New MacBook comes in smaller, lighter than MacBook Air


This is an interesting new product that's basically seems like the new retina MacBook Air, but Apple is keeping on the MacBook Air. I'd guess cost may be a factor. The new MacBook starts out at $1300, while the MacBook Air retains sub-$1000 prices. Compared to the Mac Book Air, the new MacBook is just slightly thinner at 0.4cm thinner and about about 1/3 a pound lighter.

It of course also ships with a 12-inch Retina display and comes in colors similar to the iPhones and iPads. I'll be curious to see benchmarks of the dual core i5 and i7 CPUs vs the dual Core M processors.

Also new with the MacBook is a new ForceTouch pressure sensitive new trackpad, which pretty nifty. I was kind of hoping to see some kind of TouchID interface, but maybe some day.

Another new feature is the addition of USB 3.1/USB C. I learned about USB 3.1 at CES and got the vibe Apple was about to adopt it. In addition to a headphone jack, the new MacBook only ships with one port. The one port handles power, USB, and Thunderbolt/Mini DP all in one. It's a reversible cable and can handle up to 5Mb/sec. So, on one had this is pretty cool that Apple is on the front edge of the adoption curve. On the down side, there's only one port. So, this will mean hubs and dongles will be a bigger role in your laptop case. Also I wonder about the future of Thunderbolt and why someone might want to invest in Thunderbolt devices down the road vs USB 3.1.