The new MacBook - <AUTHOR> https://www.apple.com/macbook/ <comment><USER3> This is a beautiful machine. Once again, Apple excels at hardware.

But what the living hell is going wrong with Apple's desktop software? OS X and Apple's applications suite have been getting steadily worse with every release. Look at the App store: the latest releases of OS X, iPhoto, iMovie, Pages, and Numbers are (in stark contrast to earlier versins) all rated at 2.5/5 stars, with the plurality being 1-star reviews. People are LIVID -- and not just for trivial NOOB reasons, either: the quality of the work is frankly shoddy. Who's steering that part of the ship???

<comment><USER4> Because you can't really tell how well software is working when looking at the device edge-on, and that's apparently the way Apple looks at them most of the time.

I mean this more metaphorically than literally, but I'm so tired of complaints about the ridiculously primitive Finder being met with, "the edge of the iMac now _appears_ even thinner, now that we've repositioned formerly convenient connectors and such into a bulge behind the screen. Surely you agree that the appearance of a thin edge is more important than usability of Finder or connectors."

Or a yearning for more battery life, or even just a swappable battery? "The bottom of our laptop looks better than the top of theirs!" Or, why is the text on my iPhone suddenly so low contrast and hard to read? "Surely you agree that having a fresh look matters more than readability! Look, the icons are flat. Don't you realize how critically important that is?"

Or, the apps get worse, not better, over time, and you always have to ask yourself whether each free OS upgrade is worth the risk of unreliable WiFi. Can't you work on this, Apple? "Thinner!"

Apple used to emphasize software quality and usability. Now, it's all about the style, about how the edges look in fashion magazines. And yet the rest of the industry is so fragmented that they don't do any better in terms of usability. The frustration is that unlike them, Apple _could_ do so much better, but ever since the candy-colored iMacs, they've decided that Fernando (Billy Crystal's old SNL character) was right. When it comes to look and feel, "It's better to look good than to feel good!"

<comment><USER5> Curious - what do Finder complainers consider the gold standard of file browsers that Finder should aspire to be?

I do most of my file management at the command line so I don't experience the pain of Finder very often, and I've generally been able to get Finder to do what I want without much fuss. Windows Explorer is, to me, a painful experience (but its 1980s DOS command line is so much worse)

I've found the various Linux desktop file browsers I've dabbled with clunky but serviceable, but again, I'm a command line guy. Just wondering what is out there that the Finder haters would prefer.

<comment><USER6> How about showing the actual filesystem? Instead of some restricted fictional view? For example, how the hell do you get to /tmp from the Finder?

What's with the stupid column per directory level? This is an extremely bad use of display space.

Haven't used Windows in a long time, and the equivalent in Linux is useless. (Or, more precisely, I don't use it.) But there are a number of irritations that have been there for a long, long time.

<comment><USER7> ~/Library/Application Support

Keeps getting hidden and you have to set a preference option via the command line to show it... only for it get hidden on the next OS update. Very frustrating!

<comment><USER8> Right click in your home folder -> Show View Options -> Show Library Folder.

That said, I preferred that they never removed it, but for the common user, they wont ever need it.

To get to it, you can also hold down Option when pressing the Go menu item.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> USB-C as the "one connector to rule them all" is the big news. That's the end of MagSafe and the exploding era of USB-C docking stations that work for multiple devices.

I think we'll start to see an era of expandable computing coming up soon: USB-C is a perfect connector to push your data and state into a larger desktop experience. Why not carry around your laptop in tablet form when you are mobile? [1]

[1] [https://grack.com/blog/2015/01/16/usb-31-ara-are-the- converg...](https://grack.com/blog/2015/01/16/usb-31-ara-are-the-convergence- end-game/)

<comment><USER10> Seems like there are some new $79 adapters to split out the USB-C port into power, usb and av[1]/vga[2].

[1] [http://store.apple.com/us/product/MJ1K2AM/A/usb-c-digital- av...](http://store.apple.com/us/product/MJ1K2AM/A/usb-c-digital-av-multiport- adapter)

[2] [http://store.apple.com/us/product/MJ1L2AM/A/usb-c-vga- multip...](http://store.apple.com/us/product/MJ1L2AM/A/usb-c-vga-multiport- adapter)

<comment><USER11> I'm sorry but when you ship a machine with ONE PORT for the purposes of charging and peripherals, this absolutely needs to be in the box.

Nickel and $80'ering me on a $1400 computer is ridiculous. I'll stick with my thinkpad.

<comment><USER12> With Bluetooth, the cloud and AirPlay, who even needs those ports? People are up in arms every time Apple changes/deletes ports and are almost always wrong.

Go ahead and stick with your thinkpad.

<comment><USER13> Show up to give a presentation anywhere in the world. Standard plug-in? VGA. Maybe HDMI. You can't count on an AirPlay connection being present and I wouldn't want to rely on wireless video for important presentations with 20 seconds set up time anyway.

<comment><USER14> True, but since Macs have lost the ports, better venues are finally starting to cater to modern standards.

Personally, I think VGA is an abomination and people should react a bit stronger to be invited to a venue and having to deal with standards from 1987.

<comment><USER13> I think guests should graciously work with whatever hosts provide, as long as it works.

<comment><USER15> VGA has lower quality at high resolutions than something like DVI, DisplayPort, or HDMI. Then again, if the place still has a VGA connector, it's unlikely the projector is high-resolution.

<comment><USER13> Yes. So as a guest do you make the best of it or whine that there are better things available?

<comment><USER16> Being a good host is also kind of a thing, FYI, and part of that is going to the effort of making life nice for your guest.

If you're going to harp on hospitality, please remember it cuts both ways.

<comment><USER13> This is the rudest politeness advice I've ever seen. Props!

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> I am bit disappointed. Dell has similar sized laptop, with bigger display, smaller bezel and higher resolution.

[http://www.dell.com/us/p/xps-13-9343-laptop/pd](http://www.dell.com/us/p/xps-13-9343-laptop/pd)

<comment><USER18> If you're looking purely at specs, Windows laptops always were the better deal. But only when you use those alternatives do you realize how much further ahead Apple is.

<comment><USER19> Not really farther at all. Examples? Dell, HP, and Lenovo all have notebooks out there that are as good as any Apple notebook.

<comment><USER18> Until you pick them up, use them, have them break, and try to get support. I used to be the guy pointing out how there are Windows laptops that are just as good as Macs. It wasn't until about 2 years ago that I just completely gave up on the Windows market and just converted fully to Apple's ecosystem. Couldn't be happier. The Windows market is in a constant state of "almost as good as Apple."

<comment><USER20> The trackpad on my thinkpad broke. I spent 10 minutes on the phone with technical support that actually knew what I was talking about and they mailed me a whole new part. I replaced it and went on my way as happy as could be.

In contrast: By friend who owns a mac tried to set up a appointment because her hard drive was making the sound of a grinder. They told her that they could not make an appointment on the phone, she needed to use the iPhone app to do that. Well, she doesn't have an iPhone so the only option she had was to stand in line at the apple store 40 minutes away and wait. She spend two days doing this since it closed before they got to her on the first day and then the took her hard drive and replaced it while erasing all her personal data. It's a good thing I made a backup first.

Great Customer Service for sure almost as good as Comcast.

<comment><USER18> Sure, every once in a while I'm sure someone has a bad experience with their support but I feel it's a well-accepted notion that Apple has the best support in the consumer tech industry. A few sources I found in a couple minutes of searching:

[http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0%2c2817%2c2452946%2c00.asp](http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0%2c2817%2c2452946%2c00.asp) [http://blog.laptopmag.com/tech-support- showdown](http://blog.laptopmag.com/tech-support-showdown) [http://www.thestreet.com/story/11366677/1/the-best-and- worst...](http://www.thestreet.com/story/11366677/1/the-best-and-worst-of- customer-support.html) [http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2013/04/apple- is-top...](http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2013/04/apple-is-tops-when- it-comes-to-computer-tech-support/index.htm)

I've dealt with Dell, Microsoft, Acer, Asus, and HP in the past on multiple occasions for each, and it was always a headache. With Apple, it was always as simple as walking into the store and walking out with my issues resolved. I've even had them fix a keyboard that broke due to my fault on an out of warranty machine for just the cost of parts. The fact that you can go to a physical location and get service puts them on a different level.

<comment><USER21> I have to fly or take a ferry to get to an Apple Store. There isn't one on Vancouver Island. So it's great when you can get to one, but if you can't the support is not so good.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> Looks like apple has finally introduced a netbook or iPad with a keyboard. Frankly, I'm disappointed with this macbook as I was expecting a full scale retina macbook air. After seeing the Dell XPS 13, I was hoping apple will take the retinafy the regular air. Ah well, the wait continues. Let's see --

1\. Resolution of 2304x1440 which means at Retina this is 1152x720!. This is worse than the 11 inch air, much less the 13 inch 1440x900. I don't think people realize how cramped this will seem if you start doing work on this laptop.

2\. single port might be cool, but I suspect everyone will have to pony up for a usb multi-port dongle to make this work. everyone is saying single port will suffice -- battery will last 9 hours but try driving a monitor and doing some work. Don't be surprised if you get 3-4 hours. Then what do you do. Plug it off and wait for 1 hour to recharge? What if you need to do development, how do you plug your device. Yeah the usb dongle will be needed which kind of defeats the point of having a single port.

<comment><USER23> > Resolution of 2304x1440 which means at Retina this is 1152x720!. This is > worse than the 11 inch air, much less the 13 inch 1440x900. I don't think > people realize how cramped this will seem if you start doing work on this > laptop

You can still scale the screen resolution and get a higher resolution than the Air's 1440x900.

<comment><USER22> yeah, i know you can scale it. Will it look good though? In addition, it has a pretty weak processor, so we will have to see how the performance works out if you scale it. Especially if you drive a monitor.

<comment><USER24> > Will it look good though?

Yes, I scale my 15'' rMBP all the time according to what I currently need and the quality difference is hardly noticeable.

