Is retina MBA coming next week?

[Rakehellion]

Why? Or a better question, why not both?

Because they're different machines with different target markets. It isn't just an Air with a better display. Why not compare it to the Mac Pro?

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Quite relevant. How many USB ports, card readers, and video out ports does the ASUS have?

Irrelevant. The standard does not matter. What you can do with it does. How many USB ports, card readers, and video out ports does the MacBook have?

The best reason is you don't need them because you can do all of those things wirelessly. If you can't, then get an older computer with older technology.

What a joke. I'm not sure if you have the expectation that you're supposed to be taken seriously, but you come across as just trolling. But I'll wait while you point out how the MacBook can connect, as it is, wirelessly, to standard 1080P display. Let me know how it can connect to a flash drive, wirelessly (these are pretty much ubiquitous no matter how your sheltered world view sees it). Let me know how I'll be able to connect even a simple cell phone to charge up without needing an adapter cable. You're choosing to stay blind to anything that might be a caveat.

Or you can just complain about things that have no effect on you whatsoever.

Take your own advice. I'm not complaining here. I have brought up valid criticisms, and valid alternatives. This is what we do here. If you really can't handle that, and thought that this discussion would just be about how perfect the device is for very specific use cases, then maybe you should go find a different place where everyone agrees with you. Or..

you can just complain about things that have no effect on you whatsoever.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Because they're different machines with different target markets. It isn't just an Air with a better display. Why not compare it to the Mac Pro?

Again, complete absurdity. Engadget, Forbes, CNET, and a multitude of other places are discussing all 3 of these devices. Regardless of your daftness, people are cross shopping these devices. Just because you do not have the ability to do so, does not make your incorrect world view suddenly correct. Seriously, you're bad at this.

 

[mmntech]

Reviews are starting to come out. Here's Engadget's.
http://www.engadget.com/2015/04/09/new-macbook-review/

TLDR
-Display is absolutely gorgeous
-Machine well built and the keyboard is surprisingly comfortable
-Didn't care for the force touch trackpad. A bit gimmicky.
-Middling CPU performance with only middling battery life. Just under 8 hours compared to nearly 13 hours for the 13'' MBA, despite the Air having nearly double the performance.
-Single non-standard USB port is problematic making the dongle an absolute necessity.

With its two-pound design, stunning screen and surprisingly comfortable keyboard, the new 12-inch MacBook offers a glimpse at the possible future of laptops. For now, though, its high price and lack of ports make it an expensive novelty, mostly meant for Mac diehards who put portability and screen quality above all else.

They gave it an 81/100. Engadget is pretty generous with their review scores but this is their second lowest rated Apple laptop in the last five or so years.

Personally, I'm not a big fan of this obsession with thinness over function. The 13'' Air and Pro are still the better buy IMO.

 

[vi edit]

Meh. Exactly as I thought. Unless you *ABSOLUTELY* have a need for the Retina, save your money and just get a much better machine in the way of a MBA. More power, more battery, and you aren't gimped to one stupid port you can't do anything with unless you spend even more money on a dongle.

This and the Watch are fumbling in initial reviews. Will be a fun 12 months riding this out to see how the consumer reaction is.

 

[mmntech]

Ars' review is a bit more in depth but comes to the same conclusion.
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2015/04/the-2015-macbook-previews-a-future-thats-not-quite-here/

Too bad Anand is gone. Would have loved one of his overly thorough reviews on this. Especially since he is an Apple fan.

I sort of get the watch but this thing is kind of a baffling product IMO. I just can't figure out who their market for this would be. Macbooks were always the mainstream laptop and were priced accordingly. Then they got replaced by the Air. This thing is more expensive than the Air but has worse specs asside from the display. The weak CPU doesn't make it especially suited for tasks that would benefit from Retina like photo and video editing. Nobody's going to read a lot of text on it close up like the iPad. The iPad is more portable for basic mobile computing tasks. The Air is also very thin and portable.

The single USB port is really just the cherry on WTF sundae. They could have squeezed two on there. One on either side, without affecting the design. No Lightning is also odd.

I almost wonder if the new Macbook started life as an iPad Maxi, a Surface Pro competitor with a full desktop OS, but somehow got transformed into a laptop halfway through the design process.

 

[Eug]

Apple almost always gimps its first generation products, in various ways. I'll see what gen 2 has to offer, because the MBA isn't a good substitute.

