For my Apple collection, I’ve finally assembled a set of those examples of ultra-thin laptops that Apple has released throughout its history. Apple has long been a trendsetter in the tech world, and its drive to create thinner and more elegant laptops has transformed the entire industry.

Of course, there were some missteps along the way: in its desire to create an ultra-thin laptop, Apple invented a new type of keyboard — the “butterfly” — which turned out to be a big problem for the company. The keys on these keyboards would stop working if you looked at them the wrong way, and Apple eventually had to abandon this innovation.

In my opinion, the era of ultra-thin and lightweight Apple laptops begins with the Apple PowerBook Duo. This was a series of ultraportable laptops produced from 1992 to 1997.

They stood out with their compact design and were intended to be used with a special docking station that expanded their capabilities. The dock transformed the laptop into a full-fledged desktop computer — it had a proper hard drive, floppy disk drive, various peripheral ports, and expansion slots.

The docking concept is very interesting — users got maximum portability without losing work functionality. The Duo series combined mobility — under 2 kg! — with functionality, becoming an early example of a hybrid approach to personal computing. I have two of them myself: one, unfortunately, shows no signs of life, and the other has an old passive black-and-white screen, but it works.

I haven’t yet given up hope of reviving the first one, especially since it has a color screen. Portability, in general, is a fascinating topic, considering Apple’s first laptop — the Macintosh Portable — weighed a “mere” 7.3 kg. Not exactly portable.

Then we make a big leap to 2008. In January of that year, Steve Jobs introduced the first MacBook Air, which became the thinnest laptop in the world at the time. He famously pulled it out of a mailing envelope right on stage — it became a symbol of a new era in laptop design. While the first model was underpowered by today’s standards, it set a new benchmark for portability.

What stood out to me about it was the little “door” for the USB ports underneath.

I hunted for one of these for a long time because they’re known to have an issue with the display cable, which causes the screen to lose its image. That’s why eBay is full of screens for the MacBook Air, and functioning units are snatched up for a lot of money. I didn’t want to spend a lot, so I cleverly found a cheap option for $50 that worked, though it was missing a few keys. I then bought a full top case for $20 and successfully transplanted a few keys into the laptop.

Apple continued to refine the MacBook Air, and in 2010 a redesigned model was released with a wedge-shaped aluminum body, a full-sized keyboard, and flash storage — significantly boosting speed and reliability. This quickly became Apple’s most popular laptop. But what interested me most about this version was the 11-inch model — an embodiment of true ultraportability.

Back then I could only admire it from afar, but its size was incredibly appealing to me. Instead of focusing on the “originality” of the very first model, I decided to hunt down one of the last and most powerful 11-inch models with an Intel Core i7 from 2015.

Real bidding wars break out over these on eBay, and I lost several auctions once the prices went into the $300+ range — definitely higher than what I had budgeted. But I kept watching new listings on eBay and eventually scored one for only $170, and with a fully working battery. It’s still a perfectly usable machine today, as long as you’re not doing things like video editing.

The apotheosis of portability was the 12-inch MacBook, which Apple released in 2015. Minimalism to the max, so to speak. It had just one USB-C port, a fanless cooling system, and an even thinner body. While it wasn’t the most powerful device, its design paved the way for future innovations in compact computing.

I had one of these at work from 2015 to 2018, and although I never stopped appreciating its portability, working with large files, virtual machines, etc., was a bit tough on it.

For my collection, I decided I wanted the rose gold version of this MacBook — a color that, as it turns out, is also popular among collectors. After a few auction battles, I finally got one for a price I was happy with: $149! Again, if you don’t need more power than an iPad, it’s still a great little machine — and Apple continues to provide OS updates for it. Granted, its ultra-thin butterfly keyboard isn’t great, but you have to pay for that super-duper-ultra portability.

The modern MacBook Airs with M-series chips are fantastic, of course — mainly because the processors bring massive performance improvements, long battery life, and efficient cooling — all in a fanless, ultra-thin chassis. But I don’t really consider them ultraportable — just good, compact laptops. The 2015 MacBook was ahead of its time: with today’s M-series processors, that form factor could be an absolutely stunning machine. I hope Apple decides to revisit this experiment — something in the style of the MacBook Air 11 or the MacBook 12. I realize ultraportability has limited appeal and not all users value it, but there’s just something about it.