USB-C as the "one connector to rule them all" is the big news. That's the end of MagSafe and the exploding era of USB-C docking stations that work for multiple devices.
I think we'll start to see an era of expandable computing coming up soon: USB-C is a perfect connector to push your data and state into a larger desktop experience. Why not carry around your laptop in tablet form when you are mobile? [1]
I will guarantee you that their charger will have a port on it to pass through. Still awkward, but I can't imagine that they'd force users to choose between data and power on that one port.
I just hope the passthrough is up near the part that plugs into the laptop, or it's going to be awfully inconvenient for a lot of different kinds of peripherals.
It just means we're going to stay stuck in dongle hell.
When I'm on the road the minimalism of a Mac is nice, but at my desk, hooked up to everything I really need for heavy work, my desktop is a cluster-f of cables and adapters and wires.
To be fair, it's at least a single standard dongle hell. And now with USB-C you can have thunderbolt-style docks that give you a near-universal docking experience (ie: DVI/HDMI/dozens of USB ports/DVD drive/power) with a single cable when you're at your desk.
I agree, that is the theory. However we might be at least a year from such hubs being affordable.
I guess what I am saying is, I wouldn't want to be queued outside the Apple store for one of these. The supporting accessories aren't there yet (yes, even with Apple's two hubs/adapters).
However when they do the refresh on this line, one or two years from now, the supporting hubs, wires, and so on will be available and it will be a very fun experience.
Nothing is wrong with hubs, but now there is yet one more thing you have to have available (at least until they become more prolific in external devices)
Want a legit answer? They lack power isolation. I had a device surge/short while attached to a USB hub (it was a branded one), and everything else attached died: Keyboard, Mouse, motherboard, and a phone.
This was back pre-USB 3, and the power limit of USB has only increased since then (USB 3, USB-C, etc). This means the wires get hotter, the hub gets hotter, and any short/surge will have an even more dramatic effect (e.g. fire?).
Honestly USB hubs should be up to the same spec as a surge-protector/multi-tap, but they aren't, even though they carry enough electricity to kill someone.
What does the USB-C equivalent of this [1] look like on a laptop with only one port? Apple basically killed the always-plugged-in peripheral with this revision, there's no way you could create something small enough that it wouldn't break in a bag that still provided pass-through for charging or other devices.
Do all monitors/printers/hard drives/etc provide pass through so you can charge? Or do you have to unplug your laptop from the power to get to your hard drive if you lose your dongle?
Not to mention the fact that every single mac apple peripheral you've ever owned is now worthless.
If they threw USB-C on as the charger alongside a USB and Thunderbolt I'd be stoked that mac is embracing new technology. If they put two or three USB-C ports and nothing else I'd be impressed with their commitment. With just one port, I'm left wondering what the hell they're thinking people use their laptops for.
I'm not sure why you'd want to use such a wireless mouse receiver with a computer that has bluetooth built in?
Also, I haven't plugged in a printer in years. Many printers have Wifi built in, and if not, you can always attach it to an Airport base station.
External storage? Use Apple's Time Capsule or any other NAS to back up your data wirelessly.
I've even seen companies use Apple TVs connected to a projector for wireless presentations.
Sure, a USB thumb drive is invaluable when you need to copy some files to your uncles 10 year old laptop with broken wifi; but you can get pretty far without wires if you want.
This seems like the fix for dongle hell to me. You plug everything into your monitor, tucking your cables away nicely, and then you have a single cable going from your monitor into your laptop.
Small sample size and all, but I find USB microphones to be rather susceptible to electrical noise from stuff like USB hubs. I have to plug them directly into my machines to get a clean signal.
I'm concerned about the feasibility of USB-powered hard drives with this setup. On my Macbook Pro, if I plug more than one of them into a hub (as opposed to separate USB ports), they start flaking out on account of lack of power, even if the hub is powered.
Then your hub is not doing a good job of providing the 500 mA that it supposed to give to devices, or your USB powered hard drive actually requires more than 500 mA to do its thing.
Make sure the power brick that your powered hub came with is capable of powering the N+ devices you have at the same time. Most of the 4 port hubs come with 2A power supplies, however sometimes they skimp on actually being able to deliver that power.
In the current era of ubiquitous saas/cloud services, abstracted file systems, multiple device types, large internal storage options, dropbox, box, drive, and icloud, there are many, many people who haven't used a USB drive in years (or ever) and have no use for one.
Other than cost (which is certainly a factor) I guess I've never understood why people schlep around a laptop and use the same laptop for their desktop by plugging in cables. I know people do this who could easily afford an additional more powerful desktop.
I use a MacPro driving 3 27' displays and also have a few portables as well. It's just a matter of synching info. I can't imagine having to deal with hooking up a portable.
To their credit, it seems Apple is at least trying to solve this problem with their recent foray into 'live' document dragging between iOS/Yosemite. Though it's hardly the ubiquitous solution we want, it is a first step.
Plugging my 2013 Air into my desk when I come home isn't a big hassle - I plug in the speaker cable, the power cable, the video cable, and the USB hub. It takes me ten seconds[1] to do unless one of the cables falls; they're normally sitting right where I put the Mac. It sits on a lower shelf and runs closed; there's a Bluetooth keyboard and a Wacom tablet on my desk. (I'm an artist.)
It'd be nice to have the single connector I guess. Once I got an adapter[2] and plugged everything into that I'd save all of, I dunno, five seconds?
I'm also not driving three displays. I have never liked multiple displays. They don't work well with a Wacom tablet, and I go crazy from constantly seeing slight color differences; when I'm at a cafe, I use the laptop screen; when I'm at home, I use the external monitor.
Now you have one person's explanation of why she schleps around a single laptop that she also uses for her desktop.
1: Literally; I just timed it. 6.6s to leisurely unplug it, 10.3s to casually reconnect it.
This is one of the great things about buying an Apple Cinema Display. My Displayport model provides audio/video over one cable, camera/microphone over another, and a third MagSafe connector. The Thunderbolt design allows for audio/video/camera/microphone/ethernet/firewire/even more thunderbolt, plus a magsafe connector.
I think we'll see a lot of small USB hubs with a USB-C connector to your laptop and all your USB/audio/Displayport/ethernet out, so that getting back to your desk is one cable to plug in and not a half-dozen.
Apple laptops have been limited by a lack of docking ports, which is my favorite use case for having a work and home workstation. Now, instead of hooking up a power cable, monitor cable and USB hub, you slide one connector in. How is that bad?
It would not be bad, but the adapter that gives me two ports will be a part of my trip.
At airports for example I'm carrying only my MacBook and usually put in there charger and the my phone, now I have to also carry an adapter to do that.
Not to denigrate their work, but this happened very very late in the type-C game.
(Look at who attended what meetings, and where it was proposed, how far it was along when it was proposed, and then when apple started showing up. It looks like they saw the writing on the wall, and joined in to make sure they weren't going to get left behind)
Probably realized that they needed to go with USB-C because of cars, European regulations, etc. Finally, everyone is using one connector. PC, Mac, Android, and iOS?
Actually, i have real facts, but i can't state them here, so i'm pointing you at enough data to draw your own conclusions. But sure, if you'd rather just believe whatever you like, you are welcome to :)
I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm just saying that you are deceiving yourself if you think you aren't denigrating them. That is clearly your intention, and you think the facts bear you out. Why not just be honest about it?
Another view is that there was a moment when they saw/realised what USB-C could do for Apple and a radically new laptop, and then became a lot more invested then.
"But 1 port is sad, because now you have to choose between a lot of things (charging, using hdmi, whatever)"
No, USB Type-C allows multiple concurrent uses, such as: charging and using HDMI at the same time. See http://www.anandtech.com/show/8518/hands-on-with-usb-type-c-... : "This opens up the possibility for a dock scenario where a single cable to the monitor can charge a laptop and also mirror the laptop's display onto the external monitor, and the external monitor would also be able to serve as a USB hub for a keyboard, mouse, headsets, flash drives, and other USB peripherals."
Edit: @rakoo: I agree that in scenarios where you do not have a hub, it is annoying to have only 1 port. Even if the power brick integrates a USB hub it would be weird to have to plug a USB drive in the brick... I guess this opens a market opportunity: sell a tiny USB hub with 3 ports (type-C power in, type-C power out, type-A generic port) that is meant to be left almost permanently attached to the laptop or to the end of the power cord.
Theoretically, yes. But I'm not obsoleting my new 4K 60" screen to add a port. So if I want to output display to a monitor/projector and I'm low on battery, I better have a powered USB hub handy...
It may come with a 1-port USB plus power adapter in place of the standard power cable though?
On my desk I have two monitors, keyboard, mouse, microphone, webcam, laptop and an Antec USB charger which charges my phone, bluetooth headset, kindle and vita.
My laptop is connected to the power via magsafe and the monitors with HDMI and USB. Keyboard/mouse/webcam/microphone are connected to the monitors.
With the new USB-C plug I guess I'll be able to buy the hypothetical Antec "Super USB Charging Media Hub", which all my devices connect to. My laptop then only needs to plug into one thing.
I would really like PC manufacturers to standardize on this; it would make using laptops as nice as using non-Apple telephones/tablets/ereaders is now.
The decision to not include a single USB port is of course mind-boggling, especially given Apple's market. How are you supposed to share large files? No USB drives, no memory cards etc on the go.
With regards to sharing of files: it's a natural progression for Apple. They are moving everything to iCloud. In Mavericks, for example, they disabled syncing of notes/calendar/address book through the cable with iTunes. It feels like this is just one step further.
Needless to say, I'm not very happy about no USB just as I wasn't happy about syncing.
Hey thanks for this. I tested it out on Mavericks, and the only thing that doesn't sync anymore is the notes. Maybe I just can't find the setting in iTunes to sync that as well...
I'd think the opposite since his peripherals are fixed: type C is the logical extension of the thunderbolt display, with a single cable end to plug in when you reach your desk with your laptop.
I'm in a somewhat similar situation, when I reach home I plug in power, network, external display and USB devices, but these things don't move with me, they're fixed desk accessories. I've got a separate set of them at work.
Too bad they can't fit 29W into the smaller cube form factor which charges my phone. That would be incredible powering a laptop off of that.
Someone needs to create a much sleeker implementaion of a in-line 1-port hub. So basically something that looks like USB-C on both ends, but 4" from one side of the cable there's a quarter-sized circle of hard plastic that has the USB-C cable going through it, with another USB-C port available on the side.
I hope we will see USB-C to HDMI and USB-C to DisplayPort "cables" which are not big fat massive dongles but really function more like just a cable.
Not every device needs to fill every use case. Apple apparently has reason to believe that use cases that require simultaneously using the port for multiple purposes are rare enough among potential users of the MacBook that they don't need to support those use cases. If this particular product doesn't provide all of the features you need, there are other products available from Apple and other manufacturers with additional features.
I completely agree that my needs may not be the needs of everyone and actually, when we're talking about Apple, they tend to be changing ways of usage rather than following them.
Another perspective I've seen recently about this is that this new Macbook will probably make people change their habit towards something traditionally only for smartphones: you'll see people keep their computer untethered for the larger part of the day, and only plug it for energy during the night. So, basically, mobile first instead of plugged first. You then have a port constantly available for whatever you want to plug on the go.
I've not read those docs (sorry) but what if I want to run DisplayPort for my monitor and simultaneously plug in an external USB drive? Can a single line switch between protocols?
You're getting too tied up in brand identity and going too far in the other direction. What we call "Thunderbolt" is effectively an evolution of the DisplayPort PHY (which already supported graphics streaming of course, and also encapsulated USB transfers) with protocol extensions to do more PCI-like transactions.
And the USB 3.1 "SuperSpeed+" PHY is a 10Gbps thing that is very comparable to Thunderbolt electrically and would be expected to evolve similarly.
You're right that USB lacks the PCI framework (which many of us view as a feature). But DP/Thunderbolt similarly lacks a cabling standard with the sophistication of USB: no charging, not reversible connectors, no OTG-style switching of host/guest mode.
Apple had a choice of supporting both connectors, or giving up "PCI madness" or "nice cables" to get just one. They picked USB.
That's all well and good, but the question was whether it supported actual Thunderbolt, to which the answer given was "yes" but the actual answer appears to be "no."
Supporting something like Thunderbolt is nice, but not exactly the same. It's not about "brand identity," it's about "does this equipment I have work with this machine?"
That's hardly unique to this situation though. It doesn't support Firewire or eSATA or VGA or ethernet or AppleTalk or Centronics parallel either. Life moves on, and this is hardly a company gripped by concerns for backwards compatibility.
You seem to have confused "Is this the end of Thunderbolt as well?" with "I hate Apple forever for changing things." It's a simple question with a simple answer. (Yes.)
Just to clear up the FUD, the Type-C connector supports 'Alternate Modes.' This allows manufactures to implement chips that can MUX different signal types onto the USB cable SS lanes. There are 4 SS lanes that can be reassigned and either 2 or 5 additional wires that can also be used depending on if it's a cable or dock connection.
So, can the Type-C connector support Thunderbolt? Yes.
Does the Type-C connector currently support Thunderbolt? No.
Will someone add Thunderbolt over Type-C? Maybe.
I've only heard of PCIe over Type-C (via the spec docs) and DP over Type-C (from the VESA guys).
It certainly sounds like an excellent connector. If Apple can shoehorn Thunderbolt into that, it would be great. If they can't, it sounds like it's well worth it anyway.
No, there is no access to PCI address spaces over the USB 3 port. At least not yet, with existing hardware. As mentioned elsewhere in the thread it's not an impossibility to see an evolved (but compatible) standard in future USB 3 hardware.
So, in alternate mode all 4 SS lanes can be reassigned. Each lane is doing 10Gbps right now from what the specs say. You could do PCIe over this and they even use PCIe as an example in the Type-C spec documents.
Just to clarify what you said, Alternate Mode allows two directly connected devices to negotiate what the SS lanes and a few other wires are used for. The signaling that happens over the wires after negotiation is totally outside of the USB spec as the signals are simply MUXed onto the wires. In theory you could MUX anything over the wires as long as the signaling parameter fell within the specs defines for the cabling.
I have two thunderbolt displays daisy chained into the single thunderbolt port on my 2013 MacBook Air. Each display is basically also a dock, with other peripheral ports in the back. It works very well because as I understand it thunderbolt is 10gbps transfer.
What cases do you have? I looked into these before, but anything with a decent size seemed too heavy to take on aircraft (assuming a 30kg checked in limit).
The DP over Type-C stuff (Alternate Mode) is not hub traversable.
So, you could talk to a single DP device, but that DP device could be a DP MST splitter. This could allow it to act as a DP hub for you to daisy chain a second monitor.
I am not too happy about that. HP already has USB charger for laptop, and it had bunch of problems, including fire hazard. That was just ARM chromebook, not sure how it will on 'full' mac.
EDIT: there are physical limitations how electric current is transferred. USB contacts do not have good shape and will probably deteriorate more quickly.
In the old days, HP had a high standard of quality. More recently, almost coinciding with the introduction of inkjet printers, HP quality standards have slipped to a new dismal low. I'm not surprised to hear of fires.
I just purchased a little HP 11" Stream, and the build quality is pretty good - I was pleasantly surprised, especially for a $199 laptop that includes $125 in free software coupons. (Pro-tip: if you need a Windows laptop, but it directly from Microsoft so you don't get any crap-ware loaded on it.)
That said, I am kind of looking forward to my (about) 4 year old MacBook Air eventually dying and then I will buy the new model that was announced today :-) MacBooks are beautiful.
My first inkjet was one of DeskJet 500 series in the early nineties. And HP had inkjets since 1984 apparently. That's "more recently" for you? You are right about HP standards slipping but coincidencing with inkjet printers they are not :)
Battery life is long enough such that MagSafe isn't as necessary as it used to be. Back when you had to haul your power cord to meetings, coffeeshops, and the like, cord tripping was a serious problem. Now? Far less so.
Have kids and/or pets run around in the same area where your computer is plugged in. Sooner or later one is going to tear on the cord - heck, even I do manage from time to time. And the connector looks so flimsy I'm afraid one time is all it's going to take. Nah, macsafe was the best invention ever in terms of charging.
so I have a reduced chance of incident occurrence, but if it does, it's probably fatal vs. a high chance of non-fatal incident. Bad trade if you ask me.
Counter-point: As not-the-primary-computer, my MBA is plugged in 80% of the time and gets moved from place to place as my crowded workspace dictates. I can't count the number of times I've accidentally yanked the Magsafe connector out trying to move it just out of cable reach because I needed to get at something underneath.
Granted, a lot of that is learned behavior because I know I can yank the Magsafe out without incurring a $500 repair.
Judging by the coffee shop I'm in at the moment where about 1/3 of people have their machines plugged in, I don't think plugs are dead yet (not to mention at home or in offices, of course). Part of the problem is that the battery life is not yet at the level of phones. My 11" 2015 Macbook Air advertises a battery life of "up to" 9 hours web-browsing or 10 watching videos, but in practice I've found it closer to 6-7 while working actively, if I've got several apps open, wifi on, and screen brightness up. Maybe switching from Firefox to Safari would help, dunno (but I'm pretty tied to Firefox at the moment). I can get 10+ hrs on planes, but there I have the screen brightness turned down, wifi off, and am mostly working in a terminal vim.
I leave my laptop on the charger as much as possible to avoid cycles on the batteries. And even if the charger is connected for 5 minutes the possibility of it getting yanked out is present. The lighter the attached platform is the worse the risk, since without the breakaway connector you can yank the whole laptop onto the floor.
I mean there's nothing saying you can't have a break-away cable even now. Look at the Xbox, the controllers are USB and they break near the system if the cable is tripped on. It's perfectly possible to have USB type C and MagSafe at the same time.
In fact, you could probably have a USB-C-to-MagSafe-to-USB-C adapter. Knock your laptop and the cable comes loose, with the adapter left plugged into the port.
Couldn't you simply build an adapter to get that magnetic ability? I'm envisioning a standard connector to laptop, bit of cord, proprietary connector with built-in magnetics but maintaing USB 3.1 compliance out to a female USB-C connector.
If USB-C becomes the go-to port for charging, I can't imagine something like this not being far behind.
Considering the new MacBook is just 2 pounds, I guess they'd have to put a really weak magnet in there to actually keep your Mac safe. I assume the threshold where the plug should "let go" is pretty close to the force required to keep the cable plugged during regular use.
Related: Can you still open the lid with one finger without lifting the bottom case up with it?
I am a bit on the fence about them seemingly jettisoning the lighting connector? Why go with a plug that has a delicate prong in the center rather than a plug with the contacts around the perimeter?
Does anyone know if there was any emphasis put on making USB-C less flimsy and delicate?
I'll add another question: Does USB-C have a spec for requesting additional wattage?
Example: I have a USB-C Printer/Hard drive/or otherwise, and plug in my MacBook Air, will it charge my MacBook or will I need an intermediate like a specialty hub to charge?
This seems egregious if every device needs to provide power for the potential of charging device in question...
There's actually a supplemental spec, USB-PD(Power Delivery) which now accopmanies USB 3.0 and addresses this. It is carried over the USB physical layer but does not rely on the data layer for communication.
To answer more specifically; yes— not only is every node in the bus network addressable for power needs and capabilities, even each of the two ends of a cable is a separately addressable node (mostly used to figure out which way a swappable cable is oriented, I think).
>I am a bit on the fence about them seemingly jettisoning the lighting connector? Why go with a plug that has a delicate prong in the center rather than a plug with the contacts around the perimeter?
My biggest gripe about the USB-C, and a big fuck up on the part of the standards committee, IMO
Current USB connectors have prongs in the middle of the female side as well, but I've never ever seen one break off before, and that's with people (including myself) trying to force plugs in the wrong orientation. Is there a reason to worry about these new connectors' prong strength?
