back to article Apple breathes new life into MacBook Air with overhauled 2018 model

Apple has given the moldering MacBook Air a new lease of life at the company's hardware event in Brooklyn today. For years Apple seemed to be nudging its most practical computer into an early grave. Instead of wanting folk to buy the increasingly neglected workhorse, they were instead ushered towards its more expensive …

  1. Gordon 10

    Vanilla USB-C ports or Thunderbolt 3?

    The lack of touchbar could be a winner, the convenience doesn't outweigh the price hike over non-touchbar on the Pro's imo. Like the fingerprint unlock though aspect though.

    Still not sure a 13" air has a place with the MacBook and the 13" Pro.

    1. Gordon 10

      To answer my own question - its TB3 ports :)

    2. Alan Watson

      Actually it's the non-Touchbar 13" pro whose place I would question. That's still the 2017 machine, complete with only a dual core cpu and earlier generation keyboard, but at the same price it commanded when newly released. It also has a single fan (the touchbar models always had 2, even for the same cpu), a weaker WiFi unit, and of course the same smaller number of ports that the Air has (just 2). Maybe a year ago, when the touchbar models had the same cpus and keyboards, you might have felt that the other compromises were worth it to save a little money, but with the same prices this year and a more significant spec difference I'd question its value.

      So personally I'd say buy the touchbar model if you need the extra power of the Pro, buy the Air if you don't.

  2. jason 7

    Well it will look so stylish...

    ...when it fails, is unrepairable and goes into landfill in a year or two.

    1. Gordon 10

      Re: Well it will look so stylish...

      Oh Really? How many Mac's fail within 2 years? Like it or not, like the lack repairability or not most Macs will be going strong for many more than 2 years.

      1. Sgt_Oddball

        Re: Well it will look so stylish...

        Well going off the fancy keyboard that failed too soon in the MacBook pro 2016 I'd say plenty enough....

        1. jason 7

          Re: Well it will look so stylish...

          Yeah I don't think he's watched many Louis Rossmann videos either.

      2. Captain Scarlet Silver badge

        Re: Well it will look so stylish...

        Depends if you want the Apple store to repair it, from the looks of it Apple stores like to replace non essential parts and basically make repairs the same price as a new machine.

        Louis Rossmann on Youtube shows that actually they can be cheap to repair and even shows how to repair common parts. Although I hate Apple with a passion (OTHER MANUFACTURERS STOP COPYING THEM FFS AND USING GLUE ON EVERYTHING, I WANT TO BE ABLE TO REPLACE BATTERIES WITHOUT TAKING OUT A BLOODY HAIRDRIER!), as its a very few models actually they should be easier to repair.

      3. applebyJedi

        Re: Well it will look so stylish...

        My original 2014 Mac 5k has failed and it's £600 to repair. The computer that cost £2,000 has lasted 3 1/2 years.

      4. Jove Bronze badge

        Re: Well it will look so stylish...

        "Oh Really? How many Mac's fail within 2 years?"

        ... my MacBook Pro failed in less than two months.

        1. The Sprocket

          Re: Well it will look so stylish...

          I have a PowerBook G4 and an iBook G4 still operating just fine since being bought new in 2006. My previous laptop, a G3 Wallstreet from 1998 died in 2008 after 10 years of rigorous service.

          No. As a rule, Macbooks are pretty robust, but there are exceptions.

          1. Sgt_Oddball

            Re: Well it will look so stylish...

            They used to be. Back when you could actually upgrade them.

        2. gnasher729 Silver badge

          Re: Well it will look so stylish...

          Two months: Under warranty. 2 years in Europe: Most likely covered by consumer protection laws.

      5. gnasher729 Silver badge

        Re: Well it will look so stylish...

        My 2006 MacBook got retired because I got a faster one, not because it didn't work. My 2010 MacBook works just fine after eight years.

    2. pɹɐʍoɔ snoɯʎuouɐ

      Re: Well it will look so stylish...

      and goes into landfill..

      No, take it to the apple store and get a quote for $1200 then take it to an independent repair shop for a $5 DC power in cable...

      https://youtu.be/V7RXJP4mxCc

    3. Daniel von Asmuth
      Gimp

      Re: Well it will look so stylish...

      Apple MacBook FreshAir ProBlemo - sounds cool!

    4. Ian Joyner Bronze badge

      Re: Well it will look so stylish...

      "...when it fails, is unrepairable and goes into landfill in a year or two."

