Apple has just announced 12-inch MacBook with an all-new design and a super thin profile. More details on its features, specs, price and release date can be found right here.
Features and Specs:
Design
The first, and most unavoidable point to make about the new MacBook is that it’s thin; unprecedentedly so. It manages to be 24 per cent thinner than the MacBook Air, which was once described by Apple as “the world’s thinnest notebook,” and at just two pounds, it’s not all that bulky, either.
Like the Air, its profile is wedge-like, so gradually increases in depth the closer you get to the hinge. Meanwhile, the keyboard has also been completely revamped — also in line with numerous rumors and reports — with Apple adopting a butterfly keyboard system that is thinner, and with each key getting its own individual LED backlight, it should offer a more pleasurable typing experience all round.
Where we’ve become accustomed to MacBook’s arriving in silver, this model follows the precedent set by the iPhone and iPad with Silver, Space Gray, and Gold. No prizes for guessing which will sell in the highest numbers!
12-inch Retina Display
With such a slender, light build, it would seem almost unfathomable that Apple could include a Retina display, but somehow, the new MacBook’s 12-inch panel manages to offer a crisp, high-res experience akin to the iMac and MacBook Pro.
With a 2304 x 1440 resolution, the display is also edge-to-edge, doing away with the thick, metallic bezel that many have long since loathed with the MacBook Air.
Fan-less
With the internals, Apple has had to downsize things considerably in order to keep the new MacBook ticking over. The logic board is 67 per cent smaller than that of the Air’s, while Apple has also ditched the internal fan. Meanwhile, the processor therein is an Intel Core M 1.3GHz, turbocharged up to 2.9GHz.
Battery Life
Since the logic board is so small and dense, there’s plenty of space for battery, and Apple claims that the new MacBook is capable of “all-day battery life.” The 9 hours of Web browsing or 10 hours of video playback is possible thanks to newly-designed terraced batteries, and if this thing really can last a whole day given its thinness and Retina display, then it’s hard not to be in awe.
Force Touch Trackpad
One of the MacBook Air’s most intriguing features is the new "Force Touch" trackpad. A completely revamped system, it’s comprised of a glass surface harboring four force sensors and a taptic engine beneath, which can accurately detect the amount of pressure being applied at any moment. Unlike previous trackpads, it doesn’t click, and instead, includes what Apple is calling "Force Click." These stronger presses of the trackpad essentially offer the user features ordinarily associated with right-clicking, and the new trackpad in general should bring an unprecedented degree of interactivity to OS X. As demonstrated today, for example, a Force Click can be used to click on a Finder file for a quick preview. Or, in QuickTime (and presumably other media players), a Force Click on the fast-forward button may speed up a video. Of course, we we’ll reserve definitive judgment until we’ve had a chance to test it out, but on the face of it, the enhanced trackpad could prove a massive win for productivity
One Port
Elsewhere, the MacBook is kitted out with USB-C, which is, in fact, the only port on the entire machine (save for a headphone jack). It will see to USB, DisplayPort, Power, HDMI and VGA duties all on its own, and while some will surely decry this change from Apple as they resisted when the MacBook Pro ditched the optical drive, the space saved allows the product to evolve.
Price
Base model: $1299 with 256GB SSD and 8GB RAM. $1599 for faster processor and 512GB SSD.
Release Date
Ships April 10th.
Evolve, it most certainly has with today’s announcement, and whether it’ll be deemed evolutionary or revolutionary is a matter to be decided.
For now, though, what do you make of the new MacBook? Share your comments with us below!
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