Maybe it depends on who builds your devices, but I have had several usb prongs break off on me even when I was careful. This happened on one desktop and several gaming consoles.
Another way to look at it is that the pins (which are really the fragile bit prone to scratching, oxidization etc) aren't exposed that way, they're protected inside the metal wrapper.
Quite a lot of work went into it. It is designed for 10k insertion cycles. 2x stronger to wrenching forces than micro, and it is designed so the cables fail, not the machine side connector (because once factories get up to speed have similar costs to USB micro cables now at least for dumb cables). Have a slide deck as a pdf if you want more details:
That is not going to happen.
Apple licenses out the use of its connectors for docking stations and other accessory usage. If they just drop the lightening connector on the iphone this soon after implementing it, I dont think manufacturers of these accessories would very happy about that.
Because they are the ones that support Apple's products and pay a license to do so.
If you change standards every Monday morning then these manufacturer would have to retool their products which would no doubt cost them.
Apple has a long history of completely disregarding the needs or desires of accessory manufacturers, and only started the MFi program after years of categorically responding with cease-and-desist letters. The program is primarily in serving Apple's interests in a level of reliability in the accessory ecosystem; it's an absolutely insignificant revenue stream.
Is this really the case? They certainly seemed to stick with the 30 pin connector for far longer than they had any reason to other than the massive third party accessory/dock/speaker market.
It also looks like (finally) the complete modularisation of the power supply. You should be able to have a localised wall cable, power brick and separate USB cable to the computer. In principle this should mean an end to ridiculously overpriced power supplies (currently north of £60). It's even more galling given that they realised the cables were so poorly made that US customers have a special return program for fraying while the rest of the world doesn't - hooray for litigation culture?
The new 29W brick currently costs £40 and the 2m USB-C cable £25. Typically it's not the brick that fails, it's the poor strain relief on the laptop cable. Being able to replace just the cable with (probably) an aftermarket product is a massive step up.
Thank god. The magsafe adapter is cool, but has some serious flaws to it. Namely: it's magnetic, so any sort of [ferrous] metal dust will accumulate inside of it, preventing you from getting a good seal on the connector.
If you work in any environment other than a sterile coffee shop, this will be a huge problem for you. I spend almost all of my time working in a hackerspace, and fiddling with my power connector on my less than 1 year old laptop is a constant annoyance.
I've had three MBPs over the course of a few years and never had this issue. Though, I have noticed a very small dust build up but it definitely hasn't compromised the magnetic seal. Is it an older version? I don't plug/unplug a whole lot so that may also be contributing.
Strong adhesives are often a good way to defeat magnets. (I've used this principle, but not in the specific context of removing magnetic crud from inside a magsafe plug.) A properly designed magsafe power plug would have a way of either easily replacing the plug or removing/defeating the magnet.
I took a bag to the beach, then put my laptop in that bag a few weeks later. The leftover sand (because sand is basically glitter) had some magnetic bits, which clogged the magsafe connector. I had to spent like 20 minutes with a toothpick to get enough out to charge, and it was never quite back to normal.
Metal dust is a problem in "any environment other than a sterile coffee shop"?
It's a bit of a dubious rhetorical move to cast anybody who works in an environment that doesn't contain a lot of ferrous dust as some sort of freakish outlier. You might be ever so slightly guilty of overgeneralizing your experience...
I use my Air and used my old Macbook (the white plastic one) in my workshop, where we make shoes by hand. So I have lots of nails (and thus, lots of tiny metal scraps from the nail boxes, as well as nail pieces when we need to cut some down) lying around and lots of knife-sharpening dust around our (unplugged, since we usually keep the computer away when hammering/sharpening, but we just leave the connector in his usual place) Magsafes and have seen no problem in the connector.
I still use a wired mouse and a wired keyboard for my laptop (since I prefer the size and of a standard keyboard to the little rubber chiclets HP calls a keyboard.) It has literally all the advantages of a wireless setup, without ever having to worry about batteries.
This trend in laptop design towards providing fewer ports for what seems to be little more than aesthetics seems a bit backwards.
How often do you put a wireless mouse or keyboard somewhere you wouldn't also put a wired mouse or keyboard? It seems to me the ergonomics are likely to be the same for most cases.
Fair enough if you think wireless is advantageous in this case but I personally don't. Or if it is, it doesn't outweigh the disadvantage of having a mouse that can run out of juice.
I don't understand why anyone uses a wireless mouse. You have a device that's utterly useless except in close proximity to its parent, why wouldn't you just plug it in and never have to charge it?
> You have a device that's utterly useless except in close proximity to its parent, why wouldn't you just plug it in and never have to charge it?
Wireless mice aren't convenient to keep plugged in with many laptops in many carrying cases/bags/etc, and having to plug it in increases the set up time before useful interaction. So, for laptops typically used on-the-go, I see them as a negative.
And, mice can be useful fairly distant from a CPU; they usually aren't useful far from the keyboard (which can also be wireless) and, depending on the display size, may need to be close to the display.
I mean, its not like we live in the era when most computer use involves switching disks or other similar activities that require physical interaction with the CPU case, so there's no particular requirement that the CPU needs to be that close to the keyboard/mouse for the setup to be useful.
That's a good point w/r/t desktops, you could easily have the CPU case hidden away down behind the desk or something, but the parent comment said "especially on a laptop" where the monitor/keyboard/cpu are somewhat bound together.
I guess you're right about the setup time, but that seems like an extremely minor irritation to me, compared to the moderate irritation of swapping out or recharging dead batteries. Ultimately, I suppose it's a personal preference: Do you prefer a tiny annoyance every day, or greater annoyance (still negligible, in the grand scheme) every few months.
I do I started to get aching mouse hands after using the wireless touch mouse and I like not having the cursor zoom all over the place if i accidentally nudge the mouse
I think their idea is you should use a wireless mouse. Notice that the "Fully equipped for a wireless world" heading appears above the mention of USB-3. Indeed, putting only one port forces the issue, because I imagine a significant amount of the time, if you're using a mouse, you're also plugged in to power, and now you can't do both without a hub of some sort.
Reasonable people can disagree wrt whether a wireless mouse is acceptable for their use case, of course. Just like reasonable people could disagree when Apple stopped shipping devices with floppy drives and (later) optical drives.
Thanks for posting that. I think when the rumour was spreading about USB-C/loss of Magsafe everyone was asking if Apple was going to do something like that, or even if it was feasible to both charge AND provide back out USB/Mini-Displayport ports.
I hope IFixIt guys takes those things apart, I bet they have their own little OS and processor just like we've seen in previous Apple "adapters."
That's fine for portability...except that it's a whopping $79.
What we also want is a hub into which we can plug our monitors and additional storage. For desktop use, this should have a longer cord, of course. (There are such hubs for USB 3, which can already be bought for ~$79 t0 ~$250 depending on what you want out of video compatibility.
Neat tidbit, Type-C connectors also support analog audio mode. In this mode it can do stereo audio out, mic in, and 5V@500mA power in. Obviously the chipset would have to support this, but the connector spec allows it in any case.
Think about it. Eighty dollars just to get less than you had before (with the 11-inch Air). And you're already paying the Apple tax, plus that ugly adapter defeats the purpose of the whole making-it-pretty thing. All in the pursuit of a few millimeters.
I easily expect monitors to start supporting Type C input, where they feed the host machine power and do USB passthrough to a classic USB interface hub with maybe a daisychained type C port on there as well.
Its temporary. In five years everything will have these ports and adapters will not be necessary. In the same way today you can get a DP to VGA adapter instead of having a bulky analog video output, even if it costs $15.
Yes and yet I am still lugging adaptors
- DP to VGA
- DP to HDMI
- DP to DVI
Because I never know what I'll have when I present and you know what, I nearly always have to revert back to VGA, its not like HDMI is new !
I have a nice integrated laptop but I have all these parts around in my bag that I sometimes lose or forget connected to a projector somewhere. What may have seem like a simpler solution really wasn't in the end.
It isn't meant to be a simpler solution, but staying on analog video was never an answer. The only reason VGA projectors are still in use because they still work because we have all these passthrough options. Without them businesses would have replaced them as soon as VGA was going out of style, aka, 2002.
Replaced them with what? HDMI, which needs an adapter and can't be fed from VGA sources? DP/MiniDP, which again needs an adapter and can't be fed from VGA or HDMI sources? Maybe USB-C, which doesn't need an adapter if you bought an Apple laptop within the last few hours and don't need to put it on charge? (Otherwise it requires an adapter in order to interface with DisplayPort - but hey, at least it has that backwards compatibility!)
VGA's popular because it's the only option that actually works for everyone, and it's not for a lack of newer alternatives - in fact, the plethora of newer alternatives is the problem here.
I feel your pain because I also have to make presentations—and thus carry display adapters in my bag.
But the vast majority of people never have to make presentations or hook up to legacy projectors and monitors. So bulking up the machine itself to accommodate that does not really make sense.
Next they should trim the keyboard, monitor, battery, touchpad, and everything else except the Apple logo, since that's really all that matters anyway. Then you'll be able to travel really light.
I am all for portability but there comes a point where you start trimming essential functions. I'm not saying every laptop needs to have a SCSI port, but ONE connector?! I thought Apple was bad before with two USB slots and mini-DP. My Thinkpad Yoga, which I bought specifically for portability, manages to have 2 USB connectors, HDMI, built-in SD card reader, and other useful peripherals onboard, and yes, I do actually use these.
I think MacBooks are cool but I always find myself unable to use them for serious work. If I was a casual computer user that just needed to update Facebook once in a while, they'd probably be fine, but every time I've tried something more serious than that with one, I've ended up on a non-Apple product because why torture myself over fashion?
I suppose it depends on how you define "essential", or perhaps "serious work".
Granted, most of what I do with my MBP is modern full-stack stuff, which I gather doesn't qualify as "serious" even if it does make me a good living. But I don't see how the type and number of ports on my laptop would make much difference if I were, say, writing Linux kernel modules for hardware nobody uses, or building a window manager in Haskell, or whatever the current definition of "serious" is among those who put so much weight on the term. I need to plug in a real keyboard; all else is commentary. (And who does embedded away from home, anyway? There's too much you need besides the computer, unless you're targeting an emulator, in which case what need have you of physical ports?)
But, hey, it's always easier to feel superior than it is to see the other guy's point of view.
I have a wireless mouse that works via a USB dongle, and I use a USB headset for my Skype calls with my business team. I also charge my cellphone from a USB port, especially when travelling, as it's far more convenient to have one plug adaptor and my Macbook Pro power supply than carrying a plug adaptor and a multi-box everywhere.
At the moment, the two USB ports I have on my MBP are pretty much bare minimum but every now and then I find myself juggling peripherals.
You might consider the same cheat I use for charging, which is to keep a small but reasonably capacious USB battery [1] in my bag, and top it up via USB whenever I happen to have a port free. Since it's specified to fully charge an iPad twice, it can charge my phone several times before running flat, and a fully powered USB port can charge the battery itself in a matter of a few hours -- an overnight charge is ample. (And, hey, the only thing I ever plug in my phone for anyway is power, so it's not like I'm losing anything by not plugging into a port on my laptop.)
Another trick worth considering is, instead of using a USB headset, instead to use one which connects via the headphone jack proper. Mine is a Sennheiser HD558 with an aftermarket cable incorporating an Apple-style mic/remote module, but you don't have to get that elaborate, especially since the HD558 isn't designed to travel and does not do so well; for simple VoIP purposes, anything halfway decent will do, and serve the purpose of freeing up a USB port for things that a headphone jack can't do.
Why should one go to all this trouble just so he can use a Mac? There are many decent competitors out there that don't require these types of hacks (and for the record, I carry two USB batteries in my bag since there are occasions when I'm in the field for extended periods of time (24 hours+), but I certainly wouldn't be charitable to the idea of draining that backup power because Apple thought I needed to save 2mm of vertical space more than I needed the ability to transfer battery power from my laptop to my phone). That's the gist of the thing here. Apple people take using Apple products seriously and will go to lengths to make it work. Other people take their work seriously and will use the tool that best suits their needs. It's hard for me to imagine a MacBook ever best suiting the needs of a user that's more advanced than the casual Facebook browser just because so many sacrifices are made for aesthetics, and honestly even that market is a dubious target for the MacBook since the emergence of the tablet (for lighter casual users) and the ultrabook (for heavier casual users).
Do we care more about having the sexiest laptop in the airport or getting more productive time in? That's the dilemma one goes through when choosing PC v. Mac.
Well, I'm not going to all that trouble specifically to use a Mac; both the headset and the USB battery long predate the MBP. (And USB headsets have never made much sense to me in the first place, regardless of the machine with which they're used.) These are just the expedients I currently use, of the sort which I've found all portable machines to require.
The sine qua non of a computer's usefulness to me is its ability to support Emacs. While my experience has been that, all else equal, any portable machine is inferior for this purpose to any desktop, I have yet to find a better portable Emacs machine than the 15" rMBP. When I do find one, I'll use it instead.
If your "all Apple users are fashion-obsessed lightweights" proposition is susceptible to the white raven's disproof, this should amply suffice. (When was the last time you ran across an Emacs user who was either "fashion-obsessed" or "lightweight"?) But I suspect you'll prefer to explain away a white raven, than to reconsider your apparent confusion of reality with an "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" ad.
When I sit down to work on a laptop, unless I'm just stopping to check something for a couple of minutes, I usually want to plug in at least my phone (since publicly-available WiFi is not really a thing, often I have to USB tether to get usable connectivity (I could wifi tether if I had to, but this kills the phone's battery)), mouse, headphones, and AC adapter. I'll pretty frequently want to use an external storage device like an SD card or USB hard disk and if I'm in a real office, I'll usually want to plug in to the physical network (even non-Apple portables don't include this port usually anymore, so that's another USB port occupied) and use an external keyboard.
That's just me. A few of those things could be transferred to wireless peripherals, but not all of them, and wireless peripherals usually suck pretty bad. I have a Bluetooth headset that I try to use in the field occasionally and it's a nightmare switching between A2DP and telephony modes. I could switch to a wireless mouse, but then that's batteries and many of these take up a USB port anyway with a proprietary dongle. I don't usually carry a full keyboard around with me so I just gotta use what they have in the office, which again, even if it's wireless, often occupies a USB port.
To me, this is serious. I don't think I'm doing anything super special; I'm definitely not writing custom firmware for esoteric embedded devices from Starbucks or anything like that. Just your everyday developer and sysadmin.
Now, if I put a lot of effort into it and decided I was going to live on a MBP and therefore needed to keep my usage restrained to one or two USB ports max, I may be able to come up with an arrangement that works, but it's by no means the default; I most recently tried to live off a MBP for 5 months in the first half of 2013, and it didn't work out (the lack of ports was a constant annoyance, but not the impetus behind the change). I swapped it for a Thinkpad and was much happier. I find this happens to me every time I try to live off an MBP. The most successful run I had was 2006-2008 where an MBP was my sole laptop and I did a lot of remote work, but it was not really pleasant and I had a desktop that I used to supplement.
To be clear, I have bought 3 Apple laptops over the years of my own free will and used a few more that were owned by employers. It's not that I hate them (in fact I continue to be astonished by Retina displays, which I was sure was just going to be hype before I saw it in person, and wish PC makers would catch up), but I just don't think they're good workhorse machines for people who do real work. I think they're mostly a fashion thing that people force themselves to live with. I'd love to have one around the house as a casual computing machine, but it's hard to justify dropping $2k for the setup, when again, there is real work that would be better served by the same investment going to actually useful equipment or to labor.
I just don't really see a reason to force myself to heed Apple's insistence that while I think I may want more than two ports, I really don't. Even the way I use Apple hardware usually pisses off Mac devotees -- back in 2006 I made some permanent enemies out of a few acquaintances that were stunned I would be voluntarily using Fedora on a MacBook Pro. They kept repeating that they'd totally understand if it was a PC, but if I had to use Linux on a Mac, I was most likely just a retard who couldn't grasp the beauty gifted to earth by Humanity's Eminent Genius Steve Jobs. They continued this hostility every other time I saw them. Pretty bizarre.
When I sit down to work on a laptop, I want to open my laptop and start working. I don't even think about a charger until three or four hours have gone by. Your farrago of impedimenta is alien to me, but no doubt if I had something like it, the MBP's relative paucity of ports would annoy me, too.
I'm not so sure. I find most such persons will put some money into a phone or tablet, but if they have a laptop, they usually buy a cheap one from Wal-Mart for under $300.
As far as I can tell, the market for Apple's laptops are normal hipsters, hipster devs that can't stop talking about how you can build a blog in only two hours with Ruby on Rails, video and photo editors clinging to the meme from the 80s that editing software is somehow superior on a Mac, and college students that don't want the embarrassment of using an "old person's computer".
Can we stop with this meme? There's no tax. There's a price for a product. Buy it or don't. I have followed the laptop market quite closely for very many years and I'm consistently disappointed in my attempts to find non-Apple laptops that are of comparable quality and specs at similar price points. And let's stop pretending that "specs" are simply "cpu/ram/harddrive", as those are a small subset of the factors that matter to consumers.
With Bluetooth, the cloud and AirPlay, who even needs those ports? People are up in arms every time Apple changes/deletes ports and are almost always wrong.
Show up to give a presentation anywhere in the world. Standard plug-in? VGA. Maybe HDMI. You can't count on an AirPlay connection being present and I wouldn't want to rely on wireless video for important presentations with 20 seconds set up time anyway.
That particular use case is apparently not expected by Apple to be a common use case for the target market of this particular device. Fortunately, other devices with different features focused on different usage patterns are available for purchase from Apple and other manufacturers. It's strange that this is at all controversial.
If it was expected to be a common use case, it would be included as a core feature. Furthermore, the number of people for whom "show[ing] up to give a presentation anywhere in the world" is a common use case is likely very small. I would go so far as to speculate that people in that category are greatly outnumbered by people across all demographics who use their laptops for sending emails, browsing the web, using productivity software, organizing media, and doing other software-centric tasks.
The thing is, it doesn't. It requires the device to be able to do a Digital to Analog conversion. In modern graphics chipsets, that capability is only needed for legacy compatibility with CRTs and old projectors. If you speak VGA to a projector or any flat panel monitor, you're really just feeding an Analog to Digital converter. It's nuts.
VGA has lower quality at high resolutions than something like DVI, DisplayPort, or HDMI. Then again, if the place still has a VGA connector, it's unlikely the projector is high-resolution.
Your right, we have much better standard in HDMI, because every laptop has that now. Oh wait, except the Macbook Air which has display port. So HDMI and displayport, oh wait, USB type C. So that's it just three connections to replace VGA.
Oh, forgot about iPads, 2 different ones for that, and android phones at least 2 MHL connectors and whatever google does in their phones. We haven't even got onto mini and micro HDMI.
At least 10 different connectors on recent devices then? Don't you just love standards?
I dunno. In my personal experience having worked with a lot of projectors, televisions, monitors I find HDMI to be an incredibly buggy experience. VGA always just works.
The only problem of VGA (and other newer digital standards) when compared to HDMI is the lack of audio support, and also i guess VGA support is declining compared to HDMI.
That is an atypical scenario unless your job requires frequent presentation. Even then, you are used to having an adapter in your bag or pocket.
To me, this is a great tradeoff: I get a lighter and thinner laptop for 100% of my computing, the downside being an adapter when I return the the dark ages of VGA connectors.
In fact, for my MacBook Pro, I will have fewer connections. Instead of power and Thunderbolt, I will just get one of the connectors that bridges power, external monitor and USB peripherals and plug in a single thing when I "dock" my laptop.
I will take that any day over the awkward Dell and Thinkpad docking stations I see my coworkers use.
> That is an a typical scenario unless your job requires frequent presentation.
