Dating back to January 15, 2008 (opens in new tab), Apple announced the MacBook Air, and then-CEO Steve Jobs pulled the laptop out of the envelope to show how “thin” the theme of this new Mac was. I had one between 2013 and 2021 before finally giving up on Ghost.
At the time, netbooks were taking the world by storm, with 8-inch displays powered by cheap Intel processors selling for around $299/£349. Even before the iPad came out, many wanted Apple to follow suit.
However, the original 2008 MacBook Air was seen as a better alternative for those who just wanted workflow simplicity. Wayback Machine saved a great page from his Apple site (opens in new tab) At the time, wireless and thinness were the two goals of this laptop from the company.
By housing just one USB 2.0 port, a video-out port to support an external monitor, and a MagSafe power connector all inside a tiny hinge, Apple tries to apply thinness to most products until it works. A method template. His MacBook Pro 14-inch for 2021 features lots of ports and focuses more on productivity than style.
My Air: 2013-2021
I’ve been a Mac owner since 2006 when the first Intel Core Duo iMac came out and the CPU went from PowerPC to Intel. As the years went by, I upgraded to a 2010 MacBook Pro, then a MacBook Air in 2013, which helped me complete college courses after using an iPad 3 the year before.
By this time, the GPU had reached a level where BioShock Infinite and Batman: Arkham City weren’t a problem to play, and storage had grown from 80GB in 2008 to 256GB.
The MacBook Pro had a Retina display in June 2012, (opens in new tab), the Air didn’t have this feature until 2018, but I didn’t care. Speed and reliability were my goals here, and the Air delivered it to a large extent.
But eventually, as I graduated college and landed a full-time IT job that now feels like my previous life, the Air became my least used machine, supplanted by the thinner and lighter iPad. I was. backup machine.
Eventually the battery and hard drive will fail. For example, your Air reaches 40% charge and suddenly turns off. My hard drive finally failed in 2021 and I just booted into recovery mode and found 256 GB of storage, now a relic in the box.
Mac Renaissance
However, my Mac had been patched roughly during this time, and I was hesitant to consider purchasing a new Mac. Butterfly keyboard and TouchBar weren’t worth the upgrade for me. Also, macOS just didn’t fit my needs.
My Air was a spare machine, but I still loved its design and keyboard. For example, whenever I needed to edit a podcast or launch an app that didn’t work on iOS, the Air came in handy.
After my MacBook Pro 14″ arrived, I decided to go back to macOS. Owning a Mac has never been happier. Its design, ports and keyboard are all homeruns for me. That iPad Pro is in the hands of a developer friend to test the app.
But it’s the MacBook Air that always set the standard for what a laptop should be for me, from portability to long battery life to great physical design. If not, it’s one of the best laptops you can own today. A wave of nostalgia hits me every time I see this in the Apple Store. Finished the thesis at 3am in 2014 at the library in Nottingham on my old his MacBook Air.
Long live the Air. I also hope Apple never changes keyboards again.