12-Inch MacBook Now Available in Apple Retail Stores via Personal Pickup

[Nozuka]

Couldn't have said it better. Went to the Apple store the other day, played around with every other computer in the store, then I played with the MacBook... It was so sluggish in comparison. I thought Apple learned their lesson about releasing gimped launch products with the original Air, but apparently not...

what lesson? the Air is a huge success and basically started the ultrabook category.

a 1st generation device doesn't have to be perfect or be an instant hit. it will have a bigger impact, if they can release it as early as possible. it is supposed to start a new trend.

it will most likely get much better next year.

 

[subjonas]

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a 16" rMBP with Skylake, tapered design, new keyboard, dedicated Bluetooth chip (so that I can actually use AptX headphones and a mouse at the same time), and 4x USB-C/TB3 connectors.

16" with thinner bezels so overall size same as current 15"? Yes me too. Actually I would consider it either way.

Oh is that why a Bluetooth mouse always takes a second to connect? So friggin annoying. Count me in for the dedicated chip too. And skylake and all that of course.

And to hope for the impossible, I also want:
- pressure sensitive pen input screen with a convertible form factor (for photoshop and art applications only, not to run touch apps)
- high quality DAC
- 2 internal SSDs--500gb for system, 3 TB for storage
- 15 hour battery life
- a million dollars

 

[mscice]

skylake <3 very soon

 

[matthewhuk]

I hope this is a real flop for apple, it might make them realise we are not all obsessed by thinness and some of us would like a computer with a decent amount of ports and specs and perhaps some decent speakers for a change?
I use my MacBook Pro as a work horse desktop to do video and music, with all of apples' recent lap tops I'd have to compromise or buy adapters in some way, so much for the 'pro' tag!

 

[Nozuka]

skylake <3 very soon

most likely not before 2016 for laptops.

 

[Wingsnbeer]

For the same price my money would go to the Macbook Pro. Seems like a no brainer to me.

My thoughts as well. Personally, if they'd just update the non-retina Macbook Pro i would buy that. They are still selling it and haven't updated it for 4 years.

 

[Loucifer]

I completely agree. I want to upgrade but I'm waiting now as I know the 12 macbook is not for me. I just don't see the point in investing in all new adapters, connectors, and dealing with all the hassle of one port. It's like they only thought of design and completely forgot about functionality.

Hopefully future generations will have wireless charging and they come up with something to improves the utility of it. If not I'll stick with the macbook airs (hopefully they don't get hobby status or get updated as often as the mac mini).

Couldn't have said it better. Went to the Apple store the other day, played around with every other computer in the store, then I played with the MacBook... It was so sluggish in comparison. I thought Apple learned their lesson about releasing gimped launch products with the original Air, but apparently not...

Apologies for sounding old and smug, but Apple learned their lesson VERY well with the Air, the same complaints were vented when the original Air came out: "No optical drive? Why would anybody go and buy a separate optical drive? No ethernet port? More adaptors to buy! Doom!!." Yet Apple's plan was impeccable: they produced a revolutionary machine while keeping development costs low enough. The new concept of ultra portability appealed to some consumer enough for them to spend the premium, despite the low specs, then, when bringing more power to the MBA had dropped in price, they introduced much more powerful machines, thus not risking their margins and getting everybody, not just the most image conscious (I think we Apple lovers are all image conscious to a certain extent), to adopt the new concept. This is phenomenal business practice, nobody does it better.

 

[kazmac]

My only issue is that it took almost 4 months for some stores to have these in stock. I hope that does not foreshadow any future Mac releases (2 months I can understand, double that a little tricky even with how thin Apple is spreading themselves.)

I look forward to future generations of this machine as vision willing it will probably be all the Apple computer I need in a couple of years (and frankly all I want to spend.)

 

[FieldingMellish]

Apologies for sounding old and smug, but Apple learned their lesson VERY well with the Air, the same complaints were vented when the original Air came out: "No optical drive? Why would anybody go and buy a separate optical drive? No ethernet port? More adaptors to buy! Doom!!." Yet Apple's plan was impeccable: they produced a revolutionary machine while keeping development costs low enough. The new concept of ultra portability appealed to some consumer enough for them to spend the premium, despite the low specs, then, when bringing more power to the MBA had dropped in price, they introduced much more powerful machines, thus not risking their margins and getting everybody, not just the most image conscious (I think we Apple lovers are all image conscious to a certain extent), to adopt the new concept. This is phenomenal business practice, nobody does it better.

