The 12-Inch MacBook: Apple’s biggest Flop of the Decade?

Was this the worst Apple Product?

Who remembers the 12-Inch MacBook? The laptop that Apple released back in 2015 that was just simply named “MacBook”. No short word after to distinguish itself. It was just MacBook, and I think it was, ideally, suppose to start a new series of laptops from Apple.

Well, that was very short-lived. Apple released the MacBook in 2015 and officially discontinued it in 2019, giving small updates to the specs in the years in between.

So, why did it flop?

To begin, the initial release of the product did not go so well. While it was really nice to see a much more portable laptop come out from Apple, the laptop had one huge fault. The new scissor mechanism keyboard that they had made to make the device extremely thin was widely unpopular. Majority of customers hated the fact that they were barely getting any feedback, and while it was a similar experience to typing on an iPad, no one wanted that for their laptop. In addition, the keyboard faced many mechanical issues, constantly getting stuck and this lead to customers always having to go to the Apple store in order to get it repaired.

In fact, Apple introduced the scissor mechanism in later version of the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, but quickly switched back to its original keyboard since it clearly was just not working.

Another thing about the MacBook was the fact that it only had one USB-C port, and a headphone jack. The USB-C, similar to the current MacBook Air and 13-Inch MacBook Pro, is used for charging, which meant that while the MacBook was charging, nothing else could be plugged in.

Finally, the specifications of the laptop were not all that great. While the MacBook did have a Retina display, the processor were Intel M Processors clocked in at 1.1GHz of speed, and base storage of 256GB. This wouldn’t have been horrible if the laptop was not over $1000.

At the time, customers were able to get a MacBook Air, including a Intel I-Series processor, same storage and same RAM for less. The specifications of the MacBook just did not make any sense to its price and its sibling.

I think that the purpose of this laptop was to be the most portable laptop that is made for consumers who mainly do online tasks only. In a way, its kind of like a Apple version of a Chromebook, just better build, better screen, but a lot more money. While it was a nicely built machine, it just did not make sense.