Apple Discontinued the 12-Inch MacBook Three Years Ago Today

[Xand&Roby]

The countless comments against this product, for 7 years, and against Ive, only demonstrate the stupidity that has pervaded Apple users for decades now, and precisely since we embarked Wintel’s children, since 2006.

NEVER until then have similar idiocies such as “12 inches is a toy” been read.

Apple has attracted hordes of imbeciles, engineers in the first place.
These are the results: people UNABLE to accept a product for others. The same imbecile dynamic pervades the history of Mini products, from iPhones to iPads, but for this we must also thank the all-American imbecility of compensating the size of your toy between your legs with UNNECESSARILY huge products.

 

[Dreamail]

iPad Pro killer?!?

Sometimes I wonder whether Apple killed the 12" MacBook because it became a serious threat to the iPad Pro.
If you buy an iPad Pro with a keyboard folio it is bulkier, heavier and more expensive than a 12" MacBook.

Or in other words, if you want a keyboard but unless you really need some of the pen or touch features from your iPad Pro, the 12" MacBook is the much better machine. And it runs the real macOS, and even Windows. Which for many tasks is better than anything iPadOS has to offer.

Sooo...

I can totally understand why Apple does not want to compete with its own iPad Pro line - as this may harm the iPad Pro's much higher earnings margins, as well as perhaps even the viability of the iPad Pro lineup itself. If too few iPad Pros are sold (as many opt for the 12" MacBook instead) the whole iPad Pro platform/ecosystem may no longer be viable due to too few units sold. There is a required minimum unit sell for any model to make sense for Apple.

I own both a 12" MacBook and an M1 iPad Pro, and find the iPad Pro pretty useless in comparison. That purchase was a big disappointment IMHO. More often than not I leave the iPad Pro at home and bring the 12" MacBook.
If more people realized this, the iPad Pro line might be in trouble.
But since there is no ultraportable Apple laptop anymore - people must buy an iPad, likely a Pro - and Apple saved the iPad Pro product line...

 

[Alasdair_Scott]

I had one of these and it was a tremendously good “travel Mac” - of course it suffered from an almost completely unusable keyboard and ridiculous thermals - but I imagine an M2 version would be awesome.

The keyboard was truly f**king terrible. I felt it was designed and tested by folks who enjoyed typing on iPad virtual keyboards. Which was a downer as I bought this specifically for Final Draft on long flights 😂

That said it was the perfect form factor for travel. Make an M2 version (in iMac colourways please) and it’ll fly off the shelves.

 

[Wahlstrm]

I can’t recall ever seeing one of these for sale on the second hand market where I live.

Wonder if “no one” bought one or it’s like with the old 12” PB and owners just keep them forever because there’s no replacement.

 

[Bug-Creator]

The countless comments against this product, for 7 years, and against Ive, only demonstrate the stupidity

The 12" had it's fair share of real issues some of them can be attributed to Ive

When he started with the candy color Macs it was "function with form" which over time errored to "form over function" and ended with "form form, who need functions".

He simply overstayed his welcome and by the end it seemed noone at Apple had the balls to confront him.

Post Ive Apple has brought back a proper MacPro, MacBooks with ports and grown the SpaceGrey Mini into a form factor that can actually handle more than a mobile chip (with front I/O, the horror).

 

[Dreamail]

I had one of these and it was a tremendously good “travel Mac” - of course it suffered from an almost completely unusable keyboard

Out of curiosity, was this the butterfly v1, v2 or v3 version?
I hated the v1 version but can live with the v2 version. And v3 is even noticeably better than v2.
I think v1 deserved all the hate, but the final v3 version is OK and certainly usable, I think. I find that the v3 butterfly keyboard is almost the same as the wireless Apple Magic keyboard. Which is to say not great but what Apple considers "good".

That said it was the perfect form factor for travel. Make an M2 version (in iMac colourways please) and it’ll fly off the shelves.

As much as I would love that, I seriously think that this would be too close to the iPad Pro and Apple may suffer from in-house product competition as an iPad Pro with a keyboard would be pretty much the same market as such a 12" MacBook.
While the iPad has touch and on its own is smaller, a 12" MacBook has a real keyboard and would still be smaller than an iPad Pro with keyboard folio. The clamshell laptop design protects its screen and keyboard, something where an iPad will always need a case for -adding to price and bulk and weight. So the MacBook is an inherently more stable and robust device, that you can easily carry with one hand - compared to the rather bulky and somewhat wonky Magic Keyboard setup for the iPad Pro.

Hence I really doubt that Apple will release a direct iPad Pro competitor. Unless they can differentiate the iPad Pro with some extra features so compelling that a 12" MacBook will never match this.
But as the feature sets currently stand, these two devices are too close to each other.

 

[Dreamail]

I can’t recall ever seeing one of these for sale on the second hand market where I live.