I completely agree with this assessment. Even here on HN the majority of users are not giving presentations or even screen sharing. When it does matter, there is often a third party device they have to present from anway.
I'll take the adapter not being in the box, as for most users they won't be using it enough to warrant the extra cost.
I agree completely. The top comment in this thread was about wireless connections making wired connections redundant. I want wired video output as I trust it more than wireless. VGA is an inelegant but working solution. Dongle is no problem.
Idea. ChromeCast like device that can pump out HDMI, DVI, display port and VGA, attach to it over wifi, it has a fallback where it can run the presentation off an SD card while itself acts as a wifi base station. The ChromeCast of presentation hardware.
Not to nitpick, but for a long time, to use a Mac with VGA you had to buy an adapter. Same for HDMI. There is a case that can be made on including this accessory in the box, but VGA cannot be part of that argument. Not for a Mac user.
Instead of buying mini DVI to VGA or Lightening to HDMI adapter, just buy this?
Yep, happy with that. I was responding to the parent comment that said roughly "with wireless everything, who needs wired ports?".
Wireless is usually OK in my living room but I would not count on wireless video working reliably in a conference room with 500 people on their laptop/phone. Shudder.
It may not be the purest usage mode but even a permanently inserted YubiKey protects you when your password got sniffed on the network or by a keylogger.
Moreover the YubiKey also acts as a PGP smartcard, giving you a private key (for e.g. SSH) that an attacker can't extract even if they obtain root on your laptop.
As much as I would like a "Retina MBA", the lack of a separate USB port is a dealbreaker for me too.
As long as the machine is on, can't the attacker ask the YubiKey to generate signatures on their behalf?
This is similar to standard SSH agent forwarding attacks. A sysadmin connects to a malicious server via SSH. If the sysadmin turns on agent forwarding, then "malicious root" can remotely ask the sysadmin's agent (running on the sysadmin's laptop) to authenticate to any other machine that accepts the sysadmin's public key. The malicious root can log in to any other server the sysadmin has access to, as long as the sysadmin still stays connected.
No, the yubikey can not be activated from the OS, just from the touch capacitive sensor embedded in it. It can be re-programmed, but I've not seen a way to trigger a generation, even from the re-programmer.
As long as the machine is on, can't the attacker ask the YubiKey to generate signatures on their behalf?
For the 2FA OTP portion: No. The button needs to be physically touched.
For the PGP (ssh) portion: Yes. (but again, the attacker can not obtain a copy of the private key, that's the critical difference to your scenario)
That's why (at least for critical servers) you should combine the two. That way an attacker can at most piggyback your connections. He can not initiate his own because he can not touch the button.
Maybe it's just not set up correctly, but my company has airplay in every conference room and we very rarely use it because its so fickle whether or not it'll acknowledge your MacBook. Maybe Yosemite fixed these problems but that's just trading one set of bugs/problems for another.
In defense of the parent: Apple sells more than just the 12" MacBook, and if its specs aren't to your liking then you're not the intended demographic. Some people DO want an extremely thin/light Mac and don't need more than a charging cable & audio jack, enough people that Apple decided it was worth going to this extreme. Want more ports/power/etc? get a MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, or Mac Pro - each with a variety of configurations.
I'm still waiting for AirPlay to actually work in corporate environments. We have a mix of wired and wireless, which I believe live on different subnets. Bonjour just won't work with it.
The Surface Pro's come with only one USB port on the device, they make it up for it with having one on the power brick which I think is an awesome idea.
Well, the official Apple mouse does not require a dongle, their logic must be something along the lines of "that's what you get for using third party mice".
So the whole world (my office, friends, family, clients, colleagues) should change to suit my laptop?
For a disruptive product to be successful it should not be behind its time (where others are already there) it should not be too far ahead of its time (The technology might not be ready, the people might not be ready to understand the product, etc), It has to be just ahead of its time. I am sorry but I maintain that Apple has overshot with this product. This is not like removing DVD support or even removing flash support, because a lot of the world is still wired. Except for those who are fortunate to live in their own Apple bubble, many of the people who buy this will have to frequently face the frustration of owning such a device with practically no reward (apart from shaving of a few inches and grams off their laptop).
"Waiting to upload 336 files at 3.6kb/s. Estimated time to complete 3 weeks."
Seen such messages right when I NEEDED those files. Also - remember epic KDE failure? When they had corrupted repository and it was perfectly mirrored to 1500+ other repos? And they had to search offline PC with a uncorrupted snapshot?
In general "all cloud" tech is at most 50% ready for use by everyone.
You are ignoring the obvious answer that Apple even said in the announcement: wireless everything.
This is exactly like the removal of the DVD drive in MacBook Airs. "HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO USE MY DVDs?!?!?" The answer is: don't. Download things over the network instead.
And a Mini Display port. External monitor(s) on the one and USB hub the other. Surface can drive 1 4k or 2 1080p monitors from that port. Will be interesting to see if you can get the daisy-chain of monitors off that AND have a spot to set up a hub or charge another device.
So they should increase the price of the laptop by $80 for everyone so that you don't feel nickel and dimed? Why do you care if your receipt has that $80 listed a separate item or not?
Then it would be sold $1480...
At some point I had 5 Nokia phone and 4 Dell laptop ones, power adapter.
Why having an adaptor for VGA/HDMI/DVI/Display Port/USB/Ethernet/... shipped with all machines when all users probably won't need all but just one. This is a waste...
I'm surprised it isn't. My ASUS Ultrabook came with a USB-Ethernet and MiniDP-DVI adapters in the box, despite coming with the usual 2xUSB3, MiniDP & Micro HDMI ports.
Though I guess it's not that surprising. Back in the day, my Gen4 iPod came with a power brick, a USB cable and a Firewire cable. Now you get a single USB cable.
I don't get it. So you spend $1400 on a computer but a missing port adapter not everyone needs is deal breaker? I strongly believe you were never in the market for a Mac anyways, just using the opportunity to hate a bit.
I own a macbook right now (it's one of the best laptops I've owned) and I will use this one until it dies because I dislike what they are doing with the new one. If it stays this way, I will likely go back to a windows machine. I agree with the above comment. It's ridiculous. Actually it's not. It's pretty typical of Apple.
But no Thunderbolt to USB-C. So those sexy $1000 displays you just got because Thunderbolt is the new black and integrated seamlessly with your MacBooks? GFYS, they're deprecated, no more Thunderbolt. Two years is a long time for a Retina 27" monitor anyway, time to upgrade.
As a guy with small children, the loss of MagSafe is actually a huge downgrade for me. The number of times MagSafe has saved my laptop and/or power cable from damage after a child blitzed through the living room and tripped over the power cable is not insignificant.
Students and teachers are the target audience. Salespeople are. Business people are. These people all have serious computing needs that are better met by an ultraportable device with long battery life than by anything that has more horsepower or more ports.
Casual Facebook users are not a target audience for anything, because almost everybody is a casual facebook user, including people who do 3D animation or need to compile huge codebases.
The grandparent post was talking about all-day battery life, not about horsepower or ports.
But I don't see that being realistic, yet, because (a) the new MacBook has less battery life than the 13" Air, (b) OS X is messier than iOS (system daemons love to run at 100% CPU once in a while), (c) as you said, almost everyone is a casual Facebook user and runs terrible crap like Flash. (iOS is at an advantage here again)
But yeah, it is a great device for people who only open their laptops occasionally and can recharge at night.
With the limited number of charge-discharge cycles that even LiPo batteries have (typically estimated at ~500), that means you'd be replacing the machine within its depreciation lifetime if you fully — or even mostly — discharged it daily.
I'm seeing reports of Apple laptop batteries barely lasting an hour after 400 cycles, having 75% of their rated capacity after 900, and having 50% after 1100.
I think usage pattern probably matters far more than the strict cycle count. Specifically, "all-day" usage appears to correlate strongly with battery capacity falling off more sharply as cycle count increases — admittedly, based on user-reported behavior that I could find on the web with as much time as I can spare this afternoon to faff about on the matter.
Macbook batteries are rated at 80% after 1,000 cycles. And battery replacement on an MBA is a $129 ($199 for an MBP) service that they can do at the Apple Store while you wait. Lenovo wants $139 for a replacement battery for a T4xx of similar capacity.
I don't understand the problem, really. Apple WILL replace your battery. It's not like you have to throw away the laptop once the battery is dead. It costs £99 in the Apple Store, which is actually less money than a new battery for some Dell laptops costs.
Yeah, no kidding. And not just children. I've had adults walk through it too. I hope this doesn't ever make it to the pro line. It's fine I suppose if you really only plug the device in to charge it once a day, like a phone, but I don't expect the battery to last all day if I'm doing really processor-intensive things, which I often do.
I thought this was really odd. A lot of engineering went into getting 30% more battery storage inside the laptop, but then you trap all the heat in there! You'll easily lose that 30% extra storage to loss of battery performance due to the latent heat.
On the flip side, I understand this processor has a slower clock speed than any other hardware that Apple currently offers. Perhaps that explains both design decisions? Hopefully it balances out.
Before I got a Mac my first child knocked my old laptop over and the power cord ripped the power socket apart. I will not buy anything other than a child proof power connector. Sadly, nobody makes a serviceable laptop with one with easily replaceable/upgradeable battery, RAM and HDD anymore so I am using my old MBP until it dies.
I understand there is a market for these paper thin, disposable machines but Apple has lost the sensible buyer who wants a solid upgradable dev machine.
Lenovo makes (well, made) a Thinkpad t430u, an ultrabook with a detatchable plate on the bottom. I think you can remove the battery, HD, and RAM. It opens with a latch -- no screws needed.
Possibly. I think this is why they switched from the angled magsafe to the straight-on magsafe2. My Air took a flying leap off the kitchen table because the combination of angled magsafe and light weight meant it wouldn't disconnect.
Fortunately, the thing was closed, landed on the lid, bounced off the hardwood floor, did a flip, and was no worse for the wear. If it had been onto concrete or tile, or the lid had been open, it probably would have turned out worse.
My 2012 MBP retina has this infernal magsafe2 connector that disconnects every time I try to use it on my lap, but at least it'll disconnect if you trip on the cord. Or if you try to use one of the 5 magsafe1->magsafe2 adapters I've bought that consistently fail after a few months.
I have doubts about that. Sure, you possibly could drag the laptop by the MagSafe without it disconnecting if you drag carefully. But I feel like when you really yank on it, like you would when tripping over the cord, that even a 2 pound laptop would disconnect from the MagSafe without flying off the table.
> Why not carry around your laptop in tablet form when you are mobile?
For me I prefer a laptop because its workable on the lap and small surfaces. I have seriously considered a Surface Pro but using a kick stand doesn't work on a bus/train/lounge which are common usages for me when on the move. And given tablets are about the same size as an ultrabook I may as well get the additional usage benefit.
If I did want the mobile tablet form I would prefer a larger size phone that docks and become my desktop when at home/work.
Cool article. Seems like you need to have managed source code to transplant an application from one type of processor to another.
Java, .NET, Dalvik, etc all fit this category.
I wonder if we'll start seeing fat binaries for native code that ship with LLVM IR so that even C and C++ code can be transplanted from your phone's ARM processor to your desktop's Intel.
Say what you will about the logic behind a single port for everything (as far as I know this is the first computer to do this so there's nothing to compare it to), this Air is a pretty drastic change from what we're all used to when it comes to laptops. We're basically hitting the limits of thinness at this point right?
I'd hate to have to worry that I'll cut myself on my laptop.
Is there anyone that's super-excited about a thinner Air? My preference is always for greater battery life. I'm curious if there are people that wish their already thin laptop were even thinner, and if so, why?
I'd prefer a thicker laptop with better battery life myself. I ended up buying a batterybox to extend the life of my current device when I'm mobile. I suppose that being thinner and dying sooner gives us the option to just throw-and-go without much weight if you don't require a long period of computing.
The combo of thinner/lighter/no fan is pretty awesome in my opinion. These aren't for peopled doing hardcore computing, they're for people doing hardcore commuting really.
Do you have a source for the "no fan" bit? If the Core M processor can deliver the same performance as a Haswell ultrabook processor (i.e. the previous Air) without requiring a fan or getting unreasonably hot, I think that's a pretty nice feature.
For my needs I would say the Core M is a good compromise between performance and energy efficiency. E.g., the Dell XPS 13 some have mentioned this thread as alternative has a faster processor than I need.
Also, the fan is a big issue for me. You're not likely to see fanless systems with Haswell or the more powerful Broadwell processors. With Core M Broadwell, though, I expect fanless will be the norm. I expect I'll be getting the relatively new Asus UX305 soon; for me it compares favorably to new Macbook but is only $699. It's a little heavier (2.6 lbs), but has larger 13.3" 1080p screen, runs Windows and/or Linux well, quality aluminum build, same 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, etc. I suppose I'd prefer the new Macbook, but I'm not an OS X guy and the Asus is barely half the cost.
How well does the Asus UX305 run Linux? I have a Macbook Air at the moment, but it has a couple of annoyances that I'd like to be rid of. However, I do like the build quality and the trackpad especially.
Amazon has temporarily inflated prices for this low-availability item. I'm waiting for NewEgg to get them back in stock.
Trackpad does seem to be one of the lowpoints of ux305fa. esp. if that's something that's important to you. I tend to adapt to trackpads and like whatever I use most.
I have a different Asus machine, the super-cheap X205, which I got for $180 at a Microsoft Store. It's plastic, but surprisingly well made. 2.2 lbs and fanless is great experience. Main problem is it's a pretty slow processor and has just 2 GB RAM, 32GB flash drive, basically tablet specs in a laptop form. I've extended it with 64GB microSDHC. I do find myself using more powerful machines at home (Lenovo X200 and X220) but even there I'm enjoying the X205 quite a bit.
Personally I've tried laptop computing on public transportation, and I just can't do it with people sitting so close to me potentially looking over my shoulder.
A phone I don't feel so claustrophobic, but anything tablet sized and up just makes me feel awkward.
The thing about Apple's lineup is that they offer both main lines: the MacBook Pro caters to users who want thin with great battery life, while the Air caters to those who prefer a lighter laptop while still maintaining good battery life.
I think that it targets a lot of students. Most people want to carry around something that is light, I think this targets a lot of college students. In all of my business classes that I am currently in more than 90% of the class uses Mac's, they bring their chargers with them to class so they are set.
Airs are for people who need a full keyboard but don't need a lot of power, and do a lot of commuting/running around (possibly with a bag already packed with other stuff).
Come to think, it's probably great for most students. Plenty fast enough to browse and write papers, and it doesn't add to the volume or burden of your already-overstuffed bookbag.
Yep. I've been doing development work on a 2013 Air with an i7. It's not quite as good as my 2012 i7 Mac Mini with 16GB RAM for development (as that's quad-core), but it's still an excellent machine.
The "thinner" is a thing that tempts me to upgrade.
Thinner means lighter: I live in the middle of a very walkable area. So I walk a lot. It is great to be able to throw my computer into my bag and go out to work in the middle of a park or wherever; my computer plus my drawing tablet is only slightly more weight to haul then a hardbound sketchbook. I think the new machine would cut it down to about as much weight. It is pretty cool to go out carrying everything I need to do my job and only carry about six pounds of stuff on my shoulder. And that's including the bag I keep the laptop in, plus wallet and suchlike.
Thinner means style: In general, things that are slim are also things people see as "elegant". Back around 2000 I carried a Handspring Visor Edge in my pocket rather than a clunky plastic Palm Pilot, not because it was any more powerful, but because it was a sleek little piece of shiny metal that made me happy to hold in my hand.
There's a point where there is Enough Battery. I can take my 2013 Air out for a day of rambling around the city and drawing wherever I feel like stopping, and not worry about it running out of power as long as I charged it last night. I think the new Macbook has a lower estimated battery life than my current machine, so that's a downside of it.
And as much as I love the idea of thinness, I'm in the awkward state of shopping for a small laptop that is everything except thin. I want a keyboard with depth/action to the keypresses! It's becoming extremely hard to find. I'm not convinced that I'll love the typing experience on this Air; I've been very disappointed by recent Dell and Lenovo (yoga) keyboards.
I don't mind a bit of thickness as long as it's small in the other dimensions, and light as anything.
That's what I love about my Thinkpad X200s. It is small, it is light, and it isn't absurdly thin so it can have that classic Thinkpad keyboard. Unfortunately, Lenovo is moving into the super-thin form factor and they've lost my trust entirely since Superfish so I don't know where I'll be able to get this kind of laptop again.
> We're basically hitting the limits of thinness at this point right?
And for what? A razor thin laptop with just one port seems to be really pushing towards one extreme side of the function/form continuum. I thought giving up ethernet was bad enough with the Retina Macbooks.
It's very pretty, but it seems more like a toy than a serious computer. Maybe that's what Apple wants, but that's never something I would have said about the last few years of Macbook Airs.
> It's very pretty, but it seems more like a toy than a serious computer.
I really must disagree. I do Infrastructure by day (not just AWS, but physical colo as well), and quite a bit of microcontroller/CNC/robotics on the side/as a hobby. Nothing in the new Macbook stops me from doing this. I'll just move to using Bluetooth for my interfaces when I can, and when I can't, serial interfaces over USB-C.
What do most notebook users do that requires anything more than this? It's not a do-all end-all product, it's for the hardcore commuter who specifically won't be plugging things in much at all and doesn't need sustained computational power. The MB Pro gives all your ports and lots more power in a not much bigger package, with desktop models available for serious horsepower and connectivity. I kept thinking thru the presentation "now begins the refrain 'if you're complaining about its specs, you're not the intended audience - there's another Mac model for you.'"
Are there things here where Apple is significantly further ahead than the competition? Innovating on keyboards, trackpad, battery life, power usage and form factor - there just seem to be innovating simultaneously on more levels than the competition.
Another thing - that vibrating trackpad gizmo feels like a couple of innovations away from true touch feedback on an iPhone? Any thoughts?
You get diminishing returns on "innovation" when working inside an existing paradigm. Companies are rarely significantly further ahead of their competitors unless they invent or popularize a new class of product.
Apple's role here is often to be more opinionated, or braver, than others. They were the first to adopt USB, first to stop shipping floppy drives, first to ditch optical drives, first to make high-DPI ('retina') displays a standard feature... they are willing to be the one who goes out there and says 'we all know this is where things are going - so let's quit pussy-footing around and just do it'.
This new MacBook announcement was just item after item of taking things to the next logical step, and it's setting a new bar which every other laptop manufacturer out there will now have to meet.
I said first to ditch optical drives, not first to add them. The MBA was, at the time of its launch, controversial for its lack of a DVD drive. The 'air' referred to the fact it got all its software over the network - which was wireless, because it also lacked ethernet (also controversial).
Macbook Air - announced January 2008.
Netbook - well, okay, I'll give you that the Eee PC came out in October 2007 (Asus have always been the outlier in experimental PC form factors) - but other manufacturers weren't seriously playing in the netbook space before the Eee sales numbers came in, so I don't think you can say 'everybody' had legacy-free optical-driveless netbooks out before the MBA.
But more to the point, a netbook was optical-drive-free because you weren't expected to use it for more than just web browsing; you weren't going to need to load software onto it. The MBA was optical-drive free in spite of it being intended to be a fully-functional notebook computer. You would install software onto it over wi-fi. And you wouldn't need to rip CDs because you would buy all your music from the iTunes store. In 2008 that was still a bold idea.
The Air came out at a time when optical disks were actually pretty necessary. In fact, Apple released the air with the ability to use the optical drive on a desktop or laptop connected to your network.
Apple's abandoning of the optical drive played a huge role in ensuring everyone provided a non optical disk way of getting their software or media content.
There were a number of high-performance < 3 Pound laptops without CD drives prior to the MacBook Air, so Apple wasn't the first one. I don't recall it being controversial that they didn't have a CD drive in the MBA.
