Apple Might Discontinue the MacBook Air (gizmodo.com)

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.

Comments

About damn time?

[DontBeAMoran]

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.

Re:About damn time?

[Oswald McWeany]

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)

Re: About damn time?

[Anonymous Coward]

âIt exists therefore I must buy itâ - Apple fanboys since day one.

Re: About damn time?

[Anonymous Coward]

Makes sense, it's their only laptop with a selection of ports. Can't have that.

Re:About damn time?

[Anonymous Coward]

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 machine's size is decent.

Re:About damn time?

[ctilsie242]

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.

Re:About damn time?

[cayenne8]

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.

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?

[Anonymous Coward]

> it's the only laptop with a decent keyboard and enough ports for real-world use.

Only APPLE branded one. Dell and Lenovo and even Microsoft are now eating Apple's lunch. Apple now thinks everyone can just use an iPad to do their work, and it shows. They don't even know what a "computer" is anymore.

Re:About damn time?

[angel'o'sphere]

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.

Re:About damn time?

[vux984]

"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

Re:About damn time?

[Anonymous Coward]

You're only calling the 512GB of storage puny? So is the 16gig of soldered in un upgradable RAM. My intel core2 duo machine from 10 years ago now sitting under my desk as a spare linux box has as much RAM in it. The core2 duo machine is likely faster as well, since it is properly cooled and isn't going to thermal throttle from moving the mouse around the screen.

Re:About damn time?

[cayenne8]

I wasn't talking about the macbook, I was talking about 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.

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?

[angel'o'sphere]

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.

Re:About damn time?

[Junta]

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 return the favor and shop elsewhere?

Re:About damn time?

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:About damn time?

[Anonymous Coward]

They don't even know what a "computer" is anymore.

What's a computer?

Re: About damn time?

[Anonymous Coward]

The macbookProPro, for the real IT pro.

Re:About damn time?

[Darinbob]

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?

[TheFakeTimCook]

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...

Re:About damn time?

[berj]

Apart from the 2015 MacBook Pro, it's the only laptop with a decent keyboard and enough ports for real-world use.

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.

Re:About damn time?

[fincher69]

I commented this lower, but I've seen more iPad Pros about with the attached keyboard (basically Surface clone) lately. Wouldn't be surprised if they are going to push that as the next Air (or at least they see the Air as a competitor to the iPad Pro).

Re:About damn time?

[Anderson Council]

I've been expecting this since that iPad in the shape of a laptop they released a while back--I think they called it a Macbook of some kind at the time - even held up the motherboard that would happily fit in my phone and extolled how clever they were about it all. No hard feelings or anything - Apple should do what they think is best for them obviously; however, the writing on the wall for the ports, actual processor and other goodies which kept me buying the Macbook Air, even though all I really wanted was something Unix-like---was just convenient being able to buy this particular laptop for any desktop applications I might want, while having the Unix-ish support underneath it all.

I'd already been looking around for something comparable and at least Dell seems to still make an XPS 13" with Unix (no MS tax) options which was my next planned purchase anyway (other manufacturers perhaps have options as well).

Worth noting that 15 years ago I wondered openly if the Unix underpinning Darwin lured in the tech crowd, which helped it spread to the mainstream better as well as they had built-in advocates to push it to their non-tech friends. Not that Apple ever saw the advantage to the Unix-side of things. Just legacy to them I'm sure. And here we come full circle as they move toward selling iPads (in different form factors) for $1500 and any tech-crowd users will migrate away to other things. Should be interesting in any case. I wish them the best of luck.

~AC

Re:About damn time?

[tepples]

What's a computer?

The device on which the apps in the App Store are built.

Re: About damn time?

[Anonymous Coward]

Still ships with a 5400 RPM drive

Re:About damn time?

[Anonymous Coward]

So its a phone.

Re:About damn time?

[AmiMoJo]

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 day.

Re:About damn time?

[berj]

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.

Re:About damn time?

[swb]

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 creating an entirely new type of product*, they could do pretty much anything since nothing else exists. This could mean owning the docking standards and making healthy bank on required docking peripherals or even defining a "dock" as something with nearly a laptop inside it.

