Apple Might Discontinue the MacBook Air (gizmodo.com) 155
An anonymous reader shares a report: Just in time for its tenth anniversary, Apple might finally be killing the MacBook Air, according to a new report from Digitimes. If this is true, it'd be the first axing of a laptop line from Apple since the iBook and Powerbook were axed back in 2006. It would also be about damn time. Apple quietly killed the 11-inch MacBook Air back in 2016, but the larger 13-inch version has lingered on, getting a mild processor refresh last year that still left the laptop using a 5th generation Intel processor. That's three generations behind the processors currently found in the MacBook Air's competition, and it is the primary reason the laptop was excluded from our piece looking at the best laptop to be had for under $1000.
About damn time? (Score:5, Interesting)
Apart from the 2015 MacBook Pro, it's the only laptop with a decent keyboard and enough ports for real-world use.
The replacement cannot be the MacBook because the keyboard sucks, there's only one USB-C port that also happens to be the port for charging, it's slower because of thermal throttling and it's more expensive on top of that. The only thing better than the MacBook Air is the display.
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Apart from the 2015 MacBook Pro, it's the only laptop with a decent keyboard and enough ports for real-world use.
The replacement cannot be the MacBook because the keyboard sucks, there's only one USB-C port that also happens to be the port for charging, it's slower because of thermal throttling and it's more expensive on top of that. The only thing better than the MacBook Air is the display.
Maybe they have something else in the pipeline. Or maybe they don't care about losing market-share in the laptop area because they see tablets/phones as more profitable. (and everyone has been half expecting a decent dockable phone that runs a computer setup for a long time)
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I don't think Apple would do a dockable phone. It is a cool idea, and Motorola showed that it can be done fairly well with the Atrix/Atrix 2 line. However, because Apple makes cash from both computers, smartphones, and tablets, I don't think they would want to urge people to buy one device that does multiple roles. Samsung, on the other hand, also has desktops (interestingly shaped towers for one), but they are more into gaining market share than trying to force people to buy their PCs.
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Apple also sells displays, keyboards/mice, routers / networked storage drives, and software.
They could pretty easily start pushing a line of I/O devices designed to talk to your iOS or Mac OS devices in a tightly integrated ecosystem designed around the idea that your phone is your computer, your PC is an external processor bank and storage array for "big jobs", and any of the displays and/or keyboards (made by Apple) in your immediate vicinity can be grabbed and used as convenient.
Or rather, if anyone can do it Apple can due to their existing vertical integration and reputation for upturning cars when it suites their vision to do so.
Their "Continuity" feature would provide the perfect "glue" to make that a wonderful experience for a certain market-segment, too.
Great idea!
https://support.apple.com/en-u... [apple.com]
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I think for the most part, you are looking at the iPad Pro as the replacement already in place, for the MB Air.
Re:About damn time? (Score:5, Informative)
An iPad can not replace a MacBook. It runs different OSes, different App(-lications).
You can not even import the data from a backup from a laptop onto/into the iPad. (Of course you could both have connected to the cloud and synch the essentials)
But perhaps you mean, people who have no serious use for a MacBook, could use an iPad instead.
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Someone who had a MB Air...likely isn't doing heavy/real computing.....and with the filesystem now on iPad PRO....and the screen and processor, its definitely powerful enough to do a lot with.
Hell, I'm still blown away with what I can do what Affinity Photo for the iPad PRO....it can do focus merges faster than Photoshop can on a real computer....
Re:About damn time? (Score:4, Informative)
I use a 13" MacBook Air for Java development, works fine.
It has 8GB RAM and the hard disk interface seems to be faster than that of my linux PC at work.
At least similar big builds are on my Air similar fast as on the PC.
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You couldn't be more wrong. I have an older 11" w/ i7 and 8G and do development, run vm's basically everything I do on my main machine with the exception of the number of vms I can run at one time.
Yeah it's a little slower but it's my goto machine when I'm on call and traveling where I won't be doing a ton of development.
It's just sad that they dropped the 11" it was amazing.
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the macbook "air"....which IMHO, isn't quite a laptop either.
Someone who had a MB Air...likely isn't doing heavy/real computing.....and with the filesystem now on iPad PRO....and the screen and processor, its definitely powerful enough to do a lot with.