> performance

That one I'm also curious about. My takeaway from this new MB however is that it's pretty much unusable as a business laptop anyways. For a serious laptop I still need power, display, ethernet and at least one USB port available at the same time as an absolute minimum, plus connectivity to both HDMI and VGA when needed. Even if they offered all the dongles for that, it would still be a mess to work with on a daily basis. So, really, even if the performance were good, it wouldn't change anything for me. I'm curious how version 2 of that machine will be - didn't we already have a similar situation with the first macbook air and then they readded more ports later, because you know, they'd also actually like to _sell_ these things rather than just having Jony talk about them in a soothing voice?

<comment><USER25> Unfortunately scaling becomes useless if you need todo any graphical related work, where you really do need 1:1 (retina) resolution.

<comment><USER24> One thing to keep in mind though is that you can comfortably read text that is quite a bit smaller on retina, so you can work at a higher application zoom level, which gives you back some space. Not sure whether the interface elements are too big for this display size, but intuitively the resolution sounds about right, it's about the same as the old (beloved) Powerbook 12'' as far as I remember.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> I'm actually quite unhappy with this obsession with "thinner and lighter" mantra which throws away features at the expense of saving 0.01mm of thickness. These new computers don't have interfaces like Ethernet, DVD player, common interfaces for video. All of these is supposed to be outdated while it is very clearly not. You can't even do trivial upgrades like RAM let alone putting in new bigger SSD. These things are way too expensive to be entirely replaced just because you need 8GB of more RAM.

When you travelling and wireless is painfully slow in places like hotels, wired Ethernet connection is truly a life saver. I hate to carry so many dongles and even worse, they are so easy to lose which can be devastating when traveling. I hate even more carryieng external DVD players because running Netflix is too choppy. When I'm presenting, I hate to carry dongles for VGA, DVI, HDMI etc to connect to projectors. Just few years ago, all of these were built-in to laptops and I used to carry zero dongles. Most people carry laptops in backpack which are often heavier and combined with the weight of all dongles it diminishes any weight reduction done on these devices. So these whole obsession looks pretty stupid to me and detrimental to getting work done for users.

<comment><USER27> There are still many laptops with all the interfaces and features, right? Beauty of choice, and all that.

<comment><USER28> People are acting like Apple reps are travelling around soldering all their ports closed

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER29> I can't believe the new MacBook has no internal fans.

[0] Fanless architecture

The new MacBook is the first Mac notebook ever without a fan. Since the Intel Core M chip draws only 5 watts of power and therefore generates less heat, no fan or heat pipe is required. Instead, the logic board is seated on top of an anisotropic graphite sheet, which helps disperse any heat that is generated out to the sides, all while your Mac stays virtually silent.

I've had issues in the past with macbook pro fans failing, so it's great to remove that potential mechanical failure. But I've also had issues with my macbook pro outputting an unreasonable amount of heat. I'm curious if they've solved that issue, especially now with no internal fans.

[0] [https://www.apple.com/macbook/design/](https://www.apple.com/macbook/design/)

<comment><USER30> Exactly. My daily driver is still a mid-2009 macbook air whose CPU actually actually hit its TJMAX for the first time ever last week.

I've asked Apple in the past to clean out the hardware with compressed air and re-apply the thermal paste, but I don't think they did, and they told me that they can't re-apply the thermal paste because they don't have the tool to do it anymore [Bethesda, Maryland store]. I've never had an Apple product that hasn't had overheating issues at some point in its lifecycle, and this new no- fan architecture honestly has me worried for this product in the long run.

<comment><USER31> > they can't re-apply the thermal paste because they don't have the tool to do > it anymore

They don't have the same screwdriver they use on the latest MacBook Airs, some alcohol wipes, and the same thermal grease they use on everything except today's MacBook? Try an Apple Authorized Service Provider – i.e. an independent shop that repairs Macs – they should be able to help you out.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER32> Accidentally clipping the power cable is something I definitely got used to not worrying about anymore. I'm loving the single mother-of-all ports USB-C will provide but I highly appreciated the magnet component of MagSafe..

<comment><USER33> I wonder if someone can come up with a "mag-breakaway" adaptor for USB-C? It's a "null" adaptor -- it has USB-C female and USB-C male -- but it splits down the center and is held together by magnets. You can just put one on the end of your USB power adaptor. There you go: you have your Magsafe back again.

<comment><USER34> That sounds really cool. I'd buy that.

Off the top of my head the only concern is: How do you turn on/off the flow as the magnets lose contact? Last thing you want is arching as it comes apart.

<comment><USER35> All connections arc as they come apart, it's just that the arc size is a function of the dielectric medium (air?), potential difference (voltage) and current. You design for "number of disconnects" and choose materials and power design so that the connector will survive as long as specified.

Apple MagSafe connectors are on the same voltage (20V) as these new Type C connectors, although Type C seems rated for a higher current (5A).

Looking at the pinout, the GND and VBUS are a bit longer, so will disconnect last upon removal. This may be to allow for the voltage to be dropped in anticipation of a disconnect, but you'd need enough intelligence at the power supply end to notice that. Lowering the voltage prior to disconnect would reduce the arc size.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER36> Is the world really as obsessed with smallness as Apple thinks it is? From what I keep hearing (and this is anecdotal, of course), it seems that most people would prefer to (reasonably) maximize the battery life with the downside of adding a bit more heft. Of course, there's always a balance that has to be stricken, but it seems like Apple always pushes much more to the side of size over battery vs. what seems to be the desired balance (leaning more towards improved battery life).

<comment><USER37> I would love a bigger battery for a slightly bigger device but this isn't what Apple is aiming for.

Apple design the hardware to work with what they want it to look like not design a device around the hardware.

I used to think that was stupid but it clearly works for Apple. Their business is not making the best device spec wise but the "best" device design wise (in their view obviously).

<comment><USER36> This makes sense, but when designing the new MacBook, they still have to take battery life into account. For example, if Apple truly wanted the best device design at any expense of hardware, it would be even thinner with only 1 hour battery life.

But they knew customers would want more battery life than 1 hour. So rather than make it as thin as possible, they figure out: what is the best battery life:heft ratio?

 _That_ is what I was questioning in my OP: is this ratio, in the eyes of Apple, out of sync with this ratio in the eyes of the consumers?

Obviously, Apple knows how to build products. But it would be naive to assume that Apple _always_ strikes this balance perfectly. I'm just suggesting that they may be pushing slightly more towards design over function.

<comment><USER38> I think the logic is that this particular chassis is constant, and we are to assume that battery technology will only get better.

So while the laptop may be underpowered/under ratio _today_, it won't be in its next incarnation, i.e. same chassis but better batteries.

So it's more of a bet/investment/concept car. This first gen isn't where the ratio is satisfied. It's v2 and onwards.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER39> Do I understand right that it's got _one_ port, which can be used for either power _or_ USB, but not both at once? Man, that's the future? I was hoping they'd give it two USB ports, if it was supposed to serve as the new full powered macbook. It never occured to me they'd actually take away a port, and give you charging or USB peripheral but not both at once. Bah humbug.

<comment><USER40> You can do both at once over the port, you'd just need a hub.

It's not really the new "full powered" MacBook. Look at the processors it uses. It's intended to a a good performance, lightweight laptop.

Realistically, they can't support 2 USB-C ports as it's unlikely it could support a full power draw on both ports (100W each).

<comment><USER41> > Realistically, they can't support 2 USB-C ports as it's unlikely it could > support a full power draw on both ports (100W each).

Its not uncommon for machines to have only one usb controller with multiple ports (i.e. a usb controller + hub which connects externally)

<comment><USER40> But, with one controller you could run into problems if you had two high speed devices on both ports.

<comment><USER42> You could make one port a USB 3.0 port.

<comment><USER43> That would be too wide for the laptop.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER44> Seriously? Couldn't they have put _two_ ports in it so you can plug something in while it's being charged without lugging around a usb hub?

<comment><USER45> This won't work well when using an air to do presentations and you can't switch between a monitor and power....

The slightly cynical me tends to think the thunderbolt port was great and on every mac. now new adapters...

<comment><USER46> Presumably accessory manufacturers will create peripherals that allow video out + power at the same time?

<comment><USER47> That's the stopgap solution, I think. Looking at the larger picture, it's silly that a projector only looks for video-in, instead of video-in/power-out, considering it's already plugged to a wall outlet.

<comment><USER48> You think the end game is "We'll improve the hardwire connection to the project so it can backfeed power" rather than "We'll just get rid of the wire"?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER49> I'm really sorry to see magsafe go. Between my dogs and kids I would have gone though a dozen macbooks without magsafe.

I sincerely hope this no magsafe or single port thing goes into the MBPs as well.

<comment><USER50> I've seen a lot of people disappointed by this, but - correct me if I'm wrong - If you were to trip over a micro USB cord it would simply disconnect as well, similar to MagSafe, right? I mean, it's not as elegant as magsafe but it certainly wouldn't drag your whole laptop off the table, would it?

<comment><USER51> Try pulling directly down on a cord connected in a usb port. It won't just pull out. The magsafe would just disconnect after a little bit of resistance.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER52> The obvious end game for USB 3.1 type C is replacing your laptop with a phone. USB 3.1 type C is the "universal docking station", providing power, data & display over a single cable. Obviously useful for a laptop, but even more useful to a phone. Apple obviously could merge OSX & iOS into a single OS, but I have real difficulty seeing them doing that. (It also seems unlikely that they'll replace Lightning with USB 3.1 type C). It seems much more likely that Ubuntu, Microsoft and possibly Google are going to go there first. By pushing USB 3.1 type C, Apple really seems to be opening doors for their competitors...

<comment><USER53> But improving life for their customers.

So good on them.

</comment></comment><comment><USER54> Is this laptop aimed for the high-end Macbook Pro users, or is it poised as the spiritual successor to the Macbook Air?

According to the tech specs, this has the slowest processor (1.1 Ghz Intel Core M) of all of their models and the oldest graphics card (Intel HD Graphics 5300).

Granted -- I know I shouldn't commit the cardinal sin of "The number is lower so it's worse." My words aren't meaningful. I guess I'm just confused about who this product is aimed for.

EDIT: After looking around, this machine seems less powerful than the Air. I'm guessing it's aimed for those who want something more stylish with pizzazz at the expense of higher specs. The target user wants to own a machine that feels futuristic and magical. This machine is just certainly not targeted toward my needs.

In terms of specs, it's This machine < Air < MBP. In terms of style, it's this machine > Air > MBP (?). In terms of price, it's Air < this machine < MBP.