      The only thing going to landfill is rubbish comments like this.

      Did you ever stop to consider that making things repairable makes them more susceptible to failure in the first place? Plug connectors fail. Things that are soldered into place are less likely to fail.

      Macs do not fail after 2 years. I have given a few of mine to relatives and they have made over 10 years old.

      Then when they are past their life, there is a good recycling scheme in place so they don't go into landfill.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Well it will look so stylish...

        I have given a few of mine to relatives and they have made over 10 years old

        How long does the battery last, in minutes?

      2. m0rt

        @Ian Joyner Re: Well it will look so stylish...

        "Did you ever stop to consider that making things repairable makes them more susceptible to failure in the first place? "

        You never owned an original ThinkPad, I gather.

        1. Captain Scarlet Silver badge

          Re: @Ian Joyner Well it will look so stylish...

          @m0rt Have to agree the IBM ThinkPad's we had were owned outlasted by an old P3 Panasonic Toughbook.

          HP Business laptops from just over 4 years ago used to all be easily to get into (Most cases one panel with a push clip and you were able to replace memory, hd's heatsinks and heatpipes) came with ok manuals, parts were a rip off but everything in the maintenance guides meant anyone could perform simple repairs (I remember touchpads being a pain in the arse on ProBook 6730b's but most people tended to crush the screen with a pen)

      3. moopet

        Re: Well it will look so stylish...

        "Macs do not fail after 2 years. "

        I've owned 2 macbooks, 1 macbook pro and 3 ipod nanos.

        One of the macbooks was DOA.

        One of the ipods was DOA

        The MBP died after about a year.

        The other MB and ipods and the replacement MB lasted fine for years.

        But you know what? That's still not a good ratio. if that was a PC manufacturer people would be calling them out on it.

    5. mrdalliard
      WTF?

      Re: Well it will look so stylish...

      Fails? Have you actually used one? I've had my Air for five and a half years. It's still a damn good machine. Admittedly, it's not get retina-this and touchbar-that and the battery doesn't quite have the capacity that it did, but I'd say that it's the best portable Mac I've had. It's surprisingly solid and dependable.

      I do have to say, though, that removing the SD card slot and all those other ports on the new model was a mistake - and let's not forget they've also adopted that new keyboard. I think I'll be keeping hold of my current machine for as long as I can.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Retina Display you say? Thunderbolt ports you say? An i5? In a 1.2Kg package you say?

    Oh, it's only got 8GB of RAM. Fuck's sake Apple.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Only 8GB RAM?

      My 10 year-old Macbook Pro runs just fine with 8GB, and it gets used for some non-trivial workloads (static analysis and the like).

      Don't forget, this is intended for document work, browsing and the like (not video editing and other memory-hungry use-cases).

      1. jason 7

        Re: Only 8GB RAM?

        Ahem, to kind of quote Blackadder...

        Then some sort of Chromebook is in order?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Actually, it looks like you can stick another 8GB in for $200. Somewhat begs the question as to what's the point of the 13" MBP.

      1. Gordon 10

        The point of the 13" MBP (2018) is more cores + hyperthreading and processor grunt. (ie for developers).

        You wouldnt want to run anything more than a basic VM on an Air.

        Interesting but little known fact the low power Macbook 2017 CPU's are roughly equivalent to 2014 13 MBP. I looked into a MacBook as a replacement for my beloved 11" Air with an added need for a bit more VM grunt.

        1. Dave 126 Silver badge

          > Somewhat begs the question as to what's the point of the 13" MBP.

          Most likely thermal design - the Pro can run at full pelt for longer. That said, both this new Air and the Pro can off load work into an external GPU over Thunderbolt.

        2. Tom 38

          The point of the 13" MBP (2018) is more cores + hyperthreading and processor grunt. (ie for developers).

          You wouldnt want to run anything more than a basic VM on an Air.

          What the actual fuck? Who runs VMs when developing, is this 2012?

          I don't need much CPU whilst developing - you only work in one small area of your code at a time - but the thing which makes my laptop stop being useful for development is when it runs out of RAM, and can't keep all those different kubelets in memory.

          CPU? I haven't felt constrained CPU wise for ~10 years. RAM is the only thing I run out of when developing locally (and, I suppose, battery...)

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            can't keep all those different kubelets in memory.

            CPU? I haven't felt constrained CPU wise for ~10 years.