What I do with a MacBook Air isn't really heavy computing and depending on who you talk to might not count as "real" computing, but it's sure as hell not a use case compatible with an iPad, whatever power it might have.
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Funny, I've been rocking an 11" Air for the last 7 years (6 with the current one). I do EDA and embedded software development. Running VMs, sometimes two external monitors (one TB, one USB3) and do a fair amount of high speed data acquisition.
It's been the best damned laptop I've ever bought, and aside from wanting (not needing) a 1080p+ display and 16GB of RAM, this laptop has been *amazing*.
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An iPad can not replace a MacBook.
Actually, for the majority of users, it already has. Most Mac users only used their machines for web browsing and email.
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Unfortunately or fortunately most Mac users I know use the Mac for professional work.
Plenty have an iPad, too.
I regularily use my iPad as second screen for my Mac Book Air ... it is amazing how nice you can operate OS X via a touch screen.
But most of the time I have IDE windows on my 'second screen'
When Xcode for iPad? (Score:2)
you are looking at the iPad Pro as the replacement already in place, for the MB Air.
I'll believe that once Xcode is ported to iPad Pro. Having to either shell out for a MacBook Pro or be tied to the office is going to hurt a lot of iPhone and iPad app developers' work flow.
New MacBook had moved towards Air's niche (Score:2)
Maybe they have something else in the pipeline. Or maybe they don't care about losing market-share in the laptop area ...
Maybe they see the difference between the current MacBook Air and MacBook minor. When the new MacBook was introduced it did seem to move towards the Air concept.
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Maybe they have something else in the pipeline. Or maybe they don't care about losing market-share in the laptop area ...
Maybe they see the difference between the current MacBook Air and MacBook minor. When the new MacBook was introduced it did seem to move towards the Air concept.
Your snarky misuse of product names has left your comment completely incomprehensible.
MacBook minor == MacBook Pro?
MacBook == MacBook?
Or what?
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Maybe they have something else in the pipeline. Or maybe they don't care about losing market-share in the laptop area ...
Maybe they see the difference between the current MacBook Air and MacBook minor. When the new MacBook was introduced it did seem to move towards the Air concept.
Your snarky misuse of product names has left your comment completely incomprehensible. MacBook minor == MacBook Pro? MacBook == MacBook? Or what?
Or what? Its a typo, left out a word: "Maybe they see the difference between the current MacBook Air and MacBook as minor." :-)
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Maybe they have something else in the pipeline. Or maybe they don't care about losing market-share in the laptop area ...
Maybe they see the difference between the current MacBook Air and MacBook minor. When the new MacBook was introduced it did seem to move towards the Air concept.
Your snarky misuse of product names has left your comment completely incomprehensible. MacBook minor == MacBook Pro? MacBook == MacBook? Or what?
Or what? Its a typo, left out a word: "Maybe they see the difference between the current MacBook Air and MacBook as minor." :-)
LOL, ok, you got me! But it really was incomprehensible!
I don't think that, other than the thinness, which many laptops were pushing ever toward, that the MacBook Pro was pushing toward "Air-ness".
The MacBook Pro ("MBP") really does have a tremendous amount of I/O expandability. As I said, more than any other current laptop. And I/O that is as "future proof" as it gets at this point in time. In 5 years, when almost everything you buy will be USB-C/Thunderbolt (now that Intel has stopped getting in their own
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I left out the word "as" accidentally but the absence of the word "Pro" is intentional. :-) I am referring to the basic MacBook, not the MacBook Pro, as moving towards the Air's niche.
Then I would agree with you. I think of the standard MacBook as a "starter computer" for kids. And I really don't find much but it's price point to defend it. In fact, it is likely now a redundant product with the Air.
Re:About damn time? (Score:5, Interesting)
"Maybe they have something else in the pipeline."
Like a new macbook pro that caters to pro users? I can dream, right?
Then the current so-called macbook and macbook pro could easily fill the niche the macbook air is leaving, since all they've done the last several years is make their 3 separate lines converge to the same thing, which is great if you want that one thing, but lousy if you want anything else.
" Or maybe they don't care about losing market-share in the laptop area because they see tablets/phones as more profitable. "
The thing about that is that destroying the ecosystem tarnishes the smartphones ... once someone switches to a windows laptop the integration with their phone becomes weaker, and the whole reason for choosing iphone becomes weaker.
