the machine sitting in my lap is just a
laptop but it's more than that it's the
future of laptops and it might not be
your next laptop but it's definitely
going to be the one after that it's the
new MacBook and it's amazing the MacBook
has one purpose in life to be as small
and portable as possible without making
you give up having a real laptop with a
real keyboard it's a ridiculously thin
incredibly light almost impossibly small
machine it has a high-resolution display
a fancy new keyboard and a trackpad that
fits inside this tiny frame and it lasts
about a full day on a single charge oh
and it's beautiful to make it the small
Apple had to invent some of the parts
that go into it and compromise on some
things like speed and ports but the
result is a 12 inch all aluminum laptop
that only weighs about two pounds I
seriously can't get over how small and
light this thing feels it's like the
first MacBook Air all over again and
like the first MacBook Air it's
expensive starting at about $12.99 so
how did Apple make this like I said
inventions and compromises let's start
with the inventions the regular chiclet
keyboard that you see on every other Mac
was too thick for this MacBook
so Apple redesigned the keys they're
wider but shallower with all new
mechanisms underneath even though they
don't travel as far they still feel
really clicky and they even press down
more evenly the first time you type on
it it does feel a little weird and it
sounds kind of weird too
but then you get used to it you can let
your fingers gently glide over the keys
or if you're like me you can bang away
as though you're using a typewriter
either works and either way feels really
good I also love the screen it's a
Retina screen with 23:04 by 1440 pixels
but Apple gives you four different
scales to view things because at full
resolution it would be impossible to see
anything the smallest scale is the one I
use it gives me the same effective
screen size as a 13-inch MacBook Air
only inside this tiny package Apple also
change the screen technology to make it
thinner brighter and more
energy-efficient it's probably my
favorite thing about this laptop but the
craziest invention is the force touch
trackpad inside it our force sensing
pads I can detect pressure that means
when you click on the top of the bottom
it feels the exact same when you press
down there is a click but you're not
clicking instead there's an
electromagnet
that makes you feel a click you can even
adjust how strong that click feels Apple
has built in all sorts of tricks into OS
10 to take advantage of it you can force
click to get a definition of a word you
can speed through a video of variable
speeds and eventually software on the
Mac could give you physical feedback
depending on what you're doing like an
iMovie where the trackpad gives you a
small click when you reach the end of a
clip it's a little weird but it is fun
to imagine other possibilities and there
are other inventions inside the MacBook
the batteries are tiered so that more of
them can be crammed inside apple says it
lasts around 9 hours in our test it
lasts around 8 as long as you don't push
a processor too hard and if you really
take it easy you could have it last as
long as 10 hours those are all the
inventions but now let's talk about the
compromises the first is that it uses a
processor that we haven't really seen on
a Mac yet the Intel Core M the base
model which is what I'm testing runs
that what seems like a pretty pokey 1.1
gigahertz but it can go into a turbo
mode that makes it about as fast as a
four-year-old 11 inch MacBook Air that
seems pretty slow but what matters is
that this Mac feels fast enough for most
of what I do and a little bit too slow
for the rest of it web browsing email
Twitter Evernote all the usual apps that
I use the vast majority of the time runs
just fine but open up a big photo
library or try to edit a video in iMovie
and you'll eventually end up waiting
it's kind of like a Chromebook but
instead of being limited by the web
you're limited by speed for a lot of
people that trade-off is worth it it
probably would be for me using that
processor means that Apple can have a
tiny logic board inside it and it
doesn't need a fan at all it's
completely silent and though it does get
a little warm it's never hot but there's
one more trade-off that probably isn't
worth it at least not yet it's this port
it's called USB type-c other than the
headphone jack it's the only port you
use it for power you use it for
connecting up monitors USB devices
iPhones cameras SD card readers whatever
and for all of those things right now
you're going to need adapters since USB
type-c is brand new
there aren't any devices that use it yet
without using an adapter so for example
I haven't been able to plug my Apple
computer into my Apple Cinema Display
because I don't have the adapter yet
that's weird and annoying you can spend
the same or less money on a laptop
that's a little bit bigger but doesn't
have any of
those hassles now here's the thing about
those two big compromises they're about
the future someday we'll have a
processor that fits inside this tiny
body that is powerful enough to do
everything you really need it to do and
someday we won't need all those adapters
because everything will just use the
same plug for example I was able to
charge this MacBook off a standard
battery brick that was meant for a phone
more than that Apple is betting that the
only thing you'll ever bother to plug
into this is the power cable but we're
not there yet
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are great but
they're not as easy or as simple as just
plugging something in I think a lot of
people remember the moment when Steve
Jobs pulled the original macbook air out
of that inner office memo envelope it
was jaw-dropping but a lot of people
forget that the very first MacBook Air
had problems and some of the same
problems as this MacBook there weren't
enough ports it was slow and it was
really expensive but the next version
became the MacBook Air that you know now
the one that everybody either uses or
copies the one that changed laptops for
five years that's this MacBook even if
you don't buy it it's going to make your
life better because in the future all
laptops are going to look like this but
the problem with the future is that it's
not here yet in the present this laptop
is kind of a hassle but someday it won't
be and I can't wait