“There are a lot of innovations crammed into Apple’s latest MacBook, including a 12-in. Retina display, a new Force Touch trackpad, a full-size keyboard that’s been redesigned to compensate for the device’s size, the introduction of USB-C (a new USB standard featuring a reversible connection) and cleverly stacked batteries for maximum space efficiency,” Michael deAgonia writes for Computerworld.
“But looking past the specs, the question is: What is the new MacBook like as a day-to-day system?” deAgonia writes. “I spent a month with the MacBook — including two round-trip car rides between Orlando, Fla. and Providence, R.I. — in an attempt to find out.”
“The new MacBook isn’t the fastest Mac ever — but then again, with a size and weight perfect for traveling, it doesn’t need to be,” deAgonia writes. “The MacBook offers a full OS X 10 experience in a package nearly as portable as the iPad. If your digital lifestyle is mostly on-the-go with an emphasis on wireless, this could be the computer for you.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Our next portable Macs to replace our 11-inch MacBook Air units (our favorite Macs ever) will be 12-inch MacBooks!
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Funny how full size is defined over time. It must be like cars, full size is a Ford Escort. Interest thing, time.
With respect to cars, you are correct. There are no full size cars anymore, at least no mass market vehicles like the old Cadillacs or Chrysler New Yorker Broughams. What used to be mid-sized is now called full-sized, and so on. However, it should also be noted that car makers are using that space more efficiently to promote driver and passenger comfort as the expense of maintainability. The old Chrysler New Yorker Brougham had enough space between the grill and the radiator for a full-size adult to squeeze in-between. And the massive hood of the 1970s-era Cadillac with the 500 cubic inch V8 has been replaced by a similarly powerful, but much smaller and more efficient transverse-mounted V6 or V8.
In computer terms, “full size” actually started small – small CRTs for desktops and small LCDs for laptops. I had a 1995 or 1996 (can’t remember exactly) PowerBook with a 9.5″ passive matrix color display. Compared to that, the new MacBook offers a much larger display with far superior resolution and image quality. If you can do a lot with the 9.7″ display on the iPad Air 2, then the 12″ display on the new MacBook ought to work fine for many activities. For comparing documents or working with large spreadsheets, of course, big screen real estate is highly desirable.
Sounds like an underpowered Mac laptop is preferable to the mythical iPad Pro. I still don’t understand if you have room in your car, why not just spring for a MacBook Pro?
I would love to have an iPad car flush mounted ala Tesla console style.
You can have my 17″ MBP when you pry it from my cold, dead hands!
Having bought a gold Mac Book for my granddaughter I can attest it’s plenty fast for most things people would use it for. But I would never give up my own 2014 15″ RD MBP. Even last year’s model is blazing fast.
I bought the 1.3 GHz, 250gb made to order model. It’s plenty fast enough for routine computing. Great travel computer. Makes my 13″ MBAir seem antiquated and heavy.
I checked one out recently, and it’s amazing how thin, light, and nimble the new Macbook is. It didn’t take much to recognize that it’s a great replacement for my aging Air.
Ordered one for my office manager in Hanoi. Took 5 weeks but it’s finally shipping. Will receive it 2nd of June.. Very curious to see it in real.
I just got my new 15″ Retina, top of the range. Love it, although it is heavy after having relied on my iPad 1st Gen for travelling since 2010.
iPad still goes in the bag as well, as it’s still going strong after 5 years of daily use.
Talking about it, all 5 iPads I got at that time are all still used for daily travelling by my staff. They just don’t give up. Even battery life is still good for 4-5 hours of internet and email.