The 12-inch MacBook introduced in 2015 is now listed as a vintage product by Apple. Devices that are not sold by Apple for more than five years and less than seven years are considered vintage. Products which the company has stopped selling for over seven years are considered ‘obsolete.
The company discontinued the 12-inch MacBook lineup in 2019. And now as a vintage product is not eligible for repair. Devices enlisted as vintage are not eligible for repair by Apple and its authorized service providers.
Apple’s 2015 MacBook is now a vintage product
Starting from $1,299, the 12-inch MacBook “created many of the pioneering technologies” like the sleek aluminum body with an all-metal hinge available in Space Gray, Silver, and Gold. Those small changes elevated the whole design. The laptop also featured Intel Core M dual-core processor, Intel HD Graphics 5300, Forced Touch trackpad, single USB-C port, and more.
However, the company also replaced the traditional scissor keyboard switches with the butterfly mechanism which saved 40 percent thickness per key but cause a lot of other issues like the tiny food or dust particles getting stuck in the keys. Since the old MacBook is not obsolete yet, users can get its hardware parts from Apple. Read the company’s service terms of vintage products here.
Fortunately, the MacBook line-up has received impressive upgrades since then. The most important is the M1 Apple Silicon introduced in 2020 Mac models: 12-inch MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and 24-inch iMac. The computers have gotten great reviews for their incredible performance and revolutionary battery life. The M1 chip has completely transformed the Mac experience for the better.” Johny Srouji, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Technologies.
“There has never been a chip like M1, our breakthrough SoC for the Mac. It builds on more than a decade of designing industry-leading chips for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch, and ushers in a whole new era for the Mac. When it comes to low-power silicon, M1 has the world’s fastest CPU core, the world’s fastest integrated graphics in a personal computer, and the amazing machine learning performance of the Apple Neural Engine. With its unique combination of remarkable performance, powerful features, and incredible efficiency, M1 is by far the best chip we’ve ever created.”
The company is expected to launch new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models powered by next-generation M1x chip. It is also reported that the models will come in a completely new design language with a flat edge-to-edge case with a mini-LED display, fingerprinter sensor, no Touch-ID, MagSafe charging, HDMI port, and SD card reader and more. The new MacBook Pro models are expected to launch later this year.
