The case for a 12-inch MacBook Air

Go M1 and go smaller.

- JASON SNELL

I’ve been a fan of tiny Mac laptops for years. From the 12-inch PowerBook G4 (go.macworld.com/pbg4) to the iBook (go.macworld.com/aibk) to the 11-inch MacBook Air (go.macworld.com/11ma), I’ve always opted for the smallest laptop I could get my hands on.

And yet, with the discontinuation of the 12-inch MacBook, the smallest Apple goes is the 13-inch MacBook Air. Is the Air as small as a Mac laptop can get? I don’t think so. And that’s why I think Apple should add another laptop to its product line and bring back the 12-inch MacBook.

LET’S GET SMALL

First, I’ve got to admit that the MacBook Air is a small laptop. Back in the days of the 11- and 13-inch MacBook Air models, I preferred the 11-inch model. Casual observers of the MacBook Air might not realize that it downsized during the transition to the Retina-display model, but it did. The Retina MacBook Air is 0.8 inches less wide, 0.6 inches less deep, and about 0.16 pounds lighter.

In fact, the Retina MacBook Air is only 0.17 inches wider than the 11-inch Air. That’s not nothing, but it’s much closer to the size of the 11-inch Air than the 13-inch model. It’s deeper, to be sure—0.8 inches, so it’s not quite halfway between the two models in that dimension. In terms of weight, the 2.8-pound Retina MacBook Air is 0.42 pounds heavier than the 2.38-pound 11-inch Air.