Wonder if “no one” bought one or it’s like with the old 12” PB and owners just keep them forever because there’s no replacement.

I would say rather the latter.
When Apple stopped selling the 12" MBs, they had them in the refurbished store for a while, but even those were quickly gone.

I had both the 12" PowerBook and now the 12" MacBook and am one of those people who would never give them away - but rather use them until they die off completely.
There is no replacement from Apple. I tried the MacBook Air, I tried the iPad Pro. Nope. Different league. The 12" MacBook wins every time.

 

[KevinN206]

The countless comments against this product, for 7 years, and against Ive, only demonstrate the stupidity that has pervaded Apple users for decades now, and precisely since we embarked Wintel’s children, since 2006.

NEVER until then have similar idiocies such as “12 inches is a toy” been read.

Apple has attracted hordes of imbeciles, engineers in the first place.
These are the results: people UNABLE to accept a product for others. The same imbecile dynamic pervades the history of Mini products, from iPhones to iPads, but for this we must also thank the all-American imbecility of compensating the size of your toy between your legs with UNNECESSARILY huge products.

No it died because of bad performance, bad thermal, bad battery life, and the god forgotten horrible keyboard that was prone to defects. Intel processors at that time (and still today) simply couldn't provide the performance required while being fanless. But seriously WTH is this rambling?

 

[Bug-Creator]

bad battery life,

Huh?

Sure it wasn't great looking back but at that time it was actually quite good.

 

[Mrjoedot]

the butterfly keyboard did not seem to fail at all really. 5years in with that device, passed it on my parents. still working real smooth.

 

[Le0M]

I wonder, if apple decides to revive this 12” MacBook somehow, which chip would they choose. M3? Considering M2 isn’t power efficient and thermal efficient enough, it’s going to be very interesting to see how M3 would fare.

M chip isn't power and thermal efficient enough?
I doubt there is any better chip out there, so far.

 

[iAFC]

The countless comments against this product, for 7 years, and against Ive, only demonstrate the stupidity that has pervaded Apple users for decades now, and precisely since we embarked Wintel’s children, since 2006.

NEVER until then have similar idiocies such as “12 inches is a toy” been read.

Apple has attracted hordes of imbeciles, engineers in the first place.
These are the results: people UNABLE to accept a product for others. The same imbecile dynamic pervades the history of Mini products, from iPhones to iPads, but for this we must also thank the all-American imbecility of compensating the size of your toy between your legs with UNNECESSARILY huge products.

One of the best comments I’ve read here in a while.

iPad Pro killer?!?

Sometimes I wonder whether Apple killed the 12" MacBook because it became a serious threat to the iPad Pro.
If you buy an iPad Pro with a keyboard folio it is bulkier, heavier and more expensive than a 12" MacBook.

Or in other words, if you want a keyboard but unless you really need some of the pen or touch features from your iPad Pro, the 12" MacBook is the much better machine. And it runs the real macOS, and even Windows. Which for many tasks is better than anything iPadOS has to offer.

Sooo...

I can totally understand why Apple does not want to compete with its own iPad Pro line - as this may harm the iPad Pro's much higher earnings margins, as well as perhaps even the viability of the iPad Pro lineup itself. If too few iPad Pros are sold (as many opt for the 12" MacBook instead) the whole iPad Pro platform/ecosystem may no longer be viable due to too few units sold. There is a required minimum unit sell for any model to make sense for Apple.

I own both a 12" MacBook and an M1 iPad Pro, and find the iPad Pro pretty useless in comparison. That purchase was a big disappointment IMHO. More often than not I leave the iPad Pro at home and bring the 12" MacBook.
If more people realized this, the iPad Pro line might be in trouble.
But since there is no ultraportable Apple laptop anymore - people must buy an iPad, likely a Pro - and Apple saved the iPad Pro product line...

The iPad Air now is a better deal than the Pro, considering it has the M1 chip and will also be able to do true multitasking on iOS 16. So I don’t think fear of killing the iPad Pro was a motivation behind axing the MB.

 

[Dreamail]

The iPad Air now is a better deal than the Pro, considering it has the M1 chip and will also be able to do true multitasking on iOS 16. So I don’t think fear of killing the iPad Pro was a motivation behind axing the MB.

For a "Pro" device an un-upgradeable 256 GB storage capacity is pretty anemic. At least if you intend to use it for a few years.
That is why the iPad Air is deliberately held back by Apple with storage options. If you want 512 Gb or more you must buy an iPad Pro. Whether you need a pro iPad or not.

If the Air had a 512 GB option at least, yes, it would be the better deal.
But Apple knows how to cripple devices to upsell you...

Users seem to update iPads every 4-5 years. I doubt 256 GB will be enough for a pro device in 3 years. Unless you store everything in the cloud. But Apple's iCloud prices are rather high.

