LONDON: Apple unveiled a new, thin MacBook. The new computer comes in resemblance with iPad.
The computer, which Apple claims “reinvents the notebook”, weighs 2-pounds and is 13.1mm thin at its thickest point. It is 24 percent thinner than the company’s smallest computer.
Apple MacBook 12-inch (2015) features an Intel Core M (1.1GHz) processor, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of flash storage, starting at $1,299. That’s significantly higher than the 11-inch MacBook Air (2014), which starts at just $899. The model we most recently reviewed was a bit more expensive, but offers a 1.4GHz Intel Core i5-4260U processor, 4GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage.
The Apple MacBook 12-inch (2015) uses the same sort of unibody aluminum design seen on the Apple MacBook Air 11-Inch (2014)$999.00 at Amazon, but it’s slimmer and lighter. The entire laptop measures just 0.51 inches at the thickest point, a fraction of an inch slimmer than the 0.68-inch thick MacBook Air.
It’s also lighter, weighing 2 pounds, shedding nearly 5 ounces from the MacBook Air’s 2.31 pounds. It also has a fanless design, thanks to an Intel Core M processor (more on that below). That’s a subtle change from the 11-inch Air, which hides its fan vents in the hinge, but it makes for a slightly thinner chassis and fewer concerns about airflow. When it comes to weight and size, the new MacBook has the edge.
It’s also got the looks. The aluminum chassis can now be had in three different colors: silver, space gray, and gold. It’s a decision that matches the iPhone before it, and it’s a nice change from past MacBook Air and Pro designs, which had a Henry Ford-esque selection of any color, as long as it’s silver.
The trackpad has also gotten an update. Whereas the old multi-touch trackpad used the entire touch surface as a levered button, the new MacBook has Apple’s new Force Touch trackpad, which uses four, corner-mounted pressure-sensitive force sensors for a more uniform click across the entire touch surface. Instead of a physical click from a button, you’ll now feel haptic feedback as your taps and swipes register, and sensitivity is adjustable.
Despite all the external changes, the biggest differences are inside. First and foremost, the new MacBook uses Intel’s Core M processor, which uses less power, produces less heat, and allows the thinner fanless design of the chassis. The model of CPU hasn’t been identified, but the dual-core chip is likely an Apple variant of the 1.1GHz Intel Core M 5Y70 seen in some Windows systems, like the Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro$1,149.00 at Lenovo.
Connectivity is undergoing some huge changes, however. The new MacBook boasts a dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi connection—the same as the 11-inch Air—but with the Wi-Fi antennas integrated into the chassis. Whether this means the antennas somehow use the metal chassis for reception or simply have a slot-style antenna like we saw on the HP Spectre x360$999.99 at Best Buy is yet to be seen. The bottom line is that it has 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0, functionally identical to the 11-inch Air but perhaps with better reception and throughput.
However, between the new hardware and the spartan port selection, Apple engineers had a lot more room to work with inside the laptop chassis, despite its thinner dimensions. Thanks to a new battery design that lets batteries squeeze further into the tapered interior of the MacBook, the new laptop has a 39.7 watt-hour (Wh) lithium-polymer battery, slightly higher than the 38Wh battery in the 11-inch Air.
Finally, for most people this decision will come down to price. The base configuration of the If you were looking for the best deal on an ultraportable Mac laptop, your best bet is still the Apple MacBook Air 11-inch (2014), which offers more processing power, better port selection, and similar all-day battery life for much less. If you feel weighed down by the existing MacBook Air, or if you are primed and ready to upgrade to all-wireless accessories, then the Apple MacBook 12-inch (2015) may be for you, but for most shoppers, the MacBook Air 11-inch is the better value.
