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

[kiranmk2]

As noted above, this puts the new 1.2 GHz Skylake rMB just ahead of the 2015 MBA on CPU power and I believe the HD515 GPU is just behind the HD6000 GPU from the MBA so gaming performance will be a bit worse. Main question for me is whether the more efficient chip means less thermal throttling (thinking of the occasional Handbrake encodes I do).

 

[KJL3000]

Rose Gold...

 

[sledgehammer89]

no 4K@60hz

 

[navaira]

If it was €999 I would probably be on the verge of getting one to find out if there's any way I can get used to the keyboard.

 

[jlo1158]

We have to blame Intel and not Apple for this. The tick tock cycle is changing per Intel.

The way Intel strong-armed Apple to use these chips there's no one else to blame

 

[Mascots]

The way Intel strong-armed Apple to use these chips there's no one else to blame

What does this even mean or attempt to imply?

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Guessing Apple is saving the TB3 for the MBP. Silly, yes, but that is how all companies work these days. $1600 and no TB3, among other things, blows my mind.

 

[joe-h2o]

When sales fall, Apple will realize they cannot get away with these sort of prices. No one in their right mind will buy this thing because they didn't buy the first one either. 14% performance gain - the IPP 12.9" is better performance than this and I don't have the baggage of OS X when I don't need it.

Stop with the pink laptop color - instead focus on adding another port, better faster ram, drop the price - basically what every one who is interested wants. OF course this is Apple - "we don't listen to no one except ourselves".

So..... a macbook pro then.

I'm not sure, but I think Apple already sells a computer like that. It might even be called the Macbook Pro.

 

[Mascots]

Guessing Apple is saving the TB3 for the MBP. Silly, yes, but that is how all companies work these days. $1600 and no TB3, among other things, blows my mind.

TB3 would require re-architecturing of the motherboard - an additional chip - since it isn't supported natively on Skylake. Apple wouldn't go so far out of their way for it during a silent refresh, especially given their pride on the size and efficiency, and probably doesn't mind waiting until Kaby.

 

[Sasparilla]

I was really expecting Apple to make some significant fixes on the initial update (like they did with the Air which was short of ports etc. initially). This is disappointing, especially for the price point. Still a one port piece of jewelry.

The Macbook looks nice, but beyond that its hard not to feel like you're getting taken to the cleaners considering what you get with regards to its technical capabilities. (saying that as a guy whose main machine at home is a Mac)

 

[igorsky]

One port is fine, no thunderbolt is fine, no ddr4 is ok. But still 480p camera is a slap in the face

A slap in the face? Really?

 

[coalchamber1022]

I remember back to when Apple released the Macbook Air they included all the extra minidvi to vga and to dvi connector/dongles with the computer itself. Apple needs to realize that instead of chaarging a extra $90 for a damn usb port they should just include that adapter with the computer. Problem solved.

At this point I am honestly waiting till the specs get better on a computer this thin. Holding onto my macbook air for now.

 

[dmsmith]

Bigger battery and weight unchanged? Was hoping to get to < 2 lbs, since airlines make 2 lbs a cutoff for having to put away a computer. I don't know if that weight limit applies to security lines where you have to pull out your laptop to have it scanned separately.

 

[navaira]

A pixelated slap in the face, even.

 

[joe-h2o]

Guessing Apple is saving the TB3 for the MBP. Silly, yes, but that is how all companies work these days. $1600 and no TB3, among other things, blows my mind.

Take a look at the logic board in the Macbook and tell me where you would put the TB controller. I'll wait.

If you find a spot for it, tell me how you'd power it too, given how thirsty it is.

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

This is fail on every level

 

[mw360]

Is it time to start handing out the "I waited for Skylake" teeshirts?

 

[drew0020]

A slap in the face? Really?

I agree that the 480p facetime camera is a disgrace. This computer (IMO) is for non-power users people who use facebook, the internet, and facetime all while at their local Stabucks (sarcasm). But seriouslt, no $1,299 computer in 2016 should have a 480p facetime camera.

