M chips the rMP come with might benchmark well but that is only in their burst mode which are only sustained for very short periods of time,if anyone has more info on this i'd appreciate it.

I'd imagine that by the time the Cannonlake/10nm Core M chips start shipping in the rMP it should reach parity with the 2015 MBA so i'm probably going to wait on that model.