"(and everyone has been half expecting a decent dockable phone that runs a computer setup for a long time)"
This is an interesting concept and the technology is definitely getting there, but I'm curious to see it'll land successfully or not.
The idea of having my computer in my phone which i can use as a phone/tablet, and then i walk up to a 'dumb terminal' and plug it in, and now I have a keyboard mouse and monitor... looks great on paper, but it seems to be missing a few things.
a) How many people are going to want a dumb terminal that needs a phone plugged into it before it will work? Especially given that an actual computer that your wife or kids can use while you aren't home will actually probably be cheaper. Yes, it works for the 'businessman on the go' and 'single hipsters', but pretty much everyone else finds it simpler and more useful to just have a desktop computer where they want a desktop computer. Docks have always had a niche, but they've never really taken off.
and even bigger b)
Most regular people I know have a phone and a laptop. Gamers and real power users have a desktop, but most people I know just have laptops -- they want and need desktop applications, word, excel, quickbooks, RDP to a server a work, whatever, they want a form factor with a keyboard they can use, and a decent size screen, in a form factor they can carry easily, use in a hotel room, a classroom, or a coffee shop.
A desktop-dock system for their phone doesn't meet any of their needs. Are they going to want to carry around a 'dumb laptop' that they dongle attach their phone too when they need more than a phone/tablet? Dongles are awkward, and phablets are heavy... who is going to want to sit on the couch with a their 'dumb-laptop' with their phablet hanging off it by a usb-c cable for it to work? That'll be unbalanced an awkward at best.* Is there really much market for a laptop device with no brains that needs your phone attached for it to work? And you can't use your phone as a phone while its plugged in like this?
* another possibility is a dumb laptop you slide your phone into, almost like an old PCMCIA card -- but that's only going to work with one model phone, and only if it doesn't have a case. There's no way that's going anywhere.
The *only* good argument for such a thing ever existing is it could be less expensive than just having a proper laptop... which makes it the opposite of the market apple is interested in. Apple would rather court people who can afford a $1200 phone, and then also afford a $2500+ laptop. I can't see them getting to the dumb-terminal market when there's more profit in laptops.
The only other way this tech gets off the ground is if the connection between phatlet and dumb-laptop is wireless. That could actually work. But again, what's the advantage to that over just having an actual laptop, and using wireless sync to move everything you need between them?
And most people will find a full blown laptop more useful... they can still do things with it when there phone is off / low battery / or stolen. The laptop processing isn't burning the battery down on the phone. The laptop has more room than the phone and can pack more horsepower, r
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Well I'm not saying it's for consumer reasons, but there's a helluva lot of business reasons Apple might try putting an A11X in a laptop and not just a tablet. Intel likes to charge a lot for low power mobile chips, no doubt Apple is considering the same kind of ARM portables as Microsoft. And knowing Apple it'd probably be a store-only device for a 30% cut of everything.
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Pretty much an ipad pro with a keyboard in a clamshell. Sure, that'll probably exist at some point.
Hopefully the market rejects it (along with Windows 10 S) as soundly as it rejected Windows RT.
In any case, as godawful as that stuff is; its still a proper standalone device; its not a 'dockable phone thing' that requires a phone present to be its 'brains'.
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I don't think they have anything else in the pipeline, full stop.
I think Apple have had much in the way of vision or risk-taking new product development in years. I think they have been about keeping stock prices up and other elements of basic capitalism.
If they were really risk-taking, they'd make a guess that while a dockable phone might be expensive to develop and may rob sales from some laptop or iPads, both of them are small enough sales wise that it's worth the risk.
And since they would be basically
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I wouldn't be surprised if it is dropped. The newer MBPs have a very similar keyboard to the MB, and people wind up either buying the MB if they want a small laptop, or a MBP if they want something better. Plus, with all the USB-C adapters, including ones that actually work and can charge the laptop while you can use your external hard disk, there isn't as big a demand for the MBA as there was before.