            I don't know what the fuck a kubelet is, but you obviously don't write them in C++, and you clearly don't need to compile them. If you did, you'd understand why you don't use a toy for development.

            1. Tom 38

              A kubelet is the smallest component of a kubernetes cluster.

              Some of them I do actually write in C++, more in Go, most in some sort of scripting language, because writing all the things in C/C++ is a waste of fucking time.

              Still not CPU constrained.

    3. Gordon 10

      16Gb is a build to order.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What's 2.7 lbs in real money?

    C'mon El Reg, nobody other than Americans uses lbs for weight these days (and if you're going to be all international and nickname yourselves with an "El", you should really be all properly international with your units of measurement), so what's 2.7 lbs in real money… (or even fractions of PHBs wrapped in carpet)?

    (Ah, 1.22 kg, or so my phone tells me… That's pretty impressively light!)

    1. Khaptain Silver badge

      Re: What's 2.7 lbs in real money?

      "(Ah, 1.22 kg, or so my phone tells me… That's pretty impressively light!)"

      Nah not so lite , the Lenovo X1 Carbon is only 1,13 Kgs and with a slightly better config ( 14" IPS Screen, same shitty 8gb ram, better disk capacity 256Gb SSD ), it is more expensive though.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: What's 2.7 lbs in real money?

        Since when was 8GB RAM "shittty" in an entry level device FFS?

        Sure it needs an SD card slot and more ports, but 8GB is enough for entry and most users.

        1. Khaptain Silver badge

          Re: What's 2.7 lbs in real money?

          Since when was 8GB RAM "shittty" in an entry level device FFS?

          Since the Internet and browsers decided to use 150mb per page....

          And anyone in IT is likely to have 20 or more pages/tabs open at once.

          Then you remove Windows overheads. Then you remove your daily applications + Office/Outlook overheads, then there's that YT video in the backgrounds or a radio streaming and a couple of rdp sessions..

          Suddenly 8gb seems very limited...

          OK you standard user might use less but you can be sure that their PC is full of shitty games and a broken antivirus and the OS is screaming for updates, whilst Candy Crush or similar is hogging a max.... And they too start to feel the limit.

          Memory costs very little today, except for Apple memory that is. So why limit it from the beginning h.

          Shit if even my telephone has 4gb why would my pc have so little....

          This is just vendor greed....

      2. moopet

        Re: What's 2.7 lbs in real money?

        I remember having a couple of Sharp MM20s, that weighed 900g each. Sure they were underpowered but this was back in the days where they came with Windows 95, so if a random manufacturer could do it then...

    2. Korev Silver badge
      Pint

      Re: What's 2.7 lbs in real money?

      >so what's 2.7 lbs in real money…

      0.2916 Jub of course...

      > (or even fractions of PHBs wrapped in carpet)

      I like this -->

    3. Marco Fontani

      Re: What's 2.7 lbs in real money?

      so what's 2.7 lbs in real money… (or even fractions of PHBs wrapped in carpet)?

      I'll be sure to weigh him next time I see him and I wrap it on a carpet - but meanwhile here's the Reg Standards' Bureau's take on how much 2.7lbs is.

      It's about a seventh of an adult badger, give or take. Or, in other words, you'd need about 1225 new Macbook Airs to have the same weight as one skateboarding rhinoceros.

    4. Daniel von Asmuth
      Boffin

      Re: What's 2.7 lbs in real money?

      £ 2.70 = $ 3.43 (at today's exchange rates)

  5. Khaptain Silver badge

    Retina Grade Density

    And what is the actual resolution, on their site they don't appear to actually give a resolution outside of the fact that there are 4 million pixels ? confusing ....

    @Gordon : It appears as though there are 2 (sic) "Thunderbolt 3(USB-C)" ports..

  6. Dave559 Silver badge

    1440×900

    The introduction of a retina display is very welcome, but that "old" 1440×900 is, even now, still a heck of a better than the average non-Mac craptop ever ships with!

    1. Captain Scarlet Silver badge
      Stop

      Re: 1440×900

      You can't compare a £200 low end laptop with any Apple device, of course its going to look rubbish spec wise and shiney plasticy wise.

      1. doublelayer Silver badge

        Re: 1440×900

        I believe the resolution is 2560x1600 (4096000 pixels in total). Apple's made that display at this size for a while, so it makes the most sense.

        1. Khaptain Silver badge

          Re: 1440×900

          Don't the Retina displays double the pixels and hence reduce the actual resolution?