If I HAD to buy today, I'd strongly consider the Pro. Luckily I can wait though. Even if I have to wait until the gen 3 12" Retina MacBook, so be it.

My biggest concern actually is the force touch touchpad. The performance will improve in subsequent models.

 

[TheStu]

Ars' review is a bit more in depth but comes to the same conclusion.
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2015/04/the-2015-macbook-previews-a-future-thats-not-quite-here/

Too bad Anand is gone. Would have loved one of his overly thorough reviews on this. Especially since he is an Apple fan.

I sort of get the watch but this thing is kind of a baffling product IMO. I just can't figure out who their market for this would be. Macbooks were always the mainstream laptop and were priced accordingly. Then they got replaced by the Air. This thing is more expensive than the Air but has worse specs asside from the display. The weak CPU doesn't make it especially suited for tasks that would benefit from Retina like photo and video editing. Nobody's going to read a lot of text on it close up like the iPad. The iPad is more portable for basic mobile computing tasks. The Air is also very thin and portable.

The single USB port is really just the cherry on WTF sundae. They could have squeezed two on there. One on either side, without affecting the design. No Lightning is also odd.

I almost wonder if the new Macbook started life as an iPad Maxi, a Surface Pro competitor with a full desktop OS, but somehow got transformed into a laptop halfway through the design process.

I would say to not pay too much attention to the name. One of the reviews that I read, i think it was The Verge, said that perhaps the name is Apple saying "this is what we expect laptops to be, this is the platonic ideal".

The single USB port, which is exactly what the original Air had, it didn't get a second until 2010 with the redesign. And adding that second port WOULD have compromised the existing design. Both by making the logic board larger (my understanding is that the chipset only supports 1 port), and they'd lose battery to make space for the second port.

Why is the lack of Lightning odd? Lightning is USB 2, USB C on the rMB is USB 3. Did you mean thunderbolt? That is a little odd, but again larger logic board and less battery.

I'm not crazy about it, and wouldn't get it even if I felt like dropping $1500 on a new laptop (dat blackbook tho), but I don't see it as much more compromised than when the first Air came out, and at least this time they put sufficient RAM and storage in the thing, the default specs are ACTUALLY decent for once.

 

[poofyhairguy]

the default specs are ACTUALLY decent for once.

Except for a CPU that my iPad Air 2 gives a run for its money.

At least we know Steve would have approved:

""Netbooks aren't better than anything," he said to rousing laughter. "They're just cheap laptops.""

His beef was never with netbooks, just that they were cheap. Apple fixed that.

 

[Subyman]

I'm sort of confused with the Macbook as well. I didn't catch the press conference but I caught up with the Arstechnica review. I didn't have a clue about the new MacBook until then, so I went into the review blind. The one port is strange and harkens back to when the Air first launched. Then they talked about retina display, which I thought was weird because the Air doesn't have that and the MacBook used to be the low end model when compared to teh MacBook Pro. So, I thought they were reintroducing a bargain machine.

The processing power aligns with a bargain price, but retina did not. I continued reading and saw the really shallow keyboard. Then the most baffling thing hit me, it was lighter and smaller than the 13" MacBook Air. So at this point, I thought it would make a killer low-cost option for college students until I read the price... WTH?

So we have three notebooks that all start around the same price with the MacBook AIR actually being heavier than the MacBook. The MacBook is much slower and stripped out, but it costs the same.

I have no clue what to think. Seems like strapping a retina display to the Air and not having 3 different laptops would have been the better choice or simply call this thing the new Air and be done with it.

 

[Eug]

The Air will likely be discontinued IMO.

 

[Spicedaddy]

Slow CPU, single port nobody uses, overpriced... And now that reviews are coming in: crappy battery life!

 

[vi edit]

Yes, the battery life is going to be the unforgivable stain on this. Especially when a more powerful MBA is pulling 5 or more hours longer.

 

[Artdeco]

I'm sort of confused with the Macbook as well. I didn't catch the press conference but I caught up with the Arstechnica review. I didn't have a clue about the new MacBook until then, so I went into the review blind. The one port is strange and harkens back to when the Air first launched. Then they talked about retina display, which I thought was weird because the Air doesn't have that and the MacBook used to be the low end model when compared to teh MacBook Pro. So, I thought they were reintroducing a bargain machine.

