The Apple MacBook Air: A Review and Future Prospects

One aspect that was particularly concerning about the 12-inch MacBook was its profile, which deprived users of tactile feedback necessary to type with confidence. It was designed with new butterfly switches, which were notoriously susceptible to failure if small particles like dust or crumbs got under the keys. This was enough to incapacitate the keyboard and require a full swap. Repairs weren't easy nor cheap, and it seemed that the laptop's designers had doubled down on irreparability.

Another issue was the laptop's price to performance, which was also a tough pill to swallow. Ultrabooks were already common in 2015 as a result of PC manufacturers trying to compete with the market dominance of Apple's MacBook Air. However, from experience, daily driving the 12-inch MacBook revealed that the balance between battery life and power was fantastic, thanks to Apple's ability to heavily optimize for their hardware. However, you really had to love the form factor to want to pony up the sticker price.

The 12-inch MacBook started at $1300, which was also the same price as the base model 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro. This offered more power, more ports, similar battery life, and was honestly thin enough for most people. For me personally, the 12-inch MacBook size really made a difference. I would love to carry around an iPad as my primary computer on portability alone, but there's enough weirdness with iPad OS where much of my daily tasks either work more intuitively on a Mac or just require it all together.

When I first started working for Austin Evans, I actually daily drove a hand-me-down 12-inch MacBook for a few months. Ken realized he was beyond doing research for videos and typing up documents. However, I was most impressed with it was editing in Final Cut Pro X, which took big advantage of Intel's Quick Sync encoding and decoding. It just made the whole process smoother while I wouldn't exactly recommend getting the 12-inch MacBook as a dedicated editing laptop, it did the job more than well in a pinch.

While MacBooks of the time were basically cut from the same cloth, I loved how sleek the 12-inch was. The proportions of the deck still worked functionally given its small surface area. Even if the keyboard had to run edge-to-edge and above all else this laptop has aged in a way where it looks like it could be sold at retail even today.

On that note, I think current Apple is in a much better position to release a 12-inch MacBook with Apple's bet on their in-house silicon paying off for their desktops and laptops. A new 12-inch MacBook with an M1 or M2 chip could dramatically improve on what held the old one back. Some rumors suggest that it might actually materialize for 2023 or 24. So, the question then is where does it exactly slot in the Mac lineup?

It might not be crazy to see the 12-inch running on older chips such as the M1 or M2 when they're further down their cycle. In this scenario, I think Apple would have to nix the M1 MacBook Air which is still on sale for $1000. The M1 Air is simply too good to get rid of at the moment, even in light of the more premium, more powerful, and more expensive M2 MacBook Air. And this isn't even mentioning the rumors of a new 15-inch model on the way.

We also have to consider the M1 iPad Pro which is probably going to get refreshed sooner than later if that device teeters on the edge of becoming a laptop competitor short of putting Mac OS on an iPad Pro. A smaller, moderately powerful MacBook is a perfect midpoint for users who might be cross-shopping between these two classes of devices. Only time will tell what the 12-inch MacBook is going to look like, but I think the potential gets me excited for what's on the horizon for the Mac.

