Apple Stops Selling 12-Inch MacBook Laptops
by Anton Shilov on July 10, 2019 11:00 AM EST
Apple has stopped to list its thin-and-light 12-inch MacBook notebook on its website. Since the company has not updated its most compact laptop for two years, the removal of the product from the website may indicate that the MacBook is gone for good, or Apple is prepping a new generation of the machine that will be released at a later date.
Apple introduced MacBook in its current ultra-thin form-factor in 2015 and eventually replaced its 11-inch MacBook Air with the new ultra-portable laptop that offered a better display, thinner design, and lower weight, albeit at a higher price. To make this level of portability possible, all three generations of Apple’s MacBook relied on Intel’s Core Y-series processors with a very low TDP yet moderate levels of performance. One could say that Apple’s MacBook bridged the gap between 10-inch tablets and 13-inch laptops, yet its adoption by end users has never been high mostly because 12-inch mobile PCs target a very niche market.
Apple introduced its new breed of 13-inch MacBook Air notebooks in October 2018. These laptops employ Intel’s codenamed Amber Lake Y processor, feature a decent display, and a very long battery life. While these machines are bulkier and heavier when compared to MacBooks, they have a number of advantages and are cheaper.
Now that Apple has its new MacBook Air along with high-performance iPad Pro tablets, its MacBook may no longer serve its purpose in its current form, which is why Apple has removed it from its website. The laptop will still be available from resellers for a while, but it is evident that Apple believes that demand for this product will shift to other computers it offers.
It remains to be seen whether Apple decides to address the market segment that its MacBook used to serve with a new product any time soon, but for now MacBook is gone.
Related Reading:
- Apple Announces 2018 MacBook Air: Entry-Level Laptop Gets Essential Refresh
- Apple Refreshes Mac Laptops: Pro, Vanilla, & Air All Get New CPUs
- Apple Refreshes MacBook with Skylake-based Core M and New Rose Gold Color
Source: Apple (via MacRumours)
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
16 Comments
View All Comments
TEAMSWITCHER - Wednesday, July 10, 2019 - link
I bought two of these for my college bound daughters. I thought for certain that I would have to get a keyboard repaired at some point - my daughters would eat and put on make-up while using their laptops. Some how.. some way.. they have not had a problem.I'm kinda sad to see this one go .. it was the "Pug" on the MacBook world... A tiny dog with a big attitude.
rrinker - Wednesday, July 10, 2019 - link
I have to reply only because of the Pug comment - I have 2, and you couldn't be more right. Though one is more a stoner - the other will literally sass you back like a child if you scold her.skavi - Wednesday, July 10, 2019 - link
how does a laptop "sass you back"?PeachNCream - Wednesday, July 10, 2019 - link
Actual pugs, not laptops, are I think what rrinker is referring to.rrinker - Wednesday, July 10, 2019 - link
Yes, Actual Pugs.id4andrei - Wednesday, July 10, 2019 - link
Actually they are expensive design statements for iphone users. The best feature they enable is continuity. As for the rest, fail on connectivity(dongle life), fail on keyboard, fail on CPU. Unfortunately gullible consumers will adapt for the brand despite its faults.GC2:CS - Wednesday, July 10, 2019 - link
Also got a pair of these. I see them as true sucessor to the 2010 redesign of MB Air (which ironically lived just as long).They are stuners to this day, nothing ever got close. Putting one in an backpack makes it disapear, just like an iPad.
And just stop this iPad Pro is a MacBook replacement nonsense. Apple made it clear that iPad is going it’s own way - glass sheet with multitiouch display, while MacBook has it’s own - physical keyboard, giant trackpad and “foldable” design.
MacBook took it the iPad way - extreme miniturization and low weight. And I just could not be more satisfied with this way of “hybrid” device.
HStewart - Wednesday, July 10, 2019 - link
Thinking iPad Pro is MacBook is a fantasy, iOS can never achieve this goal if tools that are uses to create applications on Mac - nothing is available from Apple to create XCode on IOS. Mac and especially later Mac can emulate iOS devices directly on it.I also see no need for Hybrid device, and ARM version of Mac is never going to happen until above. It kind of silly but even the slowest of Intel I series cpus "Y Series" can do what ARM can't do.
I believe Apple knows this and probably keep Mac around for just for this purpose. Back in 2009/2010 I wanted to create iOS apps and I had to purchase a Mac to do it. Yes there are cross development platforms out there - but it probably not the same.
peevee - Friday, July 12, 2019 - link
" It kind of silly but even the slowest of Intel I series cpus "Y Series" can do what ARM can't do."False. Apple's own ARM cores even in the last year iPhones and iPads are faster than Intel's Y cpus (and many of the U CPUs too). The only thing holding Apple back now from transitioning to their own CPUs is need for quality JIT x86 to A64 transpiler (as they did before with transition to x86).
RedGreenBlue - Wednesday, July 10, 2019 - link
My mother got one of these in 2015/early 2016. It’s serving her well. I think the 8GB of memory and NVME storage caused it to age well, for now at least. She chose it over the 13 inch pro (the Air still didn’t have an IPS retina display), and for the portability she needed for basic productivity work I think she was right.