When there is no MacBook is feels weir dot have an Air and Pro. It feels more logical to either drop the AIR name or re-introduce a "MacBook" Personally for the latter I'd like to see a device that's a hybrid of the Air and Pro. More ports than Air, but not as powerful or the battery life of a Pro. Perhaps made of a cheaper material. Reminiscent of the old MacBooks.
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Should Apple drop the AIR name?
- Thread starter AltecX
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Yep, totally agree. Keep the 13" MBP but get rid of that Touch Bar, maybe give it a screen update à la M2 Air and call it "The MacBook" - voila!
Because the MacBook Air brand has recognition among the broader public.
If Apple truly wanted to sell iPhone Minis, they would call them iPhone Air as a smaller, lighter, slightly handicapped version of the iPhone Pro.
Logic would dictate that a device just called MacBook would make a lot of sense, but few want to think of a laptop that starts at Apple’s price points as being a basic model, even though the entry level Air and Pro machines are just that.
If Apple truly wanted to sell iPhone Minis, they would call them iPhone Air as a smaller, lighter, slightly handicapped version of the iPhone Pro.
Logic would dictate that a device just called MacBook would make a lot of sense, but few want to think of a laptop that starts at Apple’s price points as being a basic model, even though the entry level Air and Pro machines are just that.
I definitely see your point about dropping the word "Air" for the MBA, and have thought about it myself for not only the MBA, but also the iPad Air. It just doesn't have much meaning anymore.
Apple's naming convention for devices and services have been getting worse and worse over the last 8ish years, imo.
For example, the Apple TV, the Apple TV app, and Apple TV+.
Just talk to a non-techie, and most wouldn't know the difference between them, or didn't know there was a difference. Even with Apple enthusiasts on the MR forums, almost a daily occurrence of posts where someone confuses what "Apple TV" they are referring to.
Also, all the posts with people saying they don't need Apple TV 4K because they already have it installed on their Smart TV OS.
For other devices, I feel like Apple often overuses, and sometimes misuses Air, Pro, Max, and Ultra.
Verbally talking to someone about the AS Macs can be very confusing, with "Macs" and "Max".
I sometimes wonder what the Mac Pro replacement will be called when it is finally released:
Maybe, the new M3 Max Pro Mac Pro Ultra.... Air
Probably not, but not too far off from how silly some of their naming is going.
Apple's naming convention for devices and services have been getting worse and worse over the last 8ish years, imo.
For example, the Apple TV, the Apple TV app, and Apple TV+.
Just talk to a non-techie, and most wouldn't know the difference between them, or didn't know there was a difference. Even with Apple enthusiasts on the MR forums, almost a daily occurrence of posts where someone confuses what "Apple TV" they are referring to.
Also, all the posts with people saying they don't need Apple TV 4K because they already have it installed on their Smart TV OS.
For other devices, I feel like Apple often overuses, and sometimes misuses Air, Pro, Max, and Ultra.
Verbally talking to someone about the AS Macs can be very confusing, with "Macs" and "Max".
I sometimes wonder what the Mac Pro replacement will be called when it is finally released:
Maybe, the new M3 Max Pro Mac Pro Ultra.... Air
Probably not, but not too far off from how silly some of their naming is going.
Except, that is bckwards: the iPad Air is the better sub-pro model over the regular iPad.
Dropping the Air moniker could indeed lead for a more consistent and arguably better naming scheme for Apple products, however, strong brand recognition of the moniker makes it difficult to drop it without financial repercussions. I doubt that the current Apple will be bold enough for such a move.
Do they need to? Doubtful.
Would I like it? Definitely.
Would I like it? Definitely.
MacBook Air is a name that has a lot of goodwill attached to it from the pre-retina model, it makes a lot of business sense to continue the line. The lauded 2015 lineup was 11/13" MacBook Air and 13/15" MacBook Pro. A modern version of 13/15" MacBook Air and 14/16" MacBook Pro sounds perfectly cromulent to me. MacBook as a brand covers the whole lineup, they are all MacBooks, then within that you have the smaller, lighter Air models or the bigger, more powerful Pro ones.
