Apple Finally Updates MacBook Air with Retina Display, Touch ID • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple Finally Updates MacBook Air with Retina Display, Touch ID

#251

Post by hartator » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 6:42 PM UTC

reaperducer wrote: post #245

oliv__ wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. The Macbook feels out of place now. It has one less USB-C port, less battery power, and is $100 more expensive with lesser specs. And it has a different name. Before this new Air came out, I figured they were just going to kill the Air line and release a 13" Macbook at a cheaper price. (Which is essentially what this is)

The Macbook feels out of place now Think of it as an entry-level, but fully capable Mac. For people who use their phone almost exclusively, but need a computer once or twice a month for work. That's exactly how my wife uses hers.

I worked full time on one at some point. Doing RoR dev. It wasn't powerful enough. But the form factor is really fun. You can hold it with one hand and type on it.

Re: Apple Finally Updates MacBook Air with Retina Display, Touch ID

#252

Post by rjplatte » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 6:42 PM UTC

MR4D wrote: post #199

atlasunshrugged wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gah, just what I need, another adapter. I guess in this day and age pretty much everything is in the cloud but still, I like having at least one USB port. A little surprised they kept the mic jack

I'm probably going to get crucified for this, but I wish they would have dropped the mic jack in return to a third TB3 port (so they would be accessible form either side of the computer).

God, no. The TRRS port is the last thing I want to see go.

Re: Apple Finally Updates MacBook Air with Retina Display, Touch ID

#253

Post by maxxxxx » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 6:42 PM UTC

pentae wrote: post #209

ksec wrote: post #152

I wonder if a lot of people are leaving the Mac ecosystem. Apple has been selling roughly ~19M Mac per year since 2012, and its new user to Mac has also been steady at ~50%. Apple has had 60M Mac user in 2012 announced in WWDC, and they has been nearing 100M since early 2017. I assume that actual number is larger than 90M at the time, so after nearly 20 Months, ~20M New Mac Users on board, it manage to add a total ~1…

Apple executives are probably telling themselves these people are just trading in their old laptops for iPads hence why they have been doubling down on iOS for the last 5 years. Milking the entire ecosystem for 30% compared to 0% on a laptop sure hasn't hurt, either.

Based on business results the Apple execs are right. To detriment of the relatively small number of professional users like software devs or photographers.

Re: Apple Finally Updates MacBook Air with Retina Display, Touch ID

#254

Post by binoculars10 » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 6:43 PM UTC

finchisko wrote: post #184

Am I the only one, who is excited and considering buying this thing? I'm still on 2012 Air. It's good device, but showing it's age (slow CPU and only 4GB of Ram, the screen resolution is joke). But new Air seems very compelling to me. I'll miss the magsafe though. Also I would like to know if the SSD can be upgraded later (unofficially of course). 2012 Air SSD can be replaced, using cheap reduction (from proprietary…

Well don't be very excited. Have you heard of Louis Rossmann? He has some videos on Youtube regarding Apple's tactics to make its hardware hard to repair and ripoff people who get them repaired at the Apple Stores. Even CBC did a story on it.

Re: Apple Finally Updates MacBook Air with Retina Display, Touch ID

#255

Post by kylec » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 6:44 PM UTC

hartator wrote: post #166

The current line is a bit weird. MacBook 12” vs MacBook Air 13” vs MacBook Pro 13” without Touch Bar. I just wish they release a 14” MacBook. That would have made more sense.

Don't forget they're still selling the old MacBook Air for $999

Re: Apple Finally Updates MacBook Air with Retina Display, Touch ID

#256

Post by BonesJustice » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 6:45 PM UTC

finchisko wrote: post #184

Am I the only one, who is excited and considering buying this thing? I'm still on 2012 Air. It's good device, but showing it's age (slow CPU and only 4GB of Ram, the screen resolution is joke). But new Air seems very compelling to me. I'll miss the magsafe though. Also I would like to know if the SSD can be upgraded later (unofficially of course). 2012 Air SSD can be replaced, using cheap reduction (from proprietary…

Out of curiosity, what is the appeal of the new MacBook Air over a regular MacBook? Is it the 13" screen vs. the 12"?

I'd just assumed that when Apple introduced that crazy-thin 12" MacBook a couple years ago, it was meant to replace both product lines. I don't understand why it's necessary to maintain a third discrete product line. Why not add a 13" variant to the standard MacBook line with i5 and i7 processor choices? That would be similar to what they do with the MacBook Pro line.