Even the MacBooks can give you an i7 and 16 gigs of RAM. The 512 gigs of storage is a tad puny, but the m
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Half a terabyte of SSD in a laptop is pretty respectable; it's only "puny" compared to being able to shove a few large hard drives in a desktop or a NAS box. Get a NAS if you're the the 'want a laptop as sole computer but have lots and lots of data' type. You're seriously unlikely to really need more than 512GB of storage on the go, and if you do, you're unlikely to want it all tied up in the laptop anyway.
As for RAM, again, 16GB is pretty respectable for a laptop. Hell, my desktop doesn't have quite that m
Yes! (Score:2)
Apart from the 2015 MacBook Pro, it's the only laptop with a decent keyboard and enough ports for real-world use.
Exactly, so clearly it's about damn time they fixed that by removing the ports, knackering the keyboard and increasing the price by several hundred dollars. You can't have MacBook Air owners having a better machine than the even more expensive MacBook Pro! Sadly, the likely replacement for most people will be a PC laptop: they are cheaper, faster and have functioning keyboards and a variety of ports.
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Sadly, the likely replacement for most people will be a PC laptop: they are cheaper, faster and have functioning keyboards and a variety of ports. ... I wonder why modern MacBooks can not have both, hardware function keys and that magical function bar.
Unlikely.
Cheap PCs don't run OS X. Or need hours of work to get it running.
Ports on Macs work just fine.
Probably some models have to few. But is that really a big obstacle?
No idea about your keyboard point, obviously I hate the function key replacement
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The OS doesn't seem to matter much anymore to more than a few people. I was pretty shocked when my parents, who are die-hard mac users, told me they both found Windows 10 to be pretty Mac-like and easy to use, and they had no difficulty moving back and forth. The idea of drive letters is a bit hokey to them, but other than that, they found more similarities than differences. And the software they and most people use, is available on Windows also. So I don't think my parents' experiences are unique. I've h
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The OS doesn't seem to matter much anymore to more than a few people.
This does seem to be true. On the other hand, I am one of those few people. With that said, though I definitely prefer Apple laptops running MacOS, PC laptops running Linux are also generally fine, depending on a lot of the details of the PC laptop in question. But I point blank refuse to use Windows as the primary operating system on any computer I own.
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Cheap PCs don't run OS X. Or need hours of work to get it running.
No they don't - I switched from Macs a year ago due to the failure of their pro lineup. Windows 10 was very easy to setup and configure and very mac-like, just not as polished and more irritating. I would still much prefer OS X but Windows is nowhere near as bad as it used to be and with the Linux subsystem you can have a bash shell with full filesystem access....all this with a better CPU and GPU for ~$1-2k less. The OSX advantage was not worth that much to me plus they have no viable Pro desktop at all.
Ports on Macs work just fine.
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The only good choices for laptops are Lenovo Thinkpad, HP Elitebook/Probook and Dell Latitude/Precision/XPS. Everything else is a toy.
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Glad to see someone highlighting that beyond brand, additionally product lines matter greatly. All of those vendors also produce exceptionally crappy laptops for low price point, so you have to stick to the 'professional' lines to have a product they are not half-assing.
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The reality is that if they *did* continue the macbook air, it'd follow the same design decisions that the Macbook and Macbook pro did.
The raison d'etre for the macbook air was to have a really skinny laptop, even if it meant compromising on functionality compared to the Macbook when it was released.
Now, they've made all their lines skinny and decided not to bother doing any 'non-air' designs for more power, so air is redundant.
Since Apple is clearly not caring about your opinion anymore, maybe it's time to
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My work Macbook Pro is fine, maybe it's the 2015 model though. The Macbook Air didn't have enough ports for me (ie I wanted two monitors and ethernet).
Re:About damn time? (Score:4, Interesting)
I couldn't disagree more. I've been using the latest 13" MBP since early last year. I'm a software developer. I'm *constantly* typing on it (5-6 hours a day) and I love it. I'd like a few minor changes (mainly haptic feedback from the otherwise excellent touchbar) but overall it's my favorite keyboard.
Ports-wise I have no problem either. 95% of the time I use it with just the power plugged in. But when i need other stuff plugged in I have a really nice satechi hub that covers it all (HDMI, ethernet, USB-A, SD car). Easy peasy.
For my real-world use I haven't found a better laptop than the one I'm currently typing on.
