What do you wish Apple did differently with the MBA/MBP

[maflynn]

Apple for the most part has hit the ball out of the park, so to speak. The 14" and 16" MBPs are fantastic machines, the M2 MBA offer exceptional battery life, performance and great looks.

My only wish is that when I went to buy my 14" MBP, I had more color options. I absolutely love the midnight blue color option.

What do you wish that apple did differently with the MBA and/or MBP?

 

[thenewperson]

A 13" MBP with miniLED (+ maybe ProMotion) + 2 USB C ports + M2 MBA-like screen would be nice. Obviously with a higher price but still.

 

[mystery hill]

Headphone jack should be on the left for the MacBook Air, like it is on the MBP 14 and 16, as headphones usually have the cable attached the the left side.

 

[Digitalguy]

I want a MacBook with a M chip that is under 1kg (with a screen of at least 12.5in or better 13in) and has mini-led. 2 TB ports would be enough (better if one on each side), especially if Magsafe is also present.

 

[trevpimp]

I wished apple presented the MacBook Air with colors from the 2007-2009 iPods colorway's or something similar

I know the 24" iMacs are a great example so something like that and also increasing the size options to 16" for the MBA's

All in all I wouldn't expect anything less cause Apple already does a good job with its current lineup

 

[1BadManVan]

Dual monitor support for the airs since they have the two thunderbolt ports. Honestly there’s not much I would change about my m2 air, I don’t need a bunch of ports, I use it on the couch and for travelling.

 

[sunny5]

I think 13 inch MBP should have up to M1 Pro series along with M1 series. Currently, 13 inch MBP's design is outdated with no sole purpose unlike other MacBook series.

 

[souko]

M2 MBA should have miniLED display.

 

[jdb8167]

Anything that would reduce the weight further on the MacBook Air would be appreciated. I don't know if it is possible to use a fiber composite as a chassis material and still live up to the MacBook build quality but I wouldn't be adverse to seeing Apple experimenting with different materials other than aluminum.

 

[Juraj22]

For love of god, add mobile connectivity to macbook line. It is in iPhone, in iPad, so why not macbooks?!

 

[TSE]

Hey @maflynn, great to see you again.

This might be unpopular, but I wish that the 13" MacBook Pro was updated, and the MacBook Air went down to 12" form factor. Something like this:

Ultraportable: 12" MacBook Air - 2.4 pounds, fanless, standard M processors, 10 hours of battery life

Portable road warrior: 13" MacBook Pro - 2.8 pounds, actively cooled standard M processor, 12 hours of battery life

Portable power house: 14" MacBook Pro, 3.5 pounds, Pro/Max processors, 8 hours of battery life

Desktop replacement: 16" MacBook Pro, 4.5 pounds, Pro/Max processors, 12 hours of battery life​

 

[BotchQue]

My old MBA had shallow, convex rubber feet, that were comfortable on my legs (esp. wearing shorts). The new coin-shaped feet on the MBP (and I believe on the new MBA too) are uncomfortable as hell.
And, yeah, a 16" MBA would be great, but I gave up on that a couple years ago.

 

[bobcomer]

No notch, lighter materials.

 

[pastrychef]

• I wish Apple put better heatsinks/heatspreaders in the MacBook Airs while still keeping them fanless.
• I wish the RAM and SSD upgrades were less expensive.

I can't think of anything else that needs changing.

 

[MajorFubar]

I was going to say 'upgradable RAM and storage', but if we limit ourselves to things they actually could deliver...a USB A socket please.

 

[maflynn]

Hey @maflynn, great to see you again.

Thanks, taking a "sabbatical" away from the online world was immensely helpful

but I wish that the 13" MacBook Pro was updated, and the MacBook Air went down to 12"

I'm not disagreeing, but my take is a little different. I think doing away with the 13" altogether is needed, and maybe making the MBA a bit more robust to account for the loss of the 13" MBP. As it stands, there's really no reason to buy the 13" MBP when the 14" offers so much more for a small price bump.

• I wish Apple put better heatsinks/heatspreaders in the MacBook Airs while still keeping them fanless.
• I wish the RAM and SSD upgrades were less expensive.

Is heat a major issue? Seeing the tear down, it seems that the heatsinks being used may not be the most robust but by the same token, for what its intended, the MBA appears to be well designed.