 

[Mr. Retrofire]

The refurb price drop is meaningless for a generation A product. *yawn*

 

[jonnysods]

It's a fine piece of engineering, but its not for my taste. rMBP all the way thanks.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

We have to blame Intel and not Apple for this. The tick tock cycle is changing per Intel.

It's time Apple ditches Intel and swaps to ARM.

iPad Pro got scores of 3224 and 5466 - beating the new MacBook on single core by over 10% and falling behind on multicore by less than 7%.

The A9X used in the iPad Pro costs $37.30. The Intel chips in this new computer start at $281.

So Apple could save themselves $240 and get a 10% speed boost on single core, with only a slight hit to multicore.

Obviously on the top end it makes sense to stick with Intel (for now) but really, it seems to me ARM is beating the crap out of Intel on the low end.

 

[austriak]

Why do I need this since I have the laptop replacement (ipad pro 9.7)?

 

[KPOM]

15 to 18% faster with no price drop is a very minor update indeed. I bet all the buyers of last year's model during the sales feel pretty good right now.

The significantly faster SSD is tempting, though.
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It's time Apple ditches Intel and swaps to ARM.

iPad Pro got scores of 3224 and 5466 - beating the new MacBook on single core by over 10% and falling behind on multicore by less than 7%.

The A9X used in the iPad Pro costs $37.30. The Intel chips in this new computer start at $281.

So Apple could save themselves $240 and get a 10% speed boost on single core, with only a slight hit to multicore.

Obviously on the top end it makes sense to stick with Intel (for now) but really, it seems to me ARM is beating the crap out of Intel on the low end.

There's more than just GeekBench. I believe ArsTechnica or a similar site ran a battery of tests and the Core M (last year's) ran circles around the A9X.

Plus, Apple would need to re-write OSX and get developers to re-write all their apps. We would lose Windows 10 compatibility, as well.
[doublepost=1461091441][/doublepost]

Apple is being quite stingy. Just add that extra usb port and I might buy it

It would require a significant redesign. I also don't think Apple intends to ever add a 2nd USB-C port, though it might get Thunderbolt 3 in the future.

 

[kingtj]

Arguably true, except when I look at my own family members, I still can't recommend this except maybe as an outside alternate option.

These days, I think computing has come so far along with power/specs for the dollar that your "average/regular users" can barely justify spending over $1,000 on any new machine. (By average, I'm truly talking about the typical person making an average income.) For example, my mom doesn't have enough retirement income to reasonably shell out $1,200 or more for a new notebook computer - especially when all she does with it is check email once in a while, make greeting cards occasionally, and keep some of her family history research info in it. She was actually perfectly ok poking along with a Windows XP desktop machine that's over 10 years old now, except everyone's advising her to upgrade because XP is unsupported and unsafe to use online anymore.

And I was just talking with a co-worker yesterday because she wanted advice on what to buy for her teenage daughter. She was using another 10+ year old computer that's literally falling apart now, and she needs something better for both school work and some gaming. (She doesn't play 3D shooters or anything, but more like older strategy games.) Her budget was "something under $1,000" for her, too. If you want to stick with a Mac in this price range, you're pretty much stuck going with a Mac Mini or someone's used machine. I wouldn't see a good reason to talk her into exceeding her budget by a few hundred bucks just to squeeze into getting a "new Macbook" .... Especially not when you still have extra costs for the USB-C to USB dongle, or USB-C to external VGA adapter, or what-not. (People like her will still want to attach USB thumb drives or external hard drives that have standard USB on them.)

The reality is this is a perfectly fine option to recommend to family members.

They only use at most a single USB port. 8GB of memory is fine. I'll recommend they get the faster CPU and more storage if they want it (so that they can use it for the next 5 to 7 years), but that's it.

And that is who it's aimed at. Normal people, as well as folks where it does what they want (I know a lot of web devs who use MacBooks). For power users, there are other options. For example, I'm still waiting for an iMac that supports DisplayPort 1.3, DDR4, has a next-gem GPU, and ideally has an internal 2TB SSD option.

 

[Serban]

this isnt meant to be for pro consumers, its meant to be for portability, for fashion, we probably will see even more girls/women with these out in the wild, because design sells.