The MacBook Air: A Decade’s Worth of Legacy
Argh... I can&#x27;t talk about the Macbook Air without getting angry. Angry at Apple&#x27;s direction.<p>I bought the second generation MBA (the first good one) in 2011. It was a fantastic laptop. It was pretty much the right compromise of power vs weight vs cost. I loved how you could get a pretty darn usable Macbook for (eventually) like $1200.<p>For the first couple of years other manufacturers just couldn&#x27;t compete with that much hardware for that price.<p>But then it got a bit long in the tooth. I, like many, was waiting for a screen upgrade (particularly to a retina screen). Other manufacturers were increasingly producing better hardware and smaller bezel displays. Yet no update from Apple (after about 2015 or so).<p>And then... the Macbook came out, which spelt the end for the MBA (a 12&quot; MB and 11&#x2F;13&quot; MBAs were too many SKUs for Apple). And the MB was a terrible compromise. One port (also for power!). Terrible keyboard. Horrible performance.<p>And now we have Macbook Pros that have:<p>- Removed the super-useful Magsafe connector<p>- Added a stupid touchbar no one cares about<p>- Used a much worse keyboard and trackpad to save like 0.5mm in width; and<p>- Cost 2x+ as much.<p>Thanks for that, Apple.<p>All I wanted was an updated Macbook Air.