Because they're different machines with different target markets. It isn't just an Air with a better display. Why not compare it to the Mac Pro?
Why? Or a better question, why not both?
Quite relevant. How many USB ports, card readers, and video out ports does the ASUS have?
The best reason is you don't need them because you can do all of those things wirelessly. If you can't, then get an older computer with older technology.
Or you can just complain about things that have no effect on you whatsoever.
you can just complain about things that have no effect on you whatsoever.
Because they're different machines with different target markets. It isn't just an Air with a better display. Why not compare it to the Mac Pro?
With its two-pound design, stunning screen and surprisingly comfortable keyboard, the new 12-inch MacBook offers a glimpse at the possible future of laptops. For now, though, its high price and lack of ports make it an expensive novelty, mostly meant for Mac diehards who put portability and screen quality above all else.
Ars' review is a bit more in depth but comes to the same conclusion.
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2015/04/the-2015-macbook-previews-a-future-thats-not-quite-here/
Too bad Anand is gone. Would have loved one of his overly thorough reviews on this. Especially since he is an Apple fan.
I sort of get the watch but this thing is kind of a baffling product IMO. I just can't figure out who their market for this would be. Macbooks were always the mainstream laptop and were priced accordingly. Then they got replaced by the Air. This thing is more expensive than the Air but has worse specs asside from the display. The weak CPU doesn't make it especially suited for tasks that would benefit from Retina like photo and video editing. Nobody's going to read a lot of text on it close up like the iPad. The iPad is more portable for basic mobile computing tasks. The Air is also very thin and portable.
The single USB port is really just the cherry on WTF sundae. They could have squeezed two on there. One on either side, without affecting the design. No Lightning is also odd.
I almost wonder if the new Macbook started life as an iPad Maxi, a Surface Pro competitor with a full desktop OS, but somehow got transformed into a laptop halfway through the design process.
the default specs are ACTUALLY decent for once.
I'm sort of confused with the Macbook as well. I didn't catch the press conference but I caught up with the Arstechnica review. I didn't have a clue about the new MacBook until then, so I went into the review blind. The one port is strange and harkens back to when the Air first launched. Then they talked about retina display, which I thought was weird because the Air doesn't have that and the MacBook used to be the low end model when compared to teh MacBook Pro. So, I thought they were reintroducing a bargain machine.
The processing power aligns with a bargain price, but retina did not. I continued reading and saw the really shallow keyboard. Then the most baffling thing hit me, it was lighter and smaller than the 13" MacBook Air. So at this point, I thought it would make a killer low-cost option for college students until I read the price... WTH?
So we have three notebooks that all start around the same price with the MacBook AIR actually being heavier than the MacBook. The MacBook is much slower and stripped out, but it costs the same.
I have no clue what to think. Seems like strapping a retina display to the Air and not having 3 different laptops would have been the better choice or simply call this thing the new Air and be done with it.
The single USB port, which is exactly what the original Air had, it didn't get a second until 2010 with the redesign. And adding that second port WOULD have compromised the existing design. Both by making the logic board larger (my understanding is that the chipset only supports 1 port), and they'd lose battery to make space for the second port.
Why is the lack of Lightning odd? Lightning is USB 2, USB C on the rMB is USB 3. Did you mean thunderbolt? That is a little odd, but again larger logic board and less battery.
I'm not crazy about it, and wouldn't get it even if I felt like dropping $1500 on a new laptop (dat blackbook tho), but I don't see it as much more compromised than when the first Air came out, and at least this time they put sufficient RAM and storage in the thing, the default specs are ACTUALLY decent for once.
You don't think it's that great, but you're still gonna get it. In that context, I would wait for version 2 at least.I actually went to an Apple Store today to get an iPad and check out the watches.
I was a little underwhelmed by the watch. I still like it, and will still get one, but it was much smaller than I thought it would be, and not as bright.
That's why I don't agree with all the Just-Get-The-MBA statements. I really hate the screen of the 11.6" MBA, and the screen of the 13.3" MBA is just mediocre. Furthermore, neither has ergonomic font sizes IMO for OS X.I do have to say I was pretty impressed with the MacBook. Maybe you just need to see it in person. It is tiny, and the screen is fantastic.
You don't think it's that great, but you're still gonna get it. In that context, I would wait for version 2 at least.
That's why I don't agree with all the Just-Get-The-MBA statements. I really hate the screen of the 11.6" MBA, and the screen of the 13.3" MBA is just mediocre. Furthermore, neither has ergonomic font sizes IMO for OS X.
However, the specs of the 12" MacBook are underwhelming.
So, I will take my own advice above, for the 12" MacBook. I will wait for version 2 at least.
It's confusing if you don't think about future plans.
The MacBook is Apple's future device, it'll replace the Air, give it a generation, and it'll be a great all rounder laptop.
I think we'll see 2 laptop lines again in 1-2 years, the MBP and the MB.
We're already in an age where 15W CPUs are more than adequate for at least 80% of consumers.Yeah, I still think it will be really useful. I did decide to go for the sport version rather than the stainless.
Next to the MacBook, the MBAs look like old relics. Like the MBPs next to the rMBPs.
It does seem like it's oriented toward very casual users, but could serve those people really well. An iPad with a physical keyboard and OSX.
I imagine they're going to stick with the Core M processors though, so unless Skylake brings some huge advances, wouldn't performance will always be compromised?
We're already in an age where 15W CPUs are more than adequate for at least 80% of consumers.
Core M procs will always be slower than U-series but within a couple generations, they will probably be more than fast enough for all but power users. Not saying I would personally ever get a 12" MacBook with limited ports; but the MBA was seriously flawed when introduced at $1799 and it somehow morphed into a pretty solid machine starting at $1k (despite the current complaints about the shabby screen).
It's almost hilarious to recall that the MBA debuted with horribly slow iPod spindle HDD (1.8") and now uses PCI-e solid state storage that is orders of magnitude faster.
Slightly on a tangent, the general rule is to never buy an Apple 1.0 product. Let them iterate and improve before committing.
I realized yesterday one obvious target market for MacBooks: Writers. The virtual keyboard on an ipad is a crappy way to go, but you want something as minimal as possible, but also a big beautiful screen for composition.
I want to say that as recently as 2011 you could still get a platter drive on a MBA, but I may be wrong, they may have all been SSD at that point.
With time and CPU improvements, compromised performance becomes acceptable performance. The same compromised performance was true with the Airs once upon a time.