* Yes, I know this isn't a wholly new idea, just like iPhones or anything else they've done isn't new, but there's something to be said for doing it and making it successful as compared to failed efforts. And to their credit, they DID have a PowerBook Duo docking setup way back when.

Re:About damn time?

[Kjella]

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.

Re:About damn time?

[rh2600]

You must be pretty forgiving - the keyboard is widely panned, and is very unreliable too https://theoutline.com/post/24... http://bgr.com/2017/10/19/macb... etc etc I'm a recidivist MacBook owner, and the Air is the least shit one at the moment. The regular MacBook is laughable, and new MBP has no ports, touchbar wank, and a poor and unreliable keyboard too.

Re:About damn time?

[bobm]

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.

Re:About damn time?

[vux984]

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'.

Re:About damn time?

[YukariHirai]

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.

Re:About damn time?

[berj]

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 those in a laptop.

The touchbar is pretty amazing too. Previously, in order to use Vim properly I had to map the function keys to be always "F1...F12". So no matter what program I was using I had them mapped that way which meant using the "fn" key to access media and screen controls.

Now I can have the touch bar mapped to function keys *only* when I'm using terminal and Vim (the only applications I used that need "real" function keys) and every other application has their own settings. Controlling brightness and volume and locking the screen are simpler and some programs (like my remote desktop/vnc client) make very good use of the remappable area in the middle of the touch bar. It's better in nearly every way for me. If they put haptic feedback in there it will be perfect.

With a single tiny, light hub (https://satechi.net/products/satechi-aluminum-multi-port-adapter-4k) I can get any port I can possibly want and I only need to have them attached in the 5% of the time I actually use/need them. The rest of the time it sits in my backpack. There are even smaller, cheaper ones if you don't need Ethernet.. but I do, sadly.

Now if someone would just make a damned USB-C, wired, 3-button mouse the world would be a wonderful place.

I'm sure some people don't like the machine for a variety of reasons. You can't please everyone. But for my money and my work this is just about the perfect machine.

Re:About damn time?

[tzanger]

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*.

Re:About damn time?

[YukariHirai]

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 much, and basically never hits swap. Maybe you have some really heavy computing you're doing that does need that and more, but that kind of computing really isn't for laptops.

Re:About damn time?

[movdqa]

Never liked the Air. I prefer the MBPs. I miss the 17 inch models.

Re:About damn time?

[Anonymous Coward]

Where the Macbook Air may have previously been the choice in the education sector - light and functional - the iPad Pro likely makes for a better fit. Perhaps they have statistics that show this and us IT types wanting the Air are edge cases that don't make a product viable. I'm guessing that may well be the case.

Re: About damn time?

[Anonymous Coward]

Perfect except your lack of mouse ? That would be almost unusable to me.

Re: About damn time?

[Anonymous Coward]

Same here. Best laptop ever. Daily workhorse for six years. I don't know what I'll do to replace it when the time finally comes.

Re:About damn time?

[KozmoStevnNaut]

That goddamn insufferable bullshit hipster nonsense wishy-washy passionless hipster music makes me want to stab somebody.

Re:About damn time?

[mjwx]

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.

Re: About damn time?

[Zero__Kelvin]

Thank you. I was trying to remember which company it was that was into increasing its market share. I couldn't remember if it was Apple or Samsung, but now that you refreshed my memory I do recall that Apple doesn't want that and Samsung does.

Re: About damn time?

[berj]

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.

Re:About damn time?

[Anonymous Coward]

Apart from the 2015 MacBook Pro, it's the only laptop with a decent keyboard and enough ports for real-world use.

Can you please stop saying "real-world use" when what you actually mean is "my use"? There's millions of us with the newer MacBook Pros and the 12" MacBooks who are completely happily using them in the real world, and it's insulting to imply that we don't count as real just because we have different preferences to you.

Re:About damn time?

[Anonymous Coward]

This is the one experience I miss about Apple. The "just works, one stop shop". This way, for someone who isn't technical, they have one phone number and one website if something breaks, be it a printer, computer, router, OS, or software. Having multiple products would be useful.

Re:About damn time?

[ChristTrekker]

Again, Apple is prioritizing the wrong thing.