Where they were first (to the best of my knowledge), and were a bit controversial, was removing them as an option for their Desktops. That raised a few eyebrows.
Apple were about the first to drop them in consumer stuff; most previous companies to drop them did so in ultra-expensive (think those $4,000 Vaios Sony used to do) ultra-portables only.
Strictly speaking, Apple has not dropped optical drives across the line; you can actually still buy a 13" non-retina Macbook with one. Though given that it's worse in practically every way than the Air, and more expensive, I doubt that anyone does.
I mean first to make it an explicit part of their product strategy that the only peripheral connection standard they would support was USB. Now, to be fair, Apple had been in a ghetto of their own making for peripherals with their DIN serial ports and ADB keyboards, but the iMac's total switch to USB happened when PC makers were still mixing USB with parallel and serial ports (and I still have PS/2 and 9-pin DIN ports on most of my windows machines). I don't think it's controversial to say Apple were the first to make a 'legacy-free' computer with the iMac.
Ok I see, good point. Made me thinking: how did Apple got into this position where they could pull such tricks without customers going completely mental but sometimes even rather the opposite: craving for the newer device? I mean, imagine it's the year 2000 and a company like Dell or HP says: 'we drop the parallel port'. Hell would brake loose.
Well, those were dark days for Apple. They were sort-of circling the drain in danger of going out of business. Their market had been whittled down to die-hard Apple fans. So they could do things like drop floppy drives from the iMac when the only alternative to was buy an external USB floppy drive or an external CDRW which cost about $400 at the time. Many of their customers would happily just throw out their old peripherals or jump through the dongle/adapter hoops when Apple would EOL some tech.
I don't think anyone else has done a terraced battery. Apple was also one of the first companies to move to moldable Li-Po cells to fit more capacity in smaller form factors.
I'd say they're more progressive than innovative. A solitary USB-C port is kinda ugly. Now your charger shares the same port as everything else. For business use this can be annoying especially for those who give presentations or just need an easy to to plug in USB thumb drive port. Or a dongle for a third-party mouse or trackball.
Also, do we consider price anymore? I tend to buy machines at most $500. An $800-1200 Mac really isn't an option for me. I don't care to spend that much, nor understand why I should. I guess a Mercedes is better than my Jeep, but that doesn't mean Jeep can't innovate. Its just they have to hit a certain price points and deliver certain things at that price point. The Mercedes can have auto-assist driving and rich Corinthian leather, but I don't really need those things.
Apple considers price. If you want a $500 laptops there is a wide range of competing options and there is no need for them to involve themselves with that.
> that vibrating trackpad gizmo feels like a couple of innovations away from true touch feedback on an iPhone?
I could see this being a new setting in iOS. There's a "Vibrate on touch" setting in Android (Settings > Sound > Vibrate on Touch), the device vibrates very slightly when typing and when you press navigation bar buttons.
They still have competitors that are doing interesting things. I think apple just talks about it as part of their keynote, while their competitors might not have keynotes going into the manufacturing details and innovations that they have done.
For example, the NEC LaVie Z HZ550 is 1.75lbs and the case is made out of a magnesium-lithium alloy. The keyboard is integrated into the case. It uses a processor that consumes more power (an i5), but they will probably release a new one in a while that will use the same 5W core M and get similar battery life. The laptop is a whole 3mm thicker than the new air, but you get ports as a result.
The USB 3.1 spec has separate pinouts for power out and power in, so this should be possible. Anyone who wants to use the USB for peripherals regularly will just need a hub.
That's the stopgap solution, I think. Looking at the larger picture, it's silly that a projector only looks for video-in, instead of video-in/power-out, considering it's already plugged to a wall outlet.
You think the end game is "We'll improve the hardwire connection to the project so it can backfeed power" rather than "We'll just get rid of the wire"?
It looks like you connected a device from an untrusted Vendor ID which is enumerating as both a [display|power source|input device] and a [USB Mass Storage device]. Do you want to allow this?
Well, it never really took off outside the Mac world. This may be an improvement. I look at my Mac Mini that currently has power, Thunderbolt display, 3 disks, USB hub with 30-pin and Lightning, and DVD, though, and wonder WTF they are thinking about 1 port. IF the daisy chaining works and I can still charge my iPad, it could be really nice.
Couldn't you then be using the monitor's power source to charge the laptop? Presumably the monitor is plugged into the wall and can transmit power to the laptop while the laptop transmits data to it.
Here at Microsoft all our meeting rooms are supporting wireless display tech - apple air play included. This seems to be in line with apple's history - ditch technology that is approaching its end of life and force the newer tech to take over. There's still the ability to do wired external displays, but it's at the same convenience the usb cd drives were when apple phased them out.
As someone who likes to have a second monitor when I can, where are my wireless display tech for monitors? It would be awesome if all I had to do was turn on my monitor and not have to deal with cables, but currently that is reality.
Seriously though, I'm looking forward to cable-less future when it come to monitors.
Not that weird; I'm guessing the 720p camera module just couldn't fit. Lots of emphasis for this laptop went into "thin" engineering, and as should be clear with current smartphones, making thin but high quality cameras is a very difficult endeavor. (The iPhone 6 has the camera module jutting out of the case...)
It's what, 9 hours? If you want to compile some code, you probably get 8 hours. That's fine, but that's a cycle or more every day, and that has an effect on the battery life. If you want to plug it in to a screen you ideally want to charge it, too, instead of degrading the battery. Your screen is in a socket, your MB should, too.
Given it's USB-C there'll be plenty of hubs, docks etc... but it'd have been nice to get it out of the box (charger being a hub), or at least having two ports.
1 port is just ridiculous, it's basically 'we force you to make big tradeoffs, like an external screen or charging, unless you want to buy and carry with you various externals for what is supposed to be the most portable device in our Mac lineup'.
Lack of an SD card is another one of those things. Not as big of a problem but would 2 ports have really been that difficult?
Apple make plenty of higher-end products for people that want to compile code all day and have multiple ports.
This one is a "MacBook" and the other one is a "MacBook Pro". I think it's clear which one fits your needs better.
Happily, there are millions of people that don't want to code all day, and have probably never plugged anything into their laptop other that power. So this device is for them, not you.
Two ports would be nice in case one became unreliable... which seems pretty likely since everything plugs into it and it doesn't have a magsafe-like disconnect if someone trips over a cord...
Eventual Windows competitors will have more than one port, but they won't be identical. Only a single port will be able to be used for charging, the others will be data-only.
That's too inelegant a solution for Apple, they'd rather just have a single port than have two ports that look like they should be identical but aren't.
A port that supports 100W power input requires a significant amount of external components. Switching that between locations is also a significant challenge (IOW, it costs significant money and space). Just switching between the wall and the battery is hard enough, adding a third location will add a significant amount of space and $.
It will also add significant protection costs: what if somebody plugs 2 chargers into the laptop? They'll be at almost but not the same voltage, and amperage levels will be high enough that significant damage could result. Obviously the laptop will only do the upgrade voltage & amperage handshake with one of the chargers, but I imagine that redundant hardware protection will also be required.
My Dell Venue 8 Pro comes with a single micro USB port that is used for both charging and data.
I don't really consider it to be a competitor though because Apple doesn't offer anything that can compete with a touchscreen device that can be used as a tablet and also a full general purpose computer.
They'll likely release a series of peripherals that have one intended focus and an additional port, similar to iPad peripherals. The iPad HDMI adapter[1] has two inputs, one for HDMI and one for power, so you can charge and play at the same time
Doesn't look like it, but of course it's entirely possible. With USB-C not being an Apple thing, I fully expect elegant chargers, hubs and docks to solve this.
But it'd have been nice to get it out of the box, as it's an additional $50-150 depending on how fancy/slim/functional you want your new charger to be, at which point choosing it over the MBA with 8gb/256gb with a few hours extra battery life and an extra inch seems even less interesting.
"Seriously? Couldn't they have put _two_ ports in it so you can plug something in while it's being charged without lugging around a usb hub?"
I have been a macbook air user since 2008 (6 years with a 13 and 1+ with an 11) and I love them.
I will not buy one that has zero ports available while I am charging. No hard feelings - I just can't do it.
I am not a feature wizard and I don't need to address every possible use case, but I absolutely need to have the ability to charge my laptop while using a cellular dongle. It's an absolute requirement.
The current MBA design with a port on each side is sensible and highly usable, and is vastly superior to a design that limits you to zero ports while you are charging.
Let's not even discuss hub use while traveling. It's a clownish suggestion.
Apple is primarily a profit-driven company. They front noble reasons for "optimizing" down to 1 port for everything, but the reality is they're mandating that you buy their $79 adapter.
Apple are obviously very concerned about aesthetics and having as little ports breaking the smooth lines of the design hinder that.
However personally I would of thought having an additional type c connector on the opposite side would actually improve the ascetic design by providing more symmetry.
If they added another and let you charge the device from either side, it would also improve usability, I know I get annoyed when my wall charger is on one side and I have to stretch the cable around to the other side of the laptop.
Threads and threads of comments and this one was most attractive. I'm over the fashion show and though I appreciate Apple pushing the industry by ignoring the standards I'm tired of collecting adapters. As far as software is concerned, I spend more time working around it than with it. I've been holding out, with envy, glancing at my coworkers deving on their new Surface Pro 3s, waiting for my chance at the MacBook/iPad Air combo.
But it's Apple. They are obviously doing plenty of things right and at this point they have terminal nerds arguing and soccer moms stocking up.
How does Linux run on the SP3? I'm considering moving from Apple one my rMBP bites the dust - is the SP3 fully Linux-compatible, do you know by chance?
That's not an uncommon practice. I believe there was a non-Retina Macbook Pro in the product line for quite a while after the introduction of the Retina Macbook Pro.
There's still one left (I just got one). The pricing model of the Retina MBPs is just craziness to me. To get larger storage sizes you have to jump entire model lines to get it, you can't just upgrade storage on them.
Just for the older Retina models. Copied from the link you provided: "Specifically, the "Mid-2012" and "Early 2013" models use a 6 Gb/s SATA-based SSD whereas the "Late 2013" and "Mid-2014" models use a PCIe 2.0-based SSD. These SSD modules are neither interchangeable nor backwards compatible."
The reason for the sentence you quote is to explain that PCIe chips are different than the proprietary-pinout m-SATA port in 2012-2013 Retina MacBooks. They are strikingly similar and if you're not paying attention, you might try to move one into an incompatible machine.
You can still swap a drive in newer models, just with a PCIe card instead of an mSATA drive.
Simply put: Newer generation of hardware = newer storage interface.
Here is a replacement guide for a 2014 model Retina MacBook Pro:
I was thinking long and hard about maybe getting a refurbished 15.6in MBP. I ended up with a HP Omen gaming laptop instead, because I could get it with a 512GB SSD and 16GB of RAM for $1700, instead of about $2500. I'm giving up battery life of course, and then there's the issue that it runs Windows...
However, I've been pleased so far. The keyboard takes a little getting used to (because it is in the exact center of the laptop), but is good for typing overall. Good feel, no flex. The display is good too, with a wide viewing angle.
The non-retina MBP is still available. Or at least it was up to a few minutes ago; they've just taken the store page down for updating, I wouldn't be surprised if the old MBP is gone when it returns. Although you'll probably still be able to buy one until the stock runs out.
Their branding has become very confusing. In particular when some people are still buying the old Macbook Pro because they prefer it over the latest one, so really one of the highest end laptops they sell is "last years" model of the MBP.
Yes, but I think it will go away pretty soon. It doesn't have much reason to exist with the introduction of this new machine. Long term I would say it's this new Macbook + MBP.
I can think of a couple of reasons to keep the Airs. Firstly some people may feel the need for usb sockets etc. And secondly they may well keep them as a low cost option the way they usually keep the previous years iPhone on sale. The Air 11 is $899 now. Guess that'll drop to $799 or so when the new one's out. It'd help get the budget conscious to go Mac rather than Windows.
What's interesting to me as well is that they don't seem to have announced any sort of dock or usb hub or even really mentioned what the charging brick looks like right? That seems like a really important thing to cover when announcing you have 1 port for all peripherals now.
Apple most likely will release a new Thunderbolt Display (probably with name change, Apply Display?) that can act as USB-C hub. It is not ready I guess, this new MacBook also is available about one month later.
1.2Ghz processor seems like a dealbreaker for professional applications (Coding, Video editing) but for applications the Air was used before it actually seems okay.
This is the new laptop for the casual user who's browsing Facebook, maybe typing something up in Word/Pages, and listening to iTunes. I was pretty interested until I saw that it's a Core M, and won't replace my I7 anytime soon for web development with multiple virtualmachines and light video editing.
I don't do a lot that stresses the i7 in my 2011 Air, but I don't have a sense of how much slower a Core M is and what that'll mean day to day.
Edit: chased down some benchmarks, and it's quite a bit slower than any current i-series combo, though the turbo makes up for it some (probably at steep cost to battery life).
What a bummer, I was seriously hoping to replace my 2012 MBA, but now... apparently the Core M processor will unfortunately be a good deal slower, than the one used 3 years ago. Which means I'll probably have to go with a Windows based laptop or wait for the MBP update.
Just fyi: Notebook Check is very reliable. They're arguably the leading laptop review site and have been for quite a few years. They're located in Austria and are ad funded, but I've always found their editorials and reviews to be pretty darn good.
Yeah, I'm coming from a 2011 MBA with an i7 2677M.
The Core M *71 isn't that far off--3DMark is notably lower, but most others are pretty close.
But what concerns me is that reviews of other systems with the chip mention that it throttles itself pretty aggressively when hot. I have no idea how much that would or wouldn't hit these benchmarks. This might be best-case performance on a cool day, for the first 30 minutes.
The 1.2 GHz Core M has a maximum frequency of 2.9 GHz with turbo boost. The 1.1 GHz model will spool up to 2.6 GHz.
Further, both processors are dual cores with hyperthreading. It'll be about 5% less performant than the previous Macbook Air while using vastly less energy (4.5 watts vs 15 watts).
I have a 1.7GHz 2012 MBA, and have used the more recent 1.3GHz Haswell version, which is a little faster (clock speed is not everything). It's fine for programming, though it does perhaps push Scala compile times into annoying territory.
Now, that said, this is a Core M; it may end up a little slower than the current Macbook Air.
This is my worry. Can the 1.2GHz version run IntelliJ and SBT comfortably "for the most part" (I don't really mind if a clean compile takes ~30% longer) or will I wish I'd bought the 13" i7 MBA?
I wish I knew how to find compiler benchmarks for these CPUs. Or even better how it would compare to the i7 3770 in my iMac...
The GP comment compares devices based on a couple of specs (e.g., bezel size). The isolate-on-a-couple-of-specs approach has been proven to (a) not capture where the market will go, and (b) not capture how well the device works.
It also tends to (c) come off as a justification for the speaker's own past purchases, or alternatively, a justification to view a new device as not quite worth purchasing yet.
It sucks that, 20 years on, the same retort ("... Lame.") is just as relevant as a critique of the specmanship game practiced in these forums.
Yes, that is exactly the point. Apple make superior products, period. Even if they fall short on this or that spec, when it comes to the user experience, fit and finish, build quality, and design innovation, the safe bet is that Apple is leagues ahead of the competition. Apple is driving most of the major advances in personal computing: since the 90s virtually every laptop has been a clone of the 1992 PowerBook -- until recently when a market developed for MacBook Air clones. PDAs were off-brand Newtons, and so were smartphones until the iPhone came out. There wasn't an appreciable tablet market until the iPad. When it comes to personal computing, it's Apple's field and everyone else just plays in it.
I followed the link hoping I could point out how wrong you are. Nope, that's a pretty beautiful laptop. Thin, light, great screen, etc...
In the end, you can look at the 12 inch MacBook as being a new notebook for people who care about running Mac OS/don't want to switch to Windows. It's a big deal because the Dell isn't an option most people want to consider :)
I have to admit that, even as a "no Windows" person at this point, I'm a little on the fence about this vs. waiting for the Ubuntu version of the New XPS 13. So Dell's got at least that much going for them.
I had no idea they were still doing that. The last time I purchased a laptop for personal use was the ~2007 Inspiron 1420n Ubuntu Edition. I generally prefer to work on desktops, but having the option for portability is nice.
I still actually used that laptop until recently. Now I'm in the market and have been eying the XPS 13 and waiting for details about the Macbook Air.
Any idea/rumors about when the Ubuntu edition will launch?
I'd really like to spend less than a thousand bucks, because I just want something light that I can carry in addition to my work Macbook Pro. I like to use my commute-time on the train for side projects, but I'm concerned about using my work machine for various reasons.
The new offerings from Apple today are certainly appealing, but I'm still on the fence. I don't draw arbitrary allegiances with corporations, so I have no blind brand loyalty...
I was told by a Dell person (via the chat thing, naturally) that it would be released in about a week.
If I bought either the Windows model or the official Linux one I'd wipe it and install Debian or Arch or Mint, but I'd still prefer to wait for the Linux one so that I don't contribute money and a +1 sales statistic to Microsoft for something I don't want.
Thanks for chiming in with that info. I wasn't able to get a date from Dell, but they did send me to the same blog that yohui pointed out.
I'm definitely waiting for the developer edition, precisely for the reason you mentioned, to do my part in signalling to Dell and the industry that Windows vs OS X is a false dilemma.
Disregarding for the moment subjective issues like design and operating system, I would ask two important questions. How is the battery life, and how is the build quality? That's usually where Windows PCs quickly lose any desirability (to me) compared to Macs.
Also, I notice that this XPS is 0.6-0.8 pounds heavier than the new MacBook, and as far as I can tell the XPS has a fan.
I have a maxxed out XPS 13 and its a love-hate relationship. The screen and build quality is great, the keyboard ok and the touchpad as well. There's very little to match it in that form factor right now
It's noisy as hell though, I can't say that battery life is great and I have some weird problems with music stuttering when I compile, also Visual Studio ocassionally locks up on deploy for some reason.
If I could have a Zenbook with the same screen thought I'd take that any day.
This seems to be what I hear about getting the maxed out version of this laptop. Does anyone know if the fan is still really loud on the more moderate version (i5, touchscreen,256GB SSD)?
Battery life is supposed to be excellent[1]. TL;DR 15+ hours of light usage for the 1080p screen (tested and confirmed by Anandtech), supposedly 11+ hours light usage for the QHD+ screen with an i7.
Aluminum is not best material either, it bends too easily.
EDIT: aluminium bends too easily compared to other material. It does not have best structural integrity for its weight. Magnesium alloy, carbon fiber reinforced plastic or titanium composite usually has better parameters for weight.
But I am not saying that polished aluminium is bad or looks bad.
I just tossed my Macbook Pro across the room the other day by accident (didn't check that my backpack was closed...). It did indeed bend the metal a bit, and the display cracked in the corner, but having seen plastic machines make the same tumble I think it would have fared significantly worse if it weren't aluminum. The force that bent the metal would have surely cracked the plastic into pieces and the display would have taken more of the shock and cracked way worse than it did.
When I lived in college dorms a few years back, my thinkpad would fall ~6ft out of my bed onto tile a few times a week. Occasionally I had to pop the battery back in.
Plastic can flex to absorb the stress without permanently deforming, aluminum not so much. Even the panasonic toughbooks are plastic, and those are probably the most durable laptops I know of by a large margin.
Interestingly enough destroying a Panasonic Toughbook is easy. Stand on it with high-heels... The Panasonic rep had just been stomping on it, and then this smallish woman asks if she could try.
It didn't boot or do much of anything after she had traipsed all over it.
That being said, I am not saying the MB would fare much better, but those Toughbooks are not as tough as they are advertised.