My wife has the 12" MB and she loves it too (weight and size are much more important to her than processing power). She types alot as well and has no complaints about the keyboard and rarely (if ever) plugs anything but the power plug in. And she's got a similar (but even smaller) hub to mine for other situations.
These machines certainly aren't for everyone. But both of us are professionals doing professional work with them. Sadly they're both much more money than the Air so hopefully Apple finds something to fill that price gap if they do discontinue the Air.
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I dunno what you develop but a 13" screen and single USB+charging port isn't going to cut it for most developers.
For a start we are going to want at least one more monitor, if not two since 13" is pretty small. So now you are trying to pump 2x HDMI over that single USB port... Better avoid 4k monitors. And that's before you connected anything else.
I can't see any technical reason why they couldn't have more USB ports. It seems like a silly aesthetic choice. Give me a nice Thinkpad or LaVie or Let's Note any
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I've been just fine with my local display. The 13" MBP I have has 4 ports and can drive 2 external 4K displays as well as the internal display.
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I don't think I'm very forgiving at all. I expect quite alot out of my keyboards and I try lots of them. Prior to this keyboard the best ones for me were the older MBP keyboards (and the equivalent wired keyboard). Once I started working with this one it's so much better it's like night and day. The low key travel is amazing. I've (so far) not had a single problem with any key. The only other keyboard I consider as good as these are the old Model M buckling spring keys.. but ain't nobody gonna fit tho
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I have a mouse that I use extremely rarely. It's just not USB-c. So I plug it into the hub. The few times I need the mouse line up nearly perfectly with the times I need more ports for other devices. For those that need it more frequently there are either wireless mice (which I hate, personally) or you can just get a small USB-C adapter that you can leave on the mouse so you don't lose it. They're something like $4 each.
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What's a computer?
The device on which the apps in the App Store are built.
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That goddamn insufferable bullshit hipster nonsense wishy-washy passionless hipster music makes me want to stab somebody.
Too bad (Score:1)
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i have replaced mine with an ipad pro... so maybe thats their thought!!
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not well at all... i mean creation wise there are some nice tools that work well with the pencil, some graphics app work well but i am not doing any video. LR app is pretty good though not sure what you are doing. but it replaces my air not my desktop.
Then buy a Chromebook and flash it (Score:2)
But god help the poor soul who wants to do anything offline/locally with a Chromebook without flashing Linux onto it.
Then buy a Chromebook for the purpose of turning the write-protect screw and flashing Linux onto it. What's the practical problem with that? Compare to Nintendo DS, many of whose users flashed customized "FlashMe" firmware onto their systems.
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Just get a second computer to use as a server and wifi AP. Have it be in a tower case (or double-tower; I personally prefer the Lian Li PC-D8000 but perhaps your tastes are more "racky"), and fill it with hard drives so you have lots of space and fault-tolerance for your important data. Oh, and get a UPS to power it for whenever you're not near a power outlet.
Duct tape your Chromebook to it, so that the server gets automatically carried around whenever you grab your chromebook, without you having to remembe
The start of Apple's decline... (Score:1, Troll)
Getting rid of a great product - my thoughts on it: https://slashdot.org/comments.... [slashdot.org]
Update it - don't kill it! Good form factor, reasonable IO. Update the screen, the processor and maybe memory (although the current memory is sized nicely for my needs) and let it go another 10 years.
What's a computer? (Score:5, Funny)
They need to get rid of all their desktops and laptops, just to prove that they're serious about the death of non-tablet devices.
Oh wait, some of us actually need to do work, rather than just dicking around looking at pictures of food and duck-faced girls.
Skip reading the article and look at the top pic (Score:5, Insightful)
A picture is worth a thousand words. It's key selling point - form factor - has been nearly eliminated [kinja-img.com]. The MacBook Pro is almost exactly the same size, and has a lot more power for only a few hundred more.
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Plus, post 2015, they port-neutered the MacBook Pro so all it is anymore is an higher powered, oversized MacBook anyway - so there's very little lineup differentiation.
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Plus, post 2015, they port-neutered the MacBook Pro so all it is anymore is an higher powered, oversized MacBook anyway - so there's very little lineup differentiation.
Bullshit.
The 2016-2017 15" MBP has more I/O capability than any other laptop, period.