Ram/storage upgrade prices have always been over-priced, the only difference is back in the day, we could upgrade our own ram/storage.

 

[pastrychef]

Is heat a major issue? Seeing the tear down, it seems that the heatsinks being used may not be the most robust but by the same token, for what its intended, the MBA appears to be well designed.

Ram/storage upgrade prices have always been over-priced, the only difference is back in the day, we could upgrade our own ram/storage.

In the teardowns of the M2 MacBook Air I've seen, the heat spreader is not much more than a flimsy sheet of aluminum... Under most normal conditions, it works... But if a slightly more robust heatspreader is used, I think it can significantly extend the time before throttling occurs. This can be seen from MacBook Airs that have had the "thermal pad mods" to transfer heat to the bottom case done.

I know that Apple RAM and storage upgrades have never been cheap... But it's difficult to see RAM and storage prices plummet and Apple maintain their huge markups without any adjustments.

 

[dizzbuster]

I have a MBA M2. For my wishlist I would like a HDMI port. I hate the darn dongle and consider it a necessary evil. It would be nice to just plug it in and go.

 

[cubbie5150]

Love my M1 Pro 16", but I'd love to have a USB-A port in lieu of the HDMI. Other than that, I have been in total love since receiving my MBP back in early December 2021.

 

[MayaUser]

I want a MacBook with a M chip that is under 1kg (with a screen of at least 12.5in or better 13in) and has mini-led. 2 TB ports would be enough (better if one on each side), especially if Magsafe is also present.

yea, a Macbook under 500grams even better

 

[MayaUser]

i think Apple just did the wrong thing going with the 256SSD backwards in performance using just 1 nand
There are people out there who thinks that the standard should start from 512 in 2022...maybe 256 is still a good start but at least dont go backwards on this

 

[theorist9]

This doesn't affect me, but I'm wondering if Apple might have been better able to expand their penetration into the business market by offering the Air with dual-external-monitor support, since dual external monitors seems common in today's workplace. OTOH, most of those monitors are low DPI, and IIRC Windows does a much better job making text readable on low-DPI monitors. So maybe the Mac isn't so suited for that environment....

 

[senttoschool]

16" Macbook Pro is almost perfect.

Just wish 32GB of RAM is now standard. Or at least make 32GB mass-produced models so we can get good discounts on retailers like Amazon.

 

[ian87w]

The 14 and 16” seem to hit the marks. Can’t really think of anything else to add or change. Maybe HDMI2.1. They’re one of the best Apple laptops in the past decade imo.

The M2 MacBook Air? Oh plenty of criticism here. 😁 Wish Apple at least put a 16/512 as one of the pre configured model. Also wish the second USB-C port is on the right side. And I wish Apple would make it much lighter instead of thinner.

 

[kasakka]

• HDMI 2.1 support. Apple has been twiddling their thumbs on this way too long. With more external displays coming with a single DP and dual HDMI 2.1 ports, not supporting HDMI 2.1 on Macs even with USB-C adapters just plain sucks.
• Faster pixel response times on their displays. They are absolutely abysmal. The Apple Studio Display is a bit underperforming in this regard for 60 Hz at ~20ms response time but the Macbook Pros are over twice the response time of that while also trying to support 120 Hz. They should be able to hit the minimum required for "no extra motion blur" ~8.3ms @ 120 Hz and ~16ms @ 60 Hz. Instead Apple could add display modes that favor color accuracy over response time for content creators, no different to how TVs have separate modes for gaming vs movies.
• The Macbook Air base spec needs to be better. 512 GB disk space should be the standard as it's very easy to fill up 256 GB with ever growing operating system and the apps you regularly use, leaving relatively little space for the content you creat with it. 16 GB RAM would be preferably as well.
• Add dual monitor support to the MBA, even if it is more resolution limited than the MBP.
• Drop the SDXC port from the MBP. I get that photographers etc will be using it a lot, but it takes a good chunk of space inside the laptop and is one of the easiest parts to replace with an external unit. Add an extra Thunderbolt instead or something.
• Redesign the keyboard layout. The up/down arrow keys are too small and the Fn button could be relocated to the right side of the spacebar considering most are unlikely to be using it all the time and you could easier operate the Fn+function keys with one hand. Do something about the ISO layout big Enter. It's too slim.