Jason Snell on the MacBook:
At some point in the life of the MacBook, Apple seems to have gotten the message that it wasn’t the solution. (My guess is that Mac buyers sent the message by continuing to buy MacBook Airs—complete with MagSafe and familiar USB-A ports—despite Apple’s attempts to sell them fancy USB-C Retina Macs that cost hundreds more.)
Whatever the reason, the MacBook is gone and that’s not a bad thing. Apple did what it does best in most situations like this—it cleaned up the product line so it’s easy to understand, allowing people to buy the product they need.
A damn shame. The 12″ MacBook is the best computer I’ve ever owned. So ridiculously portable.
The MacBook never made sense for more than a very specific niche. It was thinner and lighter than an Air but come on, it’s hard to argue that an Air is bulky or heavy in the first place. It had a single port so it precluded any use cases where you might need even a second port.
Its main advantage on release was the retina screen vs the AIr… but once they added that to the Air this really had no reason to exist outside it’s small niche.
Two advantages of the 12” MB over the old Air: the smaller size was much better for airplane use; and the tiny power adapter (which could also be used to charge a phone) made for lower all-in travel weight and volume.
The new Air closed the gap in both respects.
It was pretty clear they wanted the MacBook to be the ultraportable baseline for the future and the non-touch-bar 13″ MacBook Pro to be the everyday computer, but a number of overlapping things happened:
1. Intel never delivered good enough CPUs for the fanless MacBook, which neutered it;
2. Their cost structures never got to a point they could rationalize the lineup;
3. Whether it was the price, the styling, or the messaging, consumers didn’t respond.
As John mentioned, once they decided to refresh the Air, the MacBook in its current form was numbered. What I’m curious about is if it could (and would) return when the ARM transition occurs.
That is an interesting possibility. Essentially iPad Pro hardware, but with a hinged keyboard and MacOS
11″ Air was even smaller.
I didn’t in fact mean that, but _that_ is also something very interesting (and something Jason Snell has advocated for, for a while).
Nope. The 11” was larger in 2 out of 3 dimensions, larger volume, and higher weight.
11” Air: 11.8 x 7.56 x 0.68 in (60.7 in^3), 2.38 lbs
12” MB: 11.04 x 7.74 x 0.52 to 0.14 in (less than 44.4 in^3), 2.03 lbs
Oh COME ON. None of those dimensions are at all significant in whether it cold be used as well as th MB in an airplane (or elsewhere).
weight – 0.35lbs. 5.6 OUNCES. The other dimensions are tenths of an inch.
I get that some of you liked the MB but it’s silly pretending like the Airs are some kind of behemoth machines you have to painfully lug around. It makes it really hard to take you seriously.
I don’t think we’ve necessarily seen the last of this form factor. If Apple does switch CPU family at some point, I think that would fix 1 and 2.
The 11 was discontinued years ago, so the buyer’s decision was 13” MBA vs 12” MB (vs two different flavours of 13” MPB).
IMO, the 13” Air is the greatest all-around Mac ever made. But it was awkward to use on a plane – too tall when open.
Holy forest of strawmen.
All I said was that the 12” had some advantages over the old MacBook Air. Didn’t specify 13, but assumed that was obvious given that the 11 was discontinued years ago.
People use laptops, most MUCH bigger than the 13″ Air, on airplanes. Let’s not try to sell this revisionist BS that until the MacBook working on an airplane was just impossible or something.
And…. talk about edge use cases? “They should make this machine because it’s marginally easier to use when working on an airplane”. I do get that there’s a set of people who fly a lot ( I know some) but… edge. Case.
As for the 11″ Air, my point was that Apple made a machine even better for airplane use before. Let’s not pretend this didn’t happen. But when I point this out you get the irrational idea that somehow 4 oz and a few tenths of an inch are a huge deal.