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Apple Discontinued the 12-Inch MacBook Three Years Ago Today

Never understood the hate this product got, outside of the price & keyboard issues -- but there were good reasons for the price (battery design, Intel's ridiculous CPU cost, first butterfly keyboard, etc).

Then Apple released the redesigned Air -- with a chip that had near identical performance -- and tech sites lapped it up.

With their own chips actually being able to perform in such a design, no need for the fancy battery, and move away from the butterfly keyboard, Apple could easily release a fixed version.
 
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I never had it, but one of my favorite Macs of all time were those black MacBooks. I had a buddy who had one and held on to it FOREVER because it was discontinued.
 
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We have one at work (purchased on my initiative, a 2016 model). It was lightly used (and close to zero after 2020). Still original keyboard, still works.

Looking forward to whatever is available when macOS on this one cannot be updated anymore.

With anything power-intensive, it throttles massively, unfortunately (which includes Teams and Zoom...).
But still a damn good portable that Steve would have loved.
Well, as long as he didn't have to attend a Zoom meeting on it, that is.
 
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Nick_P said:
I actually loved everything about it, except the keyboard. It was plenty fast for me, and the size and weight was phenomenal. The single USB-c port never slowed me down. If they put a regular keyboard on it, I would buy it again.
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I loved the keyboard on the 12”. So crisp. I also had a 2014 15” MBP and way preferred the low travel keyboard to the sponges feel of the 15”.
 
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nfl_brah said:
Imagine fondly reminiscing about this when the M2 MBA just came out. Similar dimensions/volume, yes it is slightly heavier (% don't matter much at this weight class- its all relative), and significantly improved in every other way. yawn.
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The M2 MBA is 40% heavier than the 12" Macbook. I wouldn't call that similar weight, and I'm not sure what you mean by percentage not mattering at this weight class?

That 40% is the difference between feeling a laptop on your lap, or in your bag, and not.

But obviously, with the vast improvements of the M2 MBA in every other factor other than weight, the M2 MBA is the winner for almost everyone, and the weight tradeoff is more than worth it.
 
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xxray said:
It’s a gorgeous laptop (besides that dated looking bezel), but it was a terrible buy at the time. Definitely form over function and a futuristic vision of a very portable notebook where the technology just wasn’t yet there to match. 1 single usb-c port in the era of usb-a still dominating + AirPods not even existing yet, a faulty keyboard, and slow processors. It would definitely make more sense today with Apple Silicon, MagSafe, and better keyboards making a return, though the keyboards wouldn’t look as pretty as the very flat butterfly keyboard. I also find it disappointing Apple has removed colorful options like the Gold and Rose Gold pictured here for their laptops.

I understand that people like portability and I fully support everyone having more options, but I don’t understand how people can work off a screen this small for all their laptop needs. I understand you can use an external monitor, but a 12” screen pretty much limits you to one app at a time. Even on my 12.9” iPad Pro, the screen feels more cramped than I want it to be in multitasking, hence the reason why I have a 16” MBP.
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I suppose you've got to think outside your own needs to what other people's needs might be. I've owned one for years, but it's never been my main machine (I had a MBP - and now a Mac mini - for that). I use it exclusively for couch and travel, an iPad alternative of sorts, because I can't stand iPads (but I also completely understand how they're a great buy for so many people). I'm old-school, I want a physical keyboard, a fully hinged screen and MacOS.

Others that use (or used) it as their only machine probably have limited requirements, and value portability above everything else.
 
jamcgahey said:
I never had it, but one of my favorite Macs of all time were those black MacBooks. I had a buddy who had one and held on to it FOREVER because it was discontinued.
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This made me laugh, because I had a friend who did the same thing. He had never owned a Mac, and bought a black MacBook as his first, and he kept that thing forever too. There was something about them, I guess.
 
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sideshowuniqueuser said:
Yep. They should simply make 12", 14", 16", and dare I say it, 18" sizes in both the MBA, and MBP. Sure, there will be low sales in some of those options, but I bet there'd be enough sales that normal sized businesses would only wish they could achieve that many sales. I'd defo buy an 18", probably MBA, but maybe MBP.

Same with the iPhone. Just keep making the Mini size, plus the normal, Max, and well, why not an even bigger size, for both normal and Pro models.

Although, for myself, I'd love a phone the same height as the normal, but a good 1cm or so wider. The Max is pointless to me, as the extra length makes it too long for pockets, but hardly gains any width over the normal phone.
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I think you're right for the MBA, I've always said that I'd love for it to be in three sizes, 12" for travel, 14" for everyday and 16" for desk-bound work.

I think that the Pro should be 14 & 16 or 15 & 17, I don't think they'd be able to make a pro-spec Apple laptop ultralight as well, and the 12" real estate would likely be too small for AV professionals.