AKA - Planned obsolescence.

 

[johngordon]

For the same price my money would go to the Macbook Pro. Seems like a no brainer to me.

It might be for you, but for any individual it really depends on your priorities.

We needed to replace our old 2008 MBP and I had always assumed we'd just get another 15" MBP. But with the retina screens, maybe a 13". The Air was always a no mainly because of the display.

But in the end went for the MB - none of the things that were supposed to be bad about it seemed like an issue for us - virtually never use any ports anymore, other than occasionally a thumb drive, so a little dongle for those occasions seemed a like a reasonable trade off. The keyboard - don't know what the fuss was about. Sure, it felt a little different at first, but got used to it very quickly and now love it. The spec - I don't really care, as it has no problem doing anything we use it for. All the usual stuff plus I use it for quite a bit of web design and light Illustrator / Photoshop use.

Basically this review I saw the other day almost exactly mirrors my own experience:

http://www.maclife.com/article/reviews/apple-macbook-2015-review

 

[johngordon]

AKA - Planned obsolescence.

At what point did "technological advances" morph into "planned obsolescence"?

 

[johngordon]

It's very much a first generation product. In a couple of generations it will probably be the standard for the modern laptop, but for now it seems like more of a proof of concept than a viable option for the majority of users.

Just out of interest - what actually are the requirements of "the majority of users"?

What sorts of things do this majority of users need a laptop for that they wouldn't be able to do with the Macbook?

Our use cases:

My wife uses it for email / internet / photos / music in the house. I don't think she has ever needed to use a port in all the time we've had a laptop, other than very occasionally USB.

I use it for all of the above, plus a web design, and a bit of graphic design, and take it out to meetings / coffee shops quite a bit (so weight and portability is important to me). The only port I would ever need to use, and even then rarely, is USB.

Does that really make us some sort of niche minority kind of user?

I completely understand that it won't be for everyone, and that power users will need the ports, extra power, or not value portability so much. But I would very much doubt that group makes up the majority of laptop users.

 

[zhenya]

I've honestly never seen a Mac that I had absolutely no interest in, until the Retina MacBook. It's just too underpowered. Even if it's "enough" for someone now, a laptop as underpowered as the Retina MacBook isn't going to have anywhere near the longevity of any of Apple's other offerings. It's thin, it's light, but everything else is worse. I can honestly say I do not see a single reason to buy it. It's short-sighted to even consider it.

The rMB is basically as powerful as the MBA from 2014, which in and of themselves are more powerful than the computers that the vast majority of the world use today. It's a device built on the acknowledgement that for years, a huge proportion of laptop users have not been constrained by the power of their cpu, and the extra power they have been carrying around has in fact been a burden and a liability - it takes up extra space, requires a fan, and has the potential to drain their battery very quickly if some program starts misbehaving. 2lbs and a gorgeous screen are all the reasons I needed to see the light.

I really don't understand this MacBook or its positioning. Everyone wanted a MacBook Air with Retina screen and instead they give us something so freaking thin that you can't even have more than one plug for it. I loved that I could take my MacBook Air and easily hook it up to a monitor. This thing though is dongle city. What's the point in being that thin that you're going to need a dongle? I still want a MacBook Air with Retina screen but I guess that won't be happening.

How often do you hook up to a monitor? Most people using a laptop like the air probably do it occasionally at best - and if they do, it's generally at the same dedicated location at home or work. So for that convenience, you carry around a thicker, heavier laptop 100% of the time. The rMB means that I carry the lightest machine possible 100% of the time, and when I need to 'dock' it to my monitor/network/peripherals, I connect a single cable at my desk that stays there all the time. That sure doesn't sound like an inconvenience to me...

I think the better question is, why buy this laptop over the retina MacBook Pro, when they're so close in price.

