It's 0.88mm thin. I have no idea how thick the rMBP display is, but that's pretty thin.
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Is 12" large enough for a student laptop?
- Thread starter daanodinot
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It's 0.88mm thin. I have no idea how thick the rMBP display is, but that's pretty thin.
From the Apple site: "The 12-inch Retina display on the new MacBook isnt just picture perfect its also paper thin. In fact, at just 0.88 millimeter, its the thinnest Retina display ever on a Mac. A specially developed automated manufacturing process forms the impossibly thin edge-to-edge glass thats only 0.5 millimeter thick. And we reduced the space between display components for a tighter, more integrated design."
12" was defined by the width of the keyboard and the taper of the body. (Those rounded curves at the edges have a cost.)
As for the size of the screen, well, IMHO, there isn't a lot of difference between the small screen machines. None of them have enough screen real estate for meaningful multiple window use. You kind of get that on the 15" (but still not really).
There were a couple of comments in the reviews (I forget which, unfortunately) about a perceived improvement in the display due to making it thinner - similar to some of the reactions to the iPad Air 2's display. I think it is a case of making the display better visually as well as thinner physically at the same time. That's in addition to the redesign work they did to make it run with less power for the backlighting.
You really have to admire how much work Apple did on this one. It's not perfect, but it's a lot more than a quick lick and a promise with a new display.
That sounds like what they did with the iPhone screen starting with the 5. It makes the screen appear closer...or something like that.
You (may) need it to have a USB port. The reality is that most don't.
USB keys are today's equivalent of floppies.
I think people are getting far, far too hung up on this.
In my previous post I linked to a USB drive that has both a standard USB and a USB-C port. I'm planning on buying one of those when they're available for purchase in the UK. That way, I can move files between my rMB and older computers with ease, and I don't have to carry around a pointlessly large adaptor.
Of course 12" will be enough.
I was amazed at a couple in the Apple store on Friday. While I was perusing the 12" rMB another couple engaged in a conversation about buying one. I asked who was it for?
The couple responded, "For their 10 year son."
I didn't comment, but I thought, "When my sons were in High School (they are both College Grads and off in careers now) I wouldn't even buy the an iPod let alone a $1,300 computer. " I think at 10 years old I would buy the heaviest and cheapest MAC offered, certainly not the newest MacBook.
Oh well I'm conservative, it's food for thought and we live in a free world. I am glad they seemed to have enough disposable income to even think of spending that amount on a 10 year old child.
I was amazed at a couple in the Apple store on Friday. While I was perusing the 12" rMB another couple engaged in a conversation about buying one. I asked who was it for?
The couple responded, "For their 10 year son."
I didn't comment, but I thought, "When my sons were in High School (they are both College Grads and off in careers now) I wouldn't even buy the an iPod let alone a $1,300 computer. " I think at 10 years old I would buy the heaviest and cheapest MAC offered, certainly not the newest MacBook.
Oh well I'm conservative, it's food for thought and we live in a free world. I am glad they seemed to have enough disposable income to even think of spending that amount on a 10 year old child.
12" is more than adequate to work inside a document. Remember that when writing, you're mostly working with a scrolling page. The room on the sides of the screen is just wasted space essentially.
So do you need a bigger screen? In the hunter-gatherer sense of the word -- no, of course you don't. There is nothing that you won't be able to do on a small screen.
That said, an external display will be immensely helpful. When I'm writing papers, I really require enough screen real estate to have at least two windows open, often three -- one for my document, one for my notes and one for my research. You will not get this out of a laptop. With an old 17", you would be able to have two windows open and not feel cramped, but if you're wanting a 12" nMB, then you're definitely not in the market for something that big anyway.
Your best bet is to get a little machine to take with you wherever you need to go and have a larger station at home -- whether this is an iMac or just a display.
Remember that Apple is saying that this thing is able to push a 4K display, so for an extra 700 you could pick up a Dell 4K 27" display and presto, you have a pretty swell work station.
Personally, I'm hoping Apple releases a new display in the next months. I think the timing is right. The Thunderbolt is ancient and they now have a full line of macbooks capable of running 4K. I'm thinking they were just waiting for this to come to fruition before releasing a new display. Now they can say this new display will work with the entire Mac lineup. *fingers crossed*
Despite being in the middle of the middle class, my parents bought me a $3K computer in the early 90s when I was a teen. The time I spent learning that machine, back in the days when even setting up a simple multi-player game wasn't especially easy, was invaluable for me in my curiosity and development. Despite being a college drop out, I started a successful company almost completely dependent on the fact that I learned enough about computers on my own to figure out more efficient ways to do things in my industry. That $3k was certainly better spent on my teen computer than the tens of thousands spent on my college.
Obviously, mine is simply an anecdote that may not have the usual outcome, but I can see the value of buying a child a good computer, especially now days, when computers are such an integrated part of society. Kids are lucky these days that a small laptop for a grand can take the place of the huge desk computer that I had for $3K as a teen. I can't wait to see what computers are like in a decade, when my 3 year old is a teen.
The physical measurement of the display is only one aspect. Perhaps more important when deciding if the screen is "large enough" is the effective resolution. On the MacBook Air 13", it's 1400x900. On the new MacBook, it's 1280x800. You could have a 15" screen and it wouldn't feel big enough if it had an effective 600x480 display. So more than just the measurement matters here.
I know. I was just replying to someone who was saying, "12 inches should be plenty."
My kids 11, he has a iPad mini first gen and a Xbox One that i just got him last Christmas, Dad splurged
Along wiith his own little desk and monitor. That's sort of modest I guess. But he does bring me home A's & B's. However No way in hell I would get him the newest MBR lol, he's way to clumsy and certainly doesn't understand the value of things yet. He wants a gaming PC to play Minecraft but I don't want him on the web like that yet at least on his iPad he just uses "apps". And he would have that thing malware and adware galore the first two weeks haha.He asked for a iPhone, I said..... Who the hell are you calling lol? I said you have a iPad that does everything you can do on a iPhone basically but bigger screen Lol.
A 10 year old does not need the $1300 MBR, wether your rich or middle class. It's just pricipal.