When the Air pushed out the old MacBook, I wondered why anyone would pay more for a less powerful machine, made more expensive by using miniaturized parts, just to shave ounces off the weight (and look "cool"). Now they're doubling down on light/"cool" at the expense of affordability (again), performance (again), and flexibility.

We have a 2012 MBP we bought refurbed in 2013. We use both USBs all the time. We use the SD slot all the time. We use the optical drive fairly regularly. I just replaced the HD with a SSD, and I hope it doesn't fail anytime soon because Apple has nothing to replace it for the way we work.

Re:About damn time?

[angel'o'sphere]

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'

Re: About damn time?

[Anonymous Coward]

I have a 2013 13â MBP it is fully loaded. The new one simply doesnâ(TM)t have anything my old one doesnâ(TM)t have. In fact the new one has less and costs more.

Upgrade it !!! Tim Cook !!

[Anonymous Coward]

DONT kill the MacBook Air !! Upgrade it for fuck sake !!

Too bad

[Robert Goatse]

I love my 13" Air. It's light enough to bring on an airplane for work, movies, etc.. I don't do any serious number crunching on it but for portability it's awesome.

Re:Too bad

[zlives]

i have replaced mine with an ipad pro... so maybe thats their thought!!

Re:Too bad

[Anonymous Coward]

You should check out Chromebooks.

Re:Too bad

[Anonymous Coward]

Chromebooks suck if you're ever outside of network range or want to do local stuff. I tried using one for media by hooking up my external drive and installing the VLC plugin for Chrome, and it couldn't play more than a quarter of my files outright, and most of the ones that did play didn't have sound.

If you exclusively use streaming services and have a constant network connection, then they're alright. But god help the poor soul who wants to do anything offline/locally with a Chromebook without flashing Linux onto it.

Re:Too bad

[Anonymous Coward]

I use my when I travel for editing my photos and videos.

Honest question, how well does the iPad Pro do those things?

Re:Too bad

[Sloppy]

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 remember anything. Use any leftover tape to fashion a convenient carrying handle. Problem solved.

If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.

Re:Too bad

[zlives]

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.

Time marches on

[Anonymous Coward]

When one ignores pricing (and Apple is not one to worry about the price of their products), the Macbook Air has been largely superseded and squeezed by the capabilities of the Macbook and Macbook Pro line as they has gotten smaller and lighter and more power efficient over the years. The niche the Macbook Air resided in has shrunk to almost nothing. Probably about time for the product to be retired.

The start of Apple's decline...

[mykepredko]

Getting rid of a great product - my thoughts on it: https://slashdot.org/comments....

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?

[Rik Sweeney]

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.

Re:What's a computer?

[Anonymous Coward]

That's what real Windows-based computers are for. Macs are just continually becoming more and more trouble for real business work environments.

Re:What's a computer?

[movdqa]

You need a Mac to develop mobile apps. So Macs will be around for a while.

ROTFLMAO

[Shogun37]

Apple...Courageously Telling You What You Want...#drunkontheirownkoolaide. 'Course, this is gonna make the fanbois erupt. Or fangirrls? Can they even tell, anymore? All Is ONE In APPLE.

Skip reading the article and look at the top pic

[bjdevil66]

A picture is worth a thousand words. It's key selling point - form factor - has been nearly eliminated. The MacBook Pro is almost exactly the same size, and has a lot more power for only a few hundred more.

Too Much Angst? Don't Worry.

[pubwvj]

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.

Re:Too Much Angst? Don't Worry.

[pak9rabid]

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.

Re:Too Much Angst? Don't Worry.

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a Gizmodo article pushed here by editor msmash. They are both notorious left wing Apple haters. Full of emotion, not much technical ability, and generally lying out their asses.

Re:Too Much Angst? Don't Worry.

[fincher69]

Given the iPad Pros that I have seen about with attached keyboards (mimicking Surfaces), I would be they see the Air as competition to that and are just going to try to push the iPad Pro + keyboard as the new Macbook Air.

Re:Too Much Angst? Don't Worry.

[Anonymous Coward]

There are a lot of people who love the MacBook Air computers.

Yep. Children, the elderly, and morons. Even our 'mac people' don't like them, and they regularly go thermal overload trying to do anything beyond web browsing. Good riddance.

