MacBook 12 appreciation thread

[SamRyouji]

Dunno if there's a similar thread already, but I personally want to give a damn appreciation to this marvel of engineering.

Yes, lots of people said this is "Just a Facebook machine", "Underpowered as f**k", yadda yadda. I digress.

My own MacBook has been said otherwise. It's a beautiful rose gold, m5 Mid 2016. Been doing lots of heavy graphic design on it (Adobe CS5 on Parallels Win7 VM), photo editing with Polarr, and video rendering with DaVinci Resolve 17 with a slight or no stutterings. And it. just. works. Well, with one caveat, of course: you have to be patient when it's doing the rendering.

Here's a recent vid I've been working just to show it really works. Yes, it's just a fullHD 100fps footage. But that's what I need as of right now. I'm just a videographer and photographer for non-profit official Bodybuilding govt. org's YouTube, not doing some blockbuster Hollywood movies yet.

The bottom line is, if you're starting your own journey on creative industry, any underpowered MacBook will do compared to underpowered offerings from competitors.

And judging the powerful experience from this underpowered machine, I'm inclined to go with maxed out M1 MBA instead of upcoming 16" M1 MBP. The gold color is too captivating for my gaudy eye lol. Hoping they will offer the 12" back or make the MBA as compact as the 12".

 

[Mike Boreham]

You're mostly "preaching to choir" in this forum! Wholeheartedly agree. You would be even happier with a 2017 maxed out pink 12" MacBook I had until recently.

I traded up to an M1 MBA 16/512 which is in a different league, but silent and fanless like the 12" MacBook.

Unless the small size is really, really important the M1 MBA is a no brainer upgrade.

 

[SamRyouji]

Ah I see...glad to see lots of Macrumors' users already agree that this little wonder is no slouch.
I know, but since the 2017 lost the Rose Gold, I've held onto this 2016 version. Just because that color only lol.

It's very important for me regarding the size. But if Apple has no signs of shrinking it down anytime soon, then I'll settle with the M1 MBA. Gold, of course. ?

 

[ignatius345]

This is also a testament to how far computer hardware has come in general -- even an "underpowered" Mac is more than sufficient for most tasks these days.

That said, I wanted to love this particular Mac so much, but I could just never get used to the keyboard. I hope they revisit this design with the new M1 processor, a trusty scissor-switch keyboard and hopefully at least one more USB-C port. That would pretty much tick the boxes for everything I need from a laptop.

 

[Mike Boreham]

Ah I see...glad to see lots of Macrumors' users already agree that this little wonder is no slouch.
I know, but since the 2017 lost the Rose Gold, I've held onto this 2016 version. Just because that color only lol.

It's very important for me regarding the size. But if Apple has no signs of shrinking it down anytime soon, then I'll settle with the M1 MBA. Gold, of course. ?

Ah yes, my 2017 was "Gold" not pink, though it was quite pink, but not as pink as your "Rose Gold".

 

[supertiffany]

You're mostly "preaching to choir" in this forum! Wholeheartedly agree. You would be even happier with a 2017 maxed out pink 12" MacBook I had until recently.

I traded up to an M1 MBA 16/512 which is in a different league, but silent and fanless like the 12" MacBook.

Unless the small size is really, really important the M1 MBA is a no brainer upgrade.

i really love the form factor of Macbook 12 inch

will buy it when Apple release it with an Apple silicon chip.

 

[Nychot]

i love mine, too. but i'm going to have to get the battery replaced because of non-usage for a long time.

 

[EugW]

30" MacBook

MacBook clamshell mode with 30" Cinema HD Display, along with a bunch of USB devices connected.

 

[mk313]

Don't know how I missed this thread originally, but I agree with the sentiments, especially Ignatius. I bought my first 12" (2015 top spec, except 256 SSD) in 2016 on a clearance sale, planning to give it to my wife & I'd keep using the 2013 MacBook Pro we were sharing. I expected it to be underpowered & not up to the task, but it was every bit as fast as the Pro (for my uses) and I happily kept it. I loved it so much that I bought a top spec (except 256 SSD) 2017 Model once Apple announced they were discontinuing them. I still use it today & I'm still amazed at how capable it is. For the last week, I even had to use it as my work machine as my actual work PC died, & it handled everything I threw at it.