The MacBook was Apple’s most popular Mac at some point.
I'm pretty sure "MacBook" by itself has very strong recognition. At the time the "MacBook Air" came out, it was necessary to call it something different because it was significantly different from the "MacBooks." Now, of course there are not two separate notebooks, so the "Air" is superfluous and should be dropped. I highly doubt anyone is going to be confused.
Except who says that ("regular")? It would be "the MacBook or the MacBook Pro." Pretty simple. "MacBook" is iconic enough by itself--it doesn't need any help, lol!
It’s not about confusion. It’s about preference. The thing is, neither me or you have detailed data on brand preference research. Apple does. I mean, for all we know the average customer might think that an Air is lighter, slicker, more premium, or cheaper. These things are not always rational. And their business division has decided to push “Air”. They even tried to revive “MacBook” for a while, and let it go again even though the current M2 Air could be easily rebranded as “MacBook”. So it must make business sense for Apple to keep this naming scheme.
This is exactly why the name is going to continue to be Air. If Apple had any intention of removing the Air from the name they would have done it with the M2 MacBook Air redesign. Changing away from the iconic wedge shape and then keeping the M1 MBA in the lineup would have given them the perfect opportunity.
I highly doubt if they simply rebranded it "MacBook," that Apple consumers are going to say, "Well, no more 'Air' in the name, so it must be a thick, heavy computer, and I guess I'll go buy a Windows machine without even looking at the MacBook." 🤣
Yeah, but they were still selling the Air model, so that wasn't really a true test.
No, and I said in another thread that the base iPad and iPad Mini are most likely going to go after this next refresh with how iPadOS is going. So both the MacBooks and iPads will be Air and Pro.
Mac Mini and Mac Pro still makes sense. It's the iMac's name that is the problem. It's from the days of the Macintosh, Power Macintosh, and PowerBook.
The iPhones are named weirdly because they're competing with all the different sized Android phones. Same with the Watch and AirPods.
Mac Mini and Mac Pro still makes sense. It's the iMac's name that is the problem. It's from the days of the Macintosh, Power Macintosh, and PowerBook.
The iPhones are named weirdly because they're competing with all the different sized Android phones. Same with the Watch and AirPods.
The “MacBook Air” was introduced in 2008, redesigned in 2010 and has pretty much been Apple‘s most popular computer ever since.
Almost a decade and a half of being their most popular computer.
On the other hand, the “MacBook” was Apple’s cheapest, most low end plasticcomputer for two years, given an aluminum shell in 2008, renamed to “MacBook Pro” in 2009, made plastic again later in 2009… and totally replaced by the MacBook Air less than two years later.
Then it was brought back four years after that at a much higher price point, existed for a couple years, and… Was replaced by the MacBook Air 2018/2020-M1 again.
The name does not describe a long running very successful product.
Instead, it describes a product that has been discontinued and totally replaced with a MacBook Air… Twice.
Say whatever you want about the “MacBook Air” name, that it’s not actually the lightest and thinnest MacBook to ever exist, that is totally irrelevant, that it doesn’t make much sense in the product lineup…
but the name represents success.
It’s successful, it’s recognizable, it’s iconic, it’s part of the public consciousness, and it’s existed for 15 years.
So no, it doesn’t make sense to change it.
It’s almost like changing the name “iPhone” or “iPad”, sure maybe 10 years ago they could’ve gotten away with it but… It’s way too late now.
Almost a decade and a half of being their most popular computer.
On the other hand, the “MacBook” was Apple’s cheapest, most low end plasticcomputer for two years, given an aluminum shell in 2008, renamed to “MacBook Pro” in 2009, made plastic again later in 2009… and totally replaced by the MacBook Air less than two years later.
Then it was brought back four years after that at a much higher price point, existed for a couple years, and… Was replaced by the MacBook Air 2018/2020-M1 again.
The name does not describe a long running very successful product.