You can break-out its 4 TB3/USB-C Ports into a myriad of configurations of up to FIFTY-SIX SIMULTANEOUS "legacy" I/O Ports.
Name one other laptop that can do that.
Re:Skip reading the article and look at the top pi (Score:4, Informative)
The 2016-2017 15" MBP has more I/O capability than any other laptop, period.
Given sufficient dongles...
You can break-out its 4 TB3/USB-C Ports into a myriad of configurations of up to FIFTY-SIX SIMULTANEOUS "legacy" I/O Ports.
Hold donglestorm batman!
Name one other laptop that can do that.
Name one other laptop that can do something no one cares about by carrying around a bunch of shite that no one wants to carry around?
Meanwhile, the Carbon X1 has 2 TB ports, 2 USB3, full size HDMI, micro SD and micro SIM, so you can do all you want without a bag of annoying dongles to sort through.
It's also faster, lighter has a MUCH nicer keyboard and comes with up to 1TB flash, more than the 13 inch MBP.
And it comes with a cli... uh trackpoint.
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The Carbon X1 looks like a very nice laptop, although it comes with a very MacBook Pro-ish price!
When the time comes to replace my 2015 13" MacBook Pro, I am going to seriously look at non-Mac options... although they'll need to run Linux well, which isn't always a given.
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When the time comes to replace my 2015 13" MacBook Pro, I am going to seriously look at non-Mac options... although they'll need to run Linux well, which isn't always a given.
Lenovo are always great for that. I gather the Dell business line is good too. If they sell it with Linux on in any region of the world even if not yours, it's a sure bet.
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Lenovo have much better keyboards too. Macs have those crappy island flat-top keys. There is a reason that keys are traditionally curved on top, it helps centre your fingers and keep your typing accurate as you unconsciously compensate for being out of alignment.
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Lenovo have much better keyboards too. Macs have those crappy island flat-top keys.
So much better. Switching between a Macbook Pro and a Carbon X1 is like night and day.
Unrelated: a while ago didn't I see you advocating avoiding top end phones and getting a cheaper one and changing it yearly? If I have remembered correctly, which ones do you go for and has your experience continued to be good?
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I've tried a few cheaper phones. My current one is a Pixel XL, which I bought just before the Pixel 2 came out so it was less than half price. The Pixel XL is great, but of course you can't get them now. If you can hold on until September/October time you can probably get a Pixel 2 very cheaply.
Before that I had a OnePlus One. That was a great phone for the most part. There were a few minor issues, not unexpected since OnePlus were a new player in the market, but they sorted them out with software updates.
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Dell Latitude/Precision/XPS are quite good. The XPS 13 can even be had with preinstalled Ubuntu, AFAIK.
I just replaced a cracked LCD panel in my girlfriends well-used Latitude 6430 that she's had for 3 or 4 years now. Clipped-on plastic frame, 6 screws and a ribbon cable, that's literally all it took. The new panel was ~$65 from a reliable vendor in Germany, it could probably have been half that if we were willing to chance an order from China.
The build quality impressed me, definitely on par with Thinkpads
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If you ask me, go for a Thinkpad. Since you're replacing a 13", you could go either way for a 12.5" X-series or 14" T-series.
I'm on a T440 that I bought refurbed a little while ago, and it's basically like a brand new machine still. With a new internal battery and a lightly used (80+% capacity left) 6-cell external battery, I get 8 hours of battery life minimum. With the 9-cell external battery, you can probably push it above 12 hours, I've seen 17 hours quoted at maximum power saving.
The X-series can go fo
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Oh right, and I run Linux Mint 18.3 on my T440. Everything works out of the box, the only things I had to tweak were the touchpad (to my personal taste) and a well-known tearing issue on Intel HD graphics that I'm not sure if exists anymore on the newer chipsets.
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Thank you - I appreciate the informative feedback from both you and serviscope_minor.
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Name one other laptop that can do that.
Name one other laptop that can do something no one cares about by carrying around a bunch of shite that no one wants to carry around?
Meanwhile, the Carbon X1 has 2 TB ports, 2 USB3, full size HDMI, micro SD and micro SIM, so you can do all you want without a bag of annoying dongles to sort through.
It's also faster, lighter has a MUCH nicer keyboard and comes with up to 1TB flash, more than the 13 inch MBP.
