Apple Has Probably Killed the ‘Air’ Brand | Hacker News Reader

Apple Has Probably Killed the ‘Air’ Brand

jackgmarch.com

34 pointsshawndumas45 comments

The author does say the article is about branding rather than hardware. That said, I'd fully expect the current Air devices (even if renamed) to remain in the lineup for quite some time yet.

Although the iPad Air and the 10" iPad Pro are now equivalent size and weight, the Pro gets the fancy new touchscreen that works with Apple's Pencil (how 53 is handling this product name, I don't know; but I digress) while Air just sits there all non-friendly to the Wonderful New Stylus, but at a lower price point.

As for the laptops, I don't personally know anyone who's actually bought the new Macbook. It's certainly attractive looking, but its specs aren't as attractive as a Macbook Air. I've preferred the Air over the Pro for years now, mainly because the Pro is so bulky and heavy. Air compiles apps Just Fine, Thanks.

If the thesis is "they're not going to make anything newly designed and call it 'Air'" then OK. That kind of pontification isn't my thing. If the thesis is "they're dropping the 'Air' brand and giving it a new name" then fine. However, if Apple would really consider dropping the Air product lines in the near future, it'll just add to the already-irritated masses (you know, those of us who've been detesting 'change for the sake of change' and regression in various software products ...)

>I don't personally know anyone who's actually bought the new Macbook

I'm not sure which of us is living in a bubble, but it's probably the most common computer i see in coffee shops and shared workspaces. Granted, i live in a fairly wealthy resort town, but they're definitely selling.

Odd, I haven't seen more than a couple and I live and work in SF/SF Bay Area as well as still go to college, where most students who have Macs have Macbook Airs. I don't think I've ever seen the Macbook (12 inch with retina) at school actually.

The Pro has gotten a lot thinner lately. I've got a 2015 MBP (Retina 13") and it's only about 2/3 the thickness of my wife's 2013 MBP, and about half of my old 2009 MBP. I can comfortably hold it in one hand, which is one of the main reasons folks would buy the Macbook Air.

I've got an old laptop backpack that I used to use for a ThinkPad, and then for a System76 Pangolin. One of my first-world problems is that the MBP is too thin to fit snuggly in the laptop pocket; I usually throw a book or a folder in with it so it doesn't flop around. Compared to either the Pangolin or ThinkPad, the MBP is less than half the thickness.

Are you referring to Macbook Pro or Macbook (http://www.apple.com/macbook/)? From your comment is seems like your are talking about MBP and parent comment is talking about the latter.

i'm talking about the 12" retina macbook that has no glowing apple on the lid.

I own a MacBook air, but I never use it. Laptops are ergonomically too unpleasant for my taste.

I own a desk and a chair, but I never use it. Desks are too unpleasant for me.

The discussion was about a laptop.

There's clearly a pretty severely diminished return in chasing further thinness for laptops. At this point, the controlling factor for their portability is neither weight nor thickness, it's the other two dimensions (which, obviously, carry much harsher tradeoffs to minimizing than do weight and thickness).

That wasn't true five years ago, but it absolutely is today.

> There's clearly a pretty severely diminished return in chasing further thinness for laptops.

Also, weight is approaching the totally diminished return. As long as I can hold an extended laptop between thumb and forefinger, weight no longer matters. I reached that point several years ago.

I still don't get what we're supposed to call the new 9.7" iPad Pro. That's a mouthful. The little one? Or is that the Mini? The mid-sized iPad? The smaller iPad Pro?

Why not round up and call it the 10" iPad Pro vs the 13" iPad Pro, just as we call them 12", 13" and 15" notebooks, even if we're off by a bit?

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/business/2013/01/subway-sued-ove...

Well, that's if Apple does the rounding. It'd be us, the plebeians, doing the rounding. No lawsuits over that.

I swear I thought the presenters at that last media event actually called it "iPad Pro mini." I don't see any references to that on Apple's site so I guess I'll have to rewatch to address my sanity.

Pro lines are premium until they become the norm (MBP), in which case the pro line is killed (or specialized) in favor of the default line (Macbook). 'Light' or 'Air' lines are minimized initially, and then their internals come up to parity with the default line and they are killed off for being redundant. Then you have a generation or two of iteration for the main line before new Pro and Light lines (with new branding) come out with 'innovative new features' of some higher specs or lighter weight.

It's like a brand model treadmill.

Why does the Air brand still exist? The author notes that he fully expects Apple to give the MacBook Air a processor upgrade, but not a re-design. Who is still buying the Air over the MacBook?

- People who like having a USB+Video port - Don't want to buy expensive adapters (at least the less expensive ones)?

- Performance (CPU wise)

- Price

I would rather ask why are people buying a macbook over a macbook air? The macbook air has a better price/performance ratio. And the form factor cannot be a logical argument... The macbook air compact enough to fit in everyones bag.

I have a hard time living without the Retina display now.

