Btw, one thing I forgot to mention as 13" competition below $1000 Surface Book offers

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MINT-NEW-CONDITION-Microsoft-Surface-Book-Intel-i5-8GB-128GB-1YR-WARRANTY-/322304873198?hash=item4b0ade12ee:g:oK0AAOSwezVWuVwD

I have moved from PC to Apple about twenty years ago, mainly because of the underlying UNIX base and the good performance at the time. Now I'm pretty sure I'll switch back to PC before retirement. I've upgraded my old workhorses (MacPro cheese graters) to nearly the same performance – which is not too impressive – for half the price of the unreliable new MacPro and intend to use them until they die. I don't expect an up-to-date desktop machine from Apple any more.

I'm using a mid 2012 MBP a lot, very reliable too, but probably my last Apple laptop (no DVD in there, though).

The only thing I'll miss is the brilliant integration between my phone and my other computers. Can be done on PCs and Android too, but less comfortable. And sharing my data with the authorities? I have no illusions there, W10 is more like broadcasting my data, Apple is DoD, but they get at you nevertheless. If you like some degree of privacy, use CP/M, I suppose they forgot how to hack that ;-)

The Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel tweeted this afternoon that he was informed by Apple that “it’s out of the stand-alone display biz.”

And it is very strong rumors that in spring they will be out of desktop market as well focusing OS X only on slim notebook and elite consumers.

Why wouldn't the Macbook air disappear? Its main selling point of using a better CPU than the Macbook while being smaller than the 13" Macbook Pro is gone. The new 13" Macbook Pro which still has the top row of keys is the obvious replacement product.

And as far as longevity conspiracy theories go, I still pretty regularly use a 11" mid-2011 Macbook Air (at purchase time in August of 2012, I maxed it out with a 2ghz i7 and 8GB of RAM) and I've since replaced the anemic 128GB SSD with a larger aftermarket one. The screen resolution is a bummer, but otherwise for day-to-day tasks like web browsing, etc, it's still just fine. I'm sure it'll eventually die. After 4+ years, I'll be sad, but I won't be too upset with Apple. I've had my money's worth out of it (and then some). I dunno that I'll rush out to replace it - assuming that the unix-like environment in Windows 10 keeps improving, it will keep moving toward being a viable replacement.

Yeah the IBM thinkpad keyboards are the best feeling IMHO.. in fact I'm using one now on my T42.. I have an HP probook and don't really like the action

Where is good reason by TP keyboards was such - as they had been designed by professional engineers with only task to feel great and work long. Not because they wanted make notebook thinner or needed backlight. I had some long discussion and it is considered among guys who had many TP that 600 series had been pinnacle after this it was slow descending plato and after Lenovo times it is big ride to the shit.

Btw, TP600 still can work perfect as go to writing machine. Install XP, older Office and it'll work fine. Battery just need new elements if you buy old.

@ zcream I still use a mid 2012 MBP but found no DVD drive of mine.
@ Vitaliy_Kiselev they remove Wisdom Teeth SD to make profit for all those fancy face -;)

Very funny saying I found:

Apple is like visiting a dentist:

1. Painful.
2. Expensive.
3. They remove something you use.

the screen, well, personally I find any res above fhd unseeable on less than 17¨screens, but I´m old and half blind

You won't see it on normal distance, except of smoother overall feel. But to check detail you can always bring it really close :-)

You'll be surprised, but we will soon see lots and lots of 5",6" and 7" 4K screens.

@Vitaliy

the processor is skylake with hyperthreading, the nvidia with gddr5 is as good as the onboard iris 540 graphics on the mac, the screen, well, personally I find any res above fhd unseeable on less than 17¨screens, but I´m old and half blind

....and since it's less than a third of the macbooks price, well, imho few people would see any differences, if any, whatsoever , I rest my case !

and I still agree with zcream,and in doing this I found this 13inch from 2012 selling for around 5 bills on amazon , and it´s got usb3, firewire 800, and thunderbolt ports , you know, back when apple still believed in putting more than one port

https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B0074703CM/ref=dp_olp_refurbished?ie=UTF8&condition=refurbished

Btw, previous "innovators" already did it, on their level

Yep, it is the model where they killed trackpoint keys. Also was very "smart" idea.

@matt_gh2

Only interesting is 15" one. And it can have issues. As you can do anything, but can not change physics. You have small weak heatsinks and extra slim turbines. Under heavy load all this must sound not too nice, especially after some time to get some wear and dirt on blades. Intel CPUs can throttle very easy as they have internal sensors.

@Vitaliy_Kiselev Interesting point about the overheating. Do you think the Apple desktop iMacs will be safe and reliable to do video editing without the computer breaking down?

....for this starting price you can buy a real laptop ! I ...personally....would never spend another dime on appleanythings . The first decade they were the leader. Now they´re orwellian slopmakers. At least they included a headphone jack ! You can get this computer in windowsland for about $350....might have to put in the ssd for 70 bucks !

You can't get i7 Skylake HQ 4 core notebook with 1080p and up good IPS screen for anything near such sum.

Ones I found are good refurbished notes like

DELL INSPIRON 15.6'' 7559 i7-6700HQ 16GB 1TB UHD 4K TOUCH GTX960M 4GB W10PRO $849

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DELL-INSPIRON-15-6-7559-i7-6700HQ-16GB-1TB-UHD-4K-TOUCH-GTX960M-4GB-W10PRO-/322305169544?hash=item4b0ae29888:g:1V0AAOSwX~dWmXik

Btw resolution still are 2560×1600 for the 13-inch Pro and 2880×1800 for the 15-inch model.