<comment><USER28> As a non-mac owner, this and the 5K retina imac are the first machines to really make me consider the switch.

<comment><USER54> Interesting! What qualities won you over?

<comment><USER28> I have a work laptop (chunky ass dell from 2010 '1366x768') and a gaming rig at home (built early 2012 '1920x1080'). Both are on windows 7.

There are a few things:

* I've had iPhones since they came out, love them, but nothing has compelled me to go to the Mac. (also have retina ipad mini)

* I don't want to upgrade one of my main machines to retina if my other machines don't have it. It's bad enough switching back from the phone/tablet.

* I've also just recently gotten into photography and video editing.

I've been waiting for a laptop to be 'good enough'. The retina macbook pros are excellent machines, but if I upgraded I really wanted it to be to an air- like device. My main tasks for the laptop are using the web, using skype and using email. (& I might add, carrying it ALL THE TIME)

As my main 'need' for my desktop has essentially transitioned from gaming into photography / video.. the 5K iMac is just.. i mean.. have you seen the screen in person? Goddam its nice. The games I would play will run on it at 1440 with no problem whatsoever. I have seen the scaling issues on windows at 4K and am just not interested in dealing with that crap these days.

OSX Pre-Yosemite just never appealed to me. (although I had used macs previously at various jobs) It feels like the OS and the Hardware have each now hit their point where the effort of switching is going to pay off much sooner than any time prior.

I have a feeling the mac market is going to continue growing, as there will be more and more people in a similar position (main PCs need an upgrade, etc) that will finally be saying 'time for a mac'

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER55> It befuddles the mind that you would develop a laptop that defeats the entire point of being a thin laptop, by ensuring you must carry a bag full of adapters and dongles.

The MacBook Air may fit in envelope, but does all it's cables and adapters fit in that envelope with it?

Terrible design.

<comment><USER56> I don't understand people who complain about dongles. What is the difference between carrying around a corded peripheral, and a corded peripheral with a two-inch extension that solves your legacy connector problems?

<comment><USER55> To me the biggest case is going places where I might have an unexpected peripheral need. For instance, it's not uncommon for someone to need to transfer me some files with a flash drive.

If I were to buy this thing, I'd have to carry a USB Type-A dongle _all the time_ , just in case. Rather than have say... an extra millimeter of thickness, and the USB port just built right in.

<comment><USER57> I'm fairly sure it wont be too long before they come out with USB/USB-C flash drives. I've already seen several USB/Micro-USB drives.

<comment><USER58> How long until everyone you know (include non technical people) upgrade to them? I personally don't carry flash drives around, but I occasionally need to get files from non technical friends who do, and many of them are still using old 128mb or less USB 1.1 flash drives.

Why would they go out and buy new ones to fit in certain models of laptop if the limited capacity and slow speed hasn't already gotten them to replace it?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER59> Are there things here where Apple is _significantly_ further ahead than the competition? Innovating on keyboards, trackpad, battery life, power usage and form factor - there just seem to be innovating simultaneously on more levels than the competition.

Another thing - that vibrating trackpad gizmo feels like a couple of innovations away from true touch feedback on an iPhone? Any thoughts?

<comment><USER60> Apple's role here is often to be more opinionated, or braver, than others. They were the first to adopt USB, first to stop shipping floppy drives, first to ditch optical drives, first to make high-DPI ('retina') displays a standard feature... they are willing to be the one who goes out there and says 'we all know this is where things are going - so let's quit pussy-footing around and just do it'.

This new MacBook announcement was just item after item of taking things to the next logical step, and it's setting a new bar which every other laptop manufacturer out there will now have to meet.

<comment><USER61> Plenty of laptop manufacturers had laptops without optical drives before Apple, so I'm guessing you mean across the whole line?

<comment><USER60> I said first to ditch optical drives, not first to add them. The MBA was, at the time of its launch, controversial for its lack of a DVD drive. The 'air' referred to the fact it got all its software over the network - which was wireless, because it also lacked ethernet (also controversial).

<comment><USER62> Netbooks around well before the air were also lacking optical drives, so Im not sure how it was controversial.

<comment><USER60> Macbook Air - announced January 2008. Netbook - well, okay, I'll give you that the Eee PC came out in October 2007 (Asus have always been the outlier in experimental PC form factors) - but other manufacturers weren't seriously playing in the netbook space before the Eee sales numbers came in, so I don't think you can say 'everybody' had legacy-free optical-driveless netbooks out before the MBA.

But more to the point, a netbook was optical-drive-free because you weren't expected to use it for more than just web browsing; you weren't going to need to load software onto it. The MBA was optical-drive free in spite of it being intended to be a fully-functional notebook computer. You would install software onto it over wi-fi. And you wouldn't need to rip CDs because you would buy all your music from the iTunes store. In 2008 that was still a bold idea.

<comment><USER63> My old Thinkpad X41 didn't have an optical drive ten years ago, back in 2005, and, unlike a netbook, was very much a fully-functional laptop computer.

<comment><USER64> The x21 didn't have an optical drive either, nor the x31 before it.

Of course, one could argue they were specialist laptops which never had a large market. But maybe the same could be said of the MBA?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment> james-skemp A search against the comments returns no results: 2304×1440 resolution and 16:10 aspect ratio?

Showing a few co-workers and a quick suggests what I thought: a bit of amazement at 16:10. Does anyone have any insight into why they didn't go with a 16:9 ratio?

<comment><USER65> 16:10 is a much better ratio for working compared to 16:9.

<comment><USER66> Can you explain? I'm interested why this is. Is there any research into this?

<comment><USER67> Do you need research to appreciate vertical screen real-estate? I have two 16:10 monitors and love the extra space. I loved it enough that I then flipped one of my 16:10s into portrait.

It's occasionally problematic in that pages I make sometimes pack the perfect amount in on my display, and get cut off on 16:9s.

<comment><USER68> I don't disagree with you but your argument seems to promote the idea that 4:3 would be even more ideal for the same screen size because it has more vertical screen real-estate. I don't think you answered the question at all.

<comment><USER69> Obviously it's subjective, but I'd prefer a machine with a 4:3 display, because when I'm coding or reading I need vertical real estate much more than horizontal.

I always assumed that the move to 16:9 for computers was driven mostly by either manufacturing economies of scale or the coolness factor of HDTV's.

<comment><USER70> Lots of good info about ThinkPad's switch to 16:9 here:

[http://web.archive.org/web/20111030050311/http://www.lenovob...](http://web.archive.org/web/20111030050311/http://www.lenovoblogs.com/insidethebox/2009/04/display- ratio-change-again/)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER71> Why wouldn't they include 4G/LTE in this?

It's a serious question. It's basically a "mega-tablet," a high-end mobile device with a "real OS." It's designed for doing serious work in an ultra- portable fashion.

I can tether to my phone of course, but this seems like an option they should have considered.

<comment><USER72> Because they also sell a phone.

<comment><USER73> ...that for an additional fee (paid to your carrier), can broadcast a local wifi signal

<comment><USER74> I'm gonna brag: here in France I pay 10€/months for unlimited calls, unlimited texts, unlimited internet (5Gb of "fair use"). I can do whatever I want with the internet, be it VOIP or hotspot station. And I can cancel my plan whenever I want.

<comment><USER75> Is this an old grandfathered plan or could anyone get something like that right now? Sounds really awesome.

<comment><USER71> This is what you get in countries where good infrastructure isn't considered a communist conspiracy and where one of the major political parties is not overtly anti-infrastructure. France, Germany, etc. also have public transit in most places.

<comment><USER76> I'm paying about 5 euro / month in Vietnam where the infrastructure actually is a communist conspiracy, kinda.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER77> Noticed the changed the headline?

The Air still exists and is NOT replaced by this. I believe it's staying because it's non-retina, but I may be wrong.

Either way, they seem to have made a call a bit too early when posting this.

<comment><USER78> It seems they've reintroduced the MacBook (no suffix) branding. So there's now three lines: MacBook Air, MacBook, and MacBook Pro.

Interesting the MacBook is lighter than the MacBook Air.

<comment><USER34> Their branding has become very confusing. In particular when some people are still buying the old Macbook Pro because they prefer it over the latest one, so really one of the highest end laptops they sell is "last years" model of the MBP.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER79> Man, there's something about a gold laptop that just makes me want to never give money to a company again.

<comment><USER80> There are market segments (hint: china & others) that LOVE the gold color. You don't have to buy it.

<comment><USER79> Yep, I was saying that too!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER81> We changed the url from [http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/09/apple-introduces-a- reinvent...](http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/09/apple-introduces-a-reinvented- macbook-air/) to Apple's page for this product, since it was making the front page repeatedly and there shouldn't be two threads on the same thing.

<comment><USER82> HN really needs a feature where you can combine multiple links into one discussion. Techmeme does this very well.

</comment></comment><comment><USER83> Macbook $1299 "Up to 1.3GHz dual-core Intel Core M processor"

Macbook Air $899 "Up to 2.2GHz dual-core Intel Core i7 processor"

Seems like a big step down in processing power at a higher price.

<comment><USER84> If all else were equal, sure. But it's not, starting with RAM and display and continuing on from there.

<comment><USER83> The retina screen is definitely better, but the Air can be upgraded to 8GB of RAM. The overall design of the new MacBook is revolutionary, but I can't believe they chose a CPU that is considerably less powerful and charge a premium price. If you can stand 1.5 lbs more, you can have a MacBook Pro for the same price which is considerably more powerful (also with a retina display).

<comment><USER85> I disagree. As someone who used an Air and then MacBook Pro Retina 13", the weight difference is small but definitely noticeable for the worse. If you walk a lot it makes a difference.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER86> What's interesting to me as well is that they don't seem to have announced any sort of dock or usb hub or even really mentioned what the charging brick looks like right? That seems like a really important thing to cover when announcing you have 1 port for all peripherals now.

<comment><USER60> right - if the charging brick has a conventional USB port and a displayport out on it, a lot of people's concerns go away.

</comment></comment><comment><USER75> 1.2Ghz processor seems like a dealbreaker for professional applications (Coding, Video editing) but for applications the Air was used before it actually seems okay.

<comment><USER87> The 1.2 GHz Core M has a maximum frequency of 2.9 GHz with turbo boost. The 1.1 GHz model will spool up to 2.6 GHz.