Apple has had really good momentum since the launch of M1 and I think an ultra-portable entry-level MacBook will sell like hotcakes as long as they make the right compromises and learn from past mistakes.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enask anyone about the 12-inch macbook and the responses are usually polarized it was easy to bag on its lackluster performance expensive price tag and a disappointing lack of ports however in retrospect i think apple got more right with this device than people are willing to give them credit for and with rumors of it making a return over the next two years now might be its time to shine seven years ago in 2015 apple released the 12-inch macbook it became their thinnest laptop besting the classic wedge-shaped second generation macbook air which dominated the market bloggers and tech journals love the air college students bought the out of it it was the laptop to buy for casual use and light productivity with its consistent software experience excellent battery life and portability but when 2015 rolled around the macbook air was becoming increasingly outdated especially with its sub 1080p screen resolution at a time when other macs went retina so with all this pent-up desire to upgrade when the 12-inch macbook was eventually released people sized it up to the air but this wasn't the comparison apple had intended priced at 1300 or 300 more than the base model air the 12-inch macbook pro was designed to be a more premium offering that's slotted right below the macbook pro however intent doesn't always line up with public perception and that can be said for a lot that apple got wrong with this device probably the biggest point of chatter amongst critics was its singular usbc port it's easy to forget looking back at it from 2022 but type c is way more common now than it was in 2015 and the 12-inch macbook was apple scapegoat that planted the seed of this new standard in people's minds from apple's point of view they were selling usbc as the one port to do it all the new usb type-c connector is a single port for charging video output and data transfer i hate it here but i think they hedged their bets on winning people over a little too quickly people absolutely hated the idea of using dongles and hubs to get their basic peripherals hooked up again these were the growing pains of a new i o standard and it took a few years for hardware competitors and accessories manufacturers to fully catch up if not for the painful lack of ports the keyboard also drew complaints from critics and early adopters key travel took a hit in the name of slimming the laptop's profile depriving users of tactile feedback necessary to type with confidence it was designed with these new butterfly switches which were notoriously susceptible to failure if small particles like dust or crumbs got under the keys it was enough to incapacitate the keyboard and require a full swap on the topic of repairs they weren't easy nor cheap to do with the 12-inch doubling down on irreparability then there's the laptop's price to performance which was also a tough pill to swallow ultrabooks were already common in 2015 as a result of pc manufacturers trying to compete with the market dominance of that macbook air now from experience daily driving it the balance between battery life and power was fantastic given apple's ability to heavily optimize for their hardware however you really had to love the form factor to want to pony up the sticker price again this laptop started at 1300 which was also the same price as the base model 13-inch retina macbook pro which offered more power more ports similar battery life and was honestly thin enough for most people for me personally the 12-inch macbook size really made a difference you see i would love to carry around an ipad as my primary computer on portability alone but there's enough weirdness with ipad os where much of my daily tasks either work more intuitively on a mac or just require it all together when i first started working for austin evans i actually daily drove a hand-me-down 12-inch macbook for a few months ken realized he up beyond doing research for videos and typing up documents where i was most impressed with it was editing in final cut pro 10 which took big advantage of intel's quick sync encoding and decoding it just made the whole process smoother while i wouldn't exactly recommend getting the 12-inch macbook as a dedicated editing laptop it did the job more than well in a pinch which i couldn't really save for other ultrabooks in that era plus while macbooks of the time were basically cut from the same cloth i loved how sleek the 12 inch was the proportions of the deck still worked functionally given its small surface area even if the keyboard had to run edge to edge and above all else this laptop has aged in a way where it looks like it could be sold at retail even today and on that note i think current apple is in a much better position to release a 12-inch macbook with apple's bet on their in-house silicon paying off for their desktops and laptops a new 12-inch macbook with an m1 m2 or similar soc could dramatically improve on what held the old one back some rumors suggest that it might actually materialize for 2023 or 24. so the question then is where does it exactly slot in in the mac lineup it might not be crazy to see the 12-inch running on older chips such as the m1 or m2 when they're further down their cycle in this scenario i think apple would have to nix the m1 macbook air which is still on sale for a thousand bucks it said that this is the most popular mac and i can't say that i'm surprised it offers minimal trade-offs to the higher end m1 macbook pro but at a lower price tag for apple and its customers the m1 air is simply too good to get rid of at the moment even in light of the more premium more powerful more expensive m2 macbook air and this isn't even mentioning the rumors of a new 15-inch model on the way with that in mind it might only be a matter of time before we see the m1 air's true replacement we also have to consider the m1 ipad pro which is probably going to get refreshed sooner than later if that device teeters on the edge of becoming a laptop competitor short of putting mac os on an ipad pro a smaller moderately powerful macbook is a perfect midpoint for users that might be cross-shopping between these two classes of devices only time will tell what the 12-inch macbook is gonna look like but i think the potential gets me excited for what's on the horizon for the mac apple has had really good momentum since the launch of m1 and i think an