Several years ago while walking outdoors during the winter carrying my thinkpad in my hands, I slipped on a manhole cover that was covered in ice. The thinkpad fell about 4 to 5 feet straight onto the manhole cover, landing on it's corner (left-side palm rest corner).
The corner itself was obliterated, leaving a small hole where it used to be, but that was the only damage the laptop sustained.
Unibody metal laptops are nice, but I think the structural advantage of them is heavily oversold. Plastic laptops with metal frames can be amazingly durable.
Except the new XPS 13 is made out of aluminium and carbon fibre. And the $1299 model has a 13" screen with touch and a higher resolution. And it has an i5 processor versus a Core M.
It will be interesting to see how much RAM the base configuration of the new Macbook will ship with, because the XPS 13 at $1299 comes with 8 GB.
iSheep and M$hill sitting in a tree, U-N-I-X-I-N-G
I want to be a sheep on the wall of every one of those people who use those shitty, degrading expressions when they have their epiphany and realise how pointless and stupid it is.
Doesn't run Mac OS, so it's not going to be much fun if you're upgrading from a previous Mac. It's also probably going to be a bit more of a pain to keep it working (there were lots of things I didn't like about Mac OS X but one thing it was pretty good at was being plug'n'play and generally not fucking up - the latter being something Windows is not so good at).
Agreed on both counts, the reason that iSheep like me don't look at competitors I'd say is ultimately what you pointed out (at least for me that's more than half the reason - no maintenance!); and I agree on not being offended by the word iSheep which I had never heard of before and I think it's funny.
I bet you (skrowl) were downvoted just for using that word. It's short and sweet and conveys the necessary disdain you wanted to convey. I don't see what's wrong with it.
When I had a Windows machine I had to keep up with spyware and know all sorts of arcane things about the OS just to keep it chugging. I had HijackThis on a thumbdrive at all times. Nowadays I use my Mac as if I were punishing a computer, and it keeps on working without a hitch, no drivers gone wrong, no registry crap to worry about. That's why I'm an iSheep.
The intended audience doesn't consider the Dell anywhere near comparable.
Personally I would love to have a Linux laptop with the same design and build quality as the MacBooks, and I'm pretty sure plenty of fashion conscious folks would like something more exclusive now that Macs are everywhere.
The fact that the XPS 13 is the only machine that comes anywhere close is kinda sad.
I sense some resentment. The thing about Apple (I have no bias) is that you don't have to worry about competition. Even if there is a machine that approaches the performance and specs of a Mac, the thing Apple fans don't have to worry about is which machine to get because even the worst Apple device is miles ahead of the non Apple alternatives.
The thing about Apple is that you don't have to worry about it, you can focus on the task and purpose of the tool rather than the hardware or it's specs.
Given Apple's nature of maximizing profits of their product line, there's still room for the next major update of MBP line to include the same kinds of edge-less screen, and people will collectively loose their minds over it. Are people going to be satisfied with just another incremental upgrade of specs and inclusion of the same technologies as the Mac? I think they will have to put some bling in their flagship devices.
> the thing Apple fans don't have to worry about is which machine to get because even the worst Apple device is miles ahead of the non Apple alternatives
This is very subjective to define. It's true, if you like apple, and all you are going to choose is stuff from apple, then you don't have to worry about examining choices in depth because there aren't very many. But quality is a subjective thing.
I personally find almost every computer that exists today horrifically boring, compared to when I was growing up. The jump from no computer to computer has been much more exciting than each iteration of slightly better computer. That's really what I call 'miles ahead'.
Smartphones with unlimited data were slightly revolutionary for me, in a "I can listen to music and walk anywhere I want without getting lost" kind of thing, but honestly, I haven't felt anything close to the feelings I used to feel as a kid. Trying to figure out how the entire internet is structured and comparing that to a giant computer is slightly more exciting. Comparing data models to the human brain is slightly exciting. But miles ahead sounds like we're making leaps when we aren't. And you can go ahead and argue that every leap is made up of tiny steps, but when you fade in and out of technology enough, even then, some things really feel like leaps, and other things really feel like steps. And I think that's subjective, so I'm biased, but I find it very hard to have opinions without bias, if not impossible.
The notion that Apple is "miles ahead" seems cute to me as I read these comments on my hybrid touchscreen which runs a full general purpose OS on a battery that lasts me well over 10 hours and still fits in my pocket. It's so nice to be able to run full Chrome with Adblock and other extensions on a touch device which also allows me to write a quick VBA function in Excel, run reports using legacy native business tools or spin up a small Linux VM.
Apple simply doesn't offer a device that can compete with this, so not only are they not miles ahead, I can't even see them in my rear-view.
I love the dell venue 8 pro (5000), but I really wish dell would stop fucking around and go all out with it. Give us a proper display output, let us charge and dock at the same time, give us a 4GB option, get USB 3.1 with type-C connector on it, put some properly fast storage on it, give us the beautiful OLED 'infinity' display that you're offering on your android tablet for the windows version too. THAT would be a device worth raving about. The CPU, the battery life, all the technology is there.
Instead what Dell do is release a 3000 model, with no digitizer and 1GB of ram. I have to assume that Dell are far too afraid of cannibalising their mid-range laptops to produce something truly great in the small tablet space, a very foolish and short-sighted position I think.
I don't think you get to trumpet 'fits in your pocket' if it's 8 inches. I don't doubt that in principle, you could persuade one to fit in your pocket (unless you're female) but I don't think it fits most peoples definitions of that.
Sorry to disappoint you, but it absolutely does fit in my pants pockets and all of my jackets pockets.
UPDATE: Here's an image gallery that I just made showing it in the jacket I'm wearing today, in the pants I'm wearing today and again in a pair of pants that I grabbed out my laundry pile - http://imgur.com/a/hFeDo
Not only does it fit in my pockets, but there's room to spare. Maybe it won't fit in some skinny jeans, but I don't wear tight pants because I'd rather be comfortable. In any case, whether it fits in your pocket or not isn't the point - it is true that Apple doesn't offer a highly portable device that runs a full OS for over 10 hours
> Even if there is a machine that approaches the performance and specs of a Mac, the thing Apple fans don't have to worry about is which machine to get because even the worst Apple device is miles ahead of the non Apple alternatives.
I love my retina MBP but that statement is pretty biased. There are plenty of PCs more powerful than any mac, often for less money. Even Windows 10 isn't so bad, i think that OSX Yosemite is pretty flawed as well.
Apple is still superior when it comes to the whole package, most importantly trackpad, battery life and overall experience, but if you don't fall exactly into Apples demographic you are pretty much out of luck.
If you're looking purely at specs, Windows laptops always were the better deal. But only when you use those alternatives do you realize how much further ahead Apple is.
This is always true for a given version of "as good as." Heck, it would be true for the correctly chosen "better." The truly tricky part is knowing what "as good as" or "better" will actually play well in the market.
Until you pick them up, use them, have them break, and try to get support. I used to be the guy pointing out how there are Windows laptops that are just as good as Macs. It wasn't until about 2 years ago that I just completely gave up on the Windows market and just converted fully to Apple's ecosystem. Couldn't be happier. The Windows market is in a constant state of "almost as good as Apple."
I have a macbook and an xps. I like the xps better for several reasons.
It is difficult if not impossible to output a macbook to a tv over hdmi and also send audio. Also the dongle that does hdmi conversion breaks all the time. Our office has gone through like 4-5 of them.
It is/was very difficult to disable your laptop display when plugged into a monitor in MacOS(I doubt they have fixed this issue). Also the macbook is crazily overpriced.
I'm guessing you're using the Air? I've had the Air with the Display Port to HDMI dongle and now have the Pro with HDMI built in, neither had issues with outputting HDMI sound. Just plug it in, and make sure the audio output is set to the TV in the Sound settings in System Preferences.
Never tried that second part, but the multi monitor support in the last couple releases of MacOS have been amazing.
> It is/was very difficult to disable your laptop display when plugged into a monitor in MacOS(I doubt they have fixed this issue). Also the macbook is crazily overpriced.
Can't you just do clamshell mode? I haven't had any issues with that with my Macbook Air.
The trackpad on my thinkpad broke. I spent 10 minutes on the phone with technical support that actually knew what I was talking about and they mailed me a whole new part. I replaced it and went on my way as happy as could be.
In contrast:
By friend who owns a mac tried to set up a appointment because her hard drive was making the sound of a grinder. They told her that they could not make an appointment on the phone, she needed to use the iPhone app to do that. Well, she doesn't have an iPhone so the only option she had was to stand in line at the apple store 40 minutes away and wait. She spend two days doing this since it closed before they got to her on the first day and then the took her hard drive and replaced it while erasing all her personal data. It's a good thing I made a backup first.
Great Customer Service for sure almost as good as Comcast.
Sure, every once in a while I'm sure someone has a bad experience with their support but I feel it's a well-accepted notion that Apple has the best support in the consumer tech industry. A few sources I found in a couple minutes of searching:
I've dealt with Dell, Microsoft, Acer, Asus, and HP in the past on multiple occasions for each, and it was always a headache. With Apple, it was always as simple as walking into the store and walking out with my issues resolved. I've even had them fix a keyboard that broke due to my fault on an out of warranty machine for just the cost of parts. The fact that you can go to a physical location and get service puts them on a different level.
I have to fly or take a ferry to get to an Apple Store. There isn't one on Vancouver Island. So it's great when you can get to one, but if you can't the support is not so good.
What country are you in? When I had some "user serviceable" part on ThinkPad break (in the UK), I had to send it off for a month(!), after spending 45 minutes on the phone trying to convince them to send me the replacement part.
Actually, the dell seems to be stuck with a tiny HDD even on the 1300$ model. 128GB in 2015 on a 1,000+$ laptop is ridiculous you can get phones with that much disk space. Sure, they bump it on the $1,600$ model, but by then not having ~512 seems silly.
PS: You can get a 512GB desktop SSD drive for under 180$ so cost wise it's a non issue. And 30$ micro SD cards are at 64GB so 512GB would not be a space issue.
According to anandtech, they are offering 512 GB at some point, and they have pricing. It's in the spec breakdown on the first page of their review[1]. It's not cheap to upgrade the drive, which is fairly standard with Dell.
Anyway, you will also note they did not actually send the i7 versions off for testing as the battery life would tank. IMO, there are three basic classes of laptop ultra-portable trade power for awesome battery life and light weight, desktop replacements which are meant to be used on a desk, and gaming machines. You can dump a large SSD into an ultra-portable without issue but dells approach of bumping RAM, CPU, HDD, etc. in lockstep just means their ultra-portables are stuck with tiny disks for little reason.
512GB? Not yet. 256GB? Yes. I'm not sure why you are asking though. Do you think they aren't going to provide it for some reason?
You might want to read that whole review if you haven't already. They found that the XPs 13 had excellent battery life, to the point that they tested it and it was exactly what was advertised. That is, for the low-end screen (1080p) they got over 15 hours of light usage. Dell provides battery life estimates for different configurations (visible in the review[1]), so it's not inconceivable that i7 light usage might get over 11 hours as Dell claims.
There is a lot of fishy things about those numbers. Most notably HD video which I generally use as light usage benchmark was the 'worst case' actually given numbers. If that i5 dell is equal to a 2013 i5 mackbook air for similar useage patterns then actual heavy use-sage should clock around 6 hours for an brand new i5 from full charge to zero.
And an i7 would drop down to around 4.5 brand new under heavy usage. And around 2 before you start looking for a charger once the battery ages a little.
PS: The only reason I bring this up is their base numbers are rather low and they don't seem to have a way to configure the systems before checkout. Overall the i5 version seems like a real mackbook competitor, but their low end model seems to be designed more for halo effect (battery life, and price) vs an actual reasonable choice.
The XPS is using the new Broadwell-U Intel processor, which is a die-shrink, and lower power usage is expected from this.
I'm not sure why you think it's fishy. As long as Anandtech has kept their benchmark tests consistent across different units tested, it should be fine. I'm not sure how you got HD video viewing as a light benchmark test, I've never heard of that before. Generally, decoding a highly compressed chunk of data and using it to constantly update the display seems close to a worst case scenario to me, unless you are doing serious data crunching (e.g. encoding) which while more common than it used to be, I wouldn't consider common enough to include as a regular benchmark in a general purpose review.
According to Anandtech's article, the 13-inch Macbook Air has a 54 Wh battery and the Dell has a 52 Wh battery, so the XPS battery is slightly smaller. The hardware drawing power from the battery is different through (Broadwell-U @ 14 nm vs Haswell @ 22nm), so extrapolating numbers in that way is not likely to yield very accurate results.
HD video decoding is a fixed workload so higher end CPU's spend less time working and get to down clock. There are plenty of games for example where they simply max the CPU so it's a good idea for your heavy load useage to scale.
Anandtech then just displayed numbers for useage levels vs hms.
HD video decoding is a fixed workload so higher end CPU's spend less time working and get to down clock. There are plenty of games for example where they simply max the CPU so it's a good idea for your heavy load useage to scale.
Anandtech then just displayed numbers for useage levels vs hours:minutes.
> Can you find any way to order that on their site?
Yeah, the "Choose Options" menu under the "Hard Drive" section. Currently, the $999.99 and $1299.99 models can upgrade from a 128GB to a 256GB SSD for +$100, and the high end $1599.99 model can upgrade from a 256GB SSD to a 512GB SSD for +$300. Available options may vary at times.
Though I'd rather just replace the SSD myself, especially for the 512GB upgrade. Looks very easy to do do, based on YouTube videos.
And specs don't capture the OS UX differences (do you love metro on a non-touch device?), bloatware/spyware/adware pre-installed, activation headaches, app ecosystem...
It's like comparing the value of two watches using the slag value of melting them down. If that's how you shop, the device isn't for you.
Man... the folks at Dell are just terrible at marketing. Look at that page the OP linked and the apple macbook page. There is absolutely no comparison. I had to make an effort to find pictures of their product. Even then, the pictures are completely distracting because of those ugly award logos they put on it.
If I was Dell, I would just sit down my entire design and marketing team and make a plan for redesigning and rebranding. Their website look exactly like it did 10 years ago when Dell computers were cool.
Also: No, actually, I don't want to "chat with a Dell expert." GTFO the page I'm trying to read.
The one thing that could change my mind about patent trolls is if one of them were to pop up and banish those unsolicited floating chat windows by suing everyone who uses them.
The prevalence of "chat with us!" and "take a quick survey?" website popups encapsulates everything that is wrong with non-Apple computer hardware manufacturers.
Really? My experience in their bricks and mortar stores is that I can barely get someone to talk to me when I I want to buy something. Kind of the opposite problem, but almost as frustrating.
I guess it depends on how busy they are. The one time I've recently set foot in an Apple store, it was swarming with employees (probably 2:1 employee:customer ratio). This was a small mall location, though—it felt claustrophobic to begin with.
Word. The freakin top end laptop is out of view and requires a click to even see it. I almost bailed because I didn't see an i7 option. I was browsing on my 27" with the browser full screen too... hard FAIL, Dell.
I have a M3800 and am not unhappy with it, although the touchpad is too touchy and the fan is too fanny. Somebody needs to get their shit together and actually push Apple.
This. I was really hoping they would drop that bezel to make the new Mac absolutely awesome looking. Honestly I would have rather they done that than everything else they did.
I was also hoping for a touch screen. While I don't use it a ton on my Windows machines with a touch screen I constantly finding myself to use it for scrolling.
Not really; the keyboard in the new MacBook is larger than their previous one. They could have kept it about the same and been fine. Alternatively bump the display up to 13" and drop the bezel.
It does, but it's at the bottom right of the screen. It's actually a pretty neat design and I didn't notice much difference from the youtube video I saw.
a) that marketing page compares against a processor that is 4 years old, i.e. the processor in the 2011 MBA?
b) Intel has made new core i5's in the last 4 years (or even 3 years, 2 years, last year...)
c) we're not at a point where physics allows us to make hardware that consumes < 1/3 the power, but performs better, using the same manufacturing processes.
I got a new fully specced XPS 13" from work. More than being small it's one of the worst computers I ever had. Battery life suck, fans constantly spinning in idle. The only thing I like is the charger and screen. The keyboard is somewhat nice. Other than that, totally crappy PC.
Ouch that sounds harsh, but thats what take from it and for 999-1200usd you can find so much better.
What would you recommend as an alternative? I have no particular interest in Apple products, but I would love a windows PC with a similar form factor and battery life as the Macbook Air.
I recently bought one of these from the Microsoft store. Zero complaints. $1300 for the 3200x1800(double 1600x900) touch, 256gb ssd, and 8gb of ram. The dell has a 15w cpu instead of the 5w in the new Mac but it weighs about a pound more. Having a headphone w mic port and 2 usb 3 ports is more useful than a type C port for me.
What's strange to me is that Apple used to have extremely thin bezels. The Titanium Powerbooks barely had any bezel and the display was just as thin (though, this was before LED backlights).
No (standard) USB port. Weird. I wonder if it'll ship with a USB cable?
To be honest, the one USB device that I use the most is my mouse, and I suppose Apple expects me to get a wireless one, and that is fine. But what about stuff like USB drives? I am not looking forward to not being able to just give somebody a file on a USB drive because they forgot their OTG cable.
USB Type C to USB Standard A Receptacle adapters are supported by the USB specification.
As I understand things, the desire from the USB-IF is to basically have USB Type A and Type B start to disappear.
Until we get to that critical mass point... Yeah. It'll be annoying. But hopefully we will get to enjoy this standard for at least a few years before it is replaced.
They messed up the resolution. No more "4x the resolution" as "retina" anymore for Apple devices, it seems. It's the end of that, as we've seen with the new iPhones.
So now developers will have to target those resolutions exactly as they are. No more "elegant scaling" and whatnot.
> So now developers will have to target those resolutions exactly as they are.
People writing MacOS software do not typically target a particular number of pixels; it's a windowed operating system. One point will be 2x2 pixels, as on the retina MBP and iMac, and on all retina iOS devices except the big iPhone (where one point is 3x3 pixels).
I'm disappointed that this has only one port. I shouldn't have to choose between charging my laptop and using my USB port for something.
Having said that, battery power is my number 1 priority when buying a laptop. My 2013 Macbook Air is great in this regard, it charges to full in 40 minutes and lasts for a long ass time. If this new model has even better battery tech, I'm all for it.
That is odd. I wonder if we'll see something like USB Type-C octopus connectors protruding from there that might let you charge and connect other things?
The port sucks but usually anything you want to plug in for longer periods of time are not a problem.
i.e., a USB stick? Take out charger, plug in, transfer files, put charger back in. No problem.
A mouse or keyboard or monitor? Well you're probably at home or work, so you buy a usb hub and stick it on your desk. Problem solved.
It sucks as the new MB is supposed to be the lightest most portable Mac in the lineup, dedicated hubs don't fit that story. And it's another $50-150 depending on if you need 1 or 2, or a fancy slick one.
Me I'm just gonna go with the refreshed 2015 MBA 13'. Better battery, 1 inch bigger screen, a lot cheaper with all the ports I need and hey, a better processor, too (1.6gh instead of 1.4 and HD 6000 instead of HD 5000 on the new 2015 version versus the older 2014 one).
The obvious end game for USB 3.1 type C is replacing your laptop with a phone. USB 3.1 type C is the "universal docking station", providing power, data & display over a single cable. Obviously useful for a laptop, but even more useful to a phone. Apple obviously could merge OSX & iOS into a single OS, but I have real difficulty seeing them doing that. (It also seems unlikely that they'll replace Lightning with USB 3.1 type C). It seems much more likely that Ubuntu, Microsoft and possibly Google are going to go there first. By pushing USB 3.1 type C, Apple really seems to be opening doors for their competitors...
They actually introduced a new line of laptops called the MacBook (so the title is technically incorrect). The existing MacBook Airs and 13" MacBook Pro got minor refreshes. Interestingly no refreshes on the 15" Pros.