Amazing little device. I hope that they reintroduce a similar model with an M1 chip at some point, but until then, I'll keep using what I have. While my 2015 is a little slow, I could still easily use that model as my day to day computer today.

 

[thadoggfather]

The M1 Air is a spiritual successor to the 12 MB without any compromises, except size if you're really after as small as possible

 

[Apple_Robert]

Has anyone installed Big Sur on the 2017 model? If so, how is it running (beachballs, lagging etc)? I got a great deal on a brand new one and I am curious if it is worth it to upgrade the OS (from High Sierra) when I get it.

 

[addictive]

My guess is when/soon after Apple releases its redesigned MacBook Pro models with M1X or M2 in 14inch and 16inch displays Apple will possibly redesign the MacBook Air into a 12inch like MacBook but a bit larger allowing for two ports or at least one port and Magsafe and there might be the possibility of having ethernet on the charging brick.

Other manufacturers have released recent very light laptops and now with AS available to Apple it can put the M1 in a MacBook and it can run better than 12inch MacBook used to.

 

[zuzox]

Hey guys,

Do any of you know of any good hubs for this? I need to find a way of charging my Macbook 12" at the same time being able to keep the lid closed when connecting to my 4K monitor @60hz. I ordered a cable from Anker and it has power delivery but no USB-C display connection ! my monitor only has DP 1.4 so USBC dual way charging isnt an option unfortunately

 

[EugW]

Do any of you know of any good hubs for this? I need to find a way of charging my Macbook 12" at the same time being able to keep the lid closed when connecting to my 4K monitor @60hz. I ordered a cable from Anker and it has power delivery but no USB-C display connection ! my monitor only has DP 1.4 so USBC dual way charging isnt an option unfortunately

DisplayPort is backwards compatible but it should be noted the MacBook maxes out at DisplayPort 1.2.

You should just do a search on Amazon UK. For example, perhaps this one would work:

YIWENTEC 1M 3.3FT USB C to DisplayPort 1.4 8K Cable with USB-C PD 8K@60Hz 4K@144Hz Converter Thunderbolt 3 to DisplayPort Adapter Compatible 1M

YIWENTEC 1M 3.3FT USB C to DisplayPort 1.4 8K Cable with USB-C PD 8K@60Hz 4K@144Hz Converter Thunderbolt 3 to DisplayPort Adapter Compatible 1M

www.amazon.co.uk

 

[zuzox]

Cheers man, this is exactly what I need (Ordered). I was going to get an m1 MBP, but then realised my 2017 MBR 12" does 4K @ 60hz, and I managed to get a topped out version when I got it so have the i7 with 16GB ram, so shall do for now

 

[Toutou]

I would love my M1 Air to be as small as the MacBook, that would be one sexy workhorse (mostly in clamshell mode, though).

Also @SamRyouji you need to clean that machine ASAP.

 

[Eddy Munn]

Oh man could you imagine this form factor with an M1, fingerprint sensor and new keyboard? A dream!

 

[EugW]

Oh man could you imagine this form factor with an M1, fingerprint sensor and new keyboard? A dream!

I suspect the current M1 design is just a placeholder, until they revamp it for M2. It still won’t be as small as our beloved 12 inch models, but hopefully they can get part way there.

That said, unless it breaks first or a family member commandeers it, I won’t be replacing my 16 GB Core m3 in the the foreseeable future. We’re already almost at the four year mark now. I can see myself with it for four years more.

Cheers man, this is exactly what I need (Ordered). I was going to get an m1 MBP, but then realised my 2017 MBR 12" does 4K @ 60hz, and I managed to get a topped out version when I got it so have the i7 with 16GB ram, so shall do for now

Let us know how it goes.

 

[addictive]

Oh man could you imagine this form factor with an M1, fingerprint sensor and new keyboard? A dream!

