10 ms·

Wait, does the Air actually have more ports than the MacBook? What's going on? I thought the MacBook replaced the air, an the MacBook pro is a merger of the Mac

Wait, does the Air actually have more ports than the MacBook? What's going on? I thought the MacBook replaced the air, an the MacBook pro is a merger of the MacBook and MacBook pro? Have the MacBook and MacBook air "switched"?

mbreese 8y ago
Yes. The MacBook has one USB-C port, has a smaller 12" screen, and is lighter (2 lbs). The MacBook Air has two Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports, has a 13" screen, is heavier (2.75 lbs), and has more CPU power than the MacBook. The MBP w/o touch bar has two Thunderbolt (USB-C) ports, a 13" screen, is heavier (3 lbs), and more CPU power than the Air The MBP w/ touch bar has four Thunderbolt (USB-C) ports, a 13" screen and has more CPU power (options) than the MBP w/o touch bar (same weight). (I intentionally left out the 15" MBP)
- xeeeeeeeeeeenu 8y ago
  Also, as opposed to MBA, MacBook is fanless.
  - std_throwawayay 8y ago
    It needs air.
    - woah 8y ago
      I think we’ve solved the mystery here
    - gumby 8y ago
      I can confirm -- mine was caught in a rainstorm and drowned.
  - htk 8y ago
    This is a great point that a lot of people seem to miss (or just don't care). I do care because I don't like to worry about dust accumulating internally, noisy/malfunctioning fans, etc.
- danieldk 8y ago
  And the MacBook and MacBook Pro w/o touch bar still have the older butterfly keyboard without membrane. Their line-up is quite a mess. I don't see why they haven't updated the MacBook Pro without touch bar or the MacBook 12". If you want a MacBook Pro without a touch bar, you are basically screwed, unless you can accept a potentially unreliable keyboard.
  - pasbesoin 8y ago
    I don't recall reading of this. (I'm not a Mac guy, but friends...) The current, "lesser" MacBook Pro that retains the function keys, does not share the keyboard technology of the current, trouble-prone (dust, failed keystrokes, etc.) "premium" models having the touch bar?
    - overstim 8y ago
      Nope, they didnt revise the non-touchbar 13" MacBook Pro the last time they bumped the touchbar models. it didnt get updated CPU or the keyboard membrane. I am expecting themt o ditch it, now that the Air is cheaper, newer, and has touchID and a newer keyboard.
    - rpeden 8y ago
      The MacBook Pro with function keys does have the trouble prone keyboard design. The MacBook Pro with touchbar received a slightly updated keyboard that is supposed to fix some of the issues people had with the old one.
- Matthias247 8y ago
  Additionally regarding the Air vs Pro w/o touch bar: The Air is 100$ cheaper, and has the TouchId scanner and the newer-gen keyboard. The Pro has a 15W TDP vs 7W TDP CPU with slightly higher performance, and a TrueTone display with higher brightness. I would probably pay the 8% extra, but overall those things are very close.
  - mbreese 8y ago
    I think the Pro w/o touch bar will probably get dropped sometime soon. I don't think the slightly higher performance of that MBP model will sell enough to warrant the SKU. Especially considering the keyboard differences. If the Touchbar-less MBP didn't warrant a model update with the newer gen keyboard, I could easily see Apple selling through their stock and dropping it.
    - Matthias247 8y ago
      Totally possible. That again would have the result that they increased all their prices by a whole class, without most people recognizing it. The MacBook Air is then at the level of old 13" Pros, and the Pro is much higher (at the previous Pro+Touchbar level). That approach would match what they did with the new iPhones, where the X also moved the price range for an iPhone by a big amount.
nostromo 8y ago
Yup. The Macbook Air is heavier (and has more ports) than the Macbook. I suspect this is because Apple gives so little attention to Mac now and updates products two or three times a decade. So when one product is updated, the rest of the lineup seems incongruous.
- will_pseudonym 8y ago
  And it has function keys!
  - jakebellacera 8y ago
    Function keys _and_ TouchID? How is that possible? ;)
    - neolefty 8y ago
      Yes, TouchID is a keeper! Any chance Apple will back out on the touch bar for MBP's — "We've learned from that experience."? I have one and am not thrilled with the touch bar, but I really prefer fingerprint unlocking over typing a password.
      - josephjrobison 8y ago
        It's great for quick access to emoji's though - my #1 usage, sadly :)
      - threeseed 8y ago
        Get BetterTouchTool. It allows you to fully customise the buttons making it infinitely more useful.
        nil_pointer 8y ago
        Even with this, the Touchbar is gimmicky garbage. Maybe I'm getting old, but I don't want this even if I can customize it.
fossuser 8y ago
Yeah I don't understand it - both of these models should not exist together.
cprayingmantis 8y ago
It's been speculated that next year the MacBook won't have an Intel processor. Instead it'll have the A{n+1}x chip and my guess is that the Air will be the cheapest and smallest Mac with Intel still inside.
gambiting 8y ago
The naming is confusing. The new "air" should have really been called a "Macbook Max" or XL or whatever the current nomenclature is, because well, that's what it is. It uses the Y series CPU so I wouldn't expect the performance levels to be anywhere near as good as those on past-generation Airs when compared to their Pro brethren at the time.
intopieces 8y ago
What gave you the impression that the MacBook replaced the Air? The Air has never been discontinued.
alphabettsy 8y ago
No. The MacBook(12”) took the place of the old 11”(11.6”) MacBook Air, which did not have as many ports as the 13” model so nothing’s really changed other than the name.
- asdff 8y ago
  Ironically, that old 11" air is better than the Macbook

