New 12-Inch MacBook Tidbits: 15% Faster, 41.4-Watt-Hour Battery, Refurb Price Drop, and More

[brucebrendon]

RIP Moore's Law.

If they're keeping that price a few other bits would be nice, adapters in the box, a hub on the brick, magsafe...
[doublepost=1461144732][/doublepost]remember when apple had a display that was a hub

remember when apple had a display

 

[lowkey]

I have never understood why one would buy this over a MacBook Air.

1. The screen is WAY nicer than the Macbook Air.
2. Its smaller, thinner and lighter which all combine to make it more portable.
3. Decent RAM and SSD sizes in the base model.

Unfortunately those things come at the expense of processing power, port count and cost.

Apple will have to do something about the price of the Macbook soon. Here in Australia the base model is $1999.

Thats pretty steep for entry into Mac Computers.

 

[Padaung]

The Core-M processors are actually very powerful for short busts of heavy load. Editing files in Lightroom is smooth, but the processor is slower when sustained processing is required due to the extra heat produced (hence throttling of the CPU). So for Lightroom this means when generating lots of preview files and exporting a large edit.

Video and 3D editors will no doubt experience the same.

For many other everyday office based tasks the combination of the high power output (in short bursts), the memory efficiency of OS X and the (new) super-fast SSD will make this a very nice machine to use. Especially with the M5 or M7 CPU options.

I don't own the 2015 Macbook, but I currently own a Windows 10 laptop with 4Gb ram and the Broadwell Core-M (same CPU as the 2015 Macbook). I happily use it for office apps, browsing, and editing 24Mp raw files in Lightroom on the go (I use my desktop Mac for big editing jobs at home).

As others have said, this isn't a laptop for everyone, but as a second machine for when not in the office/home it could be a great solution for many. The weight saving alone makes a massive difference when carrying the device around a lot.

Only one USB-C port is a pain though, two (one each side) would be great, as would a HD webcam. Hopefully the price will come down when a future model is introduced by a couple of hundred pounds for the base model, currently it feels too expensive for what you get. I have no idea about what difference the DDR4 ram, which some people have mentioned, would make.

 

[Bubble99]

Well it would be strange if we find out the Macbook air is two times as fast has the Macbook!!

That say hour video editing probably be done in half the time.

 

[Candlelight]

I think the New Zealand website is having issues...

 

[lowendlinux]

Well it would be strange if we find out the Macbook air is two times as fast has the Macbook!!

That say hour video editing probably be done in half the time.

Which begs the question of why you want to edit an hour long video on an 11, 12, or 13" screen? The MB and MBA aren't intended to be your only computer if you are editing videos. Neither the MBA nor the MB are particularly powerful they are for light duty users or companion computers one has a fan and some ports one doesn't.

 

[JtheLemur]

I wonder if this computer is powerful enough for watching HD movies or using google earth 3D view? You need fast CPU and GPU for watching HD movies or using google earth 3D view?

What? No, you don't need good CPU and GPU for watching HD movies. Both my media server Mini and my now-prior-year MacBook can attest to that. This is such a common misconception. Maybe when 8K rolls along.

 

[AppleInTheMud]

Darn !!! Just bought the golden for my daughter. Now she's in love with the pink.

 

[69650]

I go back and forth on the color to be honest. I see my wife's Apple Watch and think it looks great but then I'll spot a co-worker with a 6s plus and think the opposite. I honestly think that lighting plays the biggest role in how well the color comes off compared to the other 3. It's always good to have choices though.

I agree it's good to have choices. My problem is the current colours are just too feminine for me. I like bold colours. I would love a nice metallic blue or red or even a copper. The current set of pastel colours look so dull and boring. What has happened to Apple the bold, Apple the colourful.
[doublepost=1461152200][/doublepost]

Rose gold taking over the world!

No it's not.
[doublepost=1461152981][/doublepost]

This is an utter load of crap, and frankly, Macrumors is in need of a serious moderation policy overhaul because the tone of the comments here is getting progressively more negative to the point that there is really no point in engaging in any conversation here.

I totally disagree with you. There are enough forums for Apple sycophants. I like the fact that this website has a balanced portfolio of positive and negative comments. It's called freedom of speech. We all spend a lot of money on Apple products. That gives us all the right to say whatever the hell we want.

 

[heywally]

jeez, this thing is really getting blasted by apple fans. Nonetheless, it'll be a nice upgrade (Apple premium pricing aside (but I typically get about 3 years out of a notebook so that's about $35 per month)) to my recently kaput 2011 MacAir.

It'll run cooler than the MacAir (which at times, runs hot), have a better and beautiful display, comparable battery and weight and enough small performance upgrades to all components to give me a decent boost though for what I do, the MacAir is good enough (and I run Logic Pro X and several other significant apps on its piddly 4GB of memory).