The processing power aligns with a bargain price, but retina did not. I continued reading and saw the really shallow keyboard. Then the most baffling thing hit me, it was lighter and smaller than the 13" MacBook Air. So at this point, I thought it would make a killer low-cost option for college students until I read the price... WTH?

So we have three notebooks that all start around the same price with the MacBook AIR actually being heavier than the MacBook. The MacBook is much slower and stripped out, but it costs the same.

I have no clue what to think. Seems like strapping a retina display to the Air and not having 3 different laptops would have been the better choice or simply call this thing the new Air and be done with it.

It's confusing if you don't think about future plans.

The MacBook is Apple's future device, it'll replace the Air, give it a generation, and it'll be a great all rounder laptop.

I think we'll see 2 laptop lines again in 1-2 years, the MBP and the MB.

 

[mmntech]

The single USB port, which is exactly what the original Air had, it didn't get a second until 2010 with the redesign. And adding that second port WOULD have compromised the existing design. Both by making the logic board larger (my understanding is that the chipset only supports 1 port), and they'd lose battery to make space for the second port.

While the original MBA had a single USB port, it also had a separate power and video-out ports. Meaning that it didn't require an expensive dongle to attach any peripherals while charging at the same time.

The one saving grace is USB Type-C is a non-proprietary port, meaning cheaper adapters will be available soon. Though it's still an extra thing to carry.

Core M does support up to two USB 3.0 ports in a mux configuration, which may lower bandwidth but it can be done. Apple uses custom PCBs so they probably could have found room.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/8475/intels-core-m-strategy-cpu-specifications-for-9mm-fanless-tablets

Why is the lack of Lightning odd? Lightning is USB 2, USB C on the rMB is USB 3. Did you mean thunderbolt? That is a little odd, but again larger logic board and less battery.

It's Apple's own proprietary format that they've been pushing big for a few years now. The Cinema Displays use Thunderbolt, meaning this new Macbook is incompatible with them out of the box. I guess I shouldn't be surprised though because this isn't the first time Apple has rendered ports obsolete to sell you new cables.

I'm not crazy about it, and wouldn't get it even if I felt like dropping $1500 on a new laptop (dat blackbook tho), but I don't see it as much more compromised than when the first Air came out, and at least this time they put sufficient RAM and storage in the thing, the default specs are ACTUALLY decent for once.

I've heard mixed things about Core M's performance. It struggles to stay on par with Macs from five years ago. Which would be fine if this was a budget oriented system but certainly not at $1500. Despite the low TDP, battery life isn't great either.

I'm not hating on Apple, I'm just not happy with the direction they've been moving in lately.

 

[weevilone]

I would consider one of these seriously if it had Thunderbolt2. I'd have to check out the keyboard though, as I'm a bit picky on that front.

I'm not concerned about the CPU.

 

[Blackjack200]

I actually went to an Apple Store today to get an iPad and check out the watches.

I was a little underwhelmed by the watch. I still like it, and will still get one, but it was much smaller than I thought it would be, and not as bright.

I do have to say I was pretty impressed with the MacBook. Maybe you just need to see it in person. It is tiny, and the screen is fantastic. I thought the keyboard worked really well, and the force touch was also great. I forgot it even had force tough, and then I was thinking about the different features I wanted to try out, and realized I had thought that I was clicking the trackpad all along.

It seemed snappy enough opening web pages, and such, though I'm coming from a 2011 MBA.

 

[Eug]

I actually went to an Apple Store today to get an iPad and check out the watches.

I was a little underwhelmed by the watch. I still like it, and will still get one, but it was much smaller than I thought it would be, and not as bright.

You don't think it's that great, but you're still gonna get it. In that context, I would wait for version 2 at least.

I do have to say I was pretty impressed with the MacBook. Maybe you just need to see it in person. It is tiny, and the screen is fantastic.

That's why I don't agree with all the Just-Get-The-MBA statements. I really hate the screen of the 11.6" MBA, and the screen of the 13.3" MBA is just mediocre. Furthermore, neither has ergonomic font sizes IMO for OS X.

However, the specs of the 12" MacBook are underwhelming.

So, I will take my own advice above, for the 12" MacBook. I will wait for version 2 at least.

 

[Blackjack200]

You don't think it's that great, but you're still gonna get it. In that context, I would wait for version 2 at least.

