Apple rebrands MacBooks from “notebooks” to “laptops”

Historically, Apple has referred to its MacBook lineup as a “notebook” but has changed now. 9to5Mac has noticed changes on the company’s user-facing end which now call MacBooks “laptops”.

Until now, the tech company has been calling MacBooks notebooks which is a relatively outdated industry terminology. Plus, most of the company’s competitors call their portable computers ‘laptops’.

Apple updates its online store, support pages, and other elements with MacBook laptop branding

Over the last week, Apple has updated several user-facing elements to refer to MacBooks as laptops.

Apple Online Store
Apple online store product pages
Apple support knowledge
Default device name on macOS Ventura appears as ‘[name]’s Laptop’ instead of “[name]’s MacBook Air”

The publisher writes that although it seems like a minor update, it is one in the right direction.

Apple has not officially acknowledged the change of wording choice, but it certainly feels like a step in the right direction: Calling your computer a “notebook” feels decidedly old-fashioned these days. It also matches what other PC manufacturers typically call their portable machines.

However, the terminology changes are currently visible in U.S. only. At the moment of writing, the online stores in the U.K., Canada, Singapore, and other regions are still using ‘notebooks” for MacBooks. It is observed that the tech company is usually slow in upgrading all online copies and websites simultaneously.

This month, the tech giant is expected to launch next-generation 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M2 Pro and M2 Max chips either through an event or press release.

The new M2 Pro and M2 Max Apple Silicon are speculated to deliver even faster performance and battery efficiency than the M1 Pro and M1 Max chip and more importantly, high GPU performance for the enhanced gaming experience.