Further, both processors are dual cores with hyperthreading. It'll be about 5% less performant than the previous Macbook Air while using vastly less energy (4.5 watts vs 15 watts).

<comment><USER88> Are you sure about that 5% claim? According to [http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Processors- Benchmarklist...](http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Processors- Benchmarklist.2436.0.html) the performance difference should be quite a bit worse.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER89> I understand the benefits of a single connector, but, Isn't this a security nightmare? Today you can avoid plugging an usb drive as a security measure, but with a single connector you're exposing your laptop when charging or when connecting a proyector in a conference room.

<comment><USER90> Interesting take. Maybe somebody will write a kernel extension to easily disable the USB subsystem/hub on demand?

</comment></comment><comment><USER86> Say what you will about the logic behind a single port for everything (as far as I know this is the first computer to do this so there's nothing to compare it to), this Air is a pretty drastic change from what we're all used to when it comes to laptops. We're basically hitting the limits of thinness at this point right?

<comment><USER91> I'd hate to have to worry that I'll cut myself on my laptop.

Is there anyone that's super-excited about a thinner Air? My preference is always for greater battery life. I'm curious if there are people that wish their already thin laptop were even thinner, and if so, why?

<comment><USER86> The combo of thinner/lighter/no fan is pretty awesome in my opinion. These aren't for peopled doing hardcore computing, they're for people doing hardcore commuting really.

<comment><USER92> Do you have a source for the "no fan" bit? If the Core M processor can deliver the same performance as a Haswell ultrabook processor (i.e. the previous Air) without requiring a fan or getting unreasonably hot, I think that's a pretty nice feature.

<comment><USER93> It's much less powerful in terms of computing power than a Haswell.

<comment><USER94> For my needs I would say the Core M is a good compromise between performance and energy efficiency. E.g., the Dell XPS 13 some have mentioned this thread as alternative has a faster processor than I need.

Also, the fan is a big issue for me. You're not likely to see fanless systems with Haswell or the more powerful Broadwell processors. With Core M Broadwell, though, I expect fanless will be the norm. I expect I'll be getting the relatively new Asus UX305 soon; for me it compares favorably to new Macbook but is only $699. It's a little heavier (2.6 lbs), but has larger 13.3" 1080p screen, runs Windows and/or Linux well, quality aluminum build, same 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, etc. I suppose I'd prefer the new Macbook, but I'm not an OS X guy and the Asus is barely half the cost.

<comment><USER95> How well does the Asus UX305 run Linux? I have a Macbook Air at the moment, but it has a couple of annoyances that I'd like to be rid of. However, I do like the build quality and the trackpad especially.

<comment><USER94> I don't have one yet, but there is a guy who left comments on Amazon who has good experience with Ubuntu: [http://www.amazon.com/review/R2UHFYMBSR02RT/ref=cm_srch_res_...](http://www.amazon.com/review/R2UHFYMBSR02RT/ref=cm_srch_res_rtr_alt_1)

Amazon has temporarily inflated prices for this low-availability item. I'm waiting for NewEgg to get them back in stock.

Trackpad does seem to be one of the lowpoints of ux305fa. esp. if that's something that's important to you. I tend to adapt to trackpads and like whatever I use most.

I have a different Asus machine, the super-cheap X205, which I got for $180 at a Microsoft Store. It's plastic, but surprisingly well made. 2.2 lbs and fanless is great experience. Main problem is it's a pretty slow processor and has just 2 GB RAM, 32GB flash drive, basically tablet specs in a laptop form. I've extended it with 64GB microSDHC. I do find myself using more powerful machines at home (Lenovo X200 and X220) but even there I'm enjoying the X205 quite a bit.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER96> For people interested in typography: It seems like the Apple Watch UI font (San Francisco) replaced VAG Rounded as keyboard font. This is interesting because it would be the first time (AFAICT) that Apple uses the same font for keyboard and UI.

See also: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typography_of_Apple_Inc.#Keybo...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typography_of_Apple_Inc.#Keyboards)

</comment><comment><USER97> Corrected headline should read "Apple: Fuck everything, we're doing one connector."

</comment><comment><USER98> There were "artist renderings" of this thing that leaked a while back. They were pretty much 100% on the money, the big thing being the USB-C port.

<comment><USER99> IIRC, the leaked renderings had the power key where the esc key is -- so they were close, but not final.

</comment></comment><comment><USER100> I'm confused: did someone dislike MagSafe? It's gotta be one of my favorite parts of my MacBook. I hear the guys complaining about iron build-up in the port, but they've gotta be in the minority, and a far smaller demographic than, say, parents.

Somebody should make a low profile magsafe charger adapter. That would solve both problems: easy to replace the rare-earth magnet and preserves the utility of magsafe. If you want to charge _and_ use multiple ports, stick the adapter in.

Frankly, I think the one-port decision was wrong, but I doubt Ive and company care.

</comment><comment><USER101> I'm just supremely disappointed in the Macbook itself- I have a 3 year old Macbook Air, that is more powerful than this Retina. That's just absurd, that it's that much of a step back in terms of raw CPU.

Luckily however, the new 13inch MBP is actually perfect. I'm rather excited about it.

<comment><USER102> "More powerful" is a little hard to isolate as tightly as you are doing here. The 1.1GHz model will burst a single thread at 2.9GHz.

I'm disappointed there's no 16GB RAM model, and that'll keep me from buying it, but CPU perf is not on the list of my worries.

<comment><USER42> _" More powerful" is a little hard to isolate_

Not really. Just look at the Passmark scores:

      Macbook Air (Early 2014): 4159 [1]
      Macbook                 : 3096 [2]

The new Macbook is 25% slower than the MacBook Air.

[1] [http://cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-4650U+%40+...](http://cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-4650U+%40+1.70GHz)

[2] [https://cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+M-5Y70+%40+1...](https://cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+M-5Y70+%40+1.10GHz)

<comment><USER102> Where are you getting those specs? AFAIK the 2014 MacBook Air doesn't come out of the box with an i7 4650U, but rather an 4260U, which has a Passmark score of 3617. Also note that the Apple presentation noted a Turbo Boost top of 2.9GHz, not the 2.6GHz of the Core M 5Y70 that you linked.

It's the difference between horsepower and 0-60. There are other factors involved. (This is largely academic, though, because I doubt anybody who owns one is going to really care.)

<comment><USER42> _Where are you getting those specs?_

I googled, for the MBA 2014:

[http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook- air/specs/macb...](http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook- air/specs/macbook-air-core-i7-1.7-13-early-2014-specs.html)

For the new Macbook you are right that Apple appears to use a slightly faster variant of the 5Y70 that doesn't seem to have a benchmark on cpubenchmark.net yet (at least I couldn't find it).

I'd be surprised if these 300MHz made a significant difference, though.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER103> How about this as a solution to the 1-port problem: Integrate the USB-C hub into the brick of the power charger.

Then when you are charging, you can plug your USB or display devices into the power brick, and you don't have any extra hubs to carry around.

<comment><USER104> But then you have to keep the brick close.

</comment></comment><comment><USER105> Loss of MagSafe is huge. I can't count how many times it's prevented a mangled receptacle or saved a laptop from flying to the floor.

</comment><comment><USER106> I'm currently looking for a new laptop, which will probably be a Mac, given I'm not familiar with using Linux nor have I liked using Windows lately. Looking at the pricing for this, I can't see much of a reason for why I'd get this over a Macbook Air or Macbook Pro w/ Retina.

Using Australian prices -

This - $1799 11" Air - $1249 13" Air - $1399 13" Retina - $1799 (I've seen $1599 in authorised reseller stores) 13" Pro - $1549

Is a retina display and losing a third of a pound worth paying $400-$550 for? Nope. Paying the same price for less ports (if you're getting a Macbook Pro, ports are likely important) and and less speed? Nope.

I think Apple must be hoping this new Macbook is going to eat into 13' Macbook Pro sales (just as the 13" Pro ate into the old Macbook sales), because I can't see it eating into Macbook Air sales.

<comment><USER107> It will not replace Pro series.

The CPU for the new MacBook (1.1GHz dual-core Intel Core M processor) cannot even out-perform current MacBook Air, let alone MacBook Pro.

<comment><USER106> Well if you're looking at CPU speed when buying it won't, but a suzeable number of Apples market probably doesn't.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER108> Wow, so a $1300 laptop with no USB ports?

Why does Apple keep making their new products worse -- less features but subjectively more "beautiful" \-- than the ones before? Somewhere in the attic at One Infinite Loop, is there a painting of Steve Jobs that slowly gets younger as time passes?

<comment><USER109> It has one USB port.

</comment></comment><comment><USER110> It's amazing how small they made the circuit board [http://images.apple.com/v/macbook/a/overview/images/internal...](http://images.apple.com/v/macbook/a/overview/images/internals_layer_start_large.jpg)

<comment><USER111> I believe at least some of the credit should go to Intel [http://www.anandtech.com/show/8355/intel-broadwell- architect...](http://www.anandtech.com/show/8355/intel-broadwell-architecture- preview/5)

</comment></comment><comment><USER112> I think one subtle change is the Apple icon will no longer glow, it's been chromed like it is on all the iDevices. No need to cut a plastic translucent Apple logo => fewer parts? (Furthermore, how will I know what computers people are using in a dark room now?)

</comment><comment><USER113> This is actually called simply MacBook (no Air). The Air remains a lower cost alternative.

</comment><comment><USER114> They actually introduced a new line of laptops called the MacBook (so the title is technically incorrect). The existing MacBook Airs and 13" MacBook Pro got minor refreshes. Interestingly no refreshes on the 15" Pros.

</comment><comment><USER115> Something that doesn't seem to get mentioned in the comments is the placing of the trackpad; so near the keyboard. This was one the first things I recognised as a potential err.

I once had a ASUS notebook which had a similar design. The problem was that my tip of one or both thumbs or part of it, often touched the touchpad in a fashion that it selected text if working in a editor. This would happen so fast that my typing replaced the text. Very annoying, so annoying that I bought a new notebook of different brand.

I imagine something similar could happen on the Macbook Notebook.

<comment><USER116> I imagine there is a lot of software in the new trackpad to detect palms when typing and ignore the input.

