The keyboard that goes all the way towards the edge of the MacBook is what does it for me. It's one of the most beautiful laptops of all time.

I'm still keeping my 2017 12 inch Macbook, it's such a lovely machine!!!

Having a fanless 12inch macbook with only one usb c port nowadays would be a nice addition to the apple silicon mac lineup. In contrast to the years, when it was available.

I did not buy this machine (younger me just could not have afforded it at the time), but man, I used drool at this laptop. I loved it. It was full of compromises (the keyboard was essentially a ticking bomb), but I liked it.

Agreed. I still hate the single port. Dongle life started here as you said. I changed the battery on two. Motherboard antenna connectors very fragile ( currently I have one in micro-solder repair). The hinges will become weak early. Dogle connections are not very reliable, often SSD and USB keys disconnect, or don't mount through a quality dongle. Secondary 4K displays don't always work, yet with the official Apple dongle they do fine. What I like best is fanless, the lightest portable ever, a great screen, and acceptable sound considering size. We have two, a 2015 and a 2017. Both will run forever.

I've had one of these since early 2016 that I'm still using today. It's great in a flight bag. I hate that they stopped making it.

I sold a few weeks ago a 2017 model, it was really nice for the things I used it to, watching movies and taking notes in class, webcam really sucks but it can use the iphones camera. Overall I liked using the machine

I keep two 2017s as backups to my 2019 MBP and for when I’m travelling. One has macOS/linux and the other macOS/Win11. My wife has one as her only computer. Before the 2017s I was a big fan of the 11” MacBook Air which had a better port selection and replaceable SSD. If only Apple would produce something in a similar form-factor with an M1 processor.

I would get one of these for sure if it had an M3 chip. Finding a thermal solution for such a small laptop was hard then but I'm sure there can be done with todays resources. I really hope Apple is able to come out with another compact laptop smaller than the Air. I would also love to see the Rose Gold return as a color for the Mac lineup.

I miss my old MacBook. I had the original as well as the minor refresh. Never had any problems with the keyboard (I traveled with it but also kept it sleeved and never used it with grime on my fingers). It’s 100% about portability!!! All the speed I ever needed as a business productivity machine!!! …replaced in 2020 by 2018 iPad Pro + Magic Keyboard/trackpad which I still use.

the 12 inch is my all time favorite laptop! i hope they do an M3 version pairable with VP!

I would buy a 12inch M1 MacBook in a heartbeat…

Take the 13" M2 Air chassis and shrink it down to 11" and 12" sizes and have 1 USB-C with a magsafe port with a binned M3. £599 entry level Macbook SE to replace the M1 air and perfect for the education market

Yeah, the chassis was meant for M-silicon. It just made the mistake of arriving in 2015 instead of 2020.

I would love an ultra portable MacBook with an M1 (or later) chip!

I had one of these, until I actually had it in my hands I couldn't appreciate just how light and thin it was. I definitely do feel though that the modern MacBook Air is a better device overall even though it's not quite as portable.

Great looking machine! A refreshed version with Apple Silicon would be awesome!

I hope its 2024 refresh have Modern MacBook like boxy design with magsafe and midnight colour 😮

I was as well astonished that Apple didn't bring it as first Apple Silicon Notebook. Because it was the device profiting most from it. Hey, even with an iPad Pro chip, it would have been great.

Intel-based Airs were not great in terms of battery life and performance, not to mention the keyboard... Apple Silicon has brought so much positivity.

True work of art, makes modern m2 MacBook Air look chunky even after 9 years. However never met ANY of performance expectations and price was same as a MacBook Pro retina, which is crazy. Apple needs to reimagine ultra portable laptops...

I did not know I needed to revisit this one. It is a nightmare to repair, the hinges go bad, the screen delaminating, the keyboard, the port gets tired, but I love it

2016, I got my first Apple device - an iPhone SE. I liked it. So much so, I started looking at buying a Mac, and this ws right in my price range. But… I didn’t like it. The keyboard wasn’t great, and the screen just seemed too small. Also couldn’t justify the price being asked for an M-series Intel processor. Given the issues people seem to have had with it, I’m grateful I waited until the 2018 Mac Mini came out. But it’s a very, very nice looking machine. Makes me think an 11” Macbook Air would sell reasonably well, because it’s very portable as you rightly say.

