iFixit’s teardown of the new Retina MacBook, which I strongly recommend you browse along with every other iFixit teardown in existence. It’s gadget porn. I’m a big fan of the new MacBook for other reasons too — look at that tiny logic board, this is a whole PC — but the trackpad is one of the two pieces of any laptop that you actually physically interact with, and Force Touch is a quantum leap forward.
Who even decided that this needed to be done in the first place? The guy that decided just how incredibly crazy thin the new MacBook had to be, I guess. This kind of thing is incredible. It’s fucking sorcery is what it is.
Thankfully the new MacBook with its Core M processor and chassis full of batteries is just as nice to look at as it is to use. There was a fairly decent row in the office when the new MacBook was announced over whether it would be able to do the job of day to day productivity for the modern road warrior. After all, that’s who it’s for. Surprisingly, however, it’s able to handle quite a bit that’s thrown at it.
You do notice a bit of a slowdown when you’re running around 30 Chrome tabs, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Evernote and iTunes, but surely that’s to be expected from any laptop with a mobile-friendly processor and a fanless design, right? I say all that to say: if you need to be doing any sort of gaming, image or video editing with your laptop, the 2015 MacBook probably isn’t for you. It’s for the travel-obsessed productivity junkie.
That junkie is going to be pretty happy with the battery life on the new MacBook too. The battery holds up under a seven to eight hour day of heavy usage. That means you can start a business day with 100 per cent and do everything from connect to external displays for presentations, running Powerpoint and other Office applications, leaving your email client going all day, running numerous Chrome tabs and leaving iTunes open and playing and still get at least seven hours worth of life before you need to scramble for your charger. Kill your Wi-Fi and turn the screen resolution, however and you’ll find the usable life is boosted up to around 8.5-9 hours.
What’s Not So Good?
The new MacBook certainly takes a bit of getting used to. It’s not a bad machine in any respect. Far from it, in fact. But for a long-time Mac user there are a few things that require a shift in thinking.
First of all, the USB Type-C connector is a real departure from traditional user behaviour. Whereas you’d normally plug your charger, a USB hard drive and maybe even a network connector into the side of your Mac at the same time, you’ll need adapters for everything. Instead of conform to that normal user behaviour, Apple is going full iPad with the new MacBook: you won’t be able to connect anything to it without the right adapter.
Want to connect a USB device? That’s a $29 adapter. Feel like plugging in an external display or projector? The HDMI model will run you $119, while the VGA will cost you another $119. Work in an environment where you’ll need both? Sorry: probably cheaper to lug an Apple TV around with you and do it wirelessly. If you were to buy all three adapters (keeping in mind not everyone will have to do this), you’re looking at an extra $267 for your machine to be usable in the real world.
I know Apple wants you to live in a wireless future, but not everyone’s there yet. I spent three days on the road with the MacBook in the last fortnight doing boardroom presentations and hotdesking at a few different offices, and found myself using all three of the adapters (USB-C to VGA Multiport, USB-C to HDMI Multiport and USB-C to USB) over the course of the trip. There’s no such thing as standard hardware out in the wild, and you’ll need to be prepared for all eventualities if you’re the hardcore road warrior Apple says this product is designed for.
The second issue comes from the keyboard. The keys may be smoother and quieter and more aesthetically pleasing than ever, but they’re also slightly larger than they have been on previous models. That makes getting around the deck a little trickier if you’re a returning user. I’ve been using the MacBook for about two weeks now and I’m still making a few mistakes here and there, hitting keys that I thought were there. Instead, I end up tapping the edge of the key right next to it. Not hard enough to register a stroke, mind you, but it’s still something that stops your typing dead so you can fix the error you just made.
It’s also a little weird having some of the keys you use more often made smaller on the new model. For example, the up and down arrow keys take up the same amount of space as a single left or right arrow key. Since I’ve been reviewing this super-skinny laptop I’ve discovered I use those arrow keys more than I thought I ever would. Making them smaller often means I’m either pressing the wrong one or pressing both at the same time. Like I said, I think it’s more punishing to returning Mac users who are used to a certain amount of space between the keys as well as a specific amount of travel. Plus, I’m only dwelling on it because I’ve been writing on Macs and MacBooks for almost a decade now. Other people won’t find it nearly as annoying as I do.
Despite a few issues which you’ll get over with time, the new MacBook is a dream bit of kit for the mobile worker. It takes a huge amount of effort and smarts to create a piece of kit that makes the current generation MacBook Air look fat, but Apple has managed it. It’s really exciting to see the laptop as we knew it get thinner and thinner. Every time I see a new ultra-thin laptop, I wonder where we can go to from here, and that excites me.
The new MacBook is loaded with cool new tech like Force Touch and the surprisingly mighty Intel Core M processor in a gorgeous new lightweight design. If you can afford the $1800 and upwards price tag, it’s certainly worth investing in.
It’s thin, smart and has an amazing battery that will take you everywhere. Isn’t that what every mobile computing user wants?
A self-professed gadget lover and nonsense talker geek, Luke Hopewell sits in the editor chair at Gizmodo Australia. He loves anything that switches on, does internet or goes fast. He picked up a Best New Aussie IT Journo Award in 2010 and if you stick around long enough, you’ll find Luke on your telly, too.