Hopefully you won't even notice you are resting on it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER117> If i was to buy a new MacBook today it would definitely be the 13" Air or Pro. It's a cool device, but not for anyone doing serious dev work.

The DO-IT-ALL-USB-C might be a neat idea, but it practice it means that i have to carry a ton of (expensive!) adapters around with me for the next few years. And then there is performance. I can live with 1,5GHz /w Turbo or whatever.... but 1,1GHz? That is painful.

<comment><USER118> I want to buy the updated 13". How much RAM does Yosemite take up? Not sure if I should go for the 16 GB version.

<comment><USER119> OS X is pretty good about sharing memory, so 8 GB is fine. I routinely run about 15-20 Apps on my MacBook Air, including a VMware instance with Windows XP, Aperture, Google Earth, Excel/Word/Powerpoint/Outlook/Mail.app.

The only people who require more than 8 GB on OS X are those who have Apps that _specially_ require a lot of memory to perform - Image Processing, Databases, etc...

I used to be in the "Buy as much memory as you can afford" \- but I really would never buy more than 8 GB on a Mac (with the caveat about memory hungry apps above)

<comment><USER120> It got a lot better in Mavericks with compression and better subsystems, but I'm sorry, I still push the limits with 16GB. 8 isn't enough for OSX at this point.

<comment><USER119> Ironically - I'm still on 10.8.5 (Mountain Lion) - My system is rock solid, no longer kernel faults, and I rarely have to reboot it more than once every two- three weeks because of a system hang.

Only specialists, or people with massive, massive data sets require more than 8 GB on OS X - I push my system really, really hard, and I rarely (if ever?) come close to maxing out memory.

This isn't to say there isn't a subset of people who can make do with more than 8 GB - but 95%+ of the average knowledge worker running the Office Apps, Google Earth, Safari, etc... will be fine for several years with that much memory.

<comment><USER120> Correct, 95% of the average knowledge worker will be fine with 8GB, but only 5% of the skilled knowledge workers who run specialized software, development stacks, VMs, etc.

In a software company I wouldn't stick anyone with an 8GB mac. But then, that is a specialist application technically.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER121> I've been considering upgrading from an Air to a Pro for the retina display and was waiting for this update. Now this has me a bit confused because the new MacBook has a retina display.

It seems like Pro may yet be the best choice for anyone doing demanding work, because the processor is 2x+ faster. While the 13" Pro may be a brick compared to this new MacBook, it's still incredibly light.

<comment><USER122> It's looking like this new MBAir will actually perform 20% _worse_ than the current-gen Airs due to the Core M processor. If performance is at all a factor in what you do I don't think it's even worth considering.

[http://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare.php?cmp%5B%5D=2465&cmp%5...](http://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare.php?cmp%5B%5D=2465&cmp%5B%5D=2238)

<comment><USER123> This is not an Air. This is a "Macbook".

The Air line was also upgraded to core i5 and i7 today.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER124> It's hard for me to believe that somebody actually likes the no-ports philosophy. In some offices where I worked it seemed like every 10 minutes somebody would run around asking for some dongle for their macbook. And again, not to sound to grumpy-cynical, the whole thing to me looks like a fad. A lot of inconvenience just to shave off a few grams and look sexy.

</comment><comment><USER125> So in switching from thunderbolt to usb-c, I'm wondering about the technical reasons. They went from 20-40g/s of thunderbolt to 5 in this version of usb-c, which is quite a reduction by itself. My understanding of previous USB specs is that USB is poll (and thus creates a lot of CPU load), versus firewire which was push. Is USB 3.1 now finally push?

<comment><USER126> They weren't delivering power over Thunderbolt (though technically possible I think).

By moving to USB-C they are now on tech the rest of the world is likely to pickup.

It's also pretty likely that it's more power-efficient than Thunderbolt and less complicated. (The Intel Thunderbolt controller is a mean looking IC that gets pretty hot)

</comment></comment><comment><USER127> Noooo! See the cursor-arrow keys? They dont leave out the two bits over the left and right keys anymore. I've always hated keyboard maker to do that (many laptop keyboards do this), as you will not have a tangible cue on where the cursor keys start.

Well, I guess that since they are so much on the edge of the device you can simply use the corner of the device as a cue...

</comment><comment><USER8> I see a lot of people hating much on the one port. Arguably, I wouldn't have minded just one on each side, but to be honest, I operate all most all of my connected things wirelessly. Bluetooth mouse, bluetooth keyboard, wifi sync of iOS devices etc.

If I had the use for more things connected, I'm either sitting down and connecting an external screen, in the same place always or I'm not doing it for long enough time for power to be an issue. Thus, a dock or dongle at that place would be natural (hell, I use one atm just to convert from HDMI to mini- DVI).

I see this as a good and pleasant move to pressure more things to go wireless. Still waiting for Airtame[0] to get out, so I can get rid of that annoying cable from monitors to my Air :)

The one gripe I do have, is the rather low GHz on those CPUs :( Max of 1.3GHz? Ugh...

[0] [https://airtame.com](https://airtame.com) (I know other products _like_ it exist)

</comment><comment><USER128> Yeah, it looks pretty. I'm way more interested in news about the 15" Macbook Pro. It really is the only developer laptop I'd consider at this point. Given the fresh reviews about the new Macbook and the trackpad update to the 13" model, I'm a little worried they're going to do something screwy with the 15" model. Haptic feedback? Do I want this? I think it would be rather frustrating to have wikipedia entries popping up when I'm trying to highlight my code.

Touch pressure is such an individual thing. I tend to pound on my keys and trackpad. It's the way I am. This Force click business (while reminding me of Force Push and Force Pull) seems very different from a binary "click" vs "no click." Even if you can adjust the sensitivity, it doesn't help when someone else has to use your laptop.

</comment><comment><USER129> Apparently my current Macbook Pro Retina has better power than "the new macbook" \-- [http://www.apple.com/mac/compare/results/?product1=macbook&p...](http://www.apple.com/mac/compare/results/?product1=macbook&product2=macbook- pro-retina-13)

<comment><USER130> Appears as if the new Macbook is sitting in between the Air and the Pro...

Air < Macbook < Pro

<comment><USER131> The confusing thing is that it doesn't.

Looks like it's

MB < Air < Pro.

The Intel M chip at 1.1gh certainly doesn't beat the air's 1.6 gh i5. Nor does the HD 5300 beat the HD 6000. Let alone if you max out both, it'll be 1.3gh vs 2.2gh for the MB and Air respectively.

Sure the MB starts with more mem/ssd. But you can configure the air to have just as much without spending more.

With the air 13' having an extra inch, 3 hours more battery, more ports, better performance, the only thing the MB has going for it is resolution. And that doesn't seem to override all its cons and put it ahead of the air in my opinion. (11' is a different story, but even that has better CPU/Graphics)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER132> No new 15" MacBook Pro? I wonder when that will be coming.

<comment><USER133> Thank you! It is hard for me to believe that macbooks (that receive all the attention) are always getting the royal treatment, when macbook pros are more expensive, and are (regularly) paid for by a business. Furthermore, my niece in college does not need a new macbook as often as I (as a professional) need a new macbook pro!

</comment></comment><comment><USER134> Still seems to be that the 13 in MBP w/ retina is best compared to the new Macbook.

[http://www.apple.com/mac/compare/results/?product1=macbook&p...](http://www.apple.com/mac/compare/results/?product1=macbook&product2=macbook- pro-retina-13)

</comment><comment><USER135> I found it telling that nothing about iCloud has changed. It seems that Apple has decided to be a hardware company, and frankly they are damn good at it.

I wish that they would own that and unlock the iDrive so we can all interface with their amazing hardware.

<comment> SG- Give it time. For one this isn't WWDC, this was a special event for specific products. iCloud has been getting better over time for users and devs and gaining new features, I'm sure it will continue to do so.

And while Apple continues to make money from hardware, they are not just a hardware operation, they provide an entire platform and ecosystem which iCloud is part of.

</comment></comment><comment><USER136> I'm anticipating a large market for wireless USB adapters using AC/WifiDirect.

</comment><comment><USER137> Very interesting device overall, might replace my Air.

The resolution seems quite low though. 2304x1440 at 226 ppi might sound not too bad, but straight pixel doubling would yield a pretty small screen real estate of 1152x720 in terms of logical pixels.

<comment><USER131> It supports the 1440x900 too though if you want it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER138> I'm not sure if I'm an old fart or something (I'm 31) but this has to be the daftest MacBook I've ever seen. I have a 2012 MacBook non-retina, with DVD writer and all the ports I need (MagSafe, Gigabit ethernet, FireWire, ThunderBolt (also Mini DisplayPort so I don't need fiddly adapters to connect to TVs), 2 USB ports, an SD card slot, as well as headphone output, and line input (both switchable to digital optical S/PDIF), and a decent sized screen with plenty of space to rest my hands on the device. I truly believe I have the last decent model! The RAM is upgradable and the battery and hard disk replaceable (but it's impossible to plug in two USB dongles next to each other, silly or what).

This new MacBook is firstly tiny (nowhere to rest my hands), a screen size that is the same as a Samsung Note (the big 12" one), everything is along the edges, and THERE IS ONE PORT. Do I now need to carry along a hub in addition to all of the adapters???? It's so stupid I am struggling to comprehend who their target audience is? They mention the USB-C and that you can plug screens, power and devices into it - but the big question is: can I do all three things at the same time?? Or would I need to eject my USB stick just to power my device? Even my monochrome 386SX Amstrad laptop from 1991 had more ports (only 4MB of RAM mind you).

My first monitor that I could get was a 10" IBM CGA screen which was tiny - this is competing for the most ridiculous sized screen on a daily use machine. Perhaps they are converging with the Apple Watch?

When I saw it I thought it was a funny joke and then I realised that it was actually true and on Apple's site; I realised that Apple in their pursuit of extreme thinness have abandoned all the reasons why people bought a laptop in the first place (a portable computer, you know, with ports that you can use). I frequently use a MacBook Air at work and it makes me angry pretty quickly - tiny screen, no ports. I have to wander around with a bunch of dongles to use it with other devices (I need ethernet for AVB audio and sometime must demonstrate on a TV). This new MacBook looks like the plasticy bendy laptops you see in the budget range of PC shops - not a good look to be going for.