  7. JulieM Silver badge

    But

    How much does it weigh?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: But

      Depends which side of the planet you are on.

  8. }{amis}{
    Thumb Down

    128GB???????

    I know I am not the target market for this but even as a base model 128GB of SSD seems really tight, given that I can buy a 256Gb M.2 for £46.98 that's pretty awful when combined with the lack of an sd slot for expansion.

  9. James 51
    Meh

    It has the same number and type of ports as a Gemini. Higher res screen but then you can stick linux on the Gemini and it has a micro sd slot and there's a 4G model. Probably a fraction of the price.

    1. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

      Linux on the new MacBook Air

      Give it a few weeks or so I'm sure that at least one Linux Distro will work just fine on the new laptop.

      The same goes with Windows 10 but I don't know why anyone would do that (sic).

      My 2012 15in MBP runs CentOS 7 very nicely.

    2. Dave 126 Silver badge

      > Meh. It has the same number and type of ports as a Gemini

      The Gemini doesn't have Thunderbolt over its USB C ports - so, no, they're no more the same than a USB A 1.0 socket is the same as a USB 2.0 socket. Physically the same, but differing in capability.

  10. katrinab Silver badge
    Unhappy

    The Trashcan Mac Pro

    Any news of a replacement for it?

    The one good thing about it is that it comes inside its own trashcan, which is the correct place for this piece of junk.

    1. Dave 126 Silver badge

      Re: The Trashcan Mac Pro

      New "modular" Mac Pro in 2019, according to Tim Cook a while back.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Just seen the specs for the 'revamped' Mac Mini.

    Yeaaaahhhh .... no.

    I'm in the market for a new machine, but that won't be it.

    1. ACcc

      Still running a 2012 i7, and was thinking 'maybe an upgrade'.

      Then read the specs.

      And the price.

      Quad core i3 for the price I paid for an 4C/8T i7. Barely improved base RAM after 6 years (4->8GB).

      Never mind the customisability...of which I suspect there isn't any. If I'm proven wrong and off the shelf RAM/disk/additional disk are on the cards then it's a maybe. Otherwise I'll buy another i7 2012. Though they're still expensive - nearly as much now as new, presumably because there is no replacement.

  12. Marty McFly Silver badge
    Pint

    True to my word....

    In every Reg article about the Mac Mini for the past while I have said I am ready to purchase....if they would update it. They did, website went live, order placed, to be delivered next week.

  13. Andre Carneiro

    Mac mini SSD

    Is it really a generic, upgradeable SSD on the Mini?

    M2 socket? That would be SO sweet!

    1. pɹɐʍoɔ snoɯʎuouɐ

      Re: Mac mini SSD

      M2 socket? That would be SO sweet!

      that's as likely to happen as Steven Avery getting a fair trial......

      Apple recently have been baking boards with ram and SSD direct on the main board so is not possible to change or upgrade. so the 120gb SSD is nothing more than a drive for the OS and everything else needs to be saved somewhere safe off the computer because if it breaks and you take it to apple to fix, you get a factory reset computer, even if the drive did not need to be wiped. and a hole in your wallet where the price of a new machine was....

    2. MrReal

      Re: Mac mini SSD

      So sweet?

      But then hordes of people would buy them, my careful study of Apple's computer division over the past few years has indicated that making stuff people want to buy has been off the table for some time.

      Want a nice upgradeable computer from Apple? A nice laptop with USB-A ports, magsafe and a decent screen?

      No chance. Not while Tim Cook is there, he appears not to have a single tiny clue about the computer market, which is why when I needed a new laptop last time I bought a Lenovo. Better built, featured and priced, just a shame it's Windows and not Linux.

      1. gnasher729 Silver badge

        Re: Mac mini SSD

        "My careful study of Apple's computer division over the past few years has indicated that making stuff people want to buy has been off the table for some time."

        My careful study shows they are not selling the stuff _you_ want to buy, but they are selling the stuff _people_ want to buy.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Mac mini SSD

      Apple's web site just says it is "PCI-e based" but doesn't mention m.2. Based on how they mention the RAM is SO-DIMM based I think if the storage was m.2 they'd probably mention that as well.

  14. chivo243 Silver badge
    FAIL

    many boxes, none ticked

    fail, glad I didn't have my hopes up...

    1. Sgt_Oddball

      Re: many boxes, none ticked

      You had hopes? You've not been at this long enough....

