Apple’s “Spring Forward” event has left us with a revealing of the latest MacBook offering. Check out the hands-on reviews of the newest model for Apple.
Apple’s New MacBook Reviews
Wired is pleasantly surprised at the sturdiness.
“First of all, it is incredibly, impossibly thin. I’ve been using a MacBook Air for years, and this 13.1-millimeter, 2-pound device feels like an entirely different category of not-there-ness. It’s amazingly sturdy for being so thin, too. The screen, the 2304 x 1400 display that I wish desperately would have also come to the Air, is lovely. It’s the most important upgrade this device offers, honestly: once you start using a Retina display it’s hard to go back.”
The Verge has mixed feelings about the new trackpad.
“The new trackpad is accurate, and kind of wild: it doesn’t actually move or click, but the haptic feedback works so well it feels like you’re clicking. It’s great. On the other hand, the Force Click action is very far from intuitive — at least for me. It’s like a second click past the first; you press down hard and keep pressing through the click, as though you were karate chopping with your finger and trying to hit a target behind the trackpad. Do that, and you’ll feel a subtle second click happen, and ta-da! you’ve activated force click. In apps that support force, like QuickTime, there are actually multiple clicks — the harder you hold down the trackpad on the fast forward or rewind buttons, the faster the video scrubs. It’s interesting, but it’s out of character for the company that famously refused to put more than one button on the mouse. Putting an extra interaction like this on the trackpad seems weird.”
Tech Crunch is mightily impressed by the screen.
“The screen also looks unbelievable given what you might expect were the technical limitations that come along with making something so thin. The display looks printed on, with a resolution that renders text really well and looks a lot brighter, bolder, and more color-accurate than the original Retina MBP by quite a bit. Again, this is a screen built into something that is essentially not much thicker than a file folder.”
Gizmodo notes the loss of power compared to other models.
“It’s tempting to imagine, but Apple didn’t just squeeze a MacBook Air into a smaller body with black magic or something, and Core M means the new MacBook is going to be the least powerful in the line-up, full stop. Especially considering that with its high-res screen, the new MacBook has some serious pixels to push. We’ve seen similar laptops like the Yoga Pro 3 come up waaaaaaay short of what you’d expect out of a laptop, not to mention that that slim design really cuts down on the ports you might want. The new MacBook isn’t just an iPad with a keyboard, but it is a step in that direction.”
Engadget is somewhat confused at this latest offering.
“The big takeaway from this new MacBook? Apple’s clearly bringing some of the inspiration from the iPhone and iPad over to laptops. Why else do you think it’s available in silver, space gray and gold colors? It brings a bit of confusion to the company’s laptop lineup though — choosing between a 13-inch Air and the shiny, new 12-inch MacBook is going to be tough.”