Apple Announces 12-Inch Retina MacBook With Revamped Trackpad, Starting at $1,299

[SlCKB0Y]

I know that's crazy, but that is how it is. The critical opinion that you're agreeing with is about not being able to connect to 73 USB devices and corporate network equipment. Then when it is pointed out that it is possible to connect to at least 71 USB devices, the poster that you're agreeing with whines about having to spend $79 for an adaptor. Yeah, that's valid criticism.

I'm not complaining about not being able to connect 73 USB devices. I'm complaining about not being able to connect a single device when plugged in.

And I don't think the adapter is the answer because:

1. They are easy to lose or break
2. They are easy to forget
3. Having an adapter hanging off the side ruins the sleekness of the device
4. In Australia, the adapter which only gives 1 x USB, 1 x HDMI (or VGA) costs 8 percent of the total cost of the laptop.
5. It does not provide ethernet (do we need to daisy chain adapters now or something)?

If I take that thing somewhere and forget the adapter, I can't even have someone give me a standard USB key if they want to give me some files or something. It's just crazy.

How would it not have been better to keep the form factor of the current air the same, and just add a retina display? It's still crazily thin and light, it would still have all the ports and it would not have fragmented the Macbook branding further.

 

[FWRLCK]

Because I don't want to pay $80 for an adapter???!?!??!
I'm already going to end up paying $1.3K and you think it's acceptable that I should have to pay $80 more just to make things work. Ha.

Then don't. In your head just do the calculation that, for you, the cost is $1380 and decide if this device makes sense for you. My guess is the answer is probably 'no', and that's cool. I mean, it's a generation one device anyway, so you'd have to be pretty enthused to take that risk in the first place.

 

[iSheep5S]

Please help me. I jumped on the 'it doesn't game' and was quoted several times. Now? I have seen the UK price.

I love my macbook pro. It does all I need. THIS watered down macbook IS MORE EXPENSIVE THAN A MACBOOK PRO!?!

Pricing, The New Macbook > Air then Pro. Really Apple? Portable makes for more expensive? Let's make the iPad mini more than the iPad Air then.

I corrected myself after my gaming post. I thought OK, its a surface alternative. Very nice I got it. It may cry at candy crush? I dunno. But I get it.

But more than a Pro in the UK? Just use your iPad. Get a keyboard no one will judge you if you say you have a Pro at home.

Come on apple were not idiots. Are we?

 

[petsounds]

The last transition took years, not "some lead time" as you have so conveniently minimised the effort to. The last transition was to a platform (x86) with at least two times the CPU raw power whilst consuming way less energy. A migration to ARM now would mean the most powerful Mac would have the equivalent of an Atom processor.

And what about the other required part I mention (which you conveniently left off)? No way, no how will ARM be emulating x86 at any acceptable speed within the next half decade at least.

Sorry, what? I only suggested the MacBook use ARM instead of an Atom. If the development APIs are the same, then to developers the end-result binary code is mostly irrelevant, due to the LLVM compiler abstracting the target-platform from the code. There's no reason the low-end of the Mac line couldn't be ARM-based while the upper-end be Intel.

 

[Starry]

I would never buy this nor consider it over a rMBP. It's a mix between a glorified iPad and a netbook. 1.1GHz processor..? I'll just keep my 15'' rMBP.

Also, I feel like they just phased out some customers due to the price point... What will happen to the $849 MBA??

 

[Ulenspiegel]

...How would it not have been better to keep the form factor of the current air the same, and just add a retina display? It's still crazily thin and light, it would still have all the ports and it would not have fragmented the Macbook branding further.

This is the core question that bothers many of us.
And yes, I am quite aware I am not the "target market".

 

[SlCKB0Y]

Because I don't want to pay $80 for an adapter???!?!??!
I'm already going to end up paying $1.3K and you think it's acceptable that I should have to pay $80 more just to make things work. Ha.

Well actually if you are in Canada, the Macbook starts at $1549 CA and the adapter is $99.

http://store.apple.com/ca/product/MJ1L2AM/A/usb-c-vga-multiport-adapter?fnode=51

 

[fisherking]

I'm not complaining about not being able to connect 73 USB devices. I'm complaining about not being able to connect a single device when plugged in.