Re:Too Much Angst? Don't Worry.

[pubwvj]

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.

Re:Too Much Angst? Don't Worry.

[pubwvj]

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...

Re:Too Much Angst? Don't Worry.

[DontBeAMoran]

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.

Re:Skip reading the article and look at the top pi

[93 Escort Wagon]

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.

Re:Skip reading the article and look at the top pi

[Anonymous Coward]

A picture is worth a thousand words. It's key selling point - form factor - has been nearly eliminated. The MacBook Pro is almost exactly the same size, and has a lot more power for only a few hundred more.

Picture? All I see is a ultra-light portable device with very popular standard I/O ports vs. a thermally challenged box of soldered proprietary crap with a rather fucked keyboard.

Oh the new MBP has power alright; the power to force you to pay for 1,001 dongles. "Cheap" my ass.

RIP 11" macbook air

[beckett]

Seemed like nobody wept for the loss of the 11" MacBook air except me. coming from a history of using subcompacts since the Toshiba T1910, DEC HiNote Ultra, Thinkpad 701c, etc. i loved the smallest MacBook air! i had no problems with having few usb ports, no optical drive, and tiny screen; it was miles ahead of all the other sub-compact craptop compromises i made before.

It was a sad day when they stopped updating the model line and there's nothing (certainly from Apple) that will replace such a convenient, economy-class-tray-sized notebook. iPad with a bluetooth keyboard? sheesh.

Re:RIP 11" macbook air

[Anonymous Coward]

You weren't alone. I still use my 2010 11" Air when I travel. I beefed up the cpu and memory when I bought it and it still handles photo and video editing like a champ. I love the small form factor, especially for traveling. I've considered the iPad Pro as a replacement, but until I know how well it can handle importing photos and videos from a camera and editing them, I'm not willing to drop the cash on one. I remember early iPads seemed to be dubious at best about connecting to a camera and importing photos and videos....but maybe that's changed now.

Re:RIP 11" macbook air

[Radical Moderate]

Yeah, I'm very happy with my 11" Air. Not the fastest machine by a long shot, but there isn't much it can't do....given time. Very well built machine for the money.

Re:RIP 11" macbook air

[tzanger]

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.

No great loss

[Locke2005]

My daughter thought the MacBook Air was cute, but I thought the price/performance sucked compared to the MacBook Pro, so I got her a MacBook Pro instead. Personally, I think a 13" screen is too small, especially for older people with bad vision. I'd like my next laptop to be a 17", but it's hard to find those with 4K resolution, the 17" screen are usually 1920x1080.

Re:No great loss

[Anonymous Coward]

You sure showed her!

Re:No great loss

[angel'o'sphere]

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'.

Re:No great loss

[DontBeAMoran]

And you should learn about native LCD resolutions.

Re:No great loss

[angel'o'sphere]

What has that to do with the topic of the parent?

Re:No great loss

[DontBeAMoran]

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.

Re:No great loss

[angel'o'sphere]

Parent said: 13" is 'to small for their eyes" ... which it is not.

Re:No great loss

[Anonymous Coward]

If parent said 13" was too small for their eyes, who are you to decide otherwise?

It needed to be done

[Anonymous Coward]

If Apple wasn't going to upgrade its screen from a good TN to a better IPS with high retina and make it a legitimate reason to spend a grand on it. Then it needs to drop it and let the Macbook become the entry level notebook. Or keep the Macbook Air but price it where it should be against competition.

New MacBook had moved towards Air's niche

[perpenso]

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.

Re:New MacBook had moved towards Air's niche

[TheFakeTimCook]

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?

Re:New MacBook had moved towards Air's niche

[perpenso]

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." :-)

Re:New MacBook had moved towards Air's niche

[TheFakeTimCook]

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 way on that interface), those "essential" USB-A connectors will start looking as useful as a built-in MODEM and Parallel ports.

Yes, Apple chose maximum display-driving capability over raw GPU speed with the AMD GPUs; but, for their target market, the ability to drive 4 4K, or 2 5k external displays (PLUS the internal display) makes more sense. And now that macOS is officially supporting eGPUS, and TB3 provides a fade data pipe, that design decision is becoming a non-issue for those who desire a little more graphics horsepower.