Apple's going to have differentiate their laptops again in the near term. An M1 MacBook Air weighs 2.8 pounds (and an M1 MacBook Pro 13inch weighs just 0.2 pounds at 3.0 pounds. We know from leaks that the MBP is heading for 14inch and 16inch displays.

The newly released Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano weighs 1.99 pounds. Apple's 12 inch MacBook weighed 2.03 pounds.
Surely an Apple has plans to produce a AS MacBook (M1 or M1x or M2) which gets near to the 2.00 pound level.
I can't wait to see what they might create but I agree fingerprint sensor and new keyboard likely Thunderbolt 3/USB4 and possibly even Magsafe. Instant buy.

 

[zuzox]

I suspect the current M1 design is just a placeholder, until they revamp it for M2. It still won’t be as small as our beloved 12 inch models, but hopefully they can get part way there.

That said, unless it breaks first or a family member commandeers it, I won’t be replacing my 16 GB Core m3 in the the foreseeable future. We’re already almost at the four year mark now. I can see myself with it for four years more.



Let us know how it goes.

Works perfectly!

Just arrived today - running at 4K 60hz, considering I my main purpose of this machine was to do some studying and researching it is perfect. It runs so well too, compared to my late 2013 MBP this is blazing fast and can run almost any web application I throw at it. I shall patiently await a M1X upgrade at some point in the future but for now this is amazing. Thank you guys

 

[nocurrency5]

hi everyone, i have a late 2015 12 inch and its my favourite macbook (i also have the 16inch)

I wanted to ask are there any disadvantages you can think of about me upgrading the software to Bigsurf? I can see it is allowed i am just wondering if there any disadvantages like can it potentially slow it down or anything like this?

on another note, it does not seem to be syncing notes from my iphone or my ipad Notes app. I can see in icloud the notespad is ticked so this is not the problem. I am wondering maybe its because the software is way to old. I literally brought this the first month they released a type c 12 inch model back in 2015 so its quite old now but works well

 

[Apple_Robert]

For a Mac (I have had for 3 days) that had been sitting new and unused for over 2 hrs, the battery doesn't appear to have been drastically affected.

I did downgrade (back to Mojave from Big Sur) early yesterday morning (as I wanted to do some testing) and then found out that OTP Auth needed 10.15 (at a minimum) to install. I never did like Catalina so, I did another clean install of Big Sur.

The MacBook has been running Big Sur without any problems thus far. The only real thing I have noticed is that sometimes it can be a little slow to wake the screen and log in with the watch. A cold boot is about 20 seconds. I haven't seen any beach-balling from Safari or any of the other apps.

The second screenshot is an hour later than the first.

 

[SamRyouji]

I would love my M1 Air to be as small as the MacBook, that would be one sexy workhorse (mostly in clamshell mode, though).

Also @SamRyouji you need to clean that machine ASAP.

Yeah. Forgive myself as I slack a lot in reagrds to the cleanliness of my MacBook. It's been through the hard outdoor situation almost daily (sand, humid forest, cold indoors, scorching sunny days, etc).
Just cleaned it recently while waiting for the screen replacement.

 

[SamRyouji]

The M1 Air is a spiritual successor to the 12 MB without any compromises, except size if you're really after as small as possible

Indeed. Now the rumors of colorful M2 MacBook Air is running wild, I hold myself to upgrade in anticipation for that.

 

[SamRyouji]

Apple's going to have differentiate their laptops again in the near term. An M1 MacBook Air weighs 2.8 pounds (and an M1 MacBook Pro 13inch weighs just 0.2 pounds at 3.0 pounds. We know from leaks that the MBP is heading for 14inch and 16inch displays.

The newly released Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano weighs 1.99 pounds. Apple's 12 inch MacBook weighed 2.03 pounds.
Surely an Apple has plans to produce a AS MacBook (M1 or M1x or M2) which gets near to the 2.00 pound level.
I can't wait to see what they might create but I agree fingerprint sensor and new keyboard likely Thunderbolt 3/USB4 and possibly even Magsafe. Instant buy.

Judging at the recent wild rumors regarding of the M1X/M2 MacBook Air, it will be an instant buy for you. For me, just one extra condition: colors! ?