I hope they bring back the old design with new features, like HDR display and longer battery life. For this reason I pass on last years air and go with the entry level pro. -> Better display, speakers and battery life.

They should deffo should put M1 in there

I agree it would be awesome to have a travel laptop of this size to go along with the mac studio that sits on my desk. But now with the vision pro, I am not sure the idea of a small laptop seduces me as much. Of course one would have to still hook it to a machine and if the machine is super powerful and tiny like this one, that would be a great partner to a vision pro. Heck get rid of the screen and just a tiny slab with a great chip, keyboard and trackpad.

I sold the one I had six years ago, I love the size of the unit, though it's dead slow. I bought one on eBay just to have a play again. Apple need to bring out an apple silicon version I would buy it. love your videos, keep the good work up.

You know what ELSE could be refreshed by Apple Silicon? The trash can Mac Pro. Its biggest problem was its cylindrical shape, which hampered its performance and cooling capacity. With Apple Silicon, the refreshed design can FINALLY be realised to its fullest potential with a Max or Ultra chip, so that it can live on as the next Mac Studio.

Awesome little unit but I can't help but wonder what would have happened if it had been updated with an A12X version in 2018, like the iPad Pro. Any way of shoehorning in an M1 MBP or iPad Pro mainboard?

I bought an upgraded 2017 version last year second hand. Had the battery replaced and it’s perfect for fitting into my existing workflow but away from home. I will keep it until it dies if Apple don’t replace it with something similar with M series tech.

Base M series chip, magsafe for charging and 1 usb c port for port related atuff (or charging). 12.4” Display with the notch, same ssd and ram as the old MacBook (256/8). Starlight and midnight colors, freaking 1080p webcam. People who buy it. Sad this laptop is gone (i owned the 2016 model until it died in 2020)

Hi Erin in cameo. Perhaps someone like DosDude channel may convert this laptop to M1 or m3!!! 😂

Would fit nicely with the current iPhone chip usb c and 8 GB ram to keep it below MacBook Air

Yep its refreshing Wait to see in wwdc24 😮

There was a time in my life when the ultra-portable was hugely important to me. In my BeOS days I had one of those VAIO tiny laptops, I got the first Air when it came out and later had an 11" as my primary system for a long time. The "adorable" as the ATP folks called it was very tempting, but was just too underpowered even when new. I think they'll just try to keep thinning the current 14" MacBook. They've basically abandoned all their smaller iOS devices.

You’re absolutely right about this device, it was brilliant. I wanted one also but had a little trouble getting past the price point. Once things started coming back about the keyboard I had to let the idea of picking one up go.

I once was so obsessed to have this laptop, unfortunately it was out of stock after its launch. It is a pity .

Great blend of facts and humor. As much as I like older Apple tech (I've played around with a bunch of it) this is one device I'll pass on.

Picked up a 2017 version with i5, 16GB RAM and 512 SSD in around 2019 … used it as my daily back then, still have it now, still use it mostly for travel. 100% would buy even an M1 version if they ever made it … but a second USB-C port would be appreciated!

lol watching this on my 12" rose gold macbook. It's a great laptop when it's used and inexpensive

Today mac book 12" would be great with m4 chip

Knew someone who had one pretty much from release. At the time I wanted one, but not as my one machine. They were pretty expensive too if I recall correctly. In my mind its spot in the line-up is pretty much taken up by an ipad pro with magic keyboard. Except that’s less of a looker, and no pink…. 😢

I still have my 12in 2017 MacBook, for the small size to fit into my sling bag prev, the single port is getting loose and underpower for my needs, change to m1 but I still love this form factor 😊

Such an awesome looking machine!

I use a HP Steam 11 as my small laptop on the go. It runs the chrome browser better than a phone or tablet does and can run all of my favourite 2008 vintage games. It does need a low profile USB 3 pen drive to due it having a small soldered in 32 Gb SSD.

I LOVED my 12-inch 2015 MacBook (with the 1.3 Ghz CPU). It was a joy to use for office work and attending meetings. Unfortunately, once my company started using Microsoft Teams, an Electron app with horrendous performance, I had to replace it with an Intel MacBook Pro, which ran Teams fine at the expense of turning the laptop into a hot as hell metal slab.

@ConstantGeekery

4 ай бұрын

Good old Teams. Never fails to empty laptop batteries! Who knows what the Microsoft devs did, but we are a long way from well-optimised software!