I was saddened to see that the ordinary applications that are part of the OS are labelled "apps" at the bottom of the screen, and truly hope this isn't a move towards the merging of OSX and iOS as has been feared for some time, starting with the merging of styles. I develop software for OSX as my day job on a Mac Pro (the ones you could drive over) and this saddens me.

This is truly the daftest thing I've seen, and I'm an Apple fan and OSX/iOS developer with a stash of Apple gear, a daily Mac OSX development job and sideline OSX job too. Disclaimer: I thought I'd best add that because there is a sad tendency here on HN to behave like "slashdot" and ridicule other people for having opinions.

And about Force Touch: I would prefer Force Invisibility or Force Persuasion, like in Jedi Knight please.

EDIT: Just noticed they're still doing the MacBook Pro and I have engaged in much confusion, but still it's a crazy device that won't be able to compete with ordinary PC laptops with ports, methinks.

<comment><USER139> I don't honestly know whether the new MacBook is something that I'd want -- but I do know that _for my purposes_ my late-2013 MacBook Pro kicks your MBP's butt. It's lighter, _much_ faster, has a much better screen, and I don't really care much about the fact that I can't replace the battery. I'm still regularly getting eight hours offline.

And _realistically,_ when I'm traveling with my laptop it's rare that I'm plugging anything into it besides a power cable. When it's "docked" it has the power cable, a Thunderbolt cable, and an audio out cable because I'm kind of a nerd and want to use my own speakers. That's all I need: the external hard drive and (non-wifi) printer hang off the monitor's built-in hub, as does external Ethernet. What would I lose with this new weirdo laptop? I'd plug one less cable in docked.

"But if you're traveling with it you'd need to bring a hub with you!" Well, if I was traveling _and I expected to need to plug in USB stuff on the road,_ yes. But it's very clear that they're treating that as an edge case, making the assumption that many users can go almost entirely wireless, or will be able to in short order. And they're probably right. Maybe it'll be "daft" for you, but Apple has a history of doing daft things that more often than not drag the industry forward. (And keep pundits employed.)

<comment><USER138> Hey, mine's a quad core 2.6GHz i7 with 16GB of RAM; it isn't a slouch and isn't anywhere near needing replacing - that's why the user-replacable battery means that this isn't a throwaway item after a few years. If I bought a car with a battery in it that I couldn't replace, it'd be stupid, but the same is being accepted on laptops.

Admittedly the disk is a major slowdown on this but I have a LOT of data to cart around (VMs, dev environments, and recorded audio and video).

I can take this thing all over the world and not worry about a bag of cables and adapters. It replaced my desktop machine and still fits that need, which is a good thing I think.

You're right about the screen though :-(

<comment><USER140> Another post covered the battery thing. $130 battery replacement on Air and $199 replacement on MBP, in Apple store, while you wait. Granted, who knows how long they'll provide that service.. for a 3 year old laptop? 5? 7?

I've got a 2012 Retina MBP and 2011 Air and battery life is not something I even think about. These things last ages these days.

<comment><USER138> You're right about the battery - I expect it to last for ages, but it'd be nice to be able to replace it without much hassle. The same cannot be said for the ones with built in batteries, or even my phone (which is irritating as the constant drain / recharge cycle has destroyed its ability to hold charge).

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER141> Anybody know how the headphone jack will work?

<comment><USER142> The MacBook appears to have a standard headphone jack on the side opposite the USB-C connector.

(Can be seen in the picture of the space black model at the very bottom of the linked page.)

</comment></comment><comment><USER143> Missed opportunity to place an HDMI port and a USB port on the power brick.

</comment><comment><USER144> _" designed for a world where your primary computing device is your smartphone, not your laptop."_

So it's a laptop for people who don't do any real computing on their laptop?

</comment><comment><USER145> Think they did a great job but I think they are pointing to a slightly more general public leaving out developers, musicians where they use plenty of peripherals working in parallel without being dependent on a multipurpose adapter which by the large amount of workload this has little duration of life for the multiple use is given much is to connect power, monitor, external sound plate, mechanical keyboard, etc ... all this to make it flatter slopes of implementing the USB-C

</comment><comment> enahs-sf Really hoping this can at least be bumped to 16gb of RAM. Processing power seems diminutive to say the least. I guess this will just be a good looking, fancy SSH machine for me.

</comment><comment><USER5> So someone had it nearly exactly right with those renders that were floating around, except the power and escape key are not reversed. Glad that turned out not to be the case.

</comment><comment><USER146> This seems like an obvious prelude to ARM CPUs in MacBooks.

<comment><USER147> This actually looks to me like a huge win for Intel. A full fast Intel CPU, with no fan! The ability to be passively cooled was previously one of ARMs serious advantages.

<comment><USER146> No one actually cared that a laptop needed a fan, though. Apple could have put a fan in this and no one would have seen it as a huge deficiency.

<comment><USER131> Still it's massively useful. It means more space for the battery and it also indirectly means that if you need no fan, you probably generate very little heat, which means you have a crazy efficient CPU meaning even more battery.

Which is how they can do the same amount of battery life as the 11', despite having a bigger screen and a retina display.

And a big part of that equation is probably the fanless chip. But it's true it's not like users were complaining about e.g. the MBA lineup being so noisy.

<comment><USER146> Yes - and what they've achieved is a CPU that's much closer to the ARM state of the art, and has a much more ARM-like power profile, and would generally be easier to replace with ARM a couple of years down the line.

This coincides with being fanless.

Had Apple made this (say) the same thickness as the MacBook air, they'd have increased their volume by a measurable amount, they'd have been able to have a much more powerful processor, and no one would be able to say that ARM is a good proposition for them for the foreseeable future.

Now they have a fairly weakly performing computer, with an ARM-sized logic board, which is going to be bought by people who don't care about bottom line performance.

This is going to be the slowest Mac in a number of years - and if it's a success then making the next-slowest Mac be ARM wouldn't be such a jump.

<comment><USER131> I agree it's a definite possibility. They did it before with the iPad lineup when everyone thought they'd bring a decent chip to the table, and went with low-end phone chips. Of course very good low-end chips, running highly optimized software, but still.

I just don't really follow their path here. First they make the MB more expensive than the air, but run slower. They also make it lighter, smaller, thinner and quieter than the air (air having light-as-a-feather connotations).

I mean, what's the deal in 2 years? If it's the lowest powered device, it'll probably be the thinnest and lightest etc, too. So what about the Air? Will they just throw that powerful brand name out of the window?

Will they expect people to buy 12' and not the 13' MBA with a bigger screen, 3 hours more battery, more ports and a bunch more (20-30%) powerful yet equally less expensive?

In short, it's a bit of a strange lineup. And while I agree with you that it obviously is, and may likely remain the slowest Macbook (slowest Mac period, the Mini notwithstanding), I don't necessarily see how that means ARM as opposed to continuing with refreshed Intel Ms, or hell even an updated Atom lineup. Is there any indication they want to move away from Intel again? I mean, weak performance is one thing, but this is OS X we're talking about, for a device that costs beyond $1k, which probably has good enough profit margins on an Intel M, would they really underpower it even more with a weaker chip?

I'm not very familiar with CPUs though, would love some more of your thoughts on this. It's definitely true that it's now very feasible, and so it all comes down to who can deliver the best low-power CPU the next few years.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER148> Kickstarter for magsafe type c connector in 3...2...1..

</comment><comment><USER149> One thing I'd love to see Apple do is waterproof their laptops. There are coatings available, such as liquipel, that can make laptops highly water resistant, so why doesn't Apple use such a coating? A coffee spill is probably the most likely cause of early death for a laptop, and all Apple has done is put water sensors inside their laptops so they can deny warranty coverage.

</comment><comment><USER150> I'm disappointed that this has only one port. I shouldn't have to choose between charging my laptop and using my USB port for something.

Having said that, battery power is my number 1 priority when buying a laptop. My 2013 Macbook Air is great in this regard, it charges to full in 40 minutes and lasts for a long ass time. If this new model has even better battery tech, I'm all for it.

<comment><USER131> Battery is about 3h worse than the MBA 13'.

The port sucks but usually anything you want to plug in for longer periods of time are not a problem.

i.e., a USB stick? Take out charger, plug in, transfer files, put charger back in. No problem.

A mouse or keyboard or monitor? Well you're probably at home or work, so you buy a usb hub and stick it on your desk. Problem solved.

It sucks as the new MB is supposed to be the lightest most portable Mac in the lineup, dedicated hubs don't fit that story. And it's another $50-150 depending on if you need 1 or 2, or a fancy slick one.

Me I'm just gonna go with the refreshed 2015 MBA 13'. Better battery, 1 inch bigger screen, a lot cheaper with all the ports I need and hey, a better processor, too (1.6gh instead of 1.4 and HD 6000 instead of HD 5000 on the new 2015 version versus the older 2014 one).

</comment></comment><comment><USER151> Specs are interesting - 8gb ram,256 gb flash drive,1.1/2.4 turbo ghz, but 1300$ ? way too expensive,as it cost as much as the mb pro.A price under 1000$ would have made way more sense for a macbook. But I guess they have the data that show people are ready to pay that price for that item. Still , the pricing strategy between mb,mb air and mb pro is a bit confusing. \-----

<comment><USER152> Recall that the MacBook Air originally cost way, way more than the MacBook Pro and was way, way less powerful. The price'll fall in two years or so.

<comment><USER131> True, but you had a radically improved form factor that was actually light and had a nice battery, while the performance was fine for the type of users it marketed to.

Meanwhile this thing takes away ports from your 13 inch MBA, takes away 1 inch of screen, takes away 3 hours of battery, takes away CPU performance, and it gives back? It's not like the MBA is heavy, thick or noisy. The retina screen is really nice but to me it doesn't really look like a good deal.

Not saying it won't be popular, I think it'll be very. Just don't see it being so interesting right now myself even if I had $100m to spend, there's some big tradeoffs with this new MB.

Strangest thing to me wasn't really the pricing fit, I think I would've done the same. But that we ended up with an 'Air' line that's heavier, bigger, thicker and noisier, and hell better performing, than the regular MB line. At least it's still got better battery life, well the 13' that is!

Looking forward to 2016's edition!