And I don't think the adapter is the answer because:

1. They are easy to lose or break
2. They are easy to forget
3. Having an adapter hanging off the side ruins the sleekness of the device
4. In Australia, the adapter which only gives 1 x USB, 1 x HDMI (or VGA) costs 8 percent of the total cost of the laptop.
5. It does not provide ethernet (do we need to daisy chain adapters now or something)?

If I take that thing somewhere and forget the adapter, I can't even have someone give me a standard USB key if they want to give me some files or something. It's just crazy.

How would it not have been better to keep the form factor of the current air the same, and just add a retina display? It's still crazily thin and light, it would still have all the ports and it would not have fragmented the Macbook branding further.

this is all about you, what you want. no harm in that, but, like the rest of us, you have to live in the real world. at least there are options; in fact, more than there's every been; the air, the macbook, the pro models.

meanwhile, is the adapter really an issue? you're going to lose it? break it? forget it? yet not lose/break/forget your peripherals?

explore your options, and make a choice. for some people, this mac (and the adapter) will be the right choice. whatever works...

 

[toke lahti]

You can use a wireless mouse and keyboard. I haven't used a non-networked printer for ages, even at home[...]

Wonder if anybody would like to print A3+ sometimes? Few years ago Canon's IX6550 was the only one with photo quality and less than thousand bucks..

Love the colors and overall design, but I'm worried how functional these machines will be (namely, the single USB-C port). Also, the 480p FaceTime camera seems oddly subpar.

Pretty obvious that selling points for 2nd gen rMB will be "double the connecting possibilites with second usbC and enjoy the all-new Facetime HD camera"(720p).

Btw, still no explanation for "Native DisplayPort 1.2 video output"?
UsbC-to-dp1.2 adapter coming very soon now?

 

[SlCKB0Y]

Sorry, what? I only suggested the MacBook use ARM instead of an Atom. If the development APIs are the same, then to developers the end-result binary code is mostly irrelevant, due to the LLVM compiler abstracting the target-platform from the code.

I'm sure this sounds pretty good on paper but it is not how it would work in the real world.

Otherwise, why wasn't the transition from PPC to Intel so peachy and smooth?

What was the last application you ported between architectures?

 

[S.L.]

I wish they made the updated 13" MBPr in a Space Grey.

 

[unplugme71]

Poor battery life .... omg, are you serious ?

Yes, this thing should be rocking 24 hours at average use.

----------

I expected more battery life too, considering it's almost all battery!

right, and its a 5w cpu, 40w max I believe.

the iPad mini lasts this long and has a much smaller battery.

----------

That's next years model when they stop making the Air.

Yeah, I was thinking the Air will be discontinued. Macbook and macbook pro are back.

The 13" air might as well get macbook pro and the 11 inch didn't sell too well.

 

[brinary001]

This is exactly why they could've made the (whatever new USB standard) an omnidirectional magnetic data + power interface.

But then that would've required getting patents and quite a bit of additional engineering. This takes time that Apple probably just didn't have. Not to mention that would probably result in a rather thick cable.

 

[Xiroteus]

Not getting this anytime soon however it is a nice sleek little machine and maybe a bit too costly. I would never make a system like this my only system, I would just own a powerful Windows computer and maybe something like this for portability.

 

[chiefsilverback]

Because I don't want to pay $80 for an adapter???!?!??!
I'm already going to end up paying $1.3K and you think it's acceptable that I should have to pay $80 more just to make things work. Ha.

If you "end up paying $1.3K" for a machine that doesn't meet your requirements then more fool you. If I couldn't stretch to the extra $80 I'd buy either an Air or a Pro and wouldn't piss and whinge about the new MacBook!

 

[toke lahti]

That's next years model when they stop making the Air.

I'd guess that it will take at least 2 years before this rMB1 will be sold in less than $1000. They need to have sub-$1000 laptop in the production line.

 

[jkichline]

Exactly, because that's what Steve did.

Why can't Apple just leave things alone? Everyone just wanted a Macbook Air with a retina screen. They give you the retina screen but take away all the connectivity. Everyone wanted an updated Mini, they gave us a speed and spec bump but took away the upgradeability.

The problem is that Ive has way too much power internally at Apple and no one left to tell him when his **** stinks. He is surrounded by "yes" men. Having absolutely no connectivity so Ive can make the laptop a few millimetres thinner is insanity and evidence of his form-over-function design philosophy taken to the absolute extreme.

