News Apple unveils new single-port MacBook

The same was said about the iPad... look how that went...

The re-done MacBook will sell, and like Cei I think it will replace the Air in the range...

As for Cei's other comment on portability and size at the expense of 'other things'... it was never going to have a gazillion ports for every device under the sun, however it only having *1* port is the bit people are having issues with... whilst apple would argue [and have given they've only included 1] that that's their vision and they know best, would a second port [taking it up to the 2 the air has] *really* have compromised the design that much?

 

As said, Apple should totally have included the three way adapter in the box, it's really cheap of them not to considering the premium price (although actually in range with similar laptops it's still a lot of cash). With the adapter (which is basically a mandatory purchase) you actually have three ports when you need them - power, USB3 and HDMI.

As for a second port? It might have fitted. Physically the profile likely can accommodate a second port, but internally it's literally stuffed with batteries. A second port means more PCB behind it, which means less battery space.

 

Without seeing the internals I couldn't say for sure, though you are probably right on the bulk of the space being battery. Tough Imo the loss of battery space [and battery life] would still be minimal in the grand scheme of things. Plus if apple had really wanted to, they would've found a way...

 

If you head to Engadget there's a gallery of press shots, one of which shows the interior. It's literally all battery, the logic board is insanely tiny. Without actually fitting a second port it's impossible to know the impact though.

Found one!


http://www.apple.com/uk/macbook/
On here, under the "Quietly Astonishing" section there's an animated reveal of the case/battery. Not sure where additional USB circuitry would fit :/

 

I don't think a bag full of dongles and hubs is very ultraportable.

 

Why do you need a bag of dongles and hubs? Single triple adapter will do most of what you need. If you're needing to plug in enough devices concurrently to need a hub I'd also suggest you don't want an ultraportable at all, or indeed understand the definition of such.

 

It could well be one of those 'how hard can it be?' things, but given how they've laid the battery cells out [and as i said, had apple been willing], there would've [imo] been space for another port. Especially given the port is *does* have isn't visible on any of the exploded pictures...

Making room for the header on the mainboard would be the tricky bit, but given they'll have worked on the space saving after deciding on what port it required I maintain that had apple wanted to they would've been able to accommodate it, likely by shaving a little off the battery here, making the touchpad a touch smaller there and a few other tweaks here and there adding up to the required space.

 

a second port next to the first would not require that much more, if any PCB. It certainly would not require another controller. Placing the second port on the other side would require more. The fact that a user can't charge their phone and the laptop at the same time is an issue. That it can't be charged while a USB drive is plugged in is an issue.

 

While I would love one of these to use as a portable writing machine and occasional work machine I don't see it sitting in my current Apple lineup.

My 15" retina is a wonderful desktop three display workstation and a mighty fine portable workstation too. If I need greater portability I can write on an iPad, with my fave writing machine being an iPad Mini with a slim logitech clamshell keyboard.

£1,300 is just too much for a 'basic' but lustworthy laptop. But this is the new Apple that is happy to sell lustworthy gear that isn't anymore productive than cheaper alternatives. Shame.

 

Duuuuude...Its over £1K

You can get an Air for the same price...I don't get it

 

There's the dongle that has power, USB and HDMI. So yes, you can charge your phone and the laptop or use an external HD.

 

Whilst it hasn't garnered as much fanfare as the new Macbook, both the MBP and, more surprisingly, the Air have had a refresh too...

'Broadwell' CPUs, the force touch trackpad, faster SSD, better battery life and Thunderbolt 2 all-round. Plus a slight price drop iirc.

Kinda makes the new Macbook even more confusing tbh... imo it should've become the 'air', with the refreshed 'air' [possibly with a retina screen] becoming the 'macbook' and the macbook pro saying as-is [refresh aside].

 

Nah, it's pretty obvious that Apple will kill off the existing Air form factor once they've got pricing down a bit on the MacBook. Then you just have the MacBook and the MacBook Pro available. The Air probably had to have one final hurrah as the 11" model is still the cheapest laptop Mac and making the entry point over £1k is a bit of a hard ask even for Apple.

Early reports are saying the Broadwells are performing exactly the same in CPU benches as the last generation. Improvements entirely on battery life and GPU.

EDIT
Also just worked out why it is a single port.
Look at every Mac laptop. On the left and right side there is a gap between the keyboard and edge of the laptop, providing space for ports to extend in to the body. On the new MacBook the keyboard is right up to the edge, with the sole port (and headphone jack) occupying the space above the keyboard almost entirely. Simply put, once the depth of the keyboard assembly is taken in to account you can't actually fit another port in to the prescribed depth. The solution is to make it thicker or wider with a larger screen (eg 13") but that means heavier. So single port on each side is the only possible configuration.

