> the air is the low end model (for apple at least); you get this if you want the cheapest possible apple laptop. if you want to spend more money, you pick between the ultraportable macbook or a more powerful macbook pro.
That's how it was before this announcement. Now the MacBook is gone, leaving the updated MacBook Air as the most portable option. This makes a lot more sense, since the "Air" name was meant to denote portability, and the original Air was the most portable option when it was introduced.
The Air is only slightly thinner and 0.25 lb lighter than the 13” Pro. I’ve had an Air since 2012 and just compared the two, and got the Pro. There’s essentially no difference in portability. But there are significant differences in capability and price.
I think Apple killed the 12” MacBook because for most people, an iPad is a better ultraportable than a laptop. The folks who are really adamant about laptops with Mac OS are developers, and the MacBook had a bad ratio of cost to power for most devs.
oddly enough, the 12" macbook is the only apple device I was ever interested in. it seemed like a great alternative to an xps 13 if I ever wanted to get into the mac world. lots of devs these days only need a computer capable of running an ssh client. if that's you and you also have a workstation, why not get the thinnest, lightest laptop out there that runs your favorite OS?
That's how it was before this announcement. Now the MacBook is gone, leaving the updated MacBook Air as the most portable option. This makes a lot more sense, since the "Air" name was meant to denote portability, and the original Air was the most portable option when it was introduced.