Steve Jobs was the man who put him in charge. The very reason that Apple still exists today. That decision has kept Apple, Apple and completely in line with what Steve would have done. Everything must go wireless. It's an inevitability. People like you are just stuck in the past and Apple is going to push you into the future.

 

[Renzatic]

Yes, this thing should be rocking 24 hours at average use.

If they made it as big as an old 2009ish Macbook Pro, and donated all that extra space to battery, it might be able to do that and then some.

Hell. 10 hours is fine, unless you really, really don't want to plug it in every night to recharge after a full day's work.



----------

Steve Jobs was the man who put him in charge. The very reason that Apple still exists today. That decision has kept Apple, Apple and completely in line with what Steve would have done. Everything must go wireless. It's an inevitability. People like you are just stuck in the past and Apple is going to push you into the future.

Being stuck in the past isn't necessarily a bad thing, so long as what worked in past performs better for what you need it for than the newest thing around. Doing otherwise is change for the sake of change.

 

[Ulenspiegel]

...Apple and completely in line with what Steve would have done.

How do you know?

People like you are just stuck in the past and Apple is going to push you into the future.

Or people like you stuck in illusions and pushed into utopia. Who knows?

 

[SlCKB0Y]

Steve Jobs was the man who put him in charge. The very reason that Apple still exists today.

At that point in time, both Steve Jobs and Scott Forstall were there to counter-balance Ive and call him out when wrong.

Everything must go wireless. It's an inevitability. People like you are just stuck in the past

So there will be no more direct-attached storage? Please tell me how I can get 400MB/s from a wireless external drive to match the speeds I get from my USB3 SSD?

 

[Xiroteus]

Steve Jobs was the man who put him in charge. The very reason that Apple still exists today. That decision has kept Apple, Apple and completely in line with what Steve would have done. Everything must go wireless. It's an inevitability. People like you are just stuck in the past and Apple is going to push you into the future.

I think some people may be stuck in present day as there are current standards that are still used and the future does not help get those tasks done. And Apple is very hit and miss with what the future is. Yeah, if it means using their services yet 480p today?

One weakness with wireless is moving files over devices can be SLOW when a microsd card, flash drive etc... can be much faster.

 

[seth556]

I'm really interested in this. It's either this or the new rMBP 13" which with the same ssd space will cost a bit more.

Everyone is slamming this for one port, I don't think that'll be an issue. I can't think of the last time I plugged in more than one usb device. Although I'm worried the charging time will be forever, but I may be wrong.

Power. I'm not sure what I do that uses a whole lot of power. I imagine I use a lot of ram but not processing power. Think of all the apps that come installed on a Mac; safari, iTunes, iWork, etc if I use those types of things to the max, will I need more power?

The final question is what about connecting an extra display whe it's on my desk. This is what my biggest worry is, will this run its display plus another 1080p display without any hiccups?

 

[Swift]

Not sure what happened to you guys.

It is NOT "a single USB port". It also is an HDMI and MagSafe or close to it-- and it transfers files over USB 3.1. If you want to have all three at the same time, there's already a three port add-on in the Store, and I'd bet many more to come.

You guys all sound like the critics who said the iPad was just a big iPhone!

I won't pronounce final judgement here, but it looks like a winner to me. The processor's new, and it's slow to save power except when you need it, then it revs up to 2.9 Ghz. And the Flash is 2x as fast. Not for everyone, but I'm betting this will be a very fast, mostly wireless connection beauty.

 

[CEmajr]

That gold one is absolutely beautiful. I won't be buying though. My next Mac will be a 15" rMBP. Looking forward to the Force Touch being on it.

Nice how they resurrected the 'Macbook' line.

 

[Swift]

Look at one thing:

See the connector? A USB 3.1 connector. It looks a LOT like the Lightning cable, no? Reversible, held solidly in place with magnets-- and not, evidently, also adaptable enough to carry power, stream video to your HDTV, and transfer large files. PLUS a completely loaded set of wireless connections. Which, most of the time, is exactly what you want in a mobile computer.

The USB C connector is testimony to how Apple has contributed. Now, USB 3 in a lightning connector (watch next year's iPhone), none of that crappy old iPod thing, and the committee has made the USB standards much faster and wideranging. Thanks, Apple.

Does this mean the end of Thunderbolt and Magsafe? NO!