<comment><USER153> I think the naming points to the future. In a couple of years, the changes that seem daring and unforgivable in this version will seem bland and expected and there will be no reason to hold on to the current MBA line with its fans and obsolete connectors. Then it quietly disappears and we are back to two lines, the MB and MBP.

<comment><USER131> Definite possibility but it feels like the 'air' name is like 'Pro'. Something that's building up a lot of brand value, awareness, understanding, culture, a segment is forming around it etc. They've adopted it now for the ipad lineup, too, I think it's here to stay. The air has been a massive success at capturing teenagers and college age adults who also have an iPhone, literally a new generation of Apple users. For them the Air is a big brand.

Don't forget Regular vs Pro might not be as powerful as Air vs Pro, as Air doesn't just differentiate it from Apple's Pro, but also from competitors 'normal' laptops. i.e. a consumer might reason: even if I don't get Apple's pro product, I still want to get their Air, as that's better than the competitor's 'regular', as air means lighter, more battery, more portable.

That sounds really simplistic and silly, but I think these processes are a genuine part of people's buying decisions in the non-professional sector that the regular/air line caters to.

Which is why it surprised me a bit that they didn't go for naming it the 12' Air, especially it being the lighest and most portable and quiet. Of course that would've been a very tricky lineup as some Airs are on the Intel M chip and fanless and expensive and retina, while others are not, and with just 1 inch difference between them it'd have been too busy.

But yeah I agree, definite possibility. Had kind of expected the Air not to get a refresh, and for the Air 12' to be the Macbook Air Retina, and that in 2 years the 11 and 13 would be discontinued while the 12 kept getting updated, reduced in price and with 10h battery and decent performance for anything not professional. Would make a very simple lineup. 12' air, 13'/15' Pro, and iMac/Pro/Mini for any bigger form factors.

We'll see!

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER154> I can't wait for Audioquest USB Type-C cables!

</comment><comment><USER155> I'm surprised they introduced colors. Even three SKUs seems excessive for something that doesn't sell as hotly as an iDevice.

<comment><USER156> I don't think so, Apple has made Macs in multiple colors before. Once the iMac and iBook were available in four or more colors, but that was way back in 2000.

</comment></comment><comment><USER157> Less ports is not what I want in a laptop. At all.

Dongles and whatnot are a plague on portability, and take up more space then whatever gains are made in the hardware usually.

The laptop I want? One which has it's entire power supply, and the 110/240VAC cable and plug able to coil up inside it so I can literally just carry "the laptop" and not have to worry about chargers.

<comment><USER158> I'd want one that uses an USB for charging. Same charger as phone. Charging from a USB plug in an airplane. ... I guess this is actually it. Except it needs more than one connector.

</comment></comment><comment><USER159> No (standard) USB port. Weird. I wonder if it'll ship with a USB cable?

To be honest, the one USB device that I use the most is my mouse, and I suppose Apple expects me to get a wireless one, and that is fine. But what about stuff like USB drives? I am not looking forward to not being able to just give somebody a file on a USB drive because they forgot their OTG cable.

<comment><USER160> USB Type C to USB Standard A Receptacle adapters are supported by the USB specification.

As I understand things, the desire from the USB-IF is to basically have USB Type A and Type B start to disappear.

Until we get to that critical mass point... Yeah. It'll be annoying. But hopefully we will get to enjoy this standard for at least a few years before it is replaced.

</comment></comment><comment><USER161> I remember in collage (2000's) when everyone just started to get laptop and before magsafe macbooks the broken power ports were THE cause for people breaking their laptops. Sometimes repair shops could fix this but usually the motherboard was damaged and you just had to get a new machine. Sad to see it go, it was a brilliant idea.

<comment><USER162> OEMs (generally) eventually started making the power ports a replaceable part to make it a cheaply resolvable issue. Hopefully they will apply that wisdom to USB-3c ports on devices that use it exclusively for their power connection.

</comment></comment><comment><USER163> Apple's product lineup keeps on growing and growing. Wonder if this is a good direction? Now there are five different iPad models, five different laptops and three desktops.

Sometimes choice is good, sometimes not. It used to be that buying an Apple did not require too much thinking because there were not that many to choose from.

</comment><comment><USER164> I wonder if it would be possible to build a USB-C charger where the tip is connected to the rest of the cord with magnets. I don't see why we would need to give up the disconnect-when-tripping-on-the-cord just because the final connector now becomes more solidly connected to the laptop?

<comment><USER136> That depends on how magnetic the body is. Unless you mean a magnetic breakaway cable, but that would mean a dongle that would stick out all the time.

I think both could be marketable if this gets big in a generation or two.

</comment></comment><comment><USER165> I really wish someone made a Windows notebook with this kind of hardware build quality. I realize mobile is the new sexiness, but people still buy notebooks. There were a few hundred million PCs sold last year.

I have to believe Dell could at least come close. I have an XPS13 and it just doesn't.

<comment><USER166> What's wrong with the XPS13? I'm looking for a new notebook. Hesitating between this new Macbook and XPS13.

</comment></comment><comment><USER167> Are there any performance benchmarks of the Intel Core M (Macbook) vs 2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 (MacBook Pro). The new keyboard, new touchpad, new design, improved battery are awesome, but for nearly the same price, you can get a MacBook Pro.

<comment><USER131> Eh well the M isn't even as performing as the MBA lineup, let alone the MBP lineup. I wouldn't expect the MB to be anything near a powerhouse.

And the MBP 13' has better battery life by 1-2 hour than the MB. (not the non- retina MBP, which is 2 hours worse), but the retina (which is priced the same as the MB. (although you'd need to add 128gb storage to make it equal which increases the price a bit).

The keyboard doesn't actually seem any better. Yes it's backlit by individual button and yes the buttons are a bit bigger than normal with a new system. Is that better? I'd say it looks like they did a good job of not making the keyboard suck more. After all, they have less space for the keyboard as it's 12' big, less travel for the keyboard as it's thinner. But less travel is generally worse, less space between keys (more mistakes) is generally worse, keys right next to the touchpad is generally worse.

So I'd prefer the MBP keyboard and battery, the MBP screen, CPU and Graphics, magsafe charger and ports.

The MB's pros is the touchpad (will have to try it first, looks interesting but I doubt the 3rd click will see much software support the first year anyway, beyond that it's nothing new). And the fact it comes with 256gb at the same price. But it doesn't make up for a shitty CPU and graphics, tight keyboard with little travel, 1 port requiring externals, 1-2 hours less battery and 1 inch less screen.

If I wanted the smaller form factor I'd still go for the MBA 13'. 3 hours more battery, extra inch, a lot cheaper, better performance.

Sorry couldn't answer your specific question, haven't seen benchmarks, just know the M sits between their low-power low-performance chips and the i5/i7 core chips. The fact it draws 5 watt and is fanless tells you enough :P

</comment></comment><comment><USER168> I think the single port is a deal breaker for me-I really like the 12 inch form factor (finally!) but this is too. But at least it starts out with 8GB of RAM-I wouldn't have put it past Apple to put only 4 in the base model.

<comment><USER169> Apple supplies an adapter with usb, vga or hdmi ports. From there, we are back to the usb hub on the desk. The adapter costs only 79$ (:o)

</comment></comment><comment><USER42> I love it. It pains me that I can't use my YubiKey with it, which is a dealbreaker for me.

Guess I'll have to wait for the next iteration, which will hopefully "change everything, again" and add a second USB port...

</comment><comment><USER170> Is it really that good?

[http://venturebeat.com/2015/03/15/why-i-changed-my-mind- abou...](http://venturebeat.com/2015/03/15/why-i-changed-my-mind-about-the- new-macbook/)

</comment><comment><USER171> No MagSafe, a single port for USB, more expensive than an Air with worse specs. If I wanted a simple machine just for browsing the web, I'd use my iPad. I don't know who this laptop is aimed at.

</comment><comment><USER172> I'm curious if this machine will be able to drive a 5k monitor when Apple makes one. The tech spec says the USB-C port will support DisplayPort 1.2 (not 1.3), so it doesn't seem promising :(

</comment><comment><USER173> I think this is the most important announcement from the event. Sadly all the click bait news will be about how expensive the Gold Watch will be. This laptop is extremely light and has good specs.

</comment><comment><USER174> > Taptic engine

> Force Touch trackpad

I'm annoyed by senseless techno-marketing jargon.

<comment><USER175> "Force touch" sounds like something you _wouldn 't_ want to advertise.

<comment><USER168> It sounds like a Jedi power.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER176> I don't like the gold color, everything else seems nice.

</comment><comment><USER177> About magsafe - I wonder why they didn't move it to the charger side? Any thoughts? It could work for what concerns most people who like it.

</comment><comment><USER178> So I'm not allowed to use thumb drives anymore?

</comment><comment><USER179> Seems like Apple is trying to evolve the Macbook Air into some sort of large iPad. Single port, no fan, guts are mostly battery etc.

</comment><comment><USER180> Like the Macbook Air, it does not offer a 16 GB RAM option. That's a bummer for web developers who keep lots of tabs open.

<comment><USER181> I know right, it's so frustrating because I would happily pay the extra for it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER182> Does USB type-C in Macbook mean that on all other slim devices (namely - <USER2> and iPhone) lightning will be replaced with USB?

</comment><comment><USER183> It's not MacBook Air, its called Macbook.

</comment><comment><USER184> I hope there will be a 14-inch version with the sd card reader and more USB ports. Will we see it this fall?

</comment><comment><USER185> I see they are pushing tethering to an iPhone. Does you still have to pay the carrier for that feature?

<comment><USER186> I know that at least AT&T isn't charging for this right now. In fact, my bill went DOWN when I switched from a 250mb/450minute/limited texts plan to a 1gb/unlimited talk/texts plan that included tethering. The tethering isn't a separate item on the bill. But it's possible that older plans won't "support" it - I think that was the case with mine.

</comment></comment><comment><USER187> I think no magsafe and just 1 port is a bit excessive. Also, what's the niche for MBA now?

<comment><USER131> The MB is far from cheap, especially for such an underpowered device.

Comparing it to the 11' MBA, I see the MB as being better in virtually every way. But the MBA 11 is the cheapest in the macbook lineup, the price difference with the 12' is so big that its niche is essentially catering to a lower-end price segment.

For the 13' the price difference is still there, but not as big. But the 13' has 3 hours more battery, better ports and an extra 1 inch, while again being cheaper.