mbreese 8y ago

Yes. The MacBook has one USB-C port, has a smaller 12" screen, and is lighter (2 lbs). The MacBook Air has two Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports, has a 13" screen, is heavier (2.75 lbs), and has more CPU power than the MacBook. The MBP w/o touch bar has two Thunderbolt (USB-C) ports, a 13" screen, is heavier (3 lbs), and more CPU power than the Air The MBP w/ touch bar has four Thunderbolt (USB-C) ports, a 13" screen and has more CPU power (options) than the MBP w/o touch bar (same weight). (I intentionally left out the 15" MBP)

xeeeeeeeeeeenu 8y ago
Also, as opposed to MBA, MacBook is fanless.
- std_throwawayay 8y ago
  It needs air.
  - woah 8y ago
    I think we’ve solved the mystery here
  - gumby 8y ago
    I can confirm -- mine was caught in a rainstorm and drowned.
- htk 8y ago
  This is a great point that a lot of people seem to miss (or just don't care). I do care because I don't like to worry about dust accumulating internally, noisy/malfunctioning fans, etc.
danieldk 8y ago
And the MacBook and MacBook Pro w/o touch bar still have the older butterfly keyboard without membrane. Their line-up is quite a mess. I don't see why they haven't updated the MacBook Pro without touch bar or the MacBook 12". If you want a MacBook Pro without a touch bar, you are basically screwed, unless you can accept a potentially unreliable keyboard.
- pasbesoin 8y ago
  I don't recall reading of this. (I'm not a Mac guy, but friends...) The current, "lesser" MacBook Pro that retains the function keys, does not share the keyboard technology of the current, trouble-prone (dust, failed keystrokes, etc.) "premium" models having the touch bar?
  - overstim 8y ago
    Nope, they didnt revise the non-touchbar 13" MacBook Pro the last time they bumped the touchbar models. it didnt get updated CPU or the keyboard membrane. I am expecting themt o ditch it, now that the Air is cheaper, newer, and has touchID and a newer keyboard.
  - rpeden 8y ago
    The MacBook Pro with function keys does have the trouble prone keyboard design. The MacBook Pro with touchbar received a slightly updated keyboard that is supposed to fix some of the issues people had with the old one.
Matthias247 8y ago
Additionally regarding the Air vs Pro w/o touch bar: The Air is 100$ cheaper, and has the TouchId scanner and the newer-gen keyboard. The Pro has a 15W TDP vs 7W TDP CPU with slightly higher performance, and a TrueTone display with higher brightness. I would probably pay the 8% extra, but overall those things are very close.
- mbreese 8y ago
  I think the Pro w/o touch bar will probably get dropped sometime soon. I don't think the slightly higher performance of that MBP model will sell enough to warrant the SKU. Especially considering the keyboard differences. If the Touchbar-less MBP didn't warrant a model update with the newer gen keyboard, I could easily see Apple selling through their stock and dropping it.
  - Matthias247 8y ago
    Totally possible. That again would have the result that they increased all their prices by a whole class, without most people recognizing it. The MacBook Air is then at the level of old 13" Pros, and the Pro is much higher (at the previous Pro+Touchbar level). That approach would match what they did with the new iPhones, where the X also moved the price range for an iPhone by a big amount.

nostromo 8y ago

Yup. The Macbook Air is heavier (and has more ports) than the Macbook. I suspect this is because Apple gives so little attention to Mac now and updates products two or three times a decade. So when one product is updated, the rest of the lineup seems incongruous.

will_pseudonym 8y ago
And it has function keys!
- jakebellacera 8y ago
  Function keys _and_ TouchID? How is that possible? ;)
  - neolefty 8y ago
    Yes, TouchID is a keeper! Any chance Apple will back out on the touch bar for MBP's — "We've learned from that experience."? I have one and am not thrilled with the touch bar, but I really prefer fingerprint unlocking over typing a password.
    - josephjrobison 8y ago
      It's great for quick access to emoji's though - my #1 usage, sadly :)
    - threeseed 8y ago
      Get BetterTouchTool. It allows you to fully customise the buttons making it infinitely more useful.
      - nil_pointer 8y ago
        Even with this, the Touchbar is gimmicky garbage. Maybe I'm getting old, but I don't want this even if I can customize it.

fossuser 8y ago

Yeah I don't understand it - both of these models should not exist together.

cprayingmantis 8y ago

It's been speculated that next year the MacBook won't have an Intel processor. Instead it'll have the A{n+1}x chip and my guess is that the Air will be the cheapest and smallest Mac with Intel still inside.

gambiting 8y ago

The naming is confusing. The new "air" should have really been called a "Macbook Max" or XL or whatever the current nomenclature is, because well, that's what it is. It uses the Y series CPU so I wouldn't expect the performance levels to be anywhere near as good as those on past-generation Airs when compared to their Pro brethren at the time.

intopieces 8y ago

What gave you the impression that the MacBook replaced the Air? The Air has never been discontinued.

alphabettsy 8y ago

No. The MacBook(12”) took the place of the old 11”(11.6”) MacBook Air, which did not have as many ports as the 13” model so nothing’s really changed other than the name.

asdff 8y ago
Ironically, that old 11" air is better than the Macbook