 

[biffuz]

They could relaunch it with a M1 Mini

(and more ports)

 

[geekiemac]

Plenty of people bought mba11, which was worse in that regard.

I had the opportunity to test them side-by-side in the store. MBA11 had smaller, paler screen. It looked awful in comparison to the bright, crisp, colorful MBR12 screen. I went back and forth between both (at that time they were almost equally priced and the MBA's keyboard seemed better to me) and finally decided to go with the MBR12 because it was newer, cuter and "represented the future".

I guess if I had chosen the MBA11 I would have gotten rid of it way before the MBR, just because of the screen. It wouldn't have held up against newer device generations. Nowadays everything has retina screens, iPhones, iPads and Macs. My 12" little fella survived because of its screen, basically (and certainly not because of its horrible keyboard lol).

 

[geekiemac]

I can’t recall ever seeing one of these for sale on the second hand market where I live.

Wonder if “no one” bought one or it’s like with the old 12” PB and owners just keep them forever because there’s no replacement.

Interesting thought. I've been scouring the second hand market in my area as well, as I plan to sell my MBR now that the M2 MBA is on its way. There's indeed very few ads - way less than for iPads, for example.

 

[oldmacs]

One of my least favourite machines ever. This was the inspiration behind the ruining of the MacBook Pro with the 2016 Touch Bar (and non touchbar) models.

 

[geekiemac]

iPad Pro killer?!?

Sometimes I wonder whether Apple killed the 12" MacBook because it became a serious threat to the iPad Pro.
If you buy an iPad Pro with a keyboard folio it is bulkier, heavier and more expensive than a 12" MacBook.

Or in other words, if you want a keyboard but unless you really need some of the pen or touch features from your iPad Pro, the 12" MacBook is the much better machine. And it runs the real macOS, and even Windows. Which for many tasks is better than anything iPadOS has to offer.

Sooo...

I can totally understand why Apple does not want to compete with its own iPad Pro line - as this may harm the iPad Pro's much higher earnings margins, as well as perhaps even the viability of the iPad Pro lineup itself. If too few iPad Pros are sold (as many opt for the 12" MacBook instead) the whole iPad Pro platform/ecosystem may no longer be viable due to too few units sold. There is a required minimum unit sell for any model to make sense for Apple.

I own both a 12" MacBook and an M1 iPad Pro, and find the iPad Pro pretty useless in comparison. That purchase was a big disappointment IMHO. More often than not I leave the iPad Pro at home and bring the 12" MacBook.
If more people realized this, the iPad Pro line might be in trouble.
But since there is no ultraportable Apple laptop anymore - people must buy an iPad, likely a Pro - and Apple saved the iPad Pro product line...

I couldn't agree more.
When I bought the MBR, I had no iPad at that time. I wanted a travel device and hesitated between an iPad and a lightweight laptop. I went with the laptop because that's where I'm most productive.

 

[0134168]

I still use my 2017 MacBook. I have no intention of changing it unless Apple introduces something in a similar size and weight. It’s not the fastest, but it works perfectly well for all basic computing tasks.

In your team. My Macbook 12" 16GB/512GB Core I7 is more than capable. Always in my bag, sometimes have to open it to be sure it´s there.

 

[BellSystem]

They need to bring this back. The current Air is much heavier. This Mac was a dream for traveling, working in data centers, and other remote places.

 

[lowkey]

Freaking loved my 2015 12” base model MB. Literally had to double check my bag to make sure I had it in there.

Would totally by another one if they get it back under a kilogram.

 

[MiloCody]

great design but poor execution. keyboard was crap, and processor was slow.

 

[mectojic]

"Apple's first fanless notebook" – this is incorrect. You're forgetting the 1999-2000 iBook G3 Clamshells, they were fanless.

 

[CyberGene]

It was my favorite Mac and I’ve had a lot of Macs. My wife uses it now and she loves it too. Yeah, that keyboard was cr*p but I guess it allowed for a space saving and a very compact form factor. The CPU is severely underpowered now but it would benefit from an Apple Silicon processor and I would buy one before I blink.

I currently own a M1 Air and there’s not a single thing to not like about it but I’d prefer if it was smaller.

BTW, I have a company provided MacBook Pro 16” of the latest generation and I swear it has got to be the ugliest thing ever created by Apple. It makes me want to go away from the laptop. The 12” MacBook next to it is light years ahead in design. Why Apple abandoned their trademark tapered design is beyond me. I hope they return to it eventually.

 

[ascender]

I hope they release a new 12" one. There's something very handy about having a laptop the size of the sheet of paper.

I’m quite interested to see how the new M2 Air feels given they’ve reduced the volume of it over the M1 version. It’s not going to be a 12”, but maybe it doesn’t need to be.