Add to that the fact that the MB is actually quite underpowered (1.1ghz, HD 5300), the MBA 1.6 Ghz, HD 6000 is a significant step up. Meaning for any dev work for which you don't need a MBP (probably the majority of web stuff both front/back end, and a fair bit of development outside of that), you're going to want to more powerful MBA.

The MB to me feels like a replacement for the 11' for rich peeps who want a slick device for school, entertainment, office work (e.g. PR, marketing, management), while the MBA 11' is in the cheap macbook niche and the MBA 13' is in the 'all-day aspiring workhorse that's not quite as powerful as a MBP, but very affordable' niche. The new MB is certainly not in the cheap niche, and it's not quite all-day or an aspiring workhorse.

Longer-term though, I have no clue. It's a confusing lineup for sure. MB is less powerful than the air. What? Air is thicker, bigger, noisier than the MB, what? The Air/Pro was a great lineup, the new MB is a weird one in the story.

</comment></comment><comment><USER188> This is not a real laptop, as they claim it is. 2 core 1.2Ghz no discrete video, it has only ONE extension port. Really, u cannot connect at the same time mouse, screen and external drive, WTF? It is not suitable for most of professional tasks, it is like an iPad with keyboard and multitasking, thats all.

<comment><USER189> This comment is ridiculous. What is it about "laptop" that makes you think "professional tasks with a mouse and external drive"?? That's not how most people use their laptops.

Given that it runs OS X and not iOS it seems more comparable to the Surface than to Androids-tablets-with-keyboards, so I'm not sure why you'd say this is more like an iPad+keyboard than simply a low-power mac laptop.

</comment></comment><comment><USER190> Are the individual LEDs under the keys controllable with software?

<comment><USER191> That's what I was wondering. Would allow for some fun games.

</comment></comment><comment><USER192> One only port...Data Vs Power??..I hope they thought it through..

</comment><comment><USER193> Steve would never approve this product.

</comment><comment><USER194> This link changed after I voted.

</comment><comment><USER195> ultimate facebook machine basically

annihilate Google pixel 2 sales (if anyone expect any) before start

</comment><comment><USER196> So this be replacing the 11" Airs? If so I'll be the first to get a grab the old machine. No ports no buy.

<comment><USER197> Nope, old air line was updated with faster processors as well. This is being released in addition to the old style airs.

</comment></comment><comment> X-combinator Can't wait to get it.

</comment><comment><USER198> OT but, on Chrome and Firefox on FreeBSD, all the images and most of the text have the opacity of the images set to zero in their CSS and I can only see a couple of headlines. I presume their javascript is not detecting something correctly and not doing this right. Interesting. I've never seen that before.

EDIT: I just now noticed that the link above goes to /macbook/ but, if you go to the Apple site and click on Mac, the pathname is /mac/ and now I can see and read everything. Also interesting.

EDIT2: Ah but the Macbook link still doesn't show everything.

</comment><comment><USER199> Is there a USB-C to thunderbolt adapter/hub that would work with existing Cinema displays as well as power the laptop? Or a similar adapter/hub for HDMI?

</comment><comment><USER200> But will it bend?

</comment><comment><USER199> The specs list 8gb as the only option which is a bit of a disappointment. I was hoping they would offer 16gb and up the rMPBs to 32gb. Otherwise it looks fantastic. I can't wait to try it.

<comment><USER131> It has the worst CPU in the entire Mac lineup as far as I know, worse than the 11 inch MBA (which is such a confusing brand message. The MB Air is heavier and more noisy than the regular MB, but the MB isn't as powerful as the Air, bit strange right?)

In any case, it doesn't really scream '32gb' to me. i.e. what could you possibly need 32gb of ram for where you won't get bottle-necked to hell and back by a processor more often used in tablets and small 2-in-1s than laptops.

Let me know what you were planning to use the memory for, genuinely curious!

<comment><USER199> I was hoping it could replace the Air as an all-purpose laptop. 32gb might be a bit overkill, but 16gb is not unheard of, especially considering a life of 5-8 years. If it is roughly as fast as a 2012 Air (which some sites compare it to), it's plenty fast enough for everyday tasks as well as work where I need to run a few VMs. Thus the memory. Still, I'm more interested to see if there will be a DisplayPort dongle and if it could output 4k @ 60hz. If not, the new Air / Retina upgrades are much more interesting.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER201> I love my Surface Pro 3, thank you very much :-)

<comment><USER202> How does Linux run on the SP3? I'm considering moving from Apple one my rMBP bites the dust - is the SP3 fully Linux-compatible, do you know by chance?

<comment><USER201> Sorry, I don't know about that. Would this help: [http://www.geek.com/microsoft/linux-users-rejoice-heres- ubun...](http://www.geek.com/microsoft/linux-users-rejoice-heres-ubuntu-on- the-surface-pro-3-1594864/) ?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER203> I didn't even know there was a show today. From a long time Apple fanboy, I think that says a lot about what this company has left in free marketing from the internet channels.

I would say the free ride is over for Apple and they're now just another company doing things in the mosh pit.

<comment><USER204> So you read no technology blogs or news sources? This has been anticipated for months.

<comment><USER203> I believe the market that anticipates an Apple keynote is shrinking. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think I am.

<comment><USER204> I think you're wrong - it was in all the major news outlets and blogs.

<comment><USER203> Looking at the number of comments left on news article sites. It used to be in the 500's within an hour, now it's around 10-30. That's what I'm basing my judgement on...Again, maybe I'm wrong.

<comment><USER205> Yea, but it was fixed when someone said that the finder sucked and now we got 1200 comments... ;)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment> X-combinator More insight from FastCompany:

[http://www.fastcompany.com/3043324/tech-forecast/apple- intro...](http://www.fastcompany.com/3043324/tech-forecast/apple-introduces-a- super-thin-12-inch-macbook-with-retina-display)

<comment><USER206> What insight? I don't see anything new on that page.

<comment><USER207> Maybe he/she met is a promoter of FastCompany.

<comment> X-combinator I just met to show FastCompany's story on it. Cuz I liked it.

(Disclaimer) Not a sponsor/promoter of them.

<comment><USER206> I can understand that, but if it doesn't bring anything new, there's no point in mentioning it here.

<comment> X-combinator OK chief.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER208> They messed up the resolution. No more "4x the resolution" as "retina" anymore for Apple devices, it seems. It's the end of that, as we've seen with the new iPhones.

So now developers will have to target those resolutions _exactly_ as they are. No more "elegant scaling" and whatnot.

<comment><USER209> > So now developers will have to target those resolutions exactly as they are.

People writing MacOS software do not typically target a particular number of pixels; it's a windowed operating system. One point will be 2x2 pixels, as on the retina MBP and iMac, and on all retina iOS devices except the big iPhone (where one point is 3x3 pixels).</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Would you subscribe to my newsletter? - <AUTHOR> Hi guys, I previously launched a subject to find the best name for my Geeky newsletter. The purpose of the newsletter is to provide daily or weekly links about various subjects that would interest you (they obviously interest me).
I finally found the name : Dixit.
Dixit means "according to..." in French (I am French). I'd now need some testers in order to receive feedback about
- newsletter design - website design (i didn't make a huge effort on this one) - categories, etc...
the fact is that is a side project, I do it for fun, and, from time to time, no link may be shared on a specific day. The links are collected manually, I just add comments on them.
the registration URL is here : https://dixitnews.com/ and you can, from this page, access the archive of links I already collected.
Thanks for your feedback ! <comment><USER2> Dixit is quite a common last name in North India (Maharashtra state) :)

</comment><comment><USER3> Meh. I think the iPhone is for fashion models, not geeks!

I do appreciate that you showed the archive of links, because if it was sight unseen I would not have checked it out at all.</comment>


1.15 gigapixel royal wedding picture - <AUTHOR> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13200114

<comment><USER2> I love searching in pics like this.

A few sliced bodies:

<http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2819425/Sliced.jpg>

And, more interesting, a few seemingly undercover agents:

<http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2819425/agents.jpg>

</comment><comment><USER3> FINALLY! I can stare at my screen at say "zoom and enhance B4" and have a face pop up.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> I think the cops have white gloves in case they need to corrall people by pushing them, if there had been any crown trouble. I don't think it is part of police Dress Uniform.</comment>


David Fox - #3 hire at Lucasarts, Worked with Douglas Adams, Hired Tim Schafer - <AUTHOR> http://www.destructoid.com/david-fox-on-forming-lucasarts-with-george-writing-with-douglas-adams-and-more-288839.phtml

<comment><AUTHOR> and also worked with Orson Scott Card. Man, what a career.</comment>


F-16 pilot was ready to give her life on Sept. 11 - <AUTHOR> https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/f-16-pilot-was-ready-to-give-her-life-on-sept-11/2015/09/06/7c8cddbc-d8ce-11e0-9dca-a4d231dfde50_story.html <comment><USER2> >"The real heroes are the passengers on Flight 93 who were willing to sacrifice themselves," Penney says.

What?!

The aircraft crashed into the ground because terrorists crashed it into the ground rather than be overcome by the passengers who were breaching the cockpit. I am sure the passengers would _not_ have crashed into the ground if they had control of the aircraft, and they died fighting for their lives.

To attribute a sense of noble sacrifice to the passengers is despicably disrespctful.

<comment><USER3> I disagree, I do not feel it is disrespectful considering the heroic story of the passengers Todd Beamer, Mark Bingham, and others on United Flight 93 who were able to successfully take steps to actively resist the hijacking. They were fully aware that those steps may lead to their death, but regardless it is likely they would have died anyway -- there were no survivors of any of the other hijacked planes that day.

A reminder of the story of United Flight 93 on that day:

[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/dec/02/september11.te...](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/dec/02/september11.terrorism1)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Oh. My. God.

This story is written exactly like a script for a movie, designed to make the American reader feel patriotic to the country and hopefully decide to send more of their kids to endless wars.

Just wow.</comment>


The NSA Says It Has to Spy on You to Find Out If It's Spying on You - <AUTHOR> https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/the-nsa-says-it-has-to-spy-on-you-to-find-out-if-its-spying-on-you <comment><USER2> It sounds like "obamacare" because "we have to pass it to find out what is in it".</comment>