Personally, I think that 18" would be too excessive and would start looking hideous, but who knows. I suppose the shell size would be the same as the discontinued 17" MBP, but looking back on pictures of that machine, it does indeed look hideous.
 
leeuk321 said:
The M2 MBA is 40% heavier than the 12" Macbook. I wouldn't call that similar weight, and I'm not sure what you mean by percentage not mattering at this weight class?
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It's the usual posters who never owned one and just look at the spec sheet. The same was said about the redesigned Air and my M1 is brick compared to the MB 12.
 
Crazy that this machine released SEVEN years ago, had the same base 8GB RAM/ 256GB SSD as the current models. That was barely enough in 2015, yet still the standard in 2022!?!
 
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The true flaw of this product is how hard it is to Google just the name “MacBook” and get pertinent results.
 
leeuk321 said:
The M2 MBA is 40% heavier than the 12" Macbook. I wouldn't call that similar weight, and I'm not sure what you mean by percentage not mattering at this weight class?

That 40% is the difference between feeling a laptop on your lap, or in your bag, and not.

But obviously, with the vast improvements of the M2 MBA in every other factor other than weight, the M2 MBA is the winner for almost everyone, and the weight tradeoff is more than worth it.
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Might wanna recheck that math. It’s 33% heavier.
 
I still have the 12" Macbook and I am using it right now to write this post. I travelled the country for my work so it was the perfect size and speed for all my needs. The keyboard does get stuck every once in a while, but its still a nice machine and the battery still has a pretty good life. I keep looking at the macbook air now since its been updated and I just want a computer thats faster.
 
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Having a single USB-C port and the butterfly keyboard, not to mention the Intel Core M processors, didn't particularly help. Even after the introduction of Thunderbolt 3, the 12-inch MacBook still had a lone USB-C port...
 
nfl_brah said:
Might wanna recheck that math. It’s 33% heavier.
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Still, 2 pounds (920 grams) versus 2.7 pounds (1,240 grams) is quite a difference.
Also the M2 Air is about 1 inch wider and 0.75 inch deeper. That means quite a lot of smaller bags will not fit the Air anymore, while the 12" MacBook just about fits.

The 14" MacBook Pro is 3.5 pounds, which means the difference between the 12" MacBook and the new M2 Air (33% heavier) is about the same as between the M2 Air and the 14" MacBook Pro (30% heavier).
No one would claim the 14" MacBook Pro "is about the same size and weight" as the M2 MacBook Air, or would they?

They are all in their own different class, each of these 3 laptops. They don't compare size- and weight-wise.
 
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Dreamail said:
The 14" MacBook Pro is 3.5 pounds, which means the difference between the 12" MacBook and the new M2 Air (33% heavier) is about the same as between the M2 Air and the 14" MacBook Pro (30% heavier).
No one would claim the 14" MacBook Pro "is about the same size and weight" as the M2 MacBook Air, or would they?

They are all in their own different class, each of these 3 laptops. They don't compare size- and weight-wise.
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you’re really grasping at straws here. Small bag? The Air and MacBook definitely did compete in the same class, which is the reason the MacBook is no more.
 
Really, reading most of the comments here, specially the non´s, takes me to think that most people didn´t have in his hands the Macbook 12" and have no idea what is working with it.
 
nfl_brah said:
you’re really grasping at straws here. Small bag? The Air and MacBook definitely did compete in the same class, which is the reason the MacBook is no more.
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To each their own, of course.

But I can assure you I have more than 5 bags where the 12" MacBook fits in snuggly - while the Air would not fit at all - without destroying the bag or the MacBook Air.
It is quite surprising how much 1 inch difference in width makes.

Admittedly, I deliberately looked for very small bags, that is because I did not want the bag to look like "a laptop bag", enticing people to potentially steal my bag. With its tiny size, and a snuggly fitting small bag - no one assumes that there is a whole laptop in my bag.
People are always surprised when I take the 12" MacBook out - "You've got a whole laptop in there?!?" is a common comment I get.

To me it's peace of mind - and a smaller bag to carry.
This is how I do "laptop bags".

But feel free to consider it "grasping at straws".
You are of course entitled to think size and weight differences are irrelevant for your purposes.
 
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I have an m3 12" refurb 8/512 that is still going strong (after warranty keyboard replacement where they essentially replaced all of the bottom innards too all at zero cost).

Did two years of college with one of my kids (the battery life blew away all her friends with 13" MBPs and wasn't all that much slower doing coursework). Wife has been using it since. I just upgraded her to M1 Air base model at right around $800.

I'm going to continue using the 12" for road warrior 2 lb portability... web browsing photo organizing and small/moderate Lightroom 6.14 fiddling.
 
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