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You are here: MacNN Forums > News > Mac News > First Look: 12-inch Retina MacBook (Early 2016)

First Look: 12-inch Retina MacBook (Early 2016)
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NewsPoster
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Apr 20, 2016, 08:46 AM
 
Apple has updated 12-inch MacBook with the new generation Intel Core M chip refresh that we have been waiting for, and MacNN has our hands on it. Not only that, our review unit is resplendent in the new rose gold color, which is polarizing, we admit, but will still be on the shopping lists of fans who like to accessorize their MacBooks with rose gold iPhones and rose gold Watches and the like. For fans of the original model, but who might have been holding out for an improved second-generation model, is this the 12-inch MacBook that you have been looking for?

I have been using the original 12-inch MacBook since its release in April 2015 and (for the most part) love it. It took a while to get used to the all-new keyboard with its short-travel butterfly mechanism, but quite frankly, I really enjoy typing on it these days. Not that I'm suggesting Apple should bring this across to its next-generation MacBook Pros, whenever they should arrive -- something like the redesigned scissor mechanism keyboard on the new Magic Keyboard might be a better fit for that range. The ultra-thin design of the 12-inch MacBook necessitated a shallow keyboard with a ultra-low profile. The fact that the keys are 30 percent larger than standard, also helps to offset the shorter key travel with larger, easier to hit targets. Typing this article on the refreshed 12-inch MacBook suggests that Apple hasn't made any modifications to the typing experience, which is just fine by me.



As for the living with the single USB-C port, you need to think of it primarily as a power port. This is a notebook designed for those who need Office-style productivity on the go and can tap into Wi-Fi networks on the go, or portable hotspots. That you can transfer data via the "power port" is a useful fall back option. That said, practically speaking, there have been plenty of times in my workflow where I have found myself wanting to use the port to transfer data on occasions, and having to carry around the still almost mandatory USB-A to USB-C adapter can be a bit of a pain.

It could be easier to live with if Apple had found it in their hearts to include even a microSD port to make transferring photos when on the road. Sure, this can be done either wirelessly or via the adapter, but an additional data port would have been a nice practical touch. A quick check around the new generation MacBook confirms that Apple has continued with its single USB-C port approach, and it remains unchanged on the USB 3.1 first-gen spec locked at 5Gbps transfer speeds -- and sorry, but no Thunderbolt 3 this time around either.



So, with those two aspects of the 12-inch MacBook out of the way, what has changed on the new 12-inch MacBook aside from the option of a new rose gold color? The most notable change is the upgrade to the latest Intel Core M chips. The entry-level model, our review unit, gets a new 'Skylake' Core m3 part, clocked at 1.1GHz, the same clock speed as the previous generation 'Broadwell' Core M chip. Last time around, Intel used the same Core M branding regardless of the clock speed of the various Core M parts. This time around, it has used Core m3, Core m5, and Core m7 to designate an increase in clock speed with each part. Apple is offering all three chips with the Core m3 ($1,299) and Core m5 ($1,599) variants standard fitment on the two generally available models, while the Core m7 part is a BTO option with the upgrade costing an additional $150, taking the total price up to $1,749 if you want the fastest model. The good news is that the new chips are even more efficient, and boost your up time by an hour over the outgoing model for a total of 10 hours per charge.



We will look at these new Intel parts in our full review more closely, but perhaps the best performance gains come from elsewhere. The new integrated Intel HD 515 GPU, common to all the models, is said to deliver a 25 percent performance gain over the previous design, which will certainly be a plus for those wanting to play games like Minecraft in their downtime. Apple says it has also fitted the new 12-inch MacBooks with 256GB or 512GB of PCI-e based flash storage, which it says bring some quite substantial gains. Sequential read performance is up to 20 percent faster while sequential write performance is up a whopping 90 percent, all of which will means that the new models should be noticeably faster in general use. My initial impression is that this is indeed the case, with apps launching just that much faster than before -- but we'll run some further tests on this and get back to you. It's not often that you see write speed gains like those that Apple is claiming, so it will be interesting to see in our testing just how much faster overall the new 12-inch MacBook can crunch through tasks where this will be a benefit as a result.



Two things that haven't changed from the previous model are the stunning 12-inch 2304x1440 Retina display and the sparkling audio performance, both of which make using the 12-inch MacBook an absolute joy for media consumption. Also unchanged is the cutting edge Force Touch track pad first introduced on the original 12-inch MacBook, as well as the various engineering breakthroughs that were a first for any Apple MacBook when this model was first introduced. These include its tiny motherboard (which is even smaller this time around), the innovative terraced battery design, and the fact that this remains the only MacBook in Apple's current range that features an all-aluminum chassis.

As per practice, we will give new second-gen 12-inch MacBook a full work out in our upcoming review. It's shaping up as a very solid upgrade, and one that will appeal to a wide audience, even if it is still not quite for everyone -- but some of the other staffers will have something to say on that a bit later today.