Because the MBP is nearly the weight and volume of TWO rMB's. It's much heavier to travel with, much bulkier to deal with in mobile situations, yet for many people's workflow, offers little to no performance advantage. Again, remember that many many many users - I'd dare to say even the majority - are not bound by the speed of their CPU. It's a poor metric to measure modern computers by.

• The one port thing is annoying, but you get by. I mean, I live with it- but I'm often in a situation deciding whether to charge my laptop or my phone. And if my phone is dying, charging it usually kills my laptop too quickly. They should have made this with two ports.

• USB-C is also somewhat annoying. You have a new cable to carry (USB-C) which doesn't (yet?) plug into the iPhone, which means you're carrying two cables and two chargers at all times. And since the iPhone constantly needs to be charged, you now have to carry the small iPhone square power converter and hope for two available plugs.

Carrying a tiny usb-c to usb-a adapter solves most of your problems. Leave it connected to the Lightning cable for travel so it barely takes up any additional room, and it can charge from the rMB adapter. If charging both simultaneously is a must, get the digital av adapter which still weighs in at only an ounce. Personally, I would rarely see the need to charge both at the same time, even as a heavy road warrior, given that the rMB charges ~80% in 1 hour from its adapter.

 

[johngordon]

Why would anyone buy this on purpose? MBA 13 or 11 are far better for the simple fact the MBA is better in every respect apart from screen. They need to stop buying so we as consumers can force apple into a forward thinking frame of mind again. one USB-c port? really? Dongles? Its woefully underpowered and compromised and more expensive. Anything it can do effectively an iPad can do better. Anything more you would need more juice.

Blimey - I feel really bad now for letting you down.

So the MBA is better in every way apart from the screen. And arguably the keyboard. And the trackpad. And the design and build.

What is it with people's complete inability to realise, let alone accept, that different people will have different preferences? If I don't use the ports, why do I need dongles? If it does everything I need it to do, why do I care about its relative power?

And no - an iPad can't do anything it can do better. That's just ridiculous.

 

[johngordon]

This computer is a poor purchase for its price, no matter how you slice it. It isn't a matter of preference when there are enough reasons to not buy something. Preference is whether you want the lighter and less powerful (but still capable) MacBook Air, or the powerful (but a bit heavier) MacBook Pro. One might even prefer a desktop if they really need the extra power, and can live without the mobility. This new laptop is even lighter, true, but its performance is sluggish and it has only one port (even the common user plugs their iPhone into their laptops from time to time...). I don't see the advantage of this over the MacBook Air, or Pro. It truly is a waste of money.

What are you even talking about?

If its about preference, why isn't the Macbook, which has the weight / portability of the Air plus the retina display of the Pro plus the new keyboard and trackpad plus arguably the best looking design a perfectly valid preference to have?

 

[robeddie]

Look, all of us here would probably never buy the macbook. But why is it so bad that Apple created a new macbook for people to buy? if you don't want to buy it, don't buy it. Simple.
.

Let me spell it out for you ... many of us wanted a decently powered macbook air with a retina screen. Instead, now you have the choice of the air with enough power but no retina screen, or the macbook with a retina screen but that is underpowered and limited in other ways. So, Apple gave us a devils bargain with this laptop, when they could have done so much more.

 

[zhenya]

Why would anyone buy this on purpose? MBA 13 or 11 are far better for the simple fact the MBA is better in every respect apart from screen. They need to stop buying so we as consumers can force apple into a forward thinking frame of mind again. one USB-c port? really? Dongles? Its woefully underpowered and compromised and more expensive. Anything it can do effectively an iPad can do better. Anything more you would need more juice.

Apart from the one component that you interact with 100% of the time? That's a pretty big downside I'd say. And no, it's not just the screen. It's the trackpad, and the keyboard (which on the air now feels like a mushy, light-bleeding mess in comparison) and the 16:9 aspect ratio. I have used an iPad as my primary personal device for years, and no, they are nowhere near as complete as the rMB. The rMB is a FULLY capable Mac, more powerful in every way than my top of the line iMac from 2008 that still works just fine, distilled into a 2lb package. Would you tell someone considering a refurb 2014 MBA that

Anything it can do effectively an iPad can do better. Anything more you would need more juice

because they are effectively the same power as the rMB.

