Apple on Monday surprised observers with the unveiling of a new MacBook, featuring a 12-inch Retina display, a motherboard that is 67 percent smaller than even the MacBook Air, a new fanless design that is even thinner than the Air, but retains the all-day battery life. The new MacBook comes in at two pounds even, and also features an all-new keyboard and trackpad, with a a new single USB-C port for most connections. It will be available in three colors, matching the current iPhone line.
The machine is powered on a new Intel Core M chip, with a speed of 1.3GHz with turboboost up to 2.9GHz when needed. The smaller motherboard allowed Apple to stuff the body with contoured, terraced batteries that allow for up to nine hours typical battery life. The entire unibody construction, including the hinge, is all-metal — the first time the line has been constructed entirely of metal, eschewing the usual practice of providing a ceramic or plastic hinge for the benefit of the antennas.
MacBook with USB-C connector and new colors
Apple SVP of marketing, Phil Schiller, proclaimed the new machine not just the lightest and thinnest Macs Apple has ever built; he said that it was the most power-efficient full notebook computer, period. Initial specs would seem to bear this out, with the revamped motherboard using just five watts of power. The unit has a height (at thickest point) of just 13.1mm — some 24 percent thinner than the now-bulky 17.3mm build of the MacBook Air. The 12-inch Retina display has a resolution of 2304×1440 (16:10 ratio), and uses a panel 0.88mm thin.
By repositioning the way the RGB sub-pixels are connected to the array, the display is now 30 percent more power-efficient while maintaining the same brightness. The edge-to-edge full-size keyboard, also now 34 percent thinner than previously, has seen a technical revamp, replacing plastic “scissor” mechanisms that bend unevenly with a “butterfly” metal assembly and individual LEDs that are four times more stable and offer more precise backlighting. New stainless steel dome switches located beneath each key deliver a crisp and responsive feel when typing, according to the company.
The trackpad has also been reworked for the new MacBook. Normally relying on a hinge mechanism to create the “click” function, the new trackpad replaces the hinge with a magnetic undercarriage that features four force sensors, allowing for both the measuring of the force of the click as well as spreading the “clickability” evenly across the entire surface. It also uses the same “taptic” feedback found in the Apple Watch, and the resistance and force-click gestures can be controlled in software. The unit also brings pressure sensitivity, which should prove a boon to those using the trackpad to draw.
New keyboard and trackpad
The processor is an Intel Core M variant rated at 1.3GHz (but will ramp up to 2.9GHz when needed), using just five watts of power. The shrunken motherboard (just one-third the size of the one used in the MacBook Air) allowed for the remainder of the casing to be filled completely with customized, terraced batteries. This allows the smaller unit to match its larger siblings in battery life.
The USB-C connector handles power charging, but also video output and data transfer. There is still a separate audio-out headphone port, but no other connectors — meaning the unit cannot be simultaneously charged and run a second display without the aid of an $80 special adapter or hub. The unit will come with 8GB of RAM standard, and start at $1,299 with 128GB, or $1,599 for 256GB of storage. The model, available in three colors, will be available April 10 in various countries.
