Monday 1 June 2015

New Apple MacBook vs. MacBook Air: Ultra-Thin Laptop Showdown

Bringing to bear the lessons learned after making the iPad and iPhone for years, the newest laptop is simply the MacBook, and that same spare aesthetic is seen throughout the new design. It's slimmed down, polished, and refined about as much as a laptop can be, and the result is thinner and lighter than the 11-inch MacBook Air. So the big question for shoppers is clear—Do I get the current MacBook Air or wait for the new MacBook?
Lowest Price
$1,299.00
Amazon
$949.00
Amazon
Editor Rating
Processor Name Intel Core M-5Y31 Intel Core i5-4260U
Processor Speed 1.1 GHz 1.4 GHz
Operating System Mac OS X Mac OS X
RAM 8 GB 4 GB
Storage Capacity (as Tested) 256 GB 256 GB
Graphics Card Intel HD Graphics 5300 Intel HD Graphics 5000
Screen Size 12 inches 11.6 inches
Native Resolution 2304 x 1440 1366 x 768
Storage Type SSD SSD
Weight 1.98 lb 2.31 lb
 
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The Apple MacBook 12-inch (2015) uses the same sort of unibody aluminum design seen on the Apple MacBook Air 11-Inch (2014)$949.00 at Amazon, but it's slimmer and lighter. The entire laptop measures just 0.51 inches at the thickest point, a fraction of an inch slimmer than the 0.68-inch thick MacBook Air. It's also lighter, weighing 2 pounds, shedding nearly 5 ounces from the MacBook Air's 2.31 pounds. It also has a fanless design, thanks to an Intel Core M processor (more on that below). That's a subtle change from the 11-inch Air, which hides its fan vents in the hinge, but it makes for a slightly thinner chassis and fewer concerns about airflow. When it comes to weight and size, the new MacBook has the edge.
Apple MacBook 12-inch (2015)
It also has the looks. The aluminum chassis can now be had in three different colors: silver, space gray, and gold. It's a decision that matches the iPhone before it, and it's a nice change from past MacBook Air and Pro designs, which had a Henry Ford-esque selection of any color, as long as it's silver.
But the most stunning visual difference isn't the chassis, it's the screen. A 12-inch Retina display packs in 2,304-by-1,440-pixel resolution, but measures less than 0.04 inches thick. The resolution is much better (and slightly larger) than the 1,366-by-768 resolution of the MacBook Air 11-inch, so you'll finally be able to enjoy movies in full HD (1080p). As is the case for all current Mac products, neither system offers touch on the display.
Apple took some time during its March announcement to focus on the keyboard and trackpad, both of which have been redesigned. The keyboard is a full 12 inches, a nice change from the MacBook Air's keyboard, which is less than full size. The keys have been redesigned, from the standard scissor-switch mechanisms to a new butterfly mechanism that Apple claims is more stable, and distributes the force of a keystroke more evenly. Silicone is replaced with stainless steel in Apple's new dome switches, which should offer a firmer feel when typing and hold up better over time. That's another point to the MacBook, but it may not be a big issue for regular Mac users, especially those who use and and have no problem with the keyboards already available on the MacBook Air.
Apple MacBook 12-inch (2015) - Keyboard
The trackpad has also gotten an update. Whereas the old multi-touch trackpad used the entire touch surface as a levered button, the new MacBook has Apple's new Force Touch trackpad, which uses four, corner-mounted pressure-sensitive force sensors for a more uniform click across the entire touch surface. Instead of a physical click from a button, you'll now feel haptic feedback as your taps and swipes register, and sensitivity is adjustable.
The pressure sensitivity comes into play with new capabilities like Force Click, which registers a deeper click as different than a regular pressure click. Force Click will be used to add extra clickable features to different apps, similar to a right-click menu. Some of the features mentioned in the keynote include Wikipedia lookup while Web browsing and calendar functions while in email. The MacBook Air does not offer the new trackpad or the contextual features of Force Click. However, this is one feature that may have limited appeal, since it changes the tactile experience of the laptop and adds features that have yet to proven useful in broad use.

Under the Hood
Despite all the external changes, the biggest differences are inside. First and foremost, the new MacBook comes with Intel's Core M processor, which uses less power, produces less heat, and allows the thinner fanless design of the chassis. Unfortunately, it gives up some performance capability to do so, and doesn't have the processing oomph of the MacBook Air's Core i5. For example, the MacBook Air cranked through our Photoshop test in 5 minutes 8 seconds. The Core-M-equipped MacBook, on the other hand, took 6:24. The difference in horsepower is noticeable, and it's actually a bit of a step down from the 11-inch Air, which would offer better performance in tasks like video editing and photo retouching.
Connectivity is undergoing some huge changes, however. The new MacBook boasts a dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi connection—the same as the 11-inch Air—but with the Wi-Fi antennas integrated into the chassis. Whether this means the antennas somehow use the metal chassis for reception or simply have a slot-style antenna like we saw on the HP Spectre x360$999.99 at Best Buy is yet to be seen. The bottom line is that it has 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0, functionally identical to the 11-inch Air but perhaps with better reception and throughput.
Apple MacBook 12-inch (2015) - USB-C Connector

The port selection, however, is radically different. Where the 11-inch Air offered two USB 3.0 ports, a Thunderbolt port, and a headset jack, the new MacBook instead uses a single, solitary USB-C connection for charging the laptop, transferring data, and connecting video output.
There's also a big push for wireless connectivity via Bluetooth and AirPort streaming, but adapter dongles will be available for wired connections. This may be the biggest drawback of the new MacBook. While it will definitely help usher in a new crop of wireless and USB-C-equipped accessories, a lot of people still use USB and Thunderbolt for everything from keyboards and mice to USB storage, and none of these are supported on the new MacBook without an adapter. There are some pluses to the new connector, like a reversible plug socket that should reduce unsuccessful plug-in attempts, but unless you're willing to upgrade all of your peripherals or carry a bunch of extra adapters, it's a bit of a drawback.
Apple MacBook 12-inch (2015) - Battery
However, between the new hardware and the spartan port selection, Apple engineers had a lot more room to work with inside the laptop chassis, despite it's thinner dimensions. Thanks to a new battery design that lets batteries squeeze further into the tapered interior of the MacBook, the new laptop has a 39.7 watt -hour (Wh) lithium-polymer battery, slightly higher than the 38Wh battery in the 11-inch Air. That said, battery life is pretty good on either system. The 11-inch Air set a high bar when we tested it last year, lasting 10 hours 54 minutes in our video rundown test, But the new MacBook extends even further (14:10), adding more than three hours of useful life.
Finally, for most people this decision will come down to price. The base configuration of the Apple MacBook 12-inch (2015) features an Intel Core M (1.1GHz) processor, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of flash storage, starting at $1,299. That's significantly higher than the 11-inch MacBook Air (2014), which starts at just $899. The model we most recently reviewed was a bit more expensive, but offers a 1.4GHz Intel Core i5-4260U processor, 4GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage.
If you were looking for the best deal on an ultraportable Mac laptop, your best bet is still the Apple MacBook Air 11-inch (2014), which offers more processing power, better port selection, and similar all-day battery life for much less. If you feel weighed down by the existing MacBook Air, or if you are primed and ready to upgrade to all-wireless accessories, then the Apple MacBook 12-inch (2015) may be for you, but for most shoppers, the MacBook Air 11-inch is the better value.

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