 

[johngordon]

But they are. Just read the various posts in the MacBook forum. Many are buying the multiport adaptor.

Even if they are, it doesn't mean they use it much.

If you need to take your laptop out and about virtually every day, but need to use a dongle once every few months then its probably a perfectly reasonable trade off.

 

[zhenya]

Let me spell it out for you ... many of us wanted a decently powered macbook air with a retina screen. Instead, now you have the choice of the air with enough power but no retina screen, or the macbook with a retina screen but that is underpowered and limited in other ways. So, Apple gave us a devils bargain with this laptop, when they could have done so much more.

Were they to have updated the Air with Retina, you would effectively have a replica of the 13" MBP in price, battery life, and for the 13" in size. What would be the point? As someone who has owned a rMB for a couple of months now, lived with it next to our 11" Air, and seen the repeated cases of other users who didn't believe coming into the forum and stating that they are now amazed as well after actually *buying* one, the VAST majority of the negativity around this machine is coming from people who overestimate the CPU power they need in a computer, and underestimate what the rMB is capable of. Most people who are served with the 11" Air would be perfectly suited by the rMB - I would in fact make the counter argument that any extra power the 11" Air has would be completely wasted on me because my workflow would be completely crippled by the lack of screen real estate.

 

[zhenya]

But they are. Just read the various posts in the MacBook forum. Many are buying the multiport adaptor.

And? It weighs an ounce, so it's good to have in my bag just in case when I travel. The rest of the time it sits at my desk acting as a single cable docking station. One cable to plug in gives me power, access to Ethernet and all my usb peripherals, and my monitor. The 'trade-off' for that is that the rest of the time I use my Macbook on the go, I get the slimmest, lightest machine possible as I'm not carrying anything I don't need. It's pretty sweet, truth be told.

 

[robeddie]

What are you even talking about?

If its about preference, why isn't the Macbook, which has the weight / portability of the Air plus the retina display of the Pro plus the new keyboard and trackpad plus arguably the best looking design a perfectly valid preference to have?

We get it ... you bought one and you really like it (or you have a strong case of confirmation bias). But besides you and a couple others on this thread who are posting a half dozen times or more, most here have very clearly stated why they feel the macbook is not a good choice.

 

[zhenya]

We get it ... you bought one and you really like it (or you have a strong case of confirmation bias). But besides you and a couple others on this thread who are posting a half dozen times or more, most here have very clearly stated why they feel the macbook is not a good choice.

The reports from people who actually own and use a device are much more valuable than the feelings of people who don't own and live with it, and as such, can't do anything more than speculate as to what the experience might be like. And are likely projecting their own biases into those statements in order to justify what they currently have or can afford.

 

[johngordon]

And that makes me sad. Why would it have been a price increase for a MBAr though? Sure, a small one but nothing huge. It can't have been cheap to design an all new device with the special batteries and everything.

Are you asking why a MBA with a retina display would be more expensive than a MBA without a retina display?

 

[prowlmedia]

I've honestly never seen a Mac that I had absolutely no interest in, until the Retina MacBook. It's just too underpowered. Even if it's "enough" for someone now, a laptop as underpowered as the Retina MacBook isn't going to have anywhere near the longevity of any of Apple's other offerings. It's thin, it's light, but everything else is worse. I can honestly say I do not see a single reason to buy it. It's short-sighted to even consider it.

Er, This is of course you own opinion. It entirely depends what you are doing with it!

Mac bench Score - 2651 Multi(5305)

That is faster than Mac Pro's 2010 Single core and 2/3rd multi core. I have a 2008 mac pro I am still doing High end 3d and video production. And technically that is slower. The GPU is not great but has certainly allowed me to change scenes at a clients and re-render.

Point is, it's entirely dependant on what you are using it for. Office applications, browsing, casual games, the odd video edit. Coding. The macbook will be great.

 

[johngordon]

Not really sure a one port, bare bones, fancy laptop is a "bean counter" move. It's more of a statement product than something the masses can actually use.

Did you really just say that the MB isn't "something the masses can actually use", or did I misread that?

In case not, what exactly is preventing the masses from being able to use the MB?