I ’ve been a fan of flyspeck Mac laptop for many year . From the 12 - column inch PowerBook G4 to the iBook to the11 - column inch MacBook Air , I ’ve always opted for the smallest laptop I could get my hands on .
And yet , with the discontinuance of the 12 - inch MacBook , the small Apple function is the 13 - column inch MacBook Air . Is the Air as modest as a Mac laptop can get ? I do n’t think so . And that ’s why I think Apple should add an additional laptop to its product line and lend back the 12 - inch MacBook .
Let’s get small
First , I ’ve got to admit that the MacBook Airisa small laptop computer . Back in the days of the 11- and 13 - inch MacBook Air models , I favour the 11 - inch model . Casual observers of the MacBook Air might not agnise that it downsized during the passage to the retina - display framework , but it did . The Retina MacBook Air is 0.8 inches less wide , 0.6 inches less deep , and about .16 pounds lighter .
In fact , the Retina MacBook Air is only .17 inch spacious than the 11 - column inch gentle wind . That ’s not nothing , but it ’s much closer to the sizing of the 11 - inch aura than the 13 - inch model . It ’s bass , to be sure—0.8 inches , so it ’s not quite halfway between the two modelling in that proportion . In terms of weight , the 2.8 - pound Retina MacBook Air is .42 pounds big than the 2.38 - dog pound 11 - inch Air .
What I ’m suppose is , users of the erstwhile 13 - inch MacBook Air have plant that the Retina model is a little bit lighter and more stocky , which is great . But former 11 - inch MacBook Air users like me will find switching to the advanced MacBook Air a bit disconcerting . It ’s better than the old 13 - in model that we opt against , but it ’s not as in force as the quondam model , either .
Fortunately , Apple has already plan a dependable Retina successor to the 11 - column inch MacBook Air .
Bring back the MacBook
When it first appeared , many of us think that the 12 - column inch Retina MacBook wasa prevue of the Apple atomic number 14 Mac revolution to amount , all thin and lighter and fanless . It was n’t . Instead , it was power by tedious , low - power Intel processor and was quit a mates of age before Apple finally made the move to its own chips .
2016 12 - in MacBook
And yet the MacBook ’s property make it clean that there ’s still a small-scale Mac laptop computer to be made . The MacBook was nearly a full inch less wide of the mark than the Retina MacBook Air , 0.62 inches less cryptical , and 0.77 pounds lighter . The 12 - inch MacBook was even less wide and lighter than the 11 - inch Air , although it was a tiny bit deeper .
permit ’s be exonerated , a 2.8 - pound laptop is pretty bully . But you know what ’s good ? Atwo - poundlaptop , which is what the MacBook was . There ’s a 12 - column inch MacBook still in employment in my house , and every meter I peck it up I do a double - take . It ’s just … so muchlessthan my M1 MacBook Air . It really takes me back to the 11 - column inch airwave in a fashion the current manikin does n’t .
Some improvement needed
Not convinced yet ? Okay , I will admit that despite its delicious size , the 12 - in MacBook was hardly a perfect product . If Apple is to bring it back , it involve to make some changes .
A mountain of those changes would just come as a rude part of the upgrade to an M1 processor . The old MacBook was hamstring by the short operation of low - power Intel processors that had to feed easy in orderliness to keep operating in the laptop ’s fanless inclosure . Of course , we know from the M1 MacBook Air that Apple has managed to make a fanless laptop that bring home the bacon performance the likes of which we ’ve only see on high - end Macs before . It ’s not excessive to guess that a M1 MacBook would be as quick and able as an M1 MacBook Air .
If Apple brings back a MacBook , it needs to have more than one USB - coulomb larboard .
The MacBook also had some serious inadequacy when it came to peripherals . As in , it only had a single USB - C porthole . Any M1 Mac is blend in to support Thunderbolt , of course , and I would hope that Apple would find a little bit of way in any unexampled MacBook for a second port , just as there are two ports on both M1 laptop computer .
Finally , there ’s the keyboard . The butterfly stroke keyboard design that debut on the MacBook and gradually transmigrate to the entire Mac laptop computer line was a multi - year catastrophe for Apple that it ’s only latterly addressed . plain , that keyboard ’s not go to act . But Apple has already done the redesign work , twice — first for the Magic Keyboard in modern Mac laptops , and second for the Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro . certainly one of those intention would be thin and light enough to be pucker into a newfangled MacBook .
What’s in a name?
To be honest , the worst part of the MacBook is its name . Not that the name MacBook does n’t have a proud legacy , but that it ’s both the name of a specific computer modelandthe name of an entire product line .
I ’d care to add a rider to my proposal that Apple make for back the 12 - inch MacBook : Why not just call it the 12 - column inch MacBook Air ? The company already has two sizes of MacBook Pros . There were two sizes of MacBook Air for years , and both exemplar proved popular .
As much as I love my M1 MacBook Air , I would drop it in a heartbeat for a 12 - inch model that calculate like the Retina MacBook . There ’s room in the Mac laptop line for a smaller , lighter MacBook . I promise it wo n’t take up very much infinite .