 

This.

And this. It's a downgraded 13-inch Air (or maybe a lateral move, if people actually want lower performance, lower battery life and a single port that's an active hindrance to convenient usage) with a better screen. For what it offers, it should not have been priced at $1300 or whatever it's pegged at.

Yes, everyone is saying the same thing — "Remember how the original Air was a pricy premium product at first and has now metamorphosed into the base model in the MacBook line!"

Yeah, but in it's earliest incarnation it was a cool piece of crap and so is this. I have little doubt that this new line (whatever they end up calling it, Air or not) will probably end up nicely sorted out a generation or two down the line, but that doesn't make them not objectively bad at present.

So the extra cash is basically for a nicer screen? (debatable utility at that form factor, beyond Apple's obsession with making everything 'Retina') and a lack of ports?

The current Air (some of you may have missed that the MBA and MBP were refreshed yesterday with Broadwell) offers 12 hours of battery life, a better processor, 2 USB ports, 1 Thunderbolt and an SD card reader. The new MB has 9 hours of battery, a worse processor (remember, this is apple to apples as they're both Broadwell) and a single port that is a usability nightmare. The only upsides? Retina display and smaller, lighter package. You pay $400 for that privilege. Thanks but no thanks. For actual usability, the 13-inch Air is still the perfect price/perfomance/portability package.

If I had $1300 burning a hole in my pocket, I'd pick the 13-inch Air and a bottle of nice scotch over the new MB.

Fair enough, but now that just smacks of passing off poor design as a feature.

 

"a 'retina' display offering a 2,304x1,440 resolution and an impressive 0.88mm thickness including chassis"

I know it is impressively thin, but less than 1mm including chassis isn't possible. I think you are missing a not.

 

Entry MacBook is £1,049 compared to £899 for the 11" MacBook Air with a 256GB SSD. Comparing 11" to 12" as they're the closest in size - if you go 13" it's £999 (so a £50 difference). In fact, it's pretty easy to argue that a comparison to the 13" is unfair - the new MacBook is simply not that size of laptop.

The Air gets you a faster CPU, but exactly how much we don't know. Battery is the same (9 hours), but the Air does come with the two USB3 ports and Thunderbolt. No SD card slot on the 11". So, for the price difference of £150 you get a much nicer screen (I seriously cannot overstate how bad the panel in the Airs are, it's the worst they've had since the old plastic MacBooks. TN is just...ugh) and an even smaller/lighter laptop. The new MacBook also has 8GB of RAM, whilst all Airs are 4GB unless custom built. That upgrade costs £80 (!), which actually makes a 256/8GB Air barely any cheaper, and if you are looking at the 13" actually more.

I know you're saying that the new screen is "debatable" at that size, but I honestly don't think so. The biggest change isn't the resolution but the switch from TN to IPS. Retina is a bonus. I think there's a lot of people surprised the Air hasn't had a retina screen grafted on, which is what makes me think the Air's days are numbered. That screen is also worth more than the cheap bad panel in the Air.

Now, you're right, this is first generation. USB-C is massive news for Apple to be honest. It's an industry standard, not something unique to Apple. No more bans on third parties making power cables, no need to go through Apple's approval processes. LaCie have already announced a USB-C portable HD for example. Give it a few months and there'll be all kinds of docks and adapters available (and for cheaper than Apple sell them). It could even indicate what the next Apple standalone display is going to be - a single USB-C cable that powers a laptop and provides access to a full range of USB, ethernet etc ports on the rear. Expect USB-C to replace Lightning as well.

If the Air does disappear, there's a few things Apple can do to get the new MacBook pricing down. Include a 128GB configuration to match the bottom end Air, and although I hate to say it, even offer a 4GB RAM basic build. By Apple's current pricing that should take £150 and £80 off the cost respectively, bringing a bottom end model to around £800-850.

 

Definitely the panel alone; 0.5 of the 0.88 is the bonded glass. Common sense dictates that a 12 inch screen which is just 0.88 mm including chassis would have no structural integrity. It would bend in half the first time you opened the lid!

0.88 mm is less than 7% of the total thickness of the device (13.1 mm). You can tell that lid is thicker than that just looking at the pictures. No need to measure anything.

 

The lid is about 4mm, the body is about 9mm, give or take.