Last year I bought a new laptop. The specifications were, i7 processor, 12 GB of RAM, Geforce 950, GPU, 512 GB SSD... It was well worth it, the Macbook Pro costs £2,600. I didn't get a Macbook Pro, I got a laptop with the same specifications as that for £750. Its an Asus, so it's likely to last longer than a Macbook Pro (my lasts Asus was bought in 2011 and still going, I only replaced it so it could play recent games). Once you get past the badge, you realise there are Macbooks out there for 1/
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Last year I bought a new laptop. The specifications were, i7 processor, 12 GB of RAM, Geforce 950, GPU, 512 GB SSD... It was well worth it, the Macbook Pro costs -L-2,600.
You missed out the weight off the spec. that usually bumps the price a lot, though not into Macbook Pro territory.
Its an Asus, so it's likely to last longer than a Macbook Pro
I've had good experience from Asus laptops. My old (retired?) eee 900 served me very well for a very long time and my SO's Zenbook UX21 has done very well, replace
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The 2016-2017 15" MBP has more I/O capability than any other laptop, period.
ahahahahahahahahahahhhahahahahahahahahahahahahha.
Okay but seriously though:
ahahahahahahahahhhahahahahahahahahhaahahahahahahaha
And if I plug in a dongle I can extend that to: ahahahahahahahahhhahahahahahahahahhaahahahahahahaha ahahahahahahahahhhahahahahahahahahhaahahahahahahaha ahahahahahahahahhhahahahahahahahahhaahahahahahahaha
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The 2016-2017 15" MBP has more I/O capability than any other laptop, period.
ahahahahahahahahahahhhahahahahahahahahahahahahha.
Okay but seriously though:
ahahahahahahahahhhahahahahahahahahhaahahahahahahaha
And if I plug in a dongle I can extend that to: ahahahahahahahahhhahahahahahahahahhaahahahahahahaha ahahahahahahahahhhahahahahahahahahhaahahahahahahaha ahahahahahahahahhhahahahahahahahahhaahahahahahahaha
So sorry; but it's true.
It"s actually only FIFTY TWO ports, but it's still more than any other laptop, period.
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Steve Jobs is dead. Your reality distortion field no longer works. You're shilling it wrong.
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Steve Jobs is dead. Your reality distortion field no longer works. You're shilling it wrong.
Is that really the best you've got?
I'm actually disappointed.
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Is that really the best you've got?
Nope. I don't waste the best I got on fakes.
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I can name 3, at least:
MacBook (non-Pro)
Google Pixelbook
Dell XPS 12
Undoubtedly there are more, and will be even more; but I only had a couple of minutes to search.
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Also, the "Macbook" is smaller and lighter than the "Macbook Air". It doesn't really make sense, from a marketing standpoint.
I mean, they could rejigger their lineup and change the names around, but as it stands, the Macbook Air is just a legacy device.
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Too Much Angst? Don't Worry. (Score:5, Interesting)
OP: " It would also be about damn time."
Oookay... The OP has a bit of emotional involvement with this situation...
There are a lot of people who love the MacBook Air computers. If you don't like them then don't buy them.
Best of all, for haters and likers, is that Apple is bringing out a replacement. Some of the rumors involve merging the best of the Airbooks with the Pros. Just as long as it has function keys, USBx2 and a fast port all is good from my point of view.
But, I'm still using a 2010 MacBookPros - excellent machine. Even doing video editing work it keeps up. And I like the 17" screen on one of mine.
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If you don't like them then don't buy them.
It sounds like people aren't buying them, which is probably why they're discontinuing them.
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Actually, no, what I heard is they're bringing out something new that is going to cover both the Air and the Pro so they're consolidating the two together. Makes sense. ProAir or AirPro or whatever you want to call it.
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Hmm... My experience is exactly the opposite. I see a lot of MacBook Airs at conferences, dances (callers and sound people using them), people at cafes, sales people, etc. I've never seen a child with one. I have seen some elderly people with them but they're a small part of the total count. My younger brother has one. If you don't like them don't buy them but no need to call people morons. You're just broadcasting you own issues there...
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If you want to see thermal overload, use a MacBook. Since it's 100% passive cooling, you will hit the thermal limit sooner or later.