Yeah, I still think it will be really useful. I did decide to go for the sport version rather than the stainless.

That's why I don't agree with all the Just-Get-The-MBA statements. I really hate the screen of the 11.6" MBA, and the screen of the 13.3" MBA is just mediocre. Furthermore, neither has ergonomic font sizes IMO for OS X.

However, the specs of the 12" MacBook are underwhelming.

So, I will take my own advice above, for the 12" MacBook. I will wait for version 2 at least.

Next to the MacBook, the MBAs look like old relics. Like the MBPs next to the rMBPs.

It does seem like it's oriented toward very casual users, but could serve those people really well. An iPad with a physical keyboard and OSX.

I imagine they're going to stick with the Core M processors though, so unless Skylake brings some huge advances, wouldn't performance will always be compromised?

 

[Eug]

With time and CPU improvements, compromised performance becomes acceptable performance. The same compromised performance was true with the Airs once upon a time.

 

[Subyman]

It's confusing if you don't think about future plans.

The MacBook is Apple's future device, it'll replace the Air, give it a generation, and it'll be a great all rounder laptop.

I think we'll see 2 laptop lines again in 1-2 years, the MBP and the MB.

Like my professor used to say, "when its ready."

 

[manly]

Yeah, I still think it will be really useful. I did decide to go for the sport version rather than the stainless.





Next to the MacBook, the MBAs look like old relics. Like the MBPs next to the rMBPs.

It does seem like it's oriented toward very casual users, but could serve those people really well. An iPad with a physical keyboard and OSX.

I imagine they're going to stick with the Core M processors though, so unless Skylake brings some huge advances, wouldn't performance will always be compromised?

We're already in an age where 15W CPUs are more than adequate for at least 80% of consumers.

Core M procs will always be slower than U-series but within a couple generations, they will probably be more than fast enough for all but power users. Not saying I would personally ever get a 12" MacBook with limited ports; but the MBA was seriously flawed when introduced at $1799 and it somehow morphed into a pretty solid machine starting at $1k (despite the current complaints about the shabby screen).

It's almost hilarious to recall that the MBA debuted with horribly slow iPod spindle HDD (1.8") and now uses PCI-e solid state storage that is orders of magnitude faster.

Slightly on a tangent, the general rule is to never buy an Apple 1.0 product. Let them iterate and improve before committing.

 

[Blackjack200]

We're already in an age where 15W CPUs are more than adequate for at least 80% of consumers.

Core M procs will always be slower than U-series but within a couple generations, they will probably be more than fast enough for all but power users. Not saying I would personally ever get a 12" MacBook with limited ports; but the MBA was seriously flawed when introduced at $1799 and it somehow morphed into a pretty solid machine starting at $1k (despite the current complaints about the shabby screen).

I realized yesterday one obvious target market for MacBooks: Writers. The virtual keyboard on an ipad is a crappy way to go, but you want something as minimal as possible, but also a big beautiful screen for composition.

It's almost hilarious to recall that the MBA debuted with horribly slow iPod spindle HDD (1.8") and now uses PCI-e solid state storage that is orders of magnitude faster.

Slightly on a tangent, the general rule is to never buy an Apple 1.0 product. Let them iterate and improve before committing.

I want to say that as recently as 2011 you could still get a platter drive on a MBA, but I may be wrong, they may have all been SSD at that point.

 

[TheStu]

I realized yesterday one obvious target market for MacBooks: Writers. The virtual keyboard on an ipad is a crappy way to go, but you want something as minimal as possible, but also a big beautiful screen for composition.



I want to say that as recently as 2011 you could still get a platter drive on a MBA, but I may be wrong, they may have all been SSD at that point.

October 2010, the released the redesigned MBA, and introduced the 11" model. Both the 11" and 13" MBAs came with SSDs standard. They were small (64GB base), but they were SSDs.

 

[Subyman]

With time and CPU improvements, compromised performance becomes acceptable performance. The same compromised performance was true with the Airs once upon a time.

I do like the look and size of the MacBook, but low end dual core won't do it for me right now. It will be interesting to see how the larger market accepts it. I'll definitely be interested once they get a quad in there. I'm on a ivy-b MacBook Pro, so something a bit slimmer would be nice.

I was able to catch the press conference last night and I'm starting to see their vision a bit better now. I definitely agree that the Air's days are numbered.