I think the single port is a deal breaker for me-I really like the 12 inch form factor (finally!) but this is too. But at least it starts out with 8GB of RAM-I wouldn't have put it past Apple to put only 4 in the base model.
Apple's laptop battery life estimates have historically been pretty on-point -- I've found that they often hit, or even exceed, the estimates in real-life usage. I see no reason to imagine their latest laptop is any different.
This is always so interesting to me, because as a person without dogs or children, the magsafe adapter has only ever been annoying. It seems like the world is divided into people with small creatures who love the magsafe, and people without who don't get it.
Having been a long time laptop user, I've had several incidents where one of my large dogs get wrapped up in a cord and runs off with either my computer crashing to the floor or me hanging onto it while the charging pin breaks or bends. It is a big annoyance when that happens with magsafe still, I'll have to get up and fetch the cord again.. but i'd trade that annoyance with the alternative any day.
This new MacBook has nice battery life and if I had one I can see using it without needing to plug it in while i'm on the couch or something.
What worries me though is a precedent being set. I am not in the market for a MacBook or MacBook Air, however I do buy MacBook Pros. I do everything on them from software dev, video editing, playing games. Much of that use is not battery friendly so I will _need_ to plug those in while i'm on the couch or in a high traffic area. I love the idea of USB-C I just hope Apple keeps MagSafe around for form factors they are not trying to reduce to sheets of paper thickness.
Clearly what is needed is a Type-C to magsafe-style thingy and back. You stick a short pigtale Type-C -> magthing into the Macbook, then another magthing -> Type C onto that, so that you effectively have a magnetic safety catch in the middle of your Type-C cable. Or maybe the magnetic end would connect directly to a hub, since with just one USB port, you'll probably be using a hub a lot.
I've seen a lot of people disappointed by this, but - correct me if I'm wrong - If you were to trip over a micro USB cord it would simply disconnect as well, similar to MagSafe, right? I mean, it's not as elegant as magsafe but it certainly wouldn't drag your whole laptop off the table, would it?
Probably depends on the direction of the force and other conditions but I'd imagine the male part of the connector would break or bend in some scenarios.
Try pulling directly down on a cord connected in a usb port. It won't just pull out. The magsafe would just disconnect after a little bit of resistance.
I don't think magsafe is totally ruled out. They could simply have the new USB connector, a short wire to the brick, and magsafe off the other side of that to the wall. The brick would also act as a device hub.
I agree but here is some idle speculation: perhaps this laptop is so light that the force needed to effectively hold the magsafe onto the laptop is large enough that it wouldn't really release without pulling the laptop over anyhow.
It seems Apple has settled on the same corporate colour scheme for everything except watch straps and budget iPhones - champagne, space gray, and white.
From a design POV, I'd have loved to see this in more cheerful colours.
I don't think it would have disappointed the target market, either.
I know, but I'm just saying that Apple is has a substantial markup on the gold watch so why not for it's gold colored laptop. Not unless their gold watch actually contains 8.3 ounces of gold, at the current price of gold ((10000 - 350) / 1163.14). Perhaps Apple's gold watch is much larger and much more heavy than the standard version.
Really hoping this can at least be bumped to 16gb of RAM. Processing power seems diminutive to say the least. I guess this will just be a good looking, fancy SSH machine for me.
Accidentally clipping the power cable is something I definitely got used to not worrying about anymore. I'm loving the single mother-of-all ports USB-C will provide but I highly appreciated the magnet component of MagSafe..
I wonder if someone can come up with a "mag-breakaway" adaptor for USB-C? It's a "null" adaptor -- it has USB-C female and USB-C male -- but it splits down the center and is held together by magnets. You can just put one on the end of your USB power adaptor. There you go: you have your Magsafe back again.
Off the top of my head the only concern is: How do you turn on/off the flow as the magnets lose contact? Last thing you want is arching as it comes apart.
All connections arc as they come apart, it's just that the arc size is a function of the dielectric medium (air?), potential difference (voltage) and current. You design for "number of disconnects" and choose materials and power design so that the connector will survive as long as specified.
Apple MagSafe connectors are on the same voltage (20V) as these new Type C connectors, although Type C seems rated for a higher current (5A).
Looking at the pinout, the GND and VBUS are a bit longer, so will disconnect last upon removal. This may be to allow for the voltage to be dropped in anticipation of a disconnect, but you'd need enough intelligence at the power supply end to notice that. Lowering the voltage prior to disconnect would reduce the arc size.
Was clipping the power cable a big problem? I've never done that with a laptop, but have found the brittle MagSafe connection to be an almost daily annoyance since it was introduced.
I think it probably speaks to how 'mobile' you are with your laptop, either walking around in an office or even just actual traveling etc. I liked that it was easily detachable without any thought. Now I'll have to worry about whether or not the port will get loose over time if I aggressively pull it out at angle, etc.
I didn't even know there was a show today. From a long time Apple fanboy, I think that says a lot about what this company has left in free marketing from the internet channels.
I would say the free ride is over for Apple and they're now just another company doing things in the mosh pit.
Looking at the number of comments left on news article sites. It used to be in the 500's within an hour, now it's around 10-30. That's what I'm basing my judgement on...Again, maybe I'm wrong.
You and me both. But to be honest, I'm not that interested in Apple news unless I'm planning to make a purchase. I've got my iMac and Macbook Pro which will both see me good for at least another two years, I have no interest in buying an iPhone or iPad so why would I take an interest in what Apple is pimping now? I'll come back in a couple of years time when I need an upgrade.
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[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 465 ms ] threadI think we'll start to see an era of expandable computing coming up soon: USB-C is a perfect connector to push your data and state into a larger desktop experience. Why not carry around your laptop in tablet form when you are mobile? [1]
[1] https://grack.com/blog/2015/01/16/usb-31-ara-are-the-converg...
But 1 port is sad, because now you have to choose between a lot of things (charging, using hdmi, whatever)
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MJ1L2AM/A/usb-c-vga-multip...
I wish the power adapter itself would also have the passthrough.
When I'm on the road the minimalism of a Mac is nice, but at my desk, hooked up to everything I really need for heavy work, my desktop is a cluster-f of cables and adapters and wires.
I guess what I am saying is, I wouldn't want to be queued outside the Apple store for one of these. The supporting accessories aren't there yet (yes, even with Apple's two hubs/adapters).
However when they do the refresh on this line, one or two years from now, the supporting hubs, wires, and so on will be available and it will be a very fun experience.
This was back pre-USB 3, and the power limit of USB has only increased since then (USB 3, USB-C, etc). This means the wires get hotter, the hub gets hotter, and any short/surge will have an even more dramatic effect (e.g. fire?).
Honestly USB hubs should be up to the same spec as a surge-protector/multi-tap, but they aren't, even though they carry enough electricity to kill someone.
Do all monitors/printers/hard drives/etc provide pass through so you can charge? Or do you have to unplug your laptop from the power to get to your hard drive if you lose your dongle?
Not to mention the fact that every single mac apple peripheral you've ever owned is now worthless.
If they threw USB-C on as the charger alongside a USB and Thunderbolt I'd be stoked that mac is embracing new technology. If they put two or three USB-C ports and nothing else I'd be impressed with their commitment. With just one port, I'm left wondering what the hell they're thinking people use their laptops for.
[1] http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA2TY1K447...
Also, I haven't plugged in a printer in years. Many printers have Wifi built in, and if not, you can always attach it to an Airport base station.
External storage? Use Apple's Time Capsule or any other NAS to back up your data wirelessly.
I've even seen companies use Apple TVs connected to a projector for wireless presentations.
Sure, a USB thumb drive is invaluable when you need to copy some files to your uncles 10 year old laptop with broken wifi; but you can get pretty far without wires if you want.
Too bad USB-C didn't also do microphone in.
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&e...
I use a MacPro driving 3 27' displays and also have a few portables as well. It's just a matter of synching info. I can't imagine having to deal with hooking up a portable.
I'd seriously consider an iMac if Apple would solve b.
Synchronizing is hard. That's the problem.
I want to close my laptop after a day at the office and be able to continue working on the train or an airplane, immediately, if I need to.
This isn't easy to do without having a single machine.
Plugging my 2013 Air into my desk when I come home isn't a big hassle - I plug in the speaker cable, the power cable, the video cable, and the USB hub. It takes me ten seconds[1] to do unless one of the cables falls; they're normally sitting right where I put the Mac. It sits on a lower shelf and runs closed; there's a Bluetooth keyboard and a Wacom tablet on my desk. (I'm an artist.)
It'd be nice to have the single connector I guess. Once I got an adapter[2] and plugged everything into that I'd save all of, I dunno, five seconds?
I'm also not driving three displays. I have never liked multiple displays. They don't work well with a Wacom tablet, and I go crazy from constantly seeing slight color differences; when I'm at a cafe, I use the laptop screen; when I'm at home, I use the external monitor.
Now you have one person's explanation of why she schleps around a single laptop that she also uses for her desktop.
1: Literally; I just timed it. 6.6s to leisurely unplug it, 10.3s to casually reconnect it.
2: http://store.apple.com/us/product/MJ1K2AM/A/usb-c-digital-av...
I think we'll see a lot of small USB hubs with a USB-C connector to your laptop and all your USB/audio/Displayport/ethernet out, so that getting back to your desk is one cable to plug in and not a half-dozen.
At airports for example I'm carrying only my MacBook and usually put in there charger and the my phone, now I have to also carry an adapter to do that.
To be fair, Apple had a lot of people on the USB-C standards... 'committee', second only to Intel.
Source: http://www.theverge.com/2015/1/6/7505187/apple-macbook-2015-...
(Look at who attended what meetings, and where it was proposed, how far it was along when it was proposed, and then when apple started showing up. It looks like they saw the writing on the wall, and joined in to make sure they weren't going to get left behind)
http://daringfireball.net/linked/2015/03/14/apple-usbc
No, USB Type-C allows multiple concurrent uses, such as: charging and using HDMI at the same time. See http://www.anandtech.com/show/8518/hands-on-with-usb-type-c-... : "This opens up the possibility for a dock scenario where a single cable to the monitor can charge a laptop and also mirror the laptop's display onto the external monitor, and the external monitor would also be able to serve as a USB hub for a keyboard, mouse, headsets, flash drives, and other USB peripherals."
Edit: @rakoo: I agree that in scenarios where you do not have a hub, it is annoying to have only 1 port. Even if the power brick integrates a USB hub it would be weird to have to plug a USB drive in the brick... I guess this opens a market opportunity: sell a tiny USB hub with 3 ports (type-C power in, type-C power out, type-A generic port) that is meant to be left almost permanently attached to the laptop or to the end of the power cord.
It may come with a 1-port USB plus power adapter in place of the standard power cable though?
edit: vocabulary
My laptop is connected to the power via magsafe and the monitors with HDMI and USB. Keyboard/mouse/webcam/microphone are connected to the monitors.
With the new USB-C plug I guess I'll be able to buy the hypothetical Antec "Super USB Charging Media Hub", which all my devices connect to. My laptop then only needs to plug into one thing.
I would really like PC manufacturers to standardize on this; it would make using laptops as nice as using non-Apple telephones/tablets/ereaders is now.
The decision to not include a single USB port is of course mind-boggling, especially given Apple's market. How are you supposed to share large files? No USB drives, no memory cards etc on the go.
Needless to say, I'm not very happy about no USB just as I wasn't happy about syncing.
They eventually released an update that re-enabled it, and it still works in Yosemite.
I'm in a somewhat similar situation, when I reach home I plug in power, network, external display and USB devices, but these things don't move with me, they're fixed desk accessories. I've got a separate set of them at work.
It wasn't addressed because Apple offers no solution (yet?).
If you need expansibility and are running a large external monitor, that sounds pretty 'professional' to me.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MJ1K2AM/A/usb-c-digital-av...
and
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MJ1L2AM/A/usb-c-vga-multip...
Unfortunately both only have 1080p HD. Let's hope there will be a (mini-)DVI version with a higher resolution soon.
So we have the "USB-C Charge Cable" $29 (http://store.apple.com/us/product/MJWT2AM/A/usb-c-charge-cab...) -- I wonder if that is proprietary or if any cable would work. Then there's the "USB-C Power Adapter" $49 (http://store.apple.com/us/product/MJ262LL/A/apple-29w-usb-c-...).
Too bad they can't fit 29W into the smaller cube form factor which charges my phone. That would be incredible powering a laptop off of that.
Someone needs to create a much sleeker implementaion of a in-line 1-port hub. So basically something that looks like USB-C on both ends, but 4" from one side of the cable there's a quarter-sized circle of hard plastic that has the USB-C cable going through it, with another USB-C port available on the side.
I hope we will see USB-C to HDMI and USB-C to DisplayPort "cables" which are not big fat massive dongles but really function more like just a cable.
No hub.
They're way too expensive ($80), but give Type C is a standard port I expect Amazon Essentials or Monoprice will fix that pretty soon.
They own Lightning themselves so they can do whatever they want there.
Another perspective I've seen recently about this is that this new Macbook will probably make people change their habit towards something traditionally only for smartphones: you'll see people keep their computer untethered for the larger part of the day, and only plug it for energy during the night. So, basically, mobile first instead of plugged first. You then have a port constantly available for whatever you want to plug on the go.
[1] http://www.anandtech.com/show/8558/displayport-alternate-mod...
[2] http://www.anandtech.com/show/8539/usb-power-delivery-v20-an...
Also, there are dedicated wires for USB 2.0 as well that are separate from the SS lanes.
Displayport is a protocol that can run over a thunderbolt port, but the thunderbolt spec includes much more than that.
I don' believe we'll be seeing the 40Gbps PCI extension that is today's thunderbolt over USB 3.1.
And the USB 3.1 "SuperSpeed+" PHY is a 10Gbps thing that is very comparable to Thunderbolt electrically and would be expected to evolve similarly.
You're right that USB lacks the PCI framework (which many of us view as a feature). But DP/Thunderbolt similarly lacks a cabling standard with the sophistication of USB: no charging, not reversible connectors, no OTG-style switching of host/guest mode.
Apple had a choice of supporting both connectors, or giving up "PCI madness" or "nice cables" to get just one. They picked USB.
Supporting something like Thunderbolt is nice, but not exactly the same. It's not about "brand identity," it's about "does this equipment I have work with this machine?"
So, can the Type-C connector support Thunderbolt? Yes. Does the Type-C connector currently support Thunderbolt? No. Will someone add Thunderbolt over Type-C? Maybe.
I've only heard of PCIe over Type-C (via the spec docs) and DP over Type-C (from the VESA guys).
And thank goodness they did.
The "U" in USB may finally become reality. It's overdue.
Does USB-C work the same way?
So, you could talk to a single DP device, but that DP device could be a DP MST splitter. This could allow it to act as a DP hub for you to daisy chain a second monitor.
EDIT: there are physical limitations how electric current is transferred. USB contacts do not have good shape and will probably deteriorate more quickly.
That said, I am kind of looking forward to my (about) 4 year old MacBook Air eventually dying and then I will buy the new model that was announced today :-) MacBooks are beautiful.
But I've never had electrical contacts on a charger wear out in the first place, so even if it goes faster it might never matter.
I think I'd have to say it's worth it for full standards-compliance, though.
I bet consumer behavior has changed, and that laptops with 10+hr battery life probably get charged more like phones: overnight and in a safe location.
Granted, a lot of that is learned behavior because I know I can yank the Magsafe out without incurring a $500 repair.
I even have one installed in my motorcycle trunk for on-the-road charging. No worries about it damaging the machine.
If USB-C becomes the go-to port for charging, I can't imagine something like this not being far behind.
Related: Can you still open the lid with one finger without lifting the bottom case up with it?
Does anyone know if there was any emphasis put on making USB-C less flimsy and delicate?
Example: I have a USB-C Printer/Hard drive/or otherwise, and plug in my MacBook Air, will it charge my MacBook or will I need an intermediate like a specialty hub to charge?
This seems egregious if every device needs to provide power for the potential of charging device in question...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#USB_Power_Delivery
[1] http://www.usb.org/press/USB_Type-C_Specification_Announceme...
[2] http://www.usb.org/press/presskit/USB-IF_IDF_Shenzhen_2014_P...
My biggest gripe about the USB-C, and a big fuck up on the part of the standards committee, IMO
https://intel.lanyonevents.com/sf14/connect/fileDownload/ses...
http://www.geek.com/apple/apple-will-be-forced-to-use-micro-...
The new 29W brick currently costs £40 and the 2m USB-C cable £25. Typically it's not the brick that fails, it's the poor strain relief on the laptop cable. Being able to replace just the cable with (probably) an aftermarket product is a massive step up.
If you work in any environment other than a sterile coffee shop, this will be a huge problem for you. I spend almost all of my time working in a hackerspace, and fiddling with my power connector on my less than 1 year old laptop is a constant annoyance.
I think some of it in my bag is from a black sand beach. That stuff kills headphones as well as wonkifying magsafe sockets.
It's a bit of a dubious rhetorical move to cast anybody who works in an environment that doesn't contain a lot of ferrous dust as some sort of freakish outlier. You might be ever so slightly guilty of overgeneralizing your experience...
I mean, I used a wired mouse, and I'm guessing you do as well, but it seems like wired mouse users are not taken seriously anymore.
This trend in laptop design towards providing fewer ports for what seems to be little more than aesthetics seems a bit backwards.
...except for the main advantage, which is the wireless setup's entire reason for existence?
Fair enough if you think wireless is advantageous in this case but I personally don't. Or if it is, it doesn't outweigh the disadvantage of having a mouse that can run out of juice.
Wireless mice aren't convenient to keep plugged in with many laptops in many carrying cases/bags/etc, and having to plug it in increases the set up time before useful interaction. So, for laptops typically used on-the-go, I see them as a negative.
And, mice can be useful fairly distant from a CPU; they usually aren't useful far from the keyboard (which can also be wireless) and, depending on the display size, may need to be close to the display.
I mean, its not like we live in the era when most computer use involves switching disks or other similar activities that require physical interaction with the CPU case, so there's no particular requirement that the CPU needs to be that close to the keyboard/mouse for the setup to be useful.
I guess you're right about the setup time, but that seems like an extremely minor irritation to me, compared to the moderate irritation of swapping out or recharging dead batteries. Ultimately, I suppose it's a personal preference: Do you prefer a tiny annoyance every day, or greater annoyance (still negligible, in the grand scheme) every few months.
Reasonable people can disagree wrt whether a wireless mouse is acceptable for their use case, of course. Just like reasonable people could disagree when Apple stopped shipping devices with floppy drives and (later) optical drives.
[1] http://store.apple.com/us/product/MJ1K2AM/A/usb-c-digital-av...
[2] http://store.apple.com/us/product/MJ1L2AM/A/usb-c-vga-multip...
I hope IFixIt guys takes those things apart, I bet they have their own little OS and processor just like we've seen in previous Apple "adapters."
What we also want is a hub into which we can plug our monitors and additional storage. For desktop use, this should have a longer cord, of course. (There are such hubs for USB 3, which can already be bought for ~$79 t0 ~$250 depending on what you want out of video compatibility.
or: $70-odd additional margin for Apple that people will be happy to pay once they notice they need it regularly. Clever.
Its temporary. In five years everything will have these ports and adapters will not be necessary. In the same way today you can get a DP to VGA adapter instead of having a bulky analog video output, even if it costs $15.
I have a nice integrated laptop but I have all these parts around in my bag that I sometimes lose or forget connected to a projector somewhere. What may have seem like a simpler solution really wasn't in the end.
VGA's popular because it's the only option that actually works for everyone, and it's not for a lack of newer alternatives - in fact, the plethora of newer alternatives is the problem here.
