Apple's Spring Forward event yesterday was meant to showcase its new product, the Apple Watch; instead the announcement of a new, completely redesigned MacBook stole the show. The new notebook is fan-less and features terraced batteries.
#MacBook trended on Twitter in SA and worldwide soon after Apple CEO Tim Cook unveiled the thinnest and lightest notebook the company has ever made. At 13.1mm thin and weighing slightly over 900g, it is nearly 4mm thinner and 17g lighter than the already tiny 11-inch MacBook Air.
On Twitter, some noted the new MacBook is "elegance at its best", while others proclaimed: "Thinner, lighter and oh-so beautiful in gold." Other users were keen to get their hands on the new device, with some desperate for the gold model.
It has not yet been revealed when the new range will be available in SA, or how much the devices will cost locally. It was announced the new MacBook will start at $1 299.
Learning from phones
The new notebook has a thin 12-inch retina display with a 16:10 aspect ratio and a new keyboard that goes right to the edges of the device. Apple designers were able to make the new keyboard thinner and responsive by reworking the traditional keyboard design. Instead of using the scissor mechanism, this was replaced with a new butterfly mechanism that allows for more stability.
There is a new Force Touch track pad with built-in sensors that is customisable based on the amount of pressure the user wants to register as a click. There is also a new gesture added called the Force Click, which is a click followed by a deeper press. This allows for tasks like looking up the definition of a word or glancing at the preview of a file.
There are only two ports on the device: a USB type-C port, and a headphone jack. The USB type-C port recharges the notebook and is the only port available for data transfer. It supports higher wattage charging, USB 3.1 generation one (5Gbps) data transfer and DisplayPort 1.2.
Philip Schiller, Apple's senior VP of worldwide marketing, explained the same miniaturisation techniques used in the iPhone and iPad helped the company create a compact logic board.
"With no moving parts or vents, the new MacBook was designed from the ground up to be the first fan-less Mac notebook for silent, efficient performance," said Schiller.
The notebook features a fifth-generation Intel Core M processor that runs at five watts, and Intel HD Graphics 5300.
Battery tech
As Apple was able to save space with no fan and a smaller logic board, there was lots of space left open to fill with batteries. The company created a terraced battery design that is layered in individual sheets to fit the curved all-metal enclosure. The notebook therefore has 35% more battery capacity and Apple claims it delivers all-day battery life.
The MacBook comes with built-in 802.11ac WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0 for fast wireless connectivity. It also has a 1.1GHz dual-core Intel Core M processor with Turbo Boost speeds up to 2.4GHz, 8GB of memory, 256GB of flash storage and Intel HD Graphics 5300; and with a 1.2GHz dual-core Intel Core M processor with Turbo Boost speeds up to 2.6GHz, 8GB of memory, 512GB of flash storage and Intel HD Graphics 5300.
Apple also updated the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display with the Force Touch track pad, fifth-generation Intel Core processors and Intel Iris Graphics 6100, two times faster flash and longer battery life. Similar updates were made to the 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air models.