Ah, there’s nothing quite like the buzz surrounding an Apple event.
Apple fanboys jumping onto social media to taunt the “opposition” fanboys; analysts predicting the growth/demise of the brand; and of course you have the journalists, bloggers and geeks all passing their judgement on the new products. It’s bloody brilliant.
As expected we got just that with the launch of the all new MacBook this week, but after reading/watching a lot of first impressions one thing is clear to me: the geeks of this world are misunderstanding who this product is for.
Let me explain.
It’s not meant to be powerful
I’m the first to admit that the processing power is a little bit “meh” on the new MacBooks. It’s as if Apple wanted to say, “hey everyone, we’re going to get you really excited about this awesome, super thin, super light laptop, but we’re going to purposely handicap it.”
The 1.1GHz Intel Core M processors are significantly weaker than the 2.5GHz you’ll find on my MacBook Pro for example, and while it’d be nice if the new MacBook had more power, it’s a laptop that simply isn’t made for that. It wasn’t designed to be a work horse; it’s more of a really (really) portable machine you can use to get basic stuff done — emails, social media, basic documents and spreadsheets, checking out the latest Let’s Talk Tech articles and so on. (Pardon the shameless plug there.)
Want a powerful laptop? That’s what the MacBook Pro is there for. Want something that can handle the pressure but still be super light and portable? You need to grab a MacBook Air. Want something incredibly basic — an “entry level” machine of sorts — which runs OS X and is incredibly easy to carry around? Welcome to the new MacBook.
But, what about the ports?!
The biggest complaint about this new machine has been its single USB C port. We read about this in the rumours, and it turned out to be true.
First and foremost, I don’t have a problem with the single port. Apple have tried to make this laptop as thin as possible and to do that, you need to get rid of extras.
If peripheral devices are so important to you, go and get yourself an adapter and pair it with something like the Elgato Thunderbolt 2 dock (which I’m certain they’ll make for the new MacBook), or just get the more powerful MacBook Pro/Air.
To me, the type of customer who is likely to buy this MacBook is probably after something to get really basic work done. They’re unlikely to be video/ photo editing or gaming, and chances are they don’t really need USB, super fast Thunderbolt or Ethernet ports either.
Ask yourself this: what’s going to happen when devices get so thin that they won’t be able to fit a headphone port either? You’ll move to Bluetooth connectivity. Also consider that with everything moving into the cloud (music and streaming services, documents and iCloud/Google Drive, photos and iCloud Photo), how often are those USB ports actually going to be used? Port-less machines are the future in my opinion, so we better start getting used to it.
A step into the future of computing
Apple is synonymous with good design, and this new MacBook is one of the best examples of why. For some, the slim, light and sexy design will be all the reason they need to buy one — with or without ports.
Those bothered by ports and specs, Apple has two other fantastic options lined up for you. Check them out.
I’m looking forward to reading all your thoughts in the comments!
Featured image courtesy of MKBHD
