$1200 machine:
- slow, low capacity SSD
- non-native scaled resolution
- only one external display support
- cheap plastic in keyboard keys
- old charger
"The best laptop, this is what Apple thinks the best laptop is"
It's still, without a doubt, a great machine. But the amount of corner-cutting in an otherwise premium laptop is inexcusable.
Low capacity, sure. It's hardly slow though — it is still likely going to be orders of magnitude faster than what the vast majority of people buying this machine will really need out of the entry level Mac.
As always, HN seem to look at things through a very specific lens. The Air has never been marketed as the purely performance machine for purely performance needs. That's what the Pro line is for.
It's going to be 100x faster than what those people need?
It's not a "specific lens". It's a laptop that costs over a thousand dollars. Somehow it doesn't deserve a native resolution display, not-cheap keyboard keys, support for more than one external display etc.
As if those two things are mutually exclusive.
I also have plenty of anecdotes from family & friends keeping entry-level Macs for 5+ years, while those who cheap out and buy PCs barely get 2 years out of them.
[1] https://www.jamf.com/blog/debate-over-ibm-confirms-that-macs...
My only criticism is it is expensive, and upgrading it is expensive too. Seems like a nice laptop.