As far as the non-user--replaceable SSD, most, if not all, "real pros" routinely work with files that are already too large to be stored effectively on any laptop available INTERNAL SSD; so again, the inclusion of blazing-fast USB 3.1 and TB3 means that huge external storage pools with FAST, infinitely-expandable external storage for those gigantic files.

As far as the 16 GB RAM limit, that really is only a problem for those wanting to run more than one simultaneous VM instance. Unfortunately, that limitation is mostly Intel's fault, and hopefully will go away with the next generation of their CPUs.

Re:New MacBook had moved towards Air's niche

[perpenso]

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.

Re:New MacBook had moved towards Air's niche

[TheFakeTimCook]

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.

Yes!

[Roger W Moore]

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.

Re:Yes!

[angel'o'sphere]

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.
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 ... I wonder why modern MacBooks can not have both, hardware function keys and that magical function bar.

Re:Yes!

[caseih]

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 heard (yeah you know how that goes) that a lot of photography types are abandoning Mac and moving back to Windows. Adobe's suite works just great for them on Windows, and if I'm not mistaken, the much-maligned subscription program allows them to move between platforms.

Malware is still a huge issue for Microsoft (and an image problem). If that was resolved in some way, there's simply no reason to choose MacOS over Windows for a huge number of people. As it is I no longer recommend Macs to friends and family (although that might be because they no longer ask my opinion... haha) as they just don't seem to offer much value anymore.

As for keyboard, I think he might simply be referring to the quality of the keyboard. In Apple's endless quest to be the thinnest, they've made the keyboard feel just awful. I can't type well at all on their latest crop of keyboards. I understand that 2mm throw can be faster and less tiring than 4mm, like we used to have, but 1mm or less is just mushy feeling. It's all been downhill since the Aluminum Powerbook keyboards! Sadly other venders are copying Apple's crappy keyboards. That's why I plan to hang onto my X220 for as long as I can.

Re:Yes!

[Roger W Moore]

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.

It's the lack of important ones like a USB-A to allow sharing memory sticks with others that's the problem. I am not willing to buy and carry around dongles simply because they could not put a single USB-A port on the machine.

No idea about your keyboard point, obviously I hate the function key replacement

It's not just the lack of function keys it's the lack of almost any key movement. When I tried it in the store it was like typing on an iPad.

I love OS X but Apple's current laptops and 4+ year old Mac Pro (which they still try to sell at full price!) have become so bad they are bad jokes. They have even taken out features like the mag-safe power cord and new features they have added like the touch bar, is less useful than the keys it replaced. I wish it were not true but Apple without Steve Jobs simply doesn't seem to function.

Re:Yes!

[YukariHirai]

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.

Re:Yes!

[KozmoStevnNaut]

The only good choices for laptops are Lenovo Thinkpad, HP Elitebook/Probook and Dell Latitude/Precision/XPS. Everything else is a toy.

Re:Yes!

[Junta]

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.

Re:Skip reading the article and look at the top pi

[Anonymous Coward]

The MacBook Air had a good run, but that picture pretty much shows why Apple is considering retiring it. I will miss the MagSafe connector, but with USB-C becoming more and more common, it isn't too bad a trade-off, as the cable and charger are separate, so replacing a $10 cable is a lot cheaper than the $75 MagSafe charger.

Apple should be announcing something to replace it. Hopefully something that gives more than it takes.

It's still a great option.

[jecowa]

Even though its processor is three generations old, it's still faster than the more expensive 12-inch MacBook. It has more ports than the 12-inch MacBook. And the MacBook Air is the only remaining laptop with the best feature of an Apple laptop â" MagSafe. With MagSafe you can trip on the power cord or try to run off with your laptop without unplugging it first without mangling the power connector and the power port. My computer wouldn't have lasted 10 years without it.

Bad Summary

[Aero77]

The linked article from Digitimes is titled "New MacBook to boost LCM orders for GIS" and the first statement is "Touch panel maker General Interface Solution (GIS) is expected to land more LCM (LCD module) orders from Apple, which reportedly plans to release an entry-level 13-inch MacBook in the second half of 2018, according to industry sources.". Nowhere does the article state that the MacBook is being discontinued. #clickbait

Re:Bad Summary

[Trongy]

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.