- Sanjiv Sathiah
( Last edited by NewsPoster; Apr 20, 2016 at 06:41 PM. )
     
Inkling
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Apr 20, 2016, 11:24 AM
 
More and more, I'm coming the the conclusion that Apple's upper management has lost its way Good business sense means creating products that the public wants, not Many people need a versatile, on-the-go laptop. Given Apple's disdain for ports, most will buy Windows. They don't want to risk not being able to make a key presentation because a cable got misplaced. And most business don't even consider buying Macs for much the same reason. For why, simply look in their offices. You'll seen desk after desk of component systems. The display is separate from the computer. The hard drives and RAM can be replaced. They'd have to be stupid to buy an all-in-one machine like the iMac. They're not stupid, but Apple is for not offering them what they want.
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Charles Martin
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Apr 20, 2016, 12:00 PM
 
"Not many people need a versatile, on-the-go laptop." Uh, okay, sure. The fact that that MacBook is the second most-popular model in Apple's lineup and sells millions of units per quarter is due to ... aliens. Must be aliens.

It couldn't possibly be that time and best practices have moved on from where one was in the 1980s, nah ...
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Apr 20, 2016, 12:33 PM
 
In my company, my in-house graphic department uses MacPro and iMac. The non-graphic departments all use Windows. A few people from non-graphic departments use Windows at work but at home they use Macs.
     
Steve Wilkinson
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Apr 20, 2016, 01:07 PM
 
Did you actually try Minecraft, Sanjiv? (I'm actually curious how well it works. A friend told me it was a bit of an edge-case with the previous revision.... and I gotta have my Minecraft.)
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Mike Wuerthele
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Apr 20, 2016, 01:33 PM
 
Originally Posted by Steve Wilkinson View Post
Did you actually try Minecraft, Sanjiv? (I'm actually curious how well it works. A friend told me it was a bit of an edge-case with the previous revision.... and I gotta have my Minecraft.)
I can make him try
     
Steve Wilkinson
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Apr 20, 2016, 03:07 PM
 
Originally Posted by Mike Wuerthele View Post
I can make him try
LOL.... well for the sake of gamers everywhere...

Minecraft is in that kind of odd category where it requires *some* resources, but not the kind that would impact most gamers (at least for the moment... I get this feeling they might go more resource-heavy as time goes on).
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Charles Martin
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Apr 20, 2016, 03:43 PM
 
FWIW, I've seen kids playing Minecraft quite happily on MacBooks, but they were likely on default settings.
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kserman
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Apr 21, 2016, 04:38 AM
 
Apple should have provided MagSafe with it
     
just a poster
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Apr 22, 2016, 01:08 PM
 
Macbook is too light for magsafe, and anyway usb-c is a data transfer cable too. Inadvertent disconnection would be bad.

What apple should have done is provide a couple of USB and a thunderbolt port directly on the cube powersupply/dongle thingie. Then the magsafe could have been on the cable connecting end between the the powersupply and the outlet plug.
     
kserman
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Apr 22, 2016, 07:20 PM
 
Macbook is too light for Macsafe ? 'too light' ? it 'could be bad' ? What the heck ? Griffin has made BreakSafe but again Apple should have built in it. All these apple fun boys here justify anything apple does.
     
Mike Wuerthele
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Apr 22, 2016, 08:04 PM
 
We're testing a BreakSafe right now, we'll let you know how it goes.
     
Charles Martin
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Apr 22, 2016, 08:07 PM
 
We are most definitely "Apple fun boys."
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Mike Wuerthele
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Apr 22, 2016, 09:35 PM
 
I've been monkeying around with the cable a bit tonight, and the pull strength straight out of the Macbook for both the BreakSafe and the USB-C cable is the same. The USB-C pulls out just a hair easier, but you can't tell unless you use a force meter. In fact, in 6 out of 10 pulls, the BreakSafe came out of the Macbook without the magnetic connectors disconnecting the parts of the cable.

Axial break-strength is a different matter. That takes a bit more to test. We'll see how it goes.
     
Steve Wilkinson
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Apr 23, 2016, 11:24 AM
 
@ Charles - re: Minecraft, that's good to hear. I got Minecraft running on my wife's too-old MBA, but have to tune all the settings as low as possible and even then, it's not a great experience. So, if it worked at default settings, that would be fine, IMO. You have to have a more beastly machine, I suppose, to crank the settings up or use special effects/shaders and such. I'd not expect to do that kind of stuff on a minimal laptop.

re: mag-safe cable - I'm pretty careful with my gear, so for me, the mag-safe isn't so much about the 'safe' aspect as it is that I just like how the cable almost jumps into place if I'm putting the machine away for the night in it's charging spot. It's just a great user-experience... instead of trying to fiddle a connector into place, sometimes at an odd angle, etc. I haven't tried USB-C yet, but I'd guess it's a bit better than other USB variants (for example, mini and micro USB pretty much suck in that regard).
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