All right, let’s get started.
The MacBook sucks because it’s only got a single port. Coming from basically every
other laptop ever, the new MacBook is almost laughably light on ports. What it does have
is a single USB Type C, which if you’re only going to put a single port on a laptop
it’s kind of the way to go. It’s reversible so no more plugging things in the wrong way,
supports powering other devices along with charging the MacBook, has full USB 3 speeds
along with DisplayPort or HDMI for using an external monitor. Not bad from this tiny little
port. Right now accessories that use USB-C aren’t exactly popular but there are a few
like this flash drive from Sandisk which sports a USB-C port on one side and a full USB 3.0
on the other. For the most part though you’re going to need adapters like this USB-C to
full USB from Apple. It works fine, you can even pair it with a USB hub to load up a ton
of devices to the MacBook but it’s not the most elegant solution. On the flip side, you
can totally use this with your collection of 3.5 inch floppy drives, which I mean is
basically a necessity for a computer in 2015, right? Since USB Type C isn’t some proprietary
Apple connector you can pick up third party cables like this full sized male USB cable
from Google. This let’s you do cool stuff like connect the MacBook to a battery backup
or power an external monitor using the DisplayPort cable. This is great except when you realize
that using any of these forces you to be on battery power since there’s no way to charge
while using your only port. Apple does sell an adapter that includes a full sized USB,
HDMI and another USB-C for charging but what would be a much nicer solution is just including
two USB ports like Google does on the Chromebook Pixel. So is Apple completely insane for only
putting one port on the MacBook? No, but adding one more would be a nice improvement. You
can’t game on the MacBook. On the surface this seems totally plausible. With a fanless
design that measures in at just over 13 millimeters the MacBook has more in common with a tablet
than a gaming laptop. Under the hood we’re looking at Intel HD 5300 graphics which while
not blazing fast might just have enough power for a bit of gaming. Load up a copy of Minecraft
and the MacBook handles it no problem which actually isn’t too bad all things considered.
Install Steam and we’ve got a decent selection of games that will work on OS X. Lighter titles
like Super Meat Boy are no problem at all and even Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
is totally playable at 1280 by 800, well as long as you bring along a mouse anyway. A
gaming PC it definitely isn’t but for light gaming it’s actually kind of usable. The
webcam sucks. That would be a yes. So the new MacBook is rocking a 480p webcam that
is straight out of 2006. Now yes, it is usable in a pinch if you need to do a little bit
of video chatting like on Skype or FaceTime but it definitely sucks. The new MacBook is
overpriced. Starting at $1300, there is no doubt that the MacBook is one expensive machine.
Looking just at the Mac side of things the 11 inch Air comes in at $400 less but that’s
not an entirely fair comparison. The base Air comes with four gigs of memory and a 128
gigabyte SSD which is totally ridiculous for a premium laptop. Spec it out to eight gigs
of RAM and a 256 gig drive like the 12 inch MacBook and the price difference narrows to
$100 which is a little more plausible if only for the better screen. For a more apples to
apples comparison there’s the Samsung ATIV Book 9 which is rocking a similar thin design
with a 12 inch high res screen, the same Core M processor and it comes in at $100 more than
the MacBook. The MacBook isn’t insanely expensive but it would make a lot more sense
with a couple hundred dollar price cut. You can’t do real work on the MacBook. This
is another one that sounds completely rational. All it takes is one look at the spec list
to see some major red flags. A 1.1 gigahertz processor that’s capped at 4.5 watts with
no fan to cool it? For perspective the MacBook Air has 15 watts to work with and the 13 inch
MacBook Pro has 28 watts on tap. In regular use the CPU will boost up to 2.4 gigahertz
which isn’t that far off from the others. We’ve got full Mac OS X so running heavier
apps like Photoshop is no problem. While it’s a little impractical, you can also edit video
on the MacBook as long as you carry around a couple adapters. I edited this entire video
in Premiere Pro and it handled it like a champ, the export was a little bit slow but the actual
edit itself was no problem. It does get a little warm on top of the keyboard but it’s
really not much worse than most laptops. As a dedicated video and photo editing laptop
it might not be the greatest choice in the world but for the occasional bit of work it’s
totally usable. It might be tiny but the new MacBook packs a decent punch. Add another
USB-C port and chop the price a bit and this could be the perfect laptop for a lot of people.