      1. chivo243 Silver badge
        Meh

        Re: many boxes, none ticked

        @Sgt_Oddball

        I've been at it too long.... I started with Classic OS 9.2.

        My only hopes are professional, my team supports 1000± MacBook Airs, and were hoping for a reasonably priced replacement. $1200 is a bit off the mark.

        1. Sgt_Oddball

          Re: many boxes, none ticked

          Ah the original iMac. I think my old one is now being used as a cat bed..

  15. BRYN

    I see the $ to £ conversion rate means nothing

    On Apple.com the price is $1,199.00

    On Apple.com/uk the price is £1,199.00

    on XE.com the current conversion rate says it should be £941.21

    loving your work Apple.

    1. proinnsias

      Re: I see the $ to £ conversion rate means nothing

      -----8<-----

      On Apple.com the price is $1,199.00

      On Apple.com/uk the price is £1,199.00

      on XE.com the current conversion rate says it should be £941.21

      -----8<-----

      Isn't the US price pre-sales tax and the UK incVAT ? ... at which point they're broadly the same?

    2. gnasher729 Silver badge

      Re: I see the $ to £ conversion rate means nothing

      "on XE.com the current conversion rate says it should be £941.21"

      Oh well. Have you ever heard of VAT? Of the £1,199.00, Apple takes £200,00 straight away and sends them to the nice Mr. Hammond who is going to look after them.

      Another major difference is UK customer protection laws, which mean that Apple will have to fix things if they stop working within two years. That doesn't come for free either.

    3. Jove Bronze badge

      Re: I see the $ to £ conversion rate means nothing

      ... that is mostly UK Taxes for you.

  16. MrReal

    So Apple have taken their one remaining buyable laptop (magsafe + usable USB sockets) and 'upgraded it' to stupid USB-C ports, no SD port but as compensation we get a decent screen at last.

    I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

    Should I buy A: the old one with the 2010 screen, or B: the new one with useless ports?

    Perhaps I'll go for C: a Dell laptop running Linux instead, as Apple seem to be DETERMINED to ruin their products and make them unbuyable.

    1. MrReal

      Ah - found it:

      https://makeawebsitehub.com/best-laptops-linux/

      I only wanted a decent laptop to run *NIX on. Virtualbox+Debian under Win10 is way too slow compared to native *NIX, so it looks like after waiting for 8 years in hope of an updated Airbook I won't be spending my money at Apple. Hey, it was nice while it lasted.

      Plus I can invest the money saved in the local pub economy rather than it sitting in Apple's ledger in some tax haven.

      BTW thanks for the thumbs down, I didn't know my opinion was to be graded :D

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        I only wanted a decent laptop to run *NIX on.

        I wanted the same, only I wanted decent battery life, too; 32GiB RAM, two NVMe SSDs..

        You know, "standard high end stuff" in 2018.

        I went with a Thinkpad t480. 9+h battery life while running two VirtualBox VMs and a few docker containers spinning? Hell yeah!

        1. Khaptain Silver badge

          " Thinkpad t480 "

          Probably the best value going.. couldn't agree more... never really understood why IBM gave them up.

          1. julian_n

            T480? We've just been upgraded to them.

            Mine overheats and gives "Fan Error" messages.

            My colleagues has had a new motherboard already after the USB-C connector failed. As they now use cheaper USB-C expansion boxes rather than the proper docking stations with proper connectors if you take your laptop around and have to plug / unplug the USB-C this happens. I leave mine connected all the time and use it as a desktop - so it is OK.

            If you want reliability, look elsewhere.

    2. Jove Bronze badge

      Don't you think that Dell XPSes are getting over-priced as well?

      1. MrReal

        The Dell XPS pricing used to be below Lenovo, then it shot up, I wonder if it's tied to the euro?

        The System76 looks a nice box as it's Linux native, and some Asus and Lenovo look good.

        The main Laptop requirements are (in case Timmy Cook is reading, stuff to LEARN here Tim:):

        * Runs Linux (Debian or possibly Ubuntu) or Unix (OS/X)

        * 11-14" screens at 1920 x 1080

        * USB-A x 2 for temporary disks, CDs etc etc etc.

        * 8GB memory minimum

        * 2-8 core processing (i5+)

        * 8 hours + battery

        * Reasonably priced, standard and upgradeable SSD

        * Repairable construction

        The main desktop 'Mini' requirements are:

        * Upgradeable CPU

        * Upgradeable RAM

        * Upgradeable disks (slot for SSD and slot for 2.5" or two)

        * Network, USB-A and 'new trendy' sockets

        It would also be nice if it had an Intel processor that wasn't crippled with the branch-prediction bugs that came with the last batch, perhaps AMD or ARM would be nice alternates.

