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12" Macbook - Disappointment and Hope

DFZD

DFZD

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Apr 6, 2012
1,070
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Well the disappointment with the just announced 12" Macbook is obvious. People who are Pro users are upset over how it lacks ports and raw power. Well I think that's not what it's meant to do.
Anyway I think this is a very good direction Apple is moving towards. Remember how Macbook Air was the testing ground for Apple
s ''thinnovation"'??
I believe the same is going to happen with the new Macbooks. And apple has shown that by adding the force touch pad to the 2015 Retina macbooks.
My only true disappointment with the new MacBook is that the USB-C Multi adapter doesn't come bundled. It would've really made the device much more acceptable to a lot of users.

Thoughts? Do you think Macbook Pro's should borrow some hardware features from the new MacBooks? I personally would love to have the edge to edge keyboard.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I'm not disappointed at all. The weight and thickness are exactly what I wanted.

  • The CPU is a compromise, but not a huge one. A Core M at 1,3 GHz is fast enough. People are acting like it's downright slow. It isn't. This product wouldn't be possible with a U-series processor, and I'm overjoyed all the ARM-talk will finally die.
  • It could have more ports, but I can easily live with that.
  • The battery life is excellent. I bet many disappointed people are accidentally comparing it to the 13" model rather than the more similarly sized 11" model.

Ideally, I'd like a 13" screen with even more pixels, but this is great as is.
 
nksk said:
I'm not disappointed at all. The weight and thickness are exactly what I wanted.

  • The CPU is a compromise, but not a huge one. A Core M at 1,3 GHz is fast enough. This product wouldn't be possible with a U-series processor, and I'm overjoyed all the ARM-talk will finally die.
  • It could have more ports, but I can easily live with that.
  • The battery life is excellent. I bet many disappointed people are accidentally comparing it to the 13" model rather than the more similarly sized 11" model.
Click to expand...
I think most people are pissed off about the lack of ports. The separately sold adapter solves that issue quite well. So it's really about the price.
 
Looking at benchmarks the 1.3 core m is very quick and didn't throttle in heavy benchmarks which is good.
 
I think this is a glimpse in the future. They've done it before - with the MBA, with the ditching of optical drives, then hard drives... even with the iPhone and ditching the keyboard.

Each time, it's a big compromise, and people are (rightfully) upset, because the rest of the industry isn't ready and Apple doesn't care (I'm not talking about competitors, but peripherals and accessories). They force it, taking the risk to upset their user base.

And it (usually) ends up working. For Apple as a company, and for the whole electronics industry. After a few years, the landscape has changed and most have followed their footsteps.

Sometimes it doesn't work (Thunderbolt is still very much an Apple thing and will die an Apple thing). But most of the times, it does, even if it's painful at first.

That's how they are leading.

In a few weeks, we'll see the first USB-C accessories. In a few months, a lot of them. In a few years, USB-C will be the main technology. It's past time we moved beyond the classic USB. It's unfortunate it takes one company to have the balls to do it alone.

So yeah, the first couple of years, the rMB will feel like an alien, and people who actually need peripherals will have to pass on it, or suffer. I still think it'll ultimately be a good thing.
 
pasadena said:
I think this is a glimpse in the future. They've done it before - with the MBA, with the ditching of optical drives, then hard drives... even with the iPhone and ditching the keyboard.
Click to expand...
The optical drive was already obsolete in 2009, usb, tb and sd cards are not obsolete right now.
But I agree that it is the future. What just baffles me is the magsafe.
 
What if everyone's here sulking about the lack of ports and they ship the new models with a two foot charging cable like iPad. :eek:
Oh the horror..
 