The cost of the adapters is only part of it. Adapters are inconvenient, and IMO the reduced thickness isn't a good tradeoff for that extra inconvenience. (It has been in the past - losing the optical drive and ethernet port was absolutely worth it to me for a lighter & thinner machine.) Not to mention you only have one port, so even if all your USB devices use type C, you'll still need an adapter just to charge your laptop and use a USB device at the same time.

I got MacBook due to its screen resolution and because it is silent. Owning fanless Dell Latitude X1 decade ago spoiled me as even rather silent quality notebook fans had started to bother me.

I have a 2012 Air and it's the best computer I've ever owned.

Coding, testing, Lightroom, Photoshop and some FCP, with >10 hours battery light and extremely light for carrying around every day.

Ditto

I had hoped they would have released a 16gb RAM version sometime over the last 4 years, but alas no, here we are debating if it has been abandoned or not.

There are no compromises with this machine. Even the integrated graphics chip has seen improvements in both drivers and how newer frameworks use it. Its a beast. More RAM would future proof it for another four years.

>There are no compromises with this machine.

Once you get used to Retina, that is unfortunately not true anymore.

Same here. I 'my just waiting for the new Air. Slanted keyboard and battery life. Not interested at all in anything else. But I really want 16Gigs. Running Chrome and a few VM'S needs more RAM.

Are you sure it's a 2012 Air? Because I have one and with a brand new battery and light use you maybe get 7-8 hours battery life out of it.

The 2013 Air with the Haswell CPU is the one which gives you far more than 10 hours of battery life.

Mine's a 2012, when it was new if I used it lightly it was getting 10 hours, it's a bit lower than that now.

I mean, it's clearly available as a cheaper + faster alternative to the rMB. Buying the Air isn't a dumb choice by any stretch, a similarly-specced 11" Air (8GB RAM is the only difference) is $200 cheaper and more powerful than the corresponding rMB.

The Air is really an amazing computer. Sure it's not going to win any benchmark or resolution competitions, but it's extremely reliable.

It also has amazing battery life.

The Macbook is still on its first generation. It's nice, but there is room for improvement. The Air has had time to refine and is a spectacular little computer. It is light, has capable internals, has all the ports you need, and can go up to 13".

I'd for sure buy the air over the Macbook. Hell my gf just did.

You couldn't convince her to drop hours of battery, an inch of screen space, a few ports, a few hundred bucks, better performance, in return for a marginal portability value that approaches 0 in her daily bag, default storage she doesn't use (she's approaching 30gb of use!), default ram she doesn't use, and pixel density she can't see. (she's likely an exception here, I definitely notice the density myself like most would, although I wouldn't pay a few hundred extra for it, but she can't even notice it.) There's just nothing the Macbook offers her that's worth it. I expect this to change within 1-2 years though.

Is "Air" a brand? I would think of "Air" in the context of Apple as a "product line" and product lines come and go.

When the Air was first launched it made sense to differentiate it from the other Apple products by giving it a specific name and maybe today that's no longer required.

> I think it’s pretty obvious at this point that Apple will never release a new [1] product with the ‘Air’ branding again...

> [1] “New” meaning redesigned, I expect Apple to continue selling the MacBook Air and wouldn’t bet against a CPU upgrades.

Ah, branding.

Passe: "Turbo", "Mega", "Fire", "Cool", "Air", "Sky".

So 15 minutes ago: "Artisanal", "Free range", "Organic".

don't forget "handcrafted code". :shudders:

I never understood what was(is) the point of going so thin for our laptops and phones. There are so many compromises to make in order to get there. I am almost sure it's done to satisfy tech reviewers that set trends for consumers rather than a consumer's need (need/choice/wish/desire/etc.).

I do DevOps. I don't need a powerful rig, but it does need to be light as I'm married to my macbook air (it does not leave my side when I'm on my on-call rotations).

If the air is truly being killed off, I'd probably go buy another one or two refurbed to keep as spares for the next 5-10 years.

What would make that setup superior for you to a Skylake MacBook with another USB-C port or two?

I have dual Thunderbolt displays at home for my MBA. Is there a proper USB-C->Thunderbolt adapter yet?

Apple sells an adapter, I believe.

The latest version of Thunderbolt is using the USB-C connector (and is compatible with it), so I assume next generation of Apple laptops will only have these ports.

https://thunderbolttechnology.net/blog/thunderbolt-3-usb-c-d...

TILd! Thank you!

I've got a 2011 Air and it's the best machine I've ever owned. I'm not saying making it thinner would make it better, but I DEFINITELY get a huge amount of enjoyment from having a machine that thin vs, say, a 13" or 15" MBP.

I often travel with both the Air and the 15" MBP Retina, and despite the 15" being much faster in every way, and having a vastly better screen, I never use the MBP unless I have to for work. The Air is just so much more convenient to deal with. The size and weight make a HUGE difference.

The fact that I can easily move my MBA around with one hand is the most life changing part of it for me.

I can easily put it on my nightstand, corner table, etc...

For marketing purpose. This is the only thing I can think of.

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