by Thinner, lighter and 30% thinner than the Macbook air this new MacBook 12” pays more attention to detail than out and out GPU and Cpu performance. Force touch, a new keyboard and all day battery life all of which with Apple’s own tech.
if you purely look at the new MacBook it does indeed look impressive. A small form factor, or Dave actually like and the retina screen coupled with an incredibly diminutive size it’s a lifestyle, technology product that is unashamedly Apple. That’s if you purely look at it. Delving into it is a different matter altogether.
Apple Macbook specs
- 1.1 ghz dual-core Intel Core M
- Intel 5300 Gpu
- Weighs only 2 lbs
- 1 dual core intel core m
- New logic board thats 2/3 small than any other board Apple has used
- 13.1mm at it’s thickest point. Compared to 17.3mm on the macbook air
- First all metal mac
- USB-C compatible with pretty much everything
Some post event thoughts.
Ok.. How many converter-cables do you need for that usb-c port?
As most people know Apple doesn’t get into a competing with numbers game in terms of specifications. They’d never been one to boast about wall processing or graphics power but more about the experience of what it’s like to use apps on whatever device you have and in the real world.
yet not even the most ardent apple fan can’t help but compare the specifications of this new MacBook versus the MacBook Air.
|
New Macbook |
MacBook Air 13-inch |
|
|
Cpu |
Intel 1.1 Core M processor |
1.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 |
|
Gpu |
Intel HD Graphics 5300 |
Intel HD Graphics 6000 |
|
Ram |
8gb |
4gb |
|
Storage |
Up to 512GB flash storage2 |
256GB |
|
Screen |
12” Retina |
13.3 Widescreen |
|
Cost |
£879.00 |
£1079.00 |
Granted there is no cost given for storage sizes on the new MacBook but nonetheless the figures are quite telling.
The prices are worked out converting from $ to £ so there will be some variants but it seems that the new back MacBook is being pitched purely as an “entry level” device.
This is the same sort of thing they did with the “entry-level” iMac where they literally took the inside of a MacBook Air and stuck it into the chassis of an iMac and boom you have your lower priced Apple that the tech press says Apple is doomed unless it competes in the race to the bottom.
Now its not necessarily a bad thing to bring the price down to an all-time low, at least by Apple standards, but the silky smooth experience of using apps and the OS is somewhat compromised by this.
It’s also going to be a headache for developers having to support such a wide breadth and depth of CPU and GPU combinations all of a sudden and given the fact there is no way to filter out incompatible devices within the Mac App Store leaves Apple with a whole host of issues to address. How do you stop someone purchasing an A* app that simply isn’t going to perform on that particular chipset?
Back to the new MacBook. At first it was hard to see who this device would appeal to based purely on the specifications but if you look at the user experience it suddenly becomes a lot more viable. The new keyboards along with the new trackpad is definitely going to put it in the hands of journalists, students and writers.
I’ve spoken to a couple of coders who say they welcome the improved ergonomic keyboard but the processor alone makes it a no-go.
I’m a distinct feeling that the new MacBook is going to be a lot like the first generation MacBook Air. Who wanted a relatively underpowered, small, portable laptop with not much in the way of processing power? It turns out that quite a lot of people did.
The sentiment shared by myself and couple of people I’ve spoken to about this is a pretty unanimous opinion. People can’t wait for the second generation to come along and this is where perhaps Apple are heading to.
I’m inclined to agree with other journalists out there that this new MacBook does represent the future. It’s just a question of waiting for other technology companies, be it in the towel or are, to catch up and deliver what is needed for the dream to be realised.
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