:Macbooks no longer a focus for Apple.

[Anonymous Coward]

iPads and iPhones are. I gave up using macbooks and use Windows laptop instead. Apple used to provide a choice in sizes (11-17") now only 13" and 15. They play around with gimmicks like touch bar instead of giving people removable batteries, fulls sized USB ports and upgradeable ram (my 2006 Macbook gave me all three).

Re::Macbooks no longer a focus for Apple.

[Anonymous Coward]

Cook and Ive have trashed the lineup to a point that most people buy a macbook pro just to get a mac fast enough to run email.

Maybe it is too cheap?

[ruddk]

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 and what they have, are becoming increasingly too expensive for me.
I want a really lightweight machine for taking with me and a workstation for video editing. I think that my late 2013 iMac however might be the last one, I don't feel like I can keep up with the price tags anymore, but I really like FCPX.
Have built a Hackintosh that renders video 3x faster than the old iMac. (I7-7700K and 1080GTX), although encoding is slower than the old iMac, as it refuses to offload encoding to the GPU on the Hackingtosh.

Makes Sense

[sexconker]

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 from the iMac line, which is essentially not much more than a MacBook Pro with a larger display sitting on your desk.

Plus, as Apple forces people down the path of connecting all peripherals wirelessly or via thunderbolt dongles an iMac, a docked MacBook, and a docked iPad become more and more similar. Maybe they'll shit out an "iPad Book" - an iPad running iOS but in a 2-in-1 / convertible form factor with the MacBook Air keyboard. Such a device would allow them to clean up the product lines on both the iPad and MacBook side while getting people ready for the iOS / macOS convergence (you know it's coming). See how Microsoft morphed the Surface into the Surface Book.

Terribly shortsighted.

[grub]

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 too 'sharp clicky' and doesn't have enough move for my liking.

Does Apple even care anymore?

[wardk]

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.

Re:Does Apple even care anymore?

[fortfive]

There has been a lot of ground covered for folks with disabilities.

Re:Skip reading the article and look at the top pi

[TheFakeTimCook]

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.

When Xcode for iPad?

[tepples]

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.

Then buy a Chromebook and flash it

[tepples]

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.

Re:Skip reading the article and look at the top pi

[Anonymous Coward]

That sounds like a hell of a big dongle. Think ill just get a Windows laptop instead.

17" screen PLEASEEEEEE

[Anonymous Coward]

Why have the 17" screens been dropped? Everyone is OK with little screens?

Re:17" screen PLEASEEEEEE

[KozmoStevnNaut]

Good riddance.

Dongles suck arse

[Anonymous Coward]

I have exactly zero usb-c compatible devices. I don't want any machine that has only usb-c ports. And dongles suck. The end.

My 28cm Macbook Air is the best laptop I've ever had and I'm angry that Apple discontinued the best sized laptop they were selling.

Re:RIP 28cm macbook air

[Anonymous Coward]

The discontinued macbook air was the best laptop apple ever produced. Just the right size. Decent keyboard. Usable amount of ports.

Sadly, the battery in mine is nearly dead. I've had to replace it. Sucks that all the replacements are so big and heavy. 1kg is about the upper limit for portability.

Re:Skip reading the article and look at the top pi

[serviscope_minor]

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.

Re:Skip reading the article and look at the top pi

[Anonymous Coward]

And who would need that?

How about a sensible amount of ports that don't force me to buy dongles.

Re:Skip reading the article and look at the top pi

[nine-times]

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.

Re:Skip reading the article and look at the top pi

[thegarbz]

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

Re:Skip reading the article and look at the top pi

[93 Escort Wagon]

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.

Re:Skip reading the article and look at the top pi

[rh2600]

Eh? MBP doesn't have the ports or a proper reliable keyboard, and the MBA is still thinner/lighter.

Conspiracy theory: Tim cook is an emacs user

[Codeyman]

Why else would he remove an actual ESC key from the new mac keyboard and put some touch thingie there! And now he is slowly killing older devices. Vim usage will definitely go down :P

It's just a name

[GuB-42]

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.

