It was way ahead of its time. Partly because Intel oversold their CPU. The MacBook 12" is thicker than MBA M4 at its thickest point. But feels much thinner due to its wedge shape.
We have the technology today to make a true MacBook Air that is both much thinner and lighter with same battery life. But it would cost a lot more and today's Apple doesn't seems to be interested in these sort of products. I would imagine Steve Jobs would insist on making it at charge it for $1999.
I am so upset that Apple nixed the wedge Air. I loved my 2013 Air, and much more so, my M1 Air. Once they lost the wedge, and especially when the MBP got a 14” option, I lost interest. 14” is the absolute perfect size for a laptop, IMO.
I'm the opposite, my M-series Air is so much better in every way than the MacBook 12" that I'm kind of peeved just thinking about it.
The 12 MB had 3 major flaws which were just too much to deal with on a daily basis:
- It was shockingly slow, even for its time. Apple Watch Series 0 slow.
- That keyboard — which I didn't mind the feel of — kept failing.
- 1 USB C port meant I always had to pick charging or plugging something in, and the problem became a lot worse as the battery health declined. The fancy terraced battery design meant it was also pricey to replace.
I do think a 12" MBA would be great, but Apple has forgotten how to design good software for small screens.
I was thinking of buying myself a 14” but after using one it is just too heavy compared to an Air. I’m tempted by an M4 Air (mostly for the 32GB) but may wait a couple of years until we get OLED as my M1 Air is still adequate for my needs.
That's fair; it is significantly heavier - 360g according to their tech specs. An M1 is still no slouch, especially if you have higher than the base RAM spec.
The other reason I went with (or eventually got to, anyway) a MBP was the nano-texture display. I had bought an available in-store model without it (at least where I am, the only things in stock that have it are iMacs), and after using it for a while, somewhat regretted not getting more RAM, as I had the base M4 Pro, with 24 GiB. My M1 was also base (8 GiB), and over time, I had wished for more. So, I figured if I was going to do that, I might as well bump everything up a little bit, so I got the next higher CPU/GPU spec (14 cores / 20 cores), and the next higher SSD (1 TB) spec. The nano-texture decision was a lot of waffling, because I had seen it on the in-store iMacs, and wasn't sure about it, but reading a lot of reviews, plus Apple's return policy led me to try it, and man I'm glad I did.
I've since come to realize that under the perfect lighting conditions of an Apple store, the relatively small differences in saturation, contrast, and clarity between the nano-texture and standard displays is heavily magnified, while eliminating the thing nano-textures are great at: glare. The fixed position and angle of an iMac probably doesn't hurt, either. But sit down with a laptop in real-world conditions, and the benefits are immediately obvious. If I did a lot of photo or video editing, or if I strictly used my laptop on a desk or docked, I probably wouldn't want the nano-texture, but since none of those are true, it's terrific.
We have the technology today to make a true MacBook Air that is both much thinner and lighter with same battery life. But it would cost a lot more and today's Apple doesn't seems to be interested in these sort of products. I would imagine Steve Jobs would insist on making it at charge it for $1999.