Is there some other difference that I'm overlooking?

Re: Apple Finally Updates MacBook Air with Retina Display, Touch ID

#257

Post by Xixi » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 6:48 PM UTC

IkmoIkmo wrote: post #218

Xixi wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are comparing prices without VAT to prices with VAT. In France VAT is 20%, quite typical in the EU, so the comparison is not fair at all. There's VAT in many states and cities in the United States, although typically at rates much lower than in the EU. Buying a MacBook Air in New York City for instance will be at least $1,300 (combined VAT rate of 8.875%). [EDIT] Granted, the exchange rate is not great, but it's…

Fair point! But average sales tax in the US is about $100. It's still a $350 difference.

That's not an exchange rate issue, that's a political one. Presumably you get something out of these high sales tax, in the form of cheaper education, cheaper healthcare, better infrastructures, or a better social net. Why would Apple close that gap by charging the American customers more? If you want cheaper sales taxes, vote accordingly. Don't ask Apple to cover the difference.

Though you could argue that if Apple was paying its fair share of taxes (for your own favorite definition of fair share of taxes), maybe VAT could be lowered. Again, that's a political issue, not an exchange rate issue.

Re: Apple Finally Updates MacBook Air with Retina Display, Touch ID

#258

Post by Wowfunhappy » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 6:53 PM UTC

The old 13 Inch Macbook Air had a resolution of 1440 x 900.

The new Macbook Air has a resolution of 2560 x 1600, but at 200% dpi scaling, so the usable resolution is only 1280 x 800. It'll be prettier for sure, but you're getting less screen real-estate than on the old models!

You can adjust the dpi scaling, but then the scaling won't be even and everything will look a bit blurry. I honestly would have much preferred a straight 1080p screen.

Re: Apple Finally Updates MacBook Air with Retina Display, Touch ID

#259

Post by aylmao » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 6:57 PM UTC

oliv__ wrote: post #205

hartator wrote: post #166

The current line is a bit weird. MacBook 12” vs MacBook Air 13” vs MacBook Pro 13” without Touch Bar. I just wish they release a 14” MacBook. That would have made more sense.

Exactly. The Macbook feels out of place now. It has one less USB-C port, less battery power, and is $100 more expensive with lesser specs. And it has a different name. Before this new Air came out, I figured they were just going to kill the Air line and release a 13" Macbook at a cheaper price. (Which is essentially what this is)

The base MacBook has 256GB Storage. I still don't think that merits it being $100 more expensive than the base Air, but sigh.

I guess the MacBook Air brand is just much more popular at this point. Being the "first utrabook" and considering you see many more Airs in the wild than New MacBooks, they probably just decided it'd be better for marketing.

Re: Apple Finally Updates MacBook Air with Retina Display, Touch ID

#260

Post by finchisko » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 6:58 PM UTC

binoculars10 wrote: post #254

finchisko wrote: post #184

Am I the only one, who is excited and considering buying this thing? I'm still on 2012 Air. It's good device, but showing it's age (slow CPU and only 4GB of Ram, the screen resolution is joke). But new Air seems very compelling to me. I'll miss the magsafe though. Also I would like to know if the SSD can be upgraded later (unofficially of course). 2012 Air SSD can be replaced, using cheap reduction (from proprietary…

Well don't be very excited. Have you heard of Louis Rossmann? He has some videos on Youtube regarding Apple's tactics to make its hardware hard to repair and ripoff people who get them repaired at the Apple Stores. Even CBC did a story on it.

Yes, I know this guy. I don't like the Apple repair (not) strategy. However I've also experience with several other laptop manufacturers. There are at least 5 laptops lying somewhere in my house. Most of them have broken hinges or broken plastic chassis so you can see inside them. Only exception is Toshiba with Pentium3 processor. Ancient but still rock solid, with no sign of wear (I could use it if it wasn't that slow). And the other one is this 6y old Macbook Air.

What I'm trying to say, is that people bitch about the Apple, but there many other horrible brands (models) out there. But there is not enough buyers to point that out as loud as in Apple case.

However the butterfly keyboard scares me a bit. They say it has been fixed, but personally don't have any feedback from Macbook Pro users and also this Air keyboard can be bit different.