Macbook Stealth is not a compromise, it’s meeting the target market

So it turns out my original report a few months ago about the 12″ MacBook being noticeably thinner, coming in different colour options, and having the USB-Type-C without MagSafe is probably accurate as Mark Gurman has corroborated my report:

The upcoming 12-inch Air has the fewest amount of ports ever on an Apple computer, as can be seen in the rendition above. On the left side is a standard headphone jack and dual-microphones for input and noise-canceling. On the right side is solely the new USB Type-C port.

Reading the reaction to this article just makes me think people have forgotten about what the MacBook Air is actually made for.

The new “Macbook Stealth” is not a compromise, it’s just meeting it’s target market. The people who buy the MacBook Air need it because it’s incredibly lightweight, not for performance or productivity. If they want that then they should buy a MacBook Pro.

Right now the MacBook Air has lots of competition, it’s not the thinnest laptop in the world anymore and that’s losing them sales. The Primary USP of the MacBook Air is how thin it is, and that should be Apple’s main objective.

The average commuter really isn’t going to care that he has to unplug his charger to use his USB Drive for 2 minutes, it’s a non problem, MacBook Air users have already made a performance compromise by not choosing a MacBook Pro which arguably costs them loads more time.

You can also still use a bluetooth mouse with the charger in, and yet again MacBook Air users will most likely only want the smallest form factor so they shouldn’t be using a mouse in the first place, they bought the wrong product if they’re using peripherals.

I believe this product will be liked by the target market, if you want a thin package without compromise then Apple will still be selling the MacBook Pro & the MacBook Air, the MacBook Stealth will be marketed as an entirely different product.

And just remember that Apple has analytics into how often the ports are used with MacBook Air owners, they wouldn’t have made this decision if it was a feature that was essential to the MacBook Air, lots of ports are only essential to the Pro.