The MacBook Air has active cooling, which means it can run at 100% all the time, unlike the MacBook.
RIP 11" macbook air (Score:2)
It was a sad day when they stopped updating the model line and there's nothing (certainly from Apple) that will replace such a conven
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Really? My i7, 8GB 11" Air is plenty fast, and I can do some pretty intense stuff on it at times (VMs, FPGA synthesis, compiling large software sets)...
The RAM is a bit of a limitation for some of those, but it's hardly a slouch.
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Replace the battery. My 2012 11" Air is doing just fine with a new battery from amazon.
No great loss (Score:2)
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Personally, I think a 13" screen is too small, especially for older people with bad vision.
Then learn how to use the 'settings' aka 'System Properties'.
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And you should learn about native LCD resolutions.
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What has that to do with the topic of the parent?
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Parent said a 13" screen was too small, your response was to use settings, i.e. lower the resolution which would make things bigger and easier to read, but still wouldn't increase the size of the display itself.
My reply was that using a non-native resolution on an LCD panel would simply result in lower-resolution and blurry text which is also harder to read.
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Parent said: 13" is 'to small for their eyes" ... which it is not.
It's still a great option. (Score:1)
Bad Summary (Score:5, Informative)
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There are three product ranges: Macbook (12"), Macbook Air (13") and Macbook Pro (13" and 15") .
There was an 11.6" Macbook Air that was discontinued when the Macbook was introduced.
Most likely what will happen is that Apple introduces a 13" Macbook and discontinues Macbook Air. That would make the headline correct, even if no-one but the fanboys really cares.
Maybe it is too cheap? (Score:1)
I replaced my iPad Retina(the first with high-res display) with a Air as I were increasingly annoyed by the limitations of the iPad(lack of adblocker were one reason) and it have worked really well for me. A bit poor screen resolution but all in all great for couch surfing and traveling (it even had a SD-Card reader so I could offload video and pictures from my cameras onto a USB drive)
An upgrade have been needed for some time, but it looks like they are phasing out all the machines that makes sense to me a
Makes Sense (Score:2)
With the gradual merging of iOS and OS X (macOS), there's simply no room for the MacBook Air between iPads and MacBooks. My guess is they'll prune the iPad line next.
You can currently buy the iPad Mini 4 (7.9"), the iPad (9.7"), and the iPad Pro (10.5" and 12.9"). The iPhone 8 comes in 4.7" or 5.5" sizes, and the iPhone X is 5.8". That's 7 current "mobile" form factors.
The price points of all of these devices make no sense either, especially as the phone price creeps up and up. Then there's the pressure
Terribly shortsighted. (Score:2)
I have a personal mid-2011 13" MacBook Air and love it. Work picked me up a loaded 15" 2016 MacBook Pro and it's really nice.
They definitely each have their place, but my go-to is still the Air. I have a YubiKey Nano living in one of the USB ports, I love the Magsafe power that has saved it several times, and I love the keyboard.
The Pro has the touchbar that is kind of handy, no Magsafe, and would require me to buy a USB-C Yubikey Nano. The worst bit is the keyboard. I really do not like it. It sounds t
Does Apple even care anymore? (Score:2)
Since the death of Jobs, the quality of their products has done down while the price goes up.
I see no definable vision on any front. Just minor tweaks, which seem to focus on selling new cords and adapters. And Lotus called, the 1-2-3 division wants commissions on the unimaginative and idiotic iPhone dongles.
As long as the cash rolls in, there is no compelling need for them to change.
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There has been a lot of ground covered for folks with disabilities.
It's just a name (Score:2)
After the MacBook Air came out, Apple discontinued the regular MacBook, because the Air filled the "low end" slot.
With the new MacBook Pros, the Air is not that much more portable, so it doesn't make much sense to market it as a special, ultralight "Air" product. So they brought back the regular MacBook brand and will most likely merge the Air family into it. Essentially, that's just dropping the "Air" in the name.
Let's face it... (Score:2)
* Ditching Xserve
* Not updating the Mac Mini since 2012
* Killing the Mac Pro
* Being hostile to developers by requiring that iOS/macOS apps be compiled on expensive and uncompetitive Apple hardware
The writing is on the wall.
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Good riddance.