The Macbook 12 Inch is underrated and heavily missunderstood. The whole purpose with that machine is to be a secondary device when you do not need any powerhouse to make things done. I use this along side the M3 Pro 16inch and are super happy with it. The M2 Air for some reason did not click for me. Design wise I believe this is the best designed laptop of all time. For Web based stuff , email etc it's great. I find it interesting that people complain about the one port situation, meanwhile a very expensive iPad Pro to this date are still using a single USB C and not even a headphone jack which the Macbook 12 has. As much as I would love to see a new gen with Apple SoC on it, it won't happen. For anyone reading this comment I can only recommend the 2017 version and avoid the early -15 models as they are proned to fail (speaking from experience sadly). The main issue with it's launch was the price, but thankfully it is not 1299 USD anymore.

It will run windows 10 nicely. Or win 11 with persuasion.

Honestly an m1 would still be more than fine. Like obv if an m2 or m3 chip can live in an ipad, it can live in a 12in macbook. But id seriously love a secondary device like this. In essence theyre turning ipads into this but like more expensive and without mac os, and still heavier 😂

I've been saying this since M1 was released

I've had this exact same thought a couple of days ago. The M chips make a lot of sense in this form factor. But I'm afraid that the customer of today is more inclined to just buy one of the larger iPhones, or an iPad with the keyboard case, rather than a small laptop like this.

Ridiculous, but yes, I want one now. Thanks to you, I expect, prices are up on eBay in US.

@ConstantGeekery

3 ай бұрын

I think you may be overestimating my influence 😁

This Time I disagree. I absolutely love this small MacBooks and I always preferred a small Laptop over an iPad. Laptops can do so much more and are also super light to carry around. But 12" is very very small.

had mine 2 months and sold it at a loss🤐

Have you Heard ipad got 5mm thickness Lets see end of march ipad event By race of slimmest product Apple i think compromise sometimes

@ConstantGeekery

4 ай бұрын

I'm looking forward to seeing that. It's the OLED screen which allows for the slimmer design - I'll be interested to see how it compares in visuals to the Mini-LED displays.

Oy! It's not the developers not deciding to put effort into optimization, it's the Product and Business people! Profit über alles!

Long time no see. great video as usual. thank you man. I believe the macbook air 13 M2 is not so far than this macbook 12. Don't forget this mac was very expensive

@ConstantGeekery

4 ай бұрын

It was expensive, but at the time it had double the starting RAM and storage of the MacBook Air... not to mention a Retina display. It's not until you get one in your hands alongside a 13-inch MBA that you realise how small and light it was!

It had horrible reliability with a bad keyboard and fragile screen.

M1macbook air?

@ConstantGeekery

4 ай бұрын

It's quite a bit bigger than this one. Have to say though, the M1 Air is still the best value laptop on the market today.

@SinSniper1

4 ай бұрын

@@ConstantGeekery i do understand what you mean in size, but let us be real, i own a m1 macbook air, 16/1tb. I use it for web browsing and libreoffice. Rarely use pixelmator pro. That is as the screen real estate is really little. If i had to work on even less then it would probably be just web browsing and libre office. Probably would be fine off with an ipad air at that point. and i needed keyboard and trackpad then an ipad pro 11 inches would do.

@ConstantGeekery

4 ай бұрын

@@SinSniper1 as with every model - it's not for everyone. Some folks like a small laptop, others don't.

I'll be surprised if they reintroduce the 12" Macbook Air. It was launched when iPads were still 9.4" with a basic OS. But now iPadOS is more capable and screen sizes go as large as 12.9", taking that 12" category. It would be nice for us consumers but it would compromise sales of their 13" Macbooks and iPads.

I think Apple is looking to replace the ultra-portable segment with the wearable ecosystem...

@ConstantGeekery

4 ай бұрын

You could be right... but I really hope not! 😁

200 quid for one of those, you're kidding right? - OK you're a collector, I get that, and that's fine, but these were pretty pathetic back in 2015 when they where released. They also heralded the new era of Apple where if anything goes wrong with the MLB then you've lost everything. I may come across as an Apple hater, and I am, but I wasn't always.

Intel-based Airs were not great in terms of battery life and performance, not to mention the keyboard... Apple Silicon has brought so much positivity.