Spring Forward: That Gold MacBook! :O

All photos are from Apple Inc. I only use them for providing visualizations of the post.

Apple just recently had their “Spring Forward” event last March 9, 2015 and showed us some pretty cool stuff. One of which is a surprising new MacBook! I wasn’t shocked that they’d announce a new MacBook with a Retina Display but I never expected it to come in different colours and for the notebook to have a radical change with just one single port!

Apple is signalling a change in what a notebook should be by introducing its new MacBook. They envision a future where everything we need in order to share and store data is already wireless. What they did is to create a notebook so thin that you cannot believe they actually fit batteries that last up to 9 hours of Wi-Fi web browsing in a notebook that’s just 13.1mm at its thickest point. :O

There are some features you need to take note of since these may sway you to buy this sexy new machine or not.

COLORS!!

You heard that right! For the first time in a long while for an Apple laptop, the new MacBook will come in three colors. There’s Silver (the more traditional Apple notebook color), Space Gray (the one I absolutely want!!!!), and Gold (really looks very tempting. :O). If you didn’t notice, I really do love that Space Gray color but Gold’s actually coming in close second! I never thought I’d be swooned by a gold-colored gadget but this MacBook’s really something else!

New Keyboard

Okay okay. I know this isn’t really a big deal for normal people but for those who type a lot with their laptop, it could have a big impact on the typing experience.

It has been made known that Apple laptops have a great keyboard which gives a great keyboard experience. Since this new MacBook is super thin, they can’t just use the exact same keyboard technology. This is why Apple decided to design their own keyboard mechanism called the “butterfly mechanism”. Before, the scissor mechanism was used and when you type, the feel of each key is uneven. The new butterfly mechanism provides an even feel for each key, making the typing experience feel better. I have yet to test this one because I am really contented with the keyboard on the MacBook Air.

Force Touch Trackpad

Another thing that normal people wouldn’t really notice but this is actually a big deal since trackpads in Apple laptops have always been designed like a diving board. Gone is that tech in the new MacBook and here comes the new Force Touch trackpad. This is the same as the “Force Touch” that was introduced during the announcement of the Apple Watch. There are force sensors below the trackpad that sense whether you wanted to just click or a “Force Click” (This term brought some problems with it. Oof.) on a certain part. The “Taptic Engine” gives a feedback whenever a Force Click is done.

USB Type-C

If the previous two features didn’t budge you a bit, this might will. Currently, we have multiple ports on laptops where we plug in our external hard drives and connect to external monitors. Since this new MacBook is so thin, all those multiple ports wouldn’t even fit. So Apple decided to put just one single port: USB Type-C. I was surprised they went in this direction. Apple wasn’t one to implement universal standards. MacBooks until now only had MagSafe. USB Type-C will be the only port for charging and data. If you wanna plug multiple stuff into this new MacBook, you have to shell out money for adapters (the Apple one costs at least $29).

Other features are as follows:

• Retina Display (2304×1440 resolution, 16:10 aspect ratio)
• Comes with 8GB RAM standard
• Contoured batteries that enable the MacBook to have 35% more capacity than traditional batteries
• 1.1 or 1.2 GHz Intel Core M processor (upgradeable to 1.3 GHz)
• Fanless architecture
• 256 or 512 GB SSD
• 9-hour battery life (web browsing)

The new MacBook starts at $1299 (1.1 GHz, 256GB) and has a higher-tiered option for $1599 (1.2GHz, 512GB).

MY THOUGHTS

When I first saw the new MacBook, I was like “WOW”. My jaw dropped. Seriously! The thickness is hard to imagine and a 2 pound laptop will almost feel like nothing in my opinion. It’s a bummer to see just one port though since we have really slow internet speeds in the Philippines and we can’t fully rely on wireless technologies just yet. If I’d get one, I’d probably shell out more money for that $80 adapter that has HDMI and a normal USB port. Even then it would be quite difficult since there is no SD card slot. I also still feel that the 3-hour battery life difference isn’t worth it for me. I’m a developer and not having many ports is actually hard since I need to plug a device for testing and an external hard drive for backups. I feel that it’s still an inconvenience for me to get one.

But oh do I want one so bad!