Re:Skip reading the article and look at the top pi

[TheFakeTimCook]

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.

Discontinued? About damn time?

[shm]

Clearly someone has never used the 13inch in real life.

I had the 11 when it came out and then moved to the 13. Still prefer it to my current Pro when I'm traveling but keeping emails and files in sync is a pain.

Pity that Apple is discontinuing useful ports though. A bag full of dongles is not fun at the airport.

Slim Down

[richman555]

This makes sense, especially if the 13 inch Macbook Pro is slimmed down to about the same size. The strange thing is I bought a 2017 iMac 5k and I am loving it.

Re:RIP 28cm macbook air

[tzanger]

Replace the battery. My 2012 11" Air is doing just fine with a new battery from amazon.

apple's mad

[Anonymous Coward]

They're pretty pissed off that users won't just give up their old machines just because they say so.
The macbook air is very repairable, and cheap to do so, a ~$30 I/o board covers things like audio issues, power input/magsafe, lid sensor and USB port failure.
The trackpad and battery can be replaced separate to the top case without a heat gun... the display module takes 20 minutes to be replaced.
Insane battery life.

Schools are just cleaning them up, putting them in for warranty service near the end of their coverage, installing high sierra on them and redeploying.
Apple HATES that, there's nothing in it for them, problem is, everybody's broke around my part of the world at the moment, there's nothing left for apple to take from us, "we" don't want to upgrade.

I'm continually having to explain to customers what apple fucked up this time when they run into the issues apple has had lately. New one is going to be "they don't make it anymore because they're idiots"

Re:Skip reading the article and look at the top pi

[Anonymous Coward]

And I'd buy it in a minute if it wasn't 16x9.

Re:RIP 28cm macbook air

[Anonymous Coward]

Yea, I still use my 2011 11" Air from time to time. It was an elegant blend of power, usability, compact footprint, and build quality.

Apple lost me around Lion/Mountain Lion. I still have the old 11" Air, but it's a bit long in the tooth, and I'm just not impressed with Apple products these days. Even if they came out with a new version, I wouldn't pay the premium for it.

RIP

Re:Skip reading the article and look at the top pi

[serviscope_minor]

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.

Re:Skip reading the article and look at the top pi

[dromgodis]

Name one other laptop that does not have a USB-A port.

Re:Skip reading the article and look at the top pi

[AmiMoJo]

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.

Re:Skip reading the article and look at the top pi

[KozmoStevnNaut]

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. While I was in there with a screwdriver anyway, I tightened up the hinges a bit. Because you can actually do that on a quality laptop, unlike those anorexic Macbooks and Macbook wannabes.

Re:Skip reading the article and look at the top pi

[KozmoStevnNaut]

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 for over 24 hours with the highest capacity batteries installed.

Re:Skip reading the article and look at the top pi

[KozmoStevnNaut]

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.

Re:Skip reading the article and look at the top pi

[thegarbz]

Steve Jobs is dead. Your reality distortion field no longer works. You're shilling it wrong.

Re:Skip reading the article and look at the top pi

[mjwx]

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 1/3 the price.

Re:Skip reading the article and look at the top pi

[TheFakeTimCook]

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.

Re:Skip reading the article and look at the top pi

[TheFakeTimCook]

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.

Re:Skip reading the article and look at the top pi

[thegarbz]

Is that really the best you've got?

Nope. I don't waste the best I got on fakes.

Re:Skip reading the article and look at the top pi

[93 Escort Wagon]

Thank you - I appreciate the informative feedback from both you and serviscope_minor.

Re:Skip reading the article and look at the top pi

[serviscope_minor]

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?

Re:Skip reading the article and look at the top pi

[serviscope_minor]

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, replaced only because the 4G of RAM isn't enough to process the larger datasets she' producing these days.

Re:Skip reading the article and look at the top pi

[AmiMoJo]

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. I know someone who got a OnePlus 5 and was very happy with that too.

I wouldn't actually advocate changing yearly necessarily. I had the OnePlus One for about 3 years and the Pixel XL will probably last me at least two, if not longer.

Let's face it...

[sydbarrett74]

Apple has slowly been throwing content creators and other professionals under the bus for years. They're after the content consumption audience. To wit:
* 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.