Forget the M4 Air, I want Apple to bring back the plain ol’ MacBook

There was a time in my life as a MacBook user when I preferred the largest model. In my younger days, I lugged around a 17-inch PowerBook G4 with pride, boasting about how I wasn’t willing to compromise screen size and battery life.

My penchant for large MacBooks continued for a couple of decades, all the way through to the 16-inch MacBook Pro with an M1 Max. But then I reviewed the 15-inch M3 MacBook Air and I dumped the 16-inch MacBook Pro as my daily driver. I even loved the 14-inch M4 MacBook Pro when I tried it last year too.

For a user like me, bigger isn’t better. And now I think I want to go even smaller, smaller than a 13-inch MacBook Air. What I really want is for Apple to revive the 12-inch MacBook. Thanks to Apple silicon and modern-day components, a 12-inch MacBook could be a game changer for MacBook users.

The M4 is buff enough

Apple silicon is the main reason I don’t need a large MacBook anymore. Performance sacrifices for smaller footprints still exist, but the gap is nowhere near what it used to be. While Apple still outfits its larger laptops with its fastest chips, the base M-series chip is fast enough for users like me who use creative (but not pro) apps on a semi-regular basis. That wasn’t the case with Intel or PowerPC chips–while smaller laptops with those processors worked fine, the extra oomph the larger laptops made a significant difference.

Foundry

When the M1 was introduced, it smoked the Intel processors it replaced. The performance has improved with each generation of the M chip, and the M4 is plenty fast for just about anyone. An M4 (or any future base M chip) with 16GB of RAM is plenty of power perfect for a 12-inch MacBook. Remember—the original MacBook had an Intel Core M processor with 8GB of RAM in 2015, a dinosaur compared to what Apple offers now.

Portability is the priority

MacBooks are no longer primarily secondary or travel computers. Many if not most are treated as desktop Macs, plugged into a hub and rarely ever leaving home. But that’s not the case for everyone. I use a laptop because I often move locations for work. Also, I travel often and like to take my MacBook with me for working on the go. When I do, I’m not looking for the power or screen size of a MacBook Pro.

The biggest knock on the original MacBook was its lack of ports—it had just one USB-C port. I’m fine with that. I hardly ever plug in peripheral devices into my MacBook when I’m working remotely. So, one USB-C port is all I need for charging or plugging in a device like an SSD or a display. Battery life is so good now that I rarely run into an issue when I need to connect something while the port is occupied for charging. Apple doesn’t even need to include MagSafe or an audio jack. Just give me a USB-C port and that’s it.

Foundry

Apple has never sold a MacBook with a cellular modem, but now that the C1 modem is here, reports that Apple is thinking about using the modem could become a reality. Apple could use the modem in a 12-inch MacBook and promote it as an ultraportable Mac that’s so thin and light you can take it virtually anywhere and stay connected.

An iPad Pro isn’t good enough

As you read this, you might be thinking—just buy an iPad Pro. In many ways, it’s the best device for traveling: it’s light and portable, comes with cellular, and has a super-fast M-series chip. And there are times when I travel with an iPad instead of a Mac and still get things done.

But for the times when I need to hunker down and work, I want to use macOS, not iPadOS. Even with split-screen and Stage Manager, multitasking on the iPad just isn’t the same. The apps I use most aren’t as full-featured on the iPad and it’s just a lot easier to navigate between those apps on macOS. Even with a Magic Keyboard and Stage Manager, switching between apps in iPadOS isn’t as effortless as it is on the Mac.

Apple once made a 12-inch MacBook–I reviewed the last one Apple released before it was discontinued. Back then, I called it a “MacBook worth bragging about.” Odes to the 12-inch MacBook aren’t new, but if that old laptop was cool, then an M-series 12-inch MacBook would be out of this world.