ultra portable entry-level macbook will sell like hotcakes as long as they make the right compromises and learn from past mistakesask anyone about the 12-inch macbook and the responses are usually polarized it was easy to bag on its lackluster performance expensive price tag and a disappointing lack of ports however in retrospect i think apple got more right with this device than people are willing to give them credit for and with rumors of it making a return over the next two years now might be its time to shine seven years ago in 2015 apple released the 12-inch macbook it became their thinnest laptop besting the classic wedge-shaped second generation macbook air which dominated the market bloggers and tech journals love the air college students bought the out of it it was the laptop to buy for casual use and light productivity with its consistent software experience excellent battery life and portability but when 2015 rolled around the macbook air was becoming increasingly outdated especially with its sub 1080p screen resolution at a time when other macs went retina so with all this pent-up desire to upgrade when the 12-inch macbook was eventually released people sized it up to the air but this wasn't the comparison apple had intended priced at 1300 or 300 more than the base model air the 12-inch macbook pro was designed to be a more premium offering that's slotted right below the macbook pro however intent doesn't always line up with public perception and that can be said for a lot that apple got wrong with this device probably the biggest point of chatter amongst critics was its singular usbc port it's easy to forget looking back at it from 2022 but type c is way more common now than it was in 2015 and the 12-inch macbook was apple scapegoat that planted the seed of this new standard in people's minds from apple's point of view they were selling usbc as the one port to do it all the new usb type-c connector is a single port for charging video output and data transfer i hate it here but i think they hedged their bets on winning people over a little too quickly people absolutely hated the idea of using dongles and hubs to get their basic peripherals hooked up again these were the growing pains of a new i o standard and it took a few years for hardware competitors and accessories manufacturers to fully catch up if not for the painful lack of ports the keyboard also drew complaints from critics and early adopters key travel took a hit in the name of slimming the laptop's profile depriving users of tactile feedback necessary to type with confidence it was designed with these new butterfly switches which were notoriously susceptible to failure if small particles like dust or crumbs got under the keys it was enough to incapacitate the keyboard and require a full swap on the topic of repairs they weren't easy nor cheap to do with the 12-inch doubling down on irreparability then there's the laptop's price to performance which was also a tough pill to swallow ultrabooks were already common in 2015 as a result of pc manufacturers trying to compete with the market dominance of that macbook air now from experience daily driving it the balance between battery life and power was fantastic given apple's ability to heavily optimize for their hardware however you really had to love the form factor to want to pony up the sticker price again this laptop started at 1300 which was also the same price as the base model 13-inch retina macbook pro which offered more power more ports similar battery life and was honestly thin enough for most people for me personally the 12-inch macbook size really made a difference you see i would love to carry around an ipad as my primary computer on portability alone but there's enough weirdness with ipad os where much of my daily tasks either work more intuitively on a mac or just require it all together when i first started working for austin evans i actually daily drove a hand-me-down 12-inch macbook for a few months ken realized he up beyond doing research for videos and typing up documents where i was most impressed with it was editing in final cut pro 10 which took big advantage of intel's quick sync encoding and decoding it just made the whole process smoother while i wouldn't exactly recommend getting the 12-inch macbook as a dedicated editing laptop it did the job more than well in a pinch which i couldn't really save for other ultrabooks in that era plus while macbooks of the time were basically cut from the same cloth i loved how sleek the 12 inch was the proportions of the deck still worked functionally given its small surface area even if the keyboard had to run edge to edge and above all else this laptop has aged in a way where it looks like it could be sold at retail even today and on that note i think current apple is in a much better position to release a 12-inch macbook with apple's bet on their in-house silicon paying off for their desktops and laptops a new 12-inch macbook with an m1 m2 or similar soc could dramatically improve on what held the old one back some rumors suggest that it might actually materialize for 2023 or 24. so the question then is where does it exactly slot in in the mac lineup it might not be crazy to see the 12-inch running on older chips such as the m1 or m2 when they're further down their cycle in this scenario i think apple would have to nix the m1 macbook air which is still on sale for a thousand bucks it said that this is the most popular mac and i can't say that i'm surprised it offers minimal trade-offs to the higher end m1 macbook pro but at a lower price tag for apple and its customers the m1 air is simply too good to get rid of at the moment even in light of the more premium more powerful more expensive m2 macbook air and this isn't even mentioning the rumors of a new 15-inch model on the way with that in mind it might only be a matter of time before we see the m1 air's true replacement we also have to consider the m1 ipad pro which is probably going to get refreshed sooner than later if that device teeters on the edge of becoming a laptop competitor short of putting mac os on an ipad pro a smaller moderately powerful macbook is a perfect midpoint for users that might be cross-shopping between these two classes of devices only time will tell what the 12-inch macbook is gonna look like but i think the potential gets me excited for what's on the horizon for the mac apple has had really good momentum since the launch of m1 and i think an ultra portable entry-level macbook will sell like hotcakes as long as they make the right compromises and learn from past mistakes