Instead, it describes a product that has been discontinued and totally replaced with a MacBook Air… Twice.
Say whatever you want about the “MacBook Air” name, that it’s not actually the lightest and thinnest MacBook to ever exist, that is totally irrelevant, that it doesn’t make much sense in the product lineup…
but the name represents success.
It’s successful, it’s recognizable, it’s iconic, it’s part of the public consciousness, and it’s existed for 15 years.
So no, it doesn’t make sense to change it.
It’s almost like changing the name “iPhone” or “iPad”, sure maybe 10 years ago they could’ve gotten away with it but… It’s way too late now.
But that's a nonsensical question if it were just MacBook and MacBook Pro. MacBook would be the full name. I'm pretty sure people in the market for a MacBook Pro are going to say they want a "MacBook Pro." But if you're guiding someone who's completely new to Macs, you could be sure they understood there are two computers with "MacBook" in the name by saying, "Well, they have the MacBook and the MacBook Pro . . ." and then go from there to determine their needs.
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I want a Surface
I want a thinkPad
I want a XPS
I want a MacBook
I want a Pavillion
They ALL currently have the question of "which one". So I'm not sure what your point is. What do ask people that say the want an iPhone or iPad? There are even MORE of those.
It was the rebranding of iBook exactly like MacBook Pro was of the PowerBook. It was also the bestselling Mac(at one point the best selling laptop of ANY brand) until it was phased out to get people to spend more on the (less powerful, and better pricing over head) Air. It wasn't untill the Air dropped a few hundred dollars off its entry point that it started to outsell the MacBook and that was mostly due to the cheaper 11in Air model. Its main selling point was that it was smaller and lighter, and was just $100 more, and FELT a lot faster due to having an SSD. The CPU was MASSIVLEY slower though. Apple also just to keep prices down and boost Pro sales gimped the MacBook. they refused to sell it with memory faster than 1066, while the Air and Pro got 1333, also they artificially limited its 64-bit CPU to only 4GB RAM while it easily supported 8GB if you ran a custom ROM hack for it to enable it.
Also, it never went "back to" being Poly again, it never stopped having a Poly option. The 5,1 and 5,2 were both on sale at the same time. If anything, the Alu replaced the Black option.
TLDR: Apple dropped the MacBook to get better sales on a device with better margins while also eliminating warehouse space and production costs. NOT due to its own low sales. They knew they could get anyone interested to spend $100-300 more.
I don’t think they should drop AIR, I just think they should use it appropriately.
The current iPad Air and MacBook Air aren’t the most “airlike”.
MacBook airs became popular solely for their size. They were popular when they were on slow intel chips with non retina displays, way past when they should’ve been.
Apple truly need to reevaluate using the Air moniker to embrace small and light. There’s obviously a market. All those people who bought the 2013-2017 MacBook air haven’t vanished and I’m sure are quite annoyed at the profile shape of the M2 air and how easily it doesn’t slide into their bag.
I also annoyed that there’s no “low power” option for people truly wanting a kids laptop. The white polycarbonate MacBook was a perfect computer and would shine with Apple silicon and the engineering advances they’ve made since 2006.
Ultimately if they came out with a MacBook that was less powerful, cheaper and slightly bulkier, they could absolutely charge more for the MacBook air
The current iPad Air and MacBook Air aren’t the most “airlike”.
MacBook airs became popular solely for their size. They were popular when they were on slow intel chips with non retina displays, way past when they should’ve been.
Apple truly need to reevaluate using the Air moniker to embrace small and light. There’s obviously a market. All those people who bought the 2013-2017 MacBook air haven’t vanished and I’m sure are quite annoyed at the profile shape of the M2 air and how easily it doesn’t slide into their bag.
I also annoyed that there’s no “low power” option for people truly wanting a kids laptop. The white polycarbonate MacBook was a perfect computer and would shine with Apple silicon and the engineering advances they’ve made since 2006.
Ultimately if they came out with a MacBook that was less powerful, cheaper and slightly bulkier, they could absolutely charge more for the MacBook air