Plus, I don't have to look at/slog through Windows/dell support or run malware bytes. Don't use facetime or a lot of ports so I don't have an issue with those understandable criticisms. The soon-to-be-announced upgraded macbook pro should provide the machine the critics want, with more weight on your lap. Me, I'm looking forward to my new macbook and if you don't like the rose color, there are three other choices.

 

[Tech198]

I hate this dynamic battery thing that Apple does...

Its not precise...... but based on what u are using at the time...

least the M processors run cooler.

 

[haruhiko]

It's such an interesting point of time at the moment that an iPad has stronger benchmark scores than a MacBook!

 

[antonis]

Im confused about one thing. On the apple website its touting that the new laptops are wireless? Well duh all laptops are wireless. Is there something extra that I'm missing?

You're not missing anything.

This is apple's way to convince people that a handicap is not a handicap but a feature worth charging an insanely premium price for it.

 

[Mac 128]

Screen, screen, screen, screen.
Weight, weight, weight, weight.

It does not really matter if the Airs are better in every other way, since these two factors are some of the most important for many notebook users.

People seem to forget about the Macintosh Duo. I had two of them I liked them so much. They required a dock for almost anything. They had One serial port which you could assign to be the printer or modem port. There was an OPTIONAL 14.4 modem RJ-11 Jack, and a dedicated power port. And that was it. No 3.5mm headphone jack, no wireless.

People bought it for its size and portability. For those who simply needed to work, and didn't need to input or export data constantly, it was the perfect Mac, with virtually full desktop capabilities when docked into one of several docking stations Apple offered. At a minimum, a road warrior could plug it into any Apple Talk network at any field office and transfer files, or directly into any Apple supporter printer and output a document. The optional modem made for slow, but easy to transmit faxes, or transfer files from anywhere with a phone line.

It's funny, back then I don't remember people accusing Apple of making a cash grab for offering a stripped down Mac requiring an adapter for even the most basic accessibility.

 

[can$rules]

First let's talk about speed. The performance of the MB is perfectly fine to run applications ordinary people use, including mail, web browsing, office apps, watching movies, video chat and conferencing, etc.

If that's all you do, you should get an iPad (or a Chromebook).

 

[Huginnmuninn]

I've been thinking about replacing my 2012 i7 Mac mini with a portable this year, but sadly it looks like this machine won't be it since its single-core Geekbench score barely matches my machine, and the multi-core result is half that of the mini.

If I want a portable that gives me any kind of speed bump over my 3.5-year-old (then $930) mini, it looks like it will have to be a $1500ish Macbook Pro.

 

[mountain]

No thanks. Apple can keep it in their inventory. I wouldn't buy if this was 700.

 

[zhenya]

I've been thinking about replacing my 2012 i7 Mac mini with a portable this year, but sadly it looks like this machine won't be it since its single-core Geekbench score barely matches my machine, and the multi-core result is half that of the mini.

If I want a portable that gives me any kind of speed bump over my 3.5-year-old (then $930) mini, it looks like it will have to be a $1500ish Macbook Pro.

If the perceived speed of a computer actually had much of anything at all to do with cpu speed, then that'd be true.

 

[ghanwani]

What about graphics performance? That was supposed to be one of the big improvements.

 

[mi7chy]

Apple need to fix the bloated OS X and Safari since there's nothing wrong with even the old hardware. Edge browser on Windows 10 is fast and smooth even on a $400 Surface non-Pro 3 while Safari is laggy on a high end $2700 rMBP.

 

[igorsky]

What a refreshing post. And I totally agree with you. Thanks for sharing!
[doublepost=1461113974][/doublepost]

I mean 480p is beyond low. I would say a slap in the face sounds pretty accurate. Apple is used to low balling, but that's just...pathetic, to put it lightly.

So if you totally agree that some of the hate is a little crazy then you must agree that calling a 480p Facetime camera, on a low-spec laptop, "a slap in the face" and "pathetic" just as crazy, no? Seems like 480p is more than adequate for what it's intended to do.

 

[Huginnmuninn]

If the perceived speed of a computer actually had much of anything at all to do with cpu speed, then that'd be true.

For me, given the audio and photography processing I do, it definitely makes a difference. (Missing Thunderbolt 3 is yet another issue [audio libraries need to be on the fastest external connection to prevent dropouts], but I didn't bring it up because I was focusing on system speed.)

 

[navaira]

Seems like 480p is more than adequate for what it's intended to do.

iPhone 4 is also more than adequate for what it's intended to do, though.

 

[sofila]

People seem to forget about the Macintosh Duo.
It's funny, back then I don't remember people accusing Apple of making a cash grab for offering a stripped down Mac requiring an adapter for even the most basic accessibility.

Other times , other Apple and most of all, other competitors

 

[MacBH928]

So...

looking at these specs, is it possible to just put OS X on a tablet? When you think about it, an OS X tablet is just a macbook with no keyboard..