  17. gcarter

    Im not sure what to make of this release to be honest

    I own both the...

    MacBook Pro 13" with touch bar

    Macbook 12

    As stated in the presentation, it hits a lower price point then the Pro & 12 whilst providing a retina screen.

    What I find slightly annoying is that its overall depth is the same as the Pro model

    Depth: 8.36 inches (21.24 cm)

    ok its a little lighter but hey...

    I see this as a comprise more than anything

    Its basically a slightly lighter 13" pro without Touch Bar

    Would make sense to kill off the non touch pro model considering the new air is pretty much the same

    What would have been sweet, is if it had the same svelte case as the MacBook but with a 13" screen

    1. Richard Wharram

      I was hoping for a new MacBook (itty bitty thing). Disappointed.

  18. LeoP

    1199 - seriously?

    So a low-power non-upgradable landfill netbook with a 128G SSD, a keyboard with a MTBF of a few hours and no usable ports will cost twice a reasonably specced Lenovo?

    Thanks for the offer, I beg to decline it though.

  19. Patched Out

    Let's compare ...

    I have a Lenovo 710 2-in-1 that I paid less than $300 USD for that I've been very happy with for 3+ years. So lets look at a newer Lenovo with similar specs:

    Lenovo Yoga 720 2-in-1: Price $743 USD. 13.3" screen? - Check. Resolution? 1920 x 1080 - Check. Intel Core i5 at 1.6GHz? - Check. Memory? 8 GB - Check. Harddrive? 256GB vs Apple 128GB - Check. Ports: 2 x USB Type-C with Thunderbolt? - Check. Weight? 2.87 lbs. vs Apple 2.7 lbs. Table Mode? Lenovo - check. Apple Air? No.

    Other than the need for something running OS X, why would someone buy this new Apple?

    1. MrReal

      Re: Let's compare ...

      I did EXACTLY that last time.

      Looked at all the USB-free Macs in the Apple Store, admired their Tripwire Power connectors and then walked into the department store next door, selected a nice Lenovo on Easter-Sale pricing and bought that.

      The Yoga 2-1 I have was better built than the old Airbook, had 256GB + 8GB, an i7 and was STILL way cheaper than the 2010 spec Airbook, which was my last buyable Apple.

      All Apple had to do was upgrade the screen on the Airbook to 1080p and leave the rest alone, I mean how difficult was that? A $Trillion company unable to understand how to fit a USB-A socket and use Magsafe? Has everyone with an IQ in double figures left Apple just to be left with drooling marketroids and brain dead accountants (I'm looking at YOU Tim)?

      They sell useless £1000 iPhones, bizarre square watches with 1970s styling and no decent computers, so sad to see a company with so much potential fall. The Apple share-price reflects this failure too, if they stopped their share buybacks if would fall off a cliff.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What's now the best Apple device...

    ...to read reviews of other Apple devices on? I wouldn't use it for much else.

  21. Jove Bronze badge

    Disappointed ...

    So how much longer must I wait for my converged MacBook Pro with detachable screen, back and front cameras, cellular connections, and able to run the full set of iOS Apps on macOS?

  22. N2

    Apple takes aim at foot - again...

    Someone tell them a 256Gb SSD is about 50 quid and is really tiny these days

    and 8Gb of ram not much more

    As for the rest, I dont give a shit how thin or light it is, I just want something reliable that wont cook itself on its battery because the thing can't be removed if it overheats.

    Because I really don't want to buy a chromebook

    1. The Sprocket

      Re: Apple takes aim at foot - again...

      “Someone tell them a 256Gb SSD is about 50 quid and is really tiny these days

      and 8Gb of ram not much more

      As for the rest, I dont give a shit how thin or light it is, I just want something reliable that wont cook itself on its battery because the thing can't be removed if it overheats.

      Because I really don't want to buy a chromebook”

      I’ve been buying various Apple laptops since my first PB 520c in 1995. Sadly, Apple keeps doing the same type of very stupid things you mention. I think it’s all about timing. I bought the last Macbook Air, and yes, retina would have been nice, but the screen is pretty spectacular even without. This MBA runs my pro graphics stuff quite smoothly.

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