Otherwise, completely agree - the current situation is messed up. Yet I'm glad Apple is leading the way, just like with SSDs.
Full disclosure: I don't own any Apple products or stock.
Having a ton of adapters seems to be required for that niche
But the vast majority of people never have to make presentations or hook up to legacy projectors and monitors. So bulking up the machine itself to accommodate that does not really make sense.
I don't want to shell out another $900 monitor to replace my existing $900 monitor that adds no new features on top of what I had previously.
I am all for portability but there comes a point where you start trimming essential functions. I'm not saying every laptop needs to have a SCSI port, but ONE connector?! I thought Apple was bad before with two USB slots and mini-DP. My Thinkpad Yoga, which I bought specifically for portability, manages to have 2 USB connectors, HDMI, built-in SD card reader, and other useful peripherals onboard, and yes, I do actually use these.
I think MacBooks are cool but I always find myself unable to use them for serious work. If I was a casual computer user that just needed to update Facebook once in a while, they'd probably be fine, but every time I've tried something more serious than that with one, I've ended up on a non-Apple product because why torture myself over fashion?
Granted, most of what I do with my MBP is modern full-stack stuff, which I gather doesn't qualify as "serious" even if it does make me a good living. But I don't see how the type and number of ports on my laptop would make much difference if I were, say, writing Linux kernel modules for hardware nobody uses, or building a window manager in Haskell, or whatever the current definition of "serious" is among those who put so much weight on the term. I need to plug in a real keyboard; all else is commentary. (And who does embedded away from home, anyway? There's too much you need besides the computer, unless you're targeting an emulator, in which case what need have you of physical ports?)
But, hey, it's always easier to feel superior than it is to see the other guy's point of view.
At the moment, the two USB ports I have on my MBP are pretty much bare minimum but every now and then I find myself juggling peripherals.
You might consider the same cheat I use for charging, which is to keep a small but reasonably capacious USB battery [1] in my bag, and top it up via USB whenever I happen to have a port free. Since it's specified to fully charge an iPad twice, it can charge my phone several times before running flat, and a fully powered USB port can charge the battery itself in a matter of a few hours -- an overnight charge is ample. (And, hey, the only thing I ever plug in my phone for anyway is power, so it's not like I'm losing anything by not plugging into a port on my laptop.)
Another trick worth considering is, instead of using a USB headset, instead to use one which connects via the headphone jack proper. Mine is a Sennheiser HD558 with an aftermarket cable incorporating an Apple-style mic/remote module, but you don't have to get that elaborate, especially since the HD558 isn't designed to travel and does not do so well; for simple VoIP purposes, anything halfway decent will do, and serve the purpose of freeing up a USB port for things that a headphone jack can't do.
[1] http://www.nothingbutsavings.com/Product/270265-APB27US-Targ...
Do we care more about having the sexiest laptop in the airport or getting more productive time in? That's the dilemma one goes through when choosing PC v. Mac.
The sine qua non of a computer's usefulness to me is its ability to support Emacs. While my experience has been that, all else equal, any portable machine is inferior for this purpose to any desktop, I have yet to find a better portable Emacs machine than the 15" rMBP. When I do find one, I'll use it instead.
If your "all Apple users are fashion-obsessed lightweights" proposition is susceptible to the white raven's disproof, this should amply suffice. (When was the last time you ran across an Emacs user who was either "fashion-obsessed" or "lightweight"?) But I suspect you'll prefer to explain away a white raven, than to reconsider your apparent confusion of reality with an "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" ad.
That's just me. A few of those things could be transferred to wireless peripherals, but not all of them, and wireless peripherals usually suck pretty bad. I have a Bluetooth headset that I try to use in the field occasionally and it's a nightmare switching between A2DP and telephony modes. I could switch to a wireless mouse, but then that's batteries and many of these take up a USB port anyway with a proprietary dongle. I don't usually carry a full keyboard around with me so I just gotta use what they have in the office, which again, even if it's wireless, often occupies a USB port.
To me, this is serious. I don't think I'm doing anything super special; I'm definitely not writing custom firmware for esoteric embedded devices from Starbucks or anything like that. Just your everyday developer and sysadmin.
Now, if I put a lot of effort into it and decided I was going to live on a MBP and therefore needed to keep my usage restrained to one or two USB ports max, I may be able to come up with an arrangement that works, but it's by no means the default; I most recently tried to live off a MBP for 5 months in the first half of 2013, and it didn't work out (the lack of ports was a constant annoyance, but not the impetus behind the change). I swapped it for a Thinkpad and was much happier. I find this happens to me every time I try to live off an MBP. The most successful run I had was 2006-2008 where an MBP was my sole laptop and I did a lot of remote work, but it was not really pleasant and I had a desktop that I used to supplement.
To be clear, I have bought 3 Apple laptops over the years of my own free will and used a few more that were owned by employers. It's not that I hate them (in fact I continue to be astonished by Retina displays, which I was sure was just going to be hype before I saw it in person, and wish PC makers would catch up), but I just don't think they're good workhorse machines for people who do real work. I think they're mostly a fashion thing that people force themselves to live with. I'd love to have one around the house as a casual computing machine, but it's hard to justify dropping $2k for the setup, when again, there is real work that would be better served by the same investment going to actually useful equipment or to labor.
I just don't really see a reason to force myself to heed Apple's insistence that while I think I may want more than two ports, I really don't. Even the way I use Apple hardware usually pisses off Mac devotees -- back in 2006 I made some permanent enemies out of a few acquaintances that were stunned I would be voluntarily using Fedora on a MacBook Pro. They kept repeating that they'd totally understand if it was a PC, but if I had to use Linux on a Mac, I was most likely just a retard who couldn't grasp the beauty gifted to earth by Humanity's Eminent Genius Steve Jobs. They continued this hostility every other time I saw them. Pretty bizarre.
Hey, I have one of these... it's called an iPod shuffle.
Which curiously uses the headphone jack as an USB port[1].
Perhaps there's hope for someone to hack up at least an USB2.0 port on the MacBook using this method?
[1] http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2006/11/usb-ip...
Congratulations, you've identified the target market for the new MacBook.
As far as I can tell, the market for Apple's laptops are normal hipsters, hipster devs that can't stop talking about how you can build a blog in only two hours with Ruby on Rails, video and photo editors clinging to the meme from the 80s that editing software is somehow superior on a Mac, and college students that don't want the embarrassment of using an "old person's computer".
Can we stop with this meme? There's no tax. There's a price for a product. Buy it or don't. I have followed the laptop market quite closely for very many years and I'm consistently disappointed in my attempts to find non-Apple laptops that are of comparable quality and specs at similar price points. And let's stop pretending that "specs" are simply "cpu/ram/harddrive", as those are a small subset of the factors that matter to consumers.
Nickel and $80'ering me on a $1400 computer is ridiculous. I'll stick with my thinkpad.
Go ahead and stick with your thinkpad.
College students? It's always a big hassle finding a dongle whenever a MacBook user has to give a presentation in class.
Personally, I think VGA is an abomination and people should react a bit stronger to be invited to a venue and having to deal with standards from 1987.
If you're going to harp on hospitality, please remember it cuts both ways.
Oh, forgot about iPads, 2 different ones for that, and android phones at least 2 MHL connectors and whatever google does in their phones. We haven't even got onto mini and micro HDMI.
At least 10 different connectors on recent devices then? Don't you just love standards?
To me, this is a great tradeoff: I get a lighter and thinner laptop for 100% of my computing, the downside being an adapter when I return the the dark ages of VGA connectors.
In fact, for my MacBook Pro, I will have fewer connections. Instead of power and Thunderbolt, I will just get one of the connectors that bridges power, external monitor and USB peripherals and plug in a single thing when I "dock" my laptop.
I will take that any day over the awkward Dell and Thinkpad docking stations I see my coworkers use.
I completely agree with this assessment. Even here on HN the majority of users are not giving presentations or even screen sharing. When it does matter, there is often a third party device they have to present from anway.
I'll take the adapter not being in the box, as for most users they won't be using it enough to warrant the extra cost.
Instead of buying mini DVI to VGA or Lightening to HDMI adapter, just buy this?
Wireless is usually OK in my living room but I would not count on wireless video working reliably in a conference room with 500 people on their laptop/phone. Shudder.
Moreover the YubiKey also acts as a PGP smartcard, giving you a private key (for e.g. SSH) that an attacker can't extract even if they obtain root on your laptop.
As much as I would like a "Retina MBA", the lack of a separate USB port is a dealbreaker for me too.
This is similar to standard SSH agent forwarding attacks. A sysadmin connects to a malicious server via SSH. If the sysadmin turns on agent forwarding, then "malicious root" can remotely ask the sysadmin's agent (running on the sysadmin's laptop) to authenticate to any other machine that accepts the sysadmin's public key. The malicious root can log in to any other server the sysadmin has access to, as long as the sysadmin still stays connected.
It's a slick device.
For the 2FA OTP portion: No. The button needs to be physically touched.
For the PGP (ssh) portion: Yes. (but again, the attacker can not obtain a copy of the private key, that's the critical difference to your scenario)
That's why (at least for critical servers) you should combine the two. That way an attacker can at most piggyback your connections. He can not initiate his own because he can not touch the button.
With this new macbook, one cannot charge and use a mouse at the same time without an $80 addon.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB112LL/B/apple-mouse
That mouse has literally been around forever, and no it's not what users are generally using now.
Is Apple's logic "that's what you get for having friends or working with people who do not buy the latest apple devices"?
For a disruptive product to be successful it should not be behind its time (where others are already there) it should not be too far ahead of its time (The technology might not be ready, the people might not be ready to understand the product, etc), It has to be just ahead of its time. I am sorry but I maintain that Apple has overshot with this product. This is not like removing DVD support or even removing flash support, because a lot of the world is still wired. Except for those who are fortunate to live in their own Apple bubble, many of the people who buy this will have to frequently face the frustration of owning such a device with practically no reward (apart from shaving of a few inches and grams off their laptop).
Seen such messages right when I NEEDED those files. Also - remember epic KDE failure? When they had corrupted repository and it was perfectly mirrored to 1500+ other repos? And they had to search offline PC with a uncorrupted snapshot?
In general "all cloud" tech is at most 50% ready for use by everyone.
This is exactly like the removal of the DVD drive in MacBook Airs. "HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO USE MY DVDs?!?!?" The answer is: don't. Download things over the network instead.
Same logic applies here.
For gaming, you can get less input lag with wireless mice with dedicated dongles if you're intent on going wireless.
Can't you just use bluetooth? I prefer a bluetooth mouse anyway. Wires get in the way.
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7357/11147888116_9be011e0b1_n...
Though I guess it's not that surprising. Back in the day, my Gen4 iPod came with a power brick, a USB cable and a Firewire cable. Now you get a single USB cable.
1. 12" is a weird size for me. I'd prefer 15" Pro edition.
2. One connector isn't enough, even with the adapter, I'd need more.
Casual Facebook users are not a target audience for anything, because almost everybody is a casual facebook user, including people who do 3D animation or need to compile huge codebases.
But I don't see that being realistic, yet, because (a) the new MacBook has less battery life than the 13" Air, (b) OS X is messier than iOS (system daemons love to run at 100% CPU once in a while), (c) as you said, almost everyone is a casual Facebook user and runs terrible crap like Flash. (iOS is at an advantage here again)
But yeah, it is a great device for people who only open their laptops occasionally and can recharge at night.
Oh, wait. That benefits Apple, too...
I think usage pattern probably matters far more than the strict cycle count. Specifically, "all-day" usage appears to correlate strongly with battery capacity falling off more sharply as cycle count increases — admittedly, based on user-reported behavior that I could find on the web with as much time as I can spare this afternoon to faff about on the matter.
I understand there is a market for these paper thin, disposable machines but Apple has lost the sensible buyer who wants a solid upgradable dev machine.
Video (sorry for linking to a Lenovo advertisement): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTZ7u5YNXV0&t=60
Great build, keyboard that perhaps beats the macbook
Fortunately, the thing was closed, landed on the lid, bounced off the hardwood floor, did a flip, and was no worse for the wear. If it had been onto concrete or tile, or the lid had been open, it probably would have turned out worse.
My 2012 MBP retina has this infernal magsafe2 connector that disconnects every time I try to use it on my lap, but at least it'll disconnect if you trip on the cord. Or if you try to use one of the 5 magsafe1->magsafe2 adapters I've bought that consistently fail after a few months.
No spinning rust hard disk, no fan.
I bet it could take a lick or two. Can't speak for the plastic or the glass screen though.
For me I prefer a laptop because its workable on the lap and small surfaces. I have seriously considered a Surface Pro but using a kick stand doesn't work on a bus/train/lounge which are common usages for me when on the move. And given tablets are about the same size as an ultrabook I may as well get the additional usage benefit.
If I did want the mobile tablet form I would prefer a larger size phone that docks and become my desktop when at home/work.
Is there anyone that's super-excited about a thinner Air? My preference is always for greater battery life. I'm curious if there are people that wish their already thin laptop were even thinner, and if so, why?
http://live.arstechnica.com/apples-march-9-spring-forward-ev...
"What's on the inside is just as innovative as the outside. Latest unibody architecture. New MacBook has no fan at all."
Also, the fan is a big issue for me. You're not likely to see fanless systems with Haswell or the more powerful Broadwell processors. With Core M Broadwell, though, I expect fanless will be the norm. I expect I'll be getting the relatively new Asus UX305 soon; for me it compares favorably to new Macbook but is only $699. It's a little heavier (2.6 lbs), but has larger 13.3" 1080p screen, runs Windows and/or Linux well, quality aluminum build, same 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, etc. I suppose I'd prefer the new Macbook, but I'm not an OS X guy and the Asus is barely half the cost.
Amazon has temporarily inflated prices for this low-availability item. I'm waiting for NewEgg to get them back in stock.
Trackpad does seem to be one of the lowpoints of ux305fa. esp. if that's something that's important to you. I tend to adapt to trackpads and like whatever I use most.
I have a different Asus machine, the super-cheap X205, which I got for $180 at a Microsoft Store. It's plastic, but surprisingly well made. 2.2 lbs and fanless is great experience. Main problem is it's a pretty slow processor and has just 2 GB RAM, 32GB flash drive, basically tablet specs in a laptop form. I've extended it with 64GB microSDHC. I do find myself using more powerful machines at home (Lenovo X200 and X220) but even there I'm enjoying the X205 quite a bit.
A phone I don't feel so claustrophobic, but anything tablet sized and up just makes me feel awkward.
Come to think, it's probably great for most students. Plenty fast enough to browse and write papers, and it doesn't add to the volume or burden of your already-overstuffed bookbag.
It doesn't fit my needs, but that's okay.
I have a early 2014 Air with a Core i7 (4650U), and it can certainly hold its own.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7113/2013-macbook-air-core-i5-...
Thinner means lighter: I live in the middle of a very walkable area. So I walk a lot. It is great to be able to throw my computer into my bag and go out to work in the middle of a park or wherever; my computer plus my drawing tablet is only slightly more weight to haul then a hardbound sketchbook. I think the new machine would cut it down to about as much weight. It is pretty cool to go out carrying everything I need to do my job and only carry about six pounds of stuff on my shoulder. And that's including the bag I keep the laptop in, plus wallet and suchlike.
Thinner means style: In general, things that are slim are also things people see as "elegant". Back around 2000 I carried a Handspring Visor Edge in my pocket rather than a clunky plastic Palm Pilot, not because it was any more powerful, but because it was a sleek little piece of shiny metal that made me happy to hold in my hand.
There's a point where there is Enough Battery. I can take my 2013 Air out for a day of rambling around the city and drawing wherever I feel like stopping, and not worry about it running out of power as long as I charged it last night. I think the new Macbook has a lower estimated battery life than my current machine, so that's a downside of it.
I don't mind a bit of thickness as long as it's small in the other dimensions, and light as anything.
And for what? A razor thin laptop with just one port seems to be really pushing towards one extreme side of the function/form continuum. I thought giving up ethernet was bad enough with the Retina Macbooks.
It's very pretty, but it seems more like a toy than a serious computer. Maybe that's what Apple wants, but that's never something I would have said about the last few years of Macbook Airs.
Wonder if history will repeat itself here.
I really must disagree. I do Infrastructure by day (not just AWS, but physical colo as well), and quite a bit of microcontroller/CNC/robotics on the side/as a hobby. Nothing in the new Macbook stops me from doing this. I'll just move to using Bluetooth for my interfaces when I can, and when I can't, serial interfaces over USB-C.
Another thing - that vibrating trackpad gizmo feels like a couple of innovations away from true touch feedback on an iPhone? Any thoughts?
This new MacBook announcement was just item after item of taking things to the next logical step, and it's setting a new bar which every other laptop manufacturer out there will now have to meet.
But more to the point, a netbook was optical-drive-free because you weren't expected to use it for more than just web browsing; you weren't going to need to load software onto it. The MBA was optical-drive free in spite of it being intended to be a fully-functional notebook computer. You would install software onto it over wi-fi. And you wouldn't need to rip CDs because you would buy all your music from the iTunes store. In 2008 that was still a bold idea.
Of course, one could argue they were specialist laptops which never had a large market. But maybe the same could be said of the MBA?
Apple's abandoning of the optical drive played a huge role in ensuring everyone provided a non optical disk way of getting their software or media content.
Apple did not invent the 'sub-notebook' form factor. There have been many notebooks without optical drives before it.
Where they were first (to the best of my knowledge), and were a bit controversial, was removing them as an option for their Desktops. That raised a few eyebrows.
Strictly speaking, Apple has not dropped optical drives across the line; you can actually still buy a 13" non-retina Macbook with one. Though given that it's worse in practically every way than the Air, and more expensive, I doubt that anyone does.
Do you mean they were the first to bring out a desktop/laptop with usb?
Also, do we consider price anymore? I tend to buy machines at most $500. An $800-1200 Mac really isn't an option for me. I don't care to spend that much, nor understand why I should. I guess a Mercedes is better than my Jeep, but that doesn't mean Jeep can't innovate. Its just they have to hit a certain price points and deliver certain things at that price point. The Mercedes can have auto-assist driving and rich Corinthian leather, but I don't really need those things.
I could see this being a new setting in iOS. There's a "Vibrate on touch" setting in Android (Settings > Sound > Vibrate on Touch), the device vibrates very slightly when typing and when you press navigation bar buttons.
For example, the NEC LaVie Z HZ550 is 1.75lbs and the case is made out of a magnesium-lithium alloy. The keyboard is integrated into the case. It uses a processor that consumes more power (an i5), but they will probably release a new one in a while that will use the same 5W core M and get similar battery life. The laptop is a whole 3mm thicker than the new air, but you get ports as a result.
The slightly cynical me tends to think the thunderbolt port was great and on every mac. now new adapters...
It looks like you connected a device from an untrusted Vendor ID which is enumerating as both a [display|power source|input device] and a [USB Mass Storage device]. Do you want to allow this?
[Unmount device] [Allow both]
People have different use cases to you. Deal with it.
Seriously though, I'm looking forward to cable-less future when it come to monitors.
Given it's USB-C there'll be plenty of hubs, docks etc... but it'd have been nice to get it out of the box (charger being a hub), or at least having two ports.
1 port is just ridiculous, it's basically 'we force you to make big tradeoffs, like an external screen or charging, unless you want to buy and carry with you various externals for what is supposed to be the most portable device in our Mac lineup'.
Lack of an SD card is another one of those things. Not as big of a problem but would 2 ports have really been that difficult?
Apple make plenty of higher-end products for people that want to compile code all day and have multiple ports.
This one is a "MacBook" and the other one is a "MacBook Pro". I think it's clear which one fits your needs better.
Happily, there are millions of people that don't want to code all day, and have probably never plugged anything into their laptop other that power. So this device is for them, not you.