DFZD said:
Well the disappointment with the just announced Macbook Air Retina is obvious. People who are Pro users are upset over how it lacks ports and raw power. Well I think that's not what it's meant to do.
Anyway I think this is a very good direction Apple is moving towards. Remember how Macbook Air was the testing ground for Apple
s ''thinnovation"'??
I believe the same is going to happen with the new Macbooks. And apple has shown that by adding the force touch pad to the 2015 Retina macbooks.
My only true disappointment with the new Air is that the USB-C Multi adapter doesn't come bundled. It would've really made the device much more acceptable to a lot of users.

Thoughts? Do you think Macbook Pro's should borrow some hardware features from the new airs? I personally would love to have the edge to edge keyboard.
Click to expand...

I love this new MacBook Air. You have to realize this laptop was not designed for the MacBook Pro user. I see you're a developer, I used to be one as well. The MacBook Air is not - not - a developer's laptop. I do not see any signs it should or is suppose to be. This laptop is a light and portal laptop - that's it.

I would never - ever - expect a MacBook Air to have the same processing power of a iMac or MacBook Pro. Come on. I only have two complaints about the new 12" design:

1. The new power cord isn't great.
2. They should have two USB ports so you can be charging your laptop and have access to a USB port.
 
Gav2k said:
Looking at benchmarks the 1.3 core m is very quick and didn't throttle in heavy benchmarks which is good.
Click to expand...

Benchmarks done on this MB or only "Benchmarks" done by Intel? Because Lenovo Yoga 3 throttled like hell and it had a fan, don't wanna imagine the new MB under a minium heavy load...
 
I've been waiting for a retina 13" Air, to finally replace my current one - the Pro is just too thick and heavy to be truly portable, and the new 12" is just too small and too slow for me.

Now it really looks like it's not going to happen, at all. Back to Windows, I guess?
 
DFZD said:
Thoughts? Do you think Macbook Pro's should borrow some hardware features from the new airs? I personally would love to have the edge to edge keyboard.
Click to expand...

If you want ports that's not possible without your pen drive jamming the keys. MBA 11" has as little keyboard overhang as it is possible without sacrificing the ports. Besides, I don't think it would be very comfortable to hold the MBP without anything to hold on to on it's side.
 
Hankster said:
The MacBook Air is not - not - a developer's laptop. I do not see any signs it should or is suppose to be. This laptop is a light and portal laptop - that's it.
Click to expand...

While I agree with this, I hate the assumption that Apple (and others) makes that people who want power want bigger screens. Some do, and some don't. Some want power and portability.

I think this new machine is a great machine for folks who don't do intensive work. I'd like a powerful machine with this footprint (it can be a bit thicker, it can have a fan). I'd been hoping we'd get a more powerful machine in this size, and I'm not alone.
 
Hankster said:
The MacBook Air is not - not - a developer's laptop. I do not see any signs it should or is suppose to be. This laptop is a light and portal laptop - that's it.
Click to expand...

Well the new one is not, but my current Air? It has an i7 and it runs Eclipse (Luna) very well, an OpenBSD and a SuSE VM, compiles C++ reasonably fast, I did a lot of development on it.

Now I really need a faster one (project got too big and full build time exceeds 15 min), with a high-res 13" screen, and just as portable. Neither the Pro nor the new glorified Chromebook ain't that.

I honestly don't understand why they didn't make a retina Air. Surely by now all the components were available? I'd had paid 2k for one with a good spec.
 
Gav2k said:
Looking at benchmarks the 1.3 core m is very quick and didn't throttle in heavy benchmarks which is good.
Click to expand...

Individual benchmarks don't show throttling because none of them run long enough. You need to run the benchmark repeatedly for some time to see throttling in action.
 
I haven't watched the video yet, so maybe they address this, but the thing that is the most puzzling to me with the way they did the ports was the elimination of MagSafe. After introducing us to this feature, is Apple really expecting people to go back to a power cable design that risks injury to the laptop or its power jack (which now is a single port that serves multiple purposes) if somebody trips over the cable? Or do they think this isn't a problem anymore with how people traditionally use or setup their laptops these days?

Other than that, I really like the look of it.

-- Nathan
 
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