That's too inelegant a solution for Apple, they'd rather just have a single port than have two ports that look like they should be identical but aren't.
It will also add significant protection costs: what if somebody plugs 2 chargers into the laptop? They'll be at almost but not the same voltage, and amperage levels will be high enough that significant damage could result. Obviously the laptop will only do the upgrade voltage & amperage handshake with one of the chargers, but I imagine that redundant hardware protection will also be required.
I don't really consider it to be a competitor though because Apple doesn't offer anything that can compete with a touchscreen device that can be used as a tablet and also a full general purpose computer.
[1] http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD098ZM/A/apple-digital-av...
But it'd have been nice to get it out of the box, as it's an additional $50-150 depending on how fancy/slim/functional you want your new charger to be, at which point choosing it over the MBA with 8gb/256gb with a few hours extra battery life and an extra inch seems even less interesting.
I have been a macbook air user since 2008 (6 years with a 13 and 1+ with an 11) and I love them.
I will not buy one that has zero ports available while I am charging. No hard feelings - I just can't do it.
I am not a feature wizard and I don't need to address every possible use case, but I absolutely need to have the ability to charge my laptop while using a cellular dongle. It's an absolute requirement.
The current MBA design with a port on each side is sensible and highly usable, and is vastly superior to a design that limits you to zero ports while you are charging.
Let's not even discuss hub use while traveling. It's a clownish suggestion.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MJ1L2AM/A/usb-c-vga-multip...
But it's Apple. They are obviously doing plenty of things right and at this point they have terminal nerds arguing and soccer moms stocking up.
The Air still exists and is NOT replaced by this. I believe it's staying because it's non-retina, but I may be wrong.
Either way, they seem to have made a call a bit too early when posting this.
https://www.google.com/shopping/product/12203990123520892001
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook_pro/macbook-pr...
You can still swap a drive in newer models, just with a PCIe card instead of an mSATA drive.
Simply put: Newer generation of hardware = newer storage interface.
Here is a replacement guide for a 2014 model Retina MacBook Pro:
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+13-Inch+Retina+Disp...
However, I've been pleased so far. The keyboard takes a little getting used to (because it is in the exact center of the laptop), but is good for typing overall. Good feel, no flex. The display is good too, with a wide viewing angle.
Interesting the MacBook is lighter than the MacBook Air.
They missed such a great opportunity to call it the MacBook Helium.
I don't do a lot that stresses the i7 in my 2011 Air, but I don't have a sense of how much slower a Core M is and what that'll mean day to day.
Edit: chased down some benchmarks, and it's quite a bit slower than any current i-series combo, though the turbo makes up for it some (probably at steep cost to battery life).
What a bummer, I was seriously hoping to replace my 2012 MBA, but now... apparently the Core M processor will unfortunately be a good deal slower, than the one used 3 years ago. Which means I'll probably have to go with a Windows based laptop or wait for the MBP update.
The Core M *71 isn't that far off--3DMark is notably lower, but most others are pretty close.
But what concerns me is that reviews of other systems with the chip mention that it throttles itself pretty aggressively when hot. I have no idea how much that would or wouldn't hit these benchmarks. This might be best-case performance on a cool day, for the first 30 minutes.
Further, both processors are dual cores with hyperthreading. It'll be about 5% less performant than the previous Macbook Air while using vastly less energy (4.5 watts vs 15 watts).
Now, that said, this is a Core M; it may end up a little slower than the current Macbook Air.
I wish I knew how to find compiler benchmarks for these CPUs. Or even better how it would compare to the i7 3770 in my iMac...
Let's see benchmarks first.
http://www.dell.com/us/p/xps-13-9343-laptop/pd
Edit: which is not to say that the new MacBook is better; I'm just saying there are tradeoffs here. They both look pretty good to me.
There are different target audiences here, and thankfully, there are different products from different competitors to choose from.
The GP comment compares devices based on a couple of specs (e.g., bezel size). The isolate-on-a-couple-of-specs approach has been proven to (a) not capture where the market will go, and (b) not capture how well the device works.
It also tends to (c) come off as a justification for the speaker's own past purchases, or alternatively, a justification to view a new device as not quite worth purchasing yet.
It sucks that, 20 years on, the same retort ("... Lame.") is just as relevant as a critique of the specmanship game practiced in these forums.
In the end, you can look at the 12 inch MacBook as being a new notebook for people who care about running Mac OS/don't want to switch to Windows. It's a big deal because the Dell isn't an option most people want to consider :)
I still actually used that laptop until recently. Now I'm in the market and have been eying the XPS 13 and waiting for details about the Macbook Air.
Any idea/rumors about when the Ubuntu edition will launch?
I'd really like to spend less than a thousand bucks, because I just want something light that I can carry in addition to my work Macbook Pro. I like to use my commute-time on the train for side projects, but I'm concerned about using my work machine for various reasons.
The new offerings from Apple today are certainly appealing, but I'm still on the fence. I don't draw arbitrary allegiances with corporations, so I have no blind brand loyalty...
Based on the latest update from Project Sputnik lead Barton George, it sounds like the release is drawing near: http://bartongeorge.net/2015/02/23/update-2-dell-xps-13-lapt...
If I bought either the Windows model or the official Linux one I'd wipe it and install Debian or Arch or Mint, but I'd still prefer to wait for the Linux one so that I don't contribute money and a +1 sales statistic to Microsoft for something I don't want.
I'm definitely waiting for the developer edition, precisely for the reason you mentioned, to do my part in signalling to Dell and the industry that Windows vs OS X is a false dilemma.
Also, I notice that this XPS is 0.6-0.8 pounds heavier than the new MacBook, and as far as I can tell the XPS has a fan.
It's noisy as hell though, I can't say that battery life is great and I have some weird problems with music stuttering when I compile, also Visual Studio ocassionally locks up on deploy for some reason.
If I could have a Zenbook with the same screen thought I'd take that any day.
1: http://www.anandtech.com/show/8983/dell-xps-13-review/6
EDIT: aluminium bends too easily compared to other material. It does not have best structural integrity for its weight. Magnesium alloy, carbon fiber reinforced plastic or titanium composite usually has better parameters for weight.
But I am not saying that polished aluminium is bad or looks bad.
Plastic can flex to absorb the stress without permanently deforming, aluminum not so much. Even the panasonic toughbooks are plastic, and those are probably the most durable laptops I know of by a large margin.
It didn't boot or do much of anything after she had traipsed all over it.
That being said, I am not saying the MB would fare much better, but those Toughbooks are not as tough as they are advertised.
The corner itself was obliterated, leaving a small hole where it used to be, but that was the only damage the laptop sustained.
Unibody metal laptops are nice, but I think the structural advantage of them is heavily oversold. Plastic laptops with metal frames can be amazingly durable.
It will be interesting to see how much RAM the base configuration of the new Macbook will ship with, because the XPS 13 at $1299 comes with 8 GB.
[1] http://images.apple.com/live/2015-mar-event/images/d02cd9e29...
For that you get another inch on your screen and 73% more pixels (3200x1800).
That depth difference could feel pretty significant when the thing is razor thin.
Comparison article: http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/9/8177065/apple-macbook-specs...
You're forgetting this is an Apple product. The iSheep don't even consider competitors, regardless of specs or price advantage.
I want to be a sheep on the wall of every one of those people who use those shitty, degrading expressions when they have their epiphany and realise how pointless and stupid it is.
baaaaaaa
I bet you (skrowl) were downvoted just for using that word. It's short and sweet and conveys the necessary disdain you wanted to convey. I don't see what's wrong with it.
When I had a Windows machine I had to keep up with spyware and know all sorts of arcane things about the OS just to keep it chugging. I had HijackThis on a thumbdrive at all times. Nowadays I use my Mac as if I were punishing a computer, and it keeps on working without a hitch, no drivers gone wrong, no registry crap to worry about. That's why I'm an iSheep.
Personally I would love to have a Linux laptop with the same design and build quality as the MacBooks, and I'm pretty sure plenty of fashion conscious folks would like something more exclusive now that Macs are everywhere.
The fact that the XPS 13 is the only machine that comes anywhere close is kinda sad.
Though it won't work as seamlessly with the hardware as OS X can.
http://www.cultofmac.com/162823/linux-creator-linus-torvalds...
The thing about Apple is that you don't have to worry about it, you can focus on the task and purpose of the tool rather than the hardware or it's specs.
Given Apple's nature of maximizing profits of their product line, there's still room for the next major update of MBP line to include the same kinds of edge-less screen, and people will collectively loose their minds over it. Are people going to be satisfied with just another incremental upgrade of specs and inclusion of the same technologies as the Mac? I think they will have to put some bling in their flagship devices.
This is very subjective to define. It's true, if you like apple, and all you are going to choose is stuff from apple, then you don't have to worry about examining choices in depth because there aren't very many. But quality is a subjective thing.
I personally find almost every computer that exists today horrifically boring, compared to when I was growing up. The jump from no computer to computer has been much more exciting than each iteration of slightly better computer. That's really what I call 'miles ahead'.
Smartphones with unlimited data were slightly revolutionary for me, in a "I can listen to music and walk anywhere I want without getting lost" kind of thing, but honestly, I haven't felt anything close to the feelings I used to feel as a kid. Trying to figure out how the entire internet is structured and comparing that to a giant computer is slightly more exciting. Comparing data models to the human brain is slightly exciting. But miles ahead sounds like we're making leaps when we aren't. And you can go ahead and argue that every leap is made up of tiny steps, but when you fade in and out of technology enough, even then, some things really feel like leaps, and other things really feel like steps. And I think that's subjective, so I'm biased, but I find it very hard to have opinions without bias, if not impossible.
Apple simply doesn't offer a device that can compete with this, so not only are they not miles ahead, I can't even see them in my rear-view.
If you did your research, I'm pretty sure you would find that you can do all of these things on a macbook.
Check out this Dell 8 inch tablet that does all of these things - http://www.amazon.com/Dell-Venue-Series-Windows-Tablet/dp/B0...
Instead what Dell do is release a 3000 model, with no digitizer and 1GB of ram. I have to assume that Dell are far too afraid of cannibalising their mid-range laptops to produce something truly great in the small tablet space, a very foolish and short-sighted position I think.
UPDATE: Here's an image gallery that I just made showing it in the jacket I'm wearing today, in the pants I'm wearing today and again in a pair of pants that I grabbed out my laundry pile - http://imgur.com/a/hFeDo
Not only does it fit in my pockets, but there's room to spare. Maybe it won't fit in some skinny jeans, but I don't wear tight pants because I'd rather be comfortable. In any case, whether it fits in your pocket or not isn't the point - it is true that Apple doesn't offer a highly portable device that runs a full OS for over 10 hours
I love my retina MBP but that statement is pretty biased. There are plenty of PCs more powerful than any mac, often for less money. Even Windows 10 isn't so bad, i think that OSX Yosemite is pretty flawed as well. Apple is still superior when it comes to the whole package, most importantly trackpad, battery life and overall experience, but if you don't fall exactly into Apples demographic you are pretty much out of luck.
It is difficult if not impossible to output a macbook to a tv over hdmi and also send audio. Also the dongle that does hdmi conversion breaks all the time. Our office has gone through like 4-5 of them.
It is/was very difficult to disable your laptop display when plugged into a monitor in MacOS(I doubt they have fixed this issue). Also the macbook is crazily overpriced.
Never tried that second part, but the multi monitor support in the last couple releases of MacOS have been amazing.
Can't you just do clamshell mode? I haven't had any issues with that with my Macbook Air.
In contrast: By friend who owns a mac tried to set up a appointment because her hard drive was making the sound of a grinder. They told her that they could not make an appointment on the phone, she needed to use the iPhone app to do that. Well, she doesn't have an iPhone so the only option she had was to stand in line at the apple store 40 minutes away and wait. She spend two days doing this since it closed before they got to her on the first day and then the took her hard drive and replaced it while erasing all her personal data. It's a good thing I made a backup first.
Great Customer Service for sure almost as good as Comcast.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0%2c2817%2c2452946%2c00.asp http://blog.laptopmag.com/tech-support-showdown http://www.thestreet.com/story/11366677/1/the-best-and-worst... http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2013/04/apple-is-top...
I've dealt with Dell, Microsoft, Acer, Asus, and HP in the past on multiple occasions for each, and it was always a headache. With Apple, it was always as simple as walking into the store and walking out with my issues resolved. I've even had them fix a keyboard that broke due to my fault on an out of warranty machine for just the cost of parts. The fact that you can go to a physical location and get service puts them on a different level.
PS: You can get a 512GB desktop SSD drive for under 180$ so cost wise it's a non issue. And 30$ micro SD cards are at 64GB so 512GB would not be a space issue.
1: http://www.anandtech.com/show/8983/dell-xps-13-review
Anyway, you will also note they did not actually send the i7 versions off for testing as the battery life would tank. IMO, there are three basic classes of laptop ultra-portable trade power for awesome battery life and light weight, desktop replacements which are meant to be used on a desk, and gaming machines. You can dump a large SSD into an ultra-portable without issue but dells approach of bumping RAM, CPU, HDD, etc. in lockstep just means their ultra-portables are stuck with tiny disks for little reason.
You might want to read that whole review if you haven't already. They found that the XPs 13 had excellent battery life, to the point that they tested it and it was exactly what was advertised. That is, for the low-end screen (1080p) they got over 15 hours of light usage. Dell provides battery life estimates for different configurations (visible in the review[1]), so it's not inconceivable that i7 light usage might get over 11 hours as Dell claims.
1: http://www.anandtech.com/show/8983/dell-xps-13-review/6
http://www.howtogeek.com/196582/why-you-probably-dont-want-t...
And an i7 would drop down to around 4.5 brand new under heavy usage. And around 2 before you start looking for a charger once the battery ages a little.
PS: The only reason I bring this up is their base numbers are rather low and they don't seem to have a way to configure the systems before checkout. Overall the i5 version seems like a real mackbook competitor, but their low end model seems to be designed more for halo effect (battery life, and price) vs an actual reasonable choice.
I'm not sure why you think it's fishy. As long as Anandtech has kept their benchmark tests consistent across different units tested, it should be fine. I'm not sure how you got HD video viewing as a light benchmark test, I've never heard of that before. Generally, decoding a highly compressed chunk of data and using it to constantly update the display seems close to a worst case scenario to me, unless you are doing serious data crunching (e.g. encoding) which while more common than it used to be, I wouldn't consider common enough to include as a regular benchmark in a general purpose review.
According to Anandtech's article, the 13-inch Macbook Air has a 54 Wh battery and the Dell has a 52 Wh battery, so the XPS battery is slightly smaller. The hardware drawing power from the battery is different through (Broadwell-U @ 14 nm vs Haswell @ 22nm), so extrapolating numbers in that way is not likely to yield very accurate results.
Anandtech then just displayed numbers for useage levels vs hms.
Anandtech then just displayed numbers for useage levels vs hours:minutes.
Yeah, the "Choose Options" menu under the "Hard Drive" section. Currently, the $999.99 and $1299.99 models can upgrade from a 128GB to a 256GB SSD for +$100, and the high end $1599.99 model can upgrade from a 256GB SSD to a 512GB SSD for +$300. Available options may vary at times.
Though I'd rather just replace the SSD myself, especially for the 512GB upgrade. Looks very easy to do do, based on YouTube videos.
It's like comparing the value of two watches using the slag value of melting them down. If that's how you shop, the device isn't for you.
Metro is largely insignificant on non-touch devices. Most days I only see it in the brief period during "Windows Key -> 'chr' -> Enter".
I never understood the Metro hate mainly because I find it such an unimportant part of the OS in non-touch day-to-day use.
If I was Dell, I would just sit down my entire design and marketing team and make a plan for redesigning and rebranding. Their website look exactly like it did 10 years ago when Dell computers were cool.
The one thing that could change my mind about patent trolls is if one of them were to pop up and banish those unsolicited floating chat windows by suing everyone who uses them.
I have a M3800 and am not unhappy with it, although the touchpad is too touchy and the fan is too fanny. Somebody needs to get their shit together and actually push Apple.
I was also hoping for a touch screen. While I don't use it a ton on my Windows machines with a touch screen I constantly finding myself to use it for scrolling.
Does the Dell have a camera? I don't see it mentioned on that page, so maybe not.
a) that marketing page compares against a processor that is 4 years old, i.e. the processor in the 2011 MBA?
b) Intel has made new core i5's in the last 4 years (or even 3 years, 2 years, last year...)
c) we're not at a point where physics allows us to make hardware that consumes < 1/3 the power, but performs better, using the same manufacturing processes.
1: http://www.anandtech.com/show/8983/dell-xps-13-review
To be honest, the one USB device that I use the most is my mouse, and I suppose Apple expects me to get a wireless one, and that is fine. But what about stuff like USB drives? I am not looking forward to not being able to just give somebody a file on a USB drive because they forgot their OTG cable.
As I understand things, the desire from the USB-IF is to basically have USB Type A and Type B start to disappear.
Until we get to that critical mass point... Yeah. It'll be annoying. But hopefully we will get to enjoy this standard for at least a few years before it is replaced.
So now developers will have to target those resolutions exactly as they are. No more "elegant scaling" and whatnot.
People writing MacOS software do not typically target a particular number of pixels; it's a windowed operating system. One point will be 2x2 pixels, as on the retina MBP and iMac, and on all retina iOS devices except the big iPhone (where one point is 3x3 pixels).
Having said that, battery power is my number 1 priority when buying a laptop. My 2013 Macbook Air is great in this regard, it charges to full in 40 minutes and lasts for a long ass time. If this new model has even better battery tech, I'm all for it.
The port sucks but usually anything you want to plug in for longer periods of time are not a problem.
i.e., a USB stick? Take out charger, plug in, transfer files, put charger back in. No problem.
A mouse or keyboard or monitor? Well you're probably at home or work, so you buy a usb hub and stick it on your desk. Problem solved.
It sucks as the new MB is supposed to be the lightest most portable Mac in the lineup, dedicated hubs don't fit that story. And it's another $50-150 depending on if you need 1 or 2, or a fancy slick one.
Me I'm just gonna go with the refreshed 2015 MBA 13'. Better battery, 1 inch bigger screen, a lot cheaper with all the ports I need and hey, a better processor, too (1.6gh instead of 1.4 and HD 6000 instead of HD 5000 on the new 2015 version versus the older 2014 one).
So good on them.
So it's a laptop for people who don't do any real computing on their laptop?
I sincerely hope this no magsafe or single port thing goes into the MBPs as well.
This new MacBook has nice battery life and if I had one I can see using it without needing to plug it in while i'm on the couch or something.
What worries me though is a precedent being set. I am not in the market for a MacBook or MacBook Air, however I do buy MacBook Pros. I do everything on them from software dev, video editing, playing games. Much of that use is not battery friendly so I will _need_ to plug those in while i'm on the couch or in a high traffic area. I love the idea of USB-C I just hope Apple keeps MagSafe around for form factors they are not trying to reduce to sheets of paper thickness.
Laptop > -(1-2 foot cable)- > Brick > Magsafe ---(full length cable)---> Wall
From a design POV, I'd have loved to see this in more cheerful colours.
I don't think it would have disappointed the target market, either.
Here's your gold bicycle.
Off the top of my head the only concern is: How do you turn on/off the flow as the magnets lose contact? Last thing you want is arching as it comes apart.
Apple MagSafe connectors are on the same voltage (20V) as these new Type C connectors, although Type C seems rated for a higher current (5A).
Looking at the pinout, the GND and VBUS are a bit longer, so will disconnect last upon removal. This may be to allow for the voltage to be dropped in anticipation of a disconnect, but you'd need enough intelligence at the power supply end to notice that. Lowering the voltage prior to disconnect would reduce the arc size.
I would say the free ride is over for Apple and they're now just another company doing things in the mosh pit.