I have a netbook I in a tool box I use on site for re-imaging drives and making various bootable USB flash drives. I almost always bring my 2014 15" MBP, but I can't really use it because a VM with an external HDD just seems to never connect reliably, hence the netbook (but the network was originally for my Cisco/Juniper network lab as a simple node for testing purposes).
Anyway, I've been wanting to get a replacement for my took box and this new MacBook (running Windows as the default OS) would be great for that. I could even build in a USB passthrough so I can plug it into the toolbox and then plug it into my work vehicle so it charges whilst driving.
As much as went crazy when the new macbook was released last week, I was disappointed at the specks. 480p front facing camera and that weak a** chip. Kiss my a**! Now, when they finally(hopefully) throw a retina display inside the goddamn airs, then we be talking.
I believe Apple have made a very big mistake not putting that retina into the Macbook Air lineup and put a %u2018standard%u2019 display into this new Macbook to improve its performance and battery life.
I have a fully specced out 13%u201D mid-2013 Macbook and they have not given me enough of a reason to move to the new Macbook Air.
The new Macbook is too underpowered, and I won%u2019t ever get a Macbook Pro as it runs too hot for my lap.
It would be absolutely crazy for Apple to release any new devices without Retina displays. Most consumers don't care or need a laptop to have 24-hour battery life. 10 hours is plenty on one charge. I for one am glad to have the mid-2013 Macbook as well and enjoy it for years to come. Why would you be even thinking about moving to a new computer at this point unless your needs dramatically changed?
The new Macbook is far superior to the polycarbonate Macbooks made years ago that sold in huge numbers. These computers will do everything those did and more for 99% of users and its very light and a cool design with an awesome screen, complaints are a real stretch.
What a good comment! Rather interesting when you follow you look, and after seeing that Core M is clearly NOT "aka atom" its so much faster, impressive benchmarks against cinebench, but then compare Core M to I5, and the differences are much smaller. Core M is positioned by Intel to sit between Atom and I5 etc, but its a lot closer, performance wise to I5.
My only criticism is that Apple seems to have learned nothing from criticisms of the first MacBook Air: not enough ports. By all means adopt USB-C before anyone else, but please give us two ports so we have the flexibility to do what we please.
This is the biggest issue ive had with the machine. It is pretty useless without ports.
Performance is a real concern also. I have no doubt at all that it will be suitable fir many users, but that isn't suitable for everything i do with my laptop. Given that the Mac Book might make a better solution when it come time to replace my iPad. In some ways it is an iPad with a Keyboard.
I like it. If you're looking for an email, Safari, Pages device, this is perfect. And since the Pro is the same price, only idiots will buy it for power-tasks. The MacBook is perfect for everyone that's currently using an Air to browse the web and respond to mails - with a price-tag though…
Yeah, it's definitely not about the cost of another light as Macs use the backlighting for that glow. In fact, if you put a brighter light through the backside you can then cast shadows on your display.
My guess is it simply isn't possible from a structural standpoint or not yet possible to have that plastic insert fit in such a thin display casing.
That's a good guess. Another possibility is that the backlighting for this display, since it's IGZO, is too dim to light up the Apple logo with the customary brightness. It would be perhaps 30 % dimmer, in other words, and look defective next to earlier non IGZO models. Or, I suspect they have some tricky light-guiding going on to get the dimmer lighting spread properly across the display, and the logo would cause a visible disturbance on the display side. Both of these are just guesses, but the fact is that an oxide backplane changes the lighting equation significantly.
One of the few things that I didn't like about the new Macbook was the inclusion of the isight camera that was only 480p. That's a bit too old fashioned for 2015, and I expect better than that.
Is a higher res camera thicker or something?
It has to do real-time encoding of the video for the stream on the GPU. It could be that driving the high-res display and doing 720p real-time encoding was too taxing on the 5300 GPU. They'd be able to offer a Skylake update at the end of the year with a faster GPU and that can possibly have a 720p camera along with a faster USB C port.
It has to do real-time encoding of the video for the stream on the GPU. It could be that driving the high-res display and doing 720p real-time encoding was too taxing on the 5300 GPU. They'd be able to offer a Skylake update at the end of the year with a faster GPU and that can possibly have a 720p camera along with a faster USB C port.
I assumed it had to do with the size of the camera module allowed for the new thin display casing. I thought we experienced that before with an iDevice.
The performance is just one of several ways in which this machine is compromised. Skylake is expected to bring a 5% performance increase, and that isnt nearly enough to give the MacBook an acceptable performance at below 5 watt.
That depends upon whom you believe. Some rumors indicate that SkyLake will delver the biggest jump over a previous proceeor than we have seen in a decade. This is actually hard to believe as the architecture is awful mature. However since we have been getting minor bumps for years now I could see 10-20% faster cores.
Wow! That's impressive considering they launched the same year and the tray price of the Core-i7 is more than $100 higher.
I didn't realized Core M-5Y71 doesn't offer virtualization. I'm curious how that will affect running Fusion or Parallels.
Paralleles and Vmware ought still to be able to work without VT-x and VT-d, but it has to make it much slower. I used to run both on an ATOM processor (before Apple made the Air) and yes - it ran - but very slow. This is something you may need to try - it could be a showstopper in your particular application.
There IS no Retina Air coming. The Air is going to die, just like the polycarbonate MacBooks.
The Air is Apple's best selling and most affordable laptop. It is not going anywhere anytime soon. If Apple has kept around the regular MacBook Pro it definitely will not get rid of the Air. If anything it will be updated next year with the Retina display.
Comments
This is probably the first Mac I have to desire to own. The price doesn't justify the hardware.
Now, when they finally(hopefully) throw a retina display inside the goddamn airs, then we be talking.
How dare Apple ripe us off¡ :rolleyes:
For those interested in current Core M 5Y71 performance:
Not bad, I think the 2015 MacBook will likely do even better.
I believe Apple have made a very big mistake not putting that retina into the Macbook Air lineup and put a %u2018standard%u2019 display into this new Macbook to improve its performance and battery life.
I have a fully specced out 13%u201D mid-2013 Macbook and they have not given me enough of a reason to move to the new Macbook Air.
The new Macbook is too underpowered, and I won%u2019t ever get a Macbook Pro as it runs too hot for my lap.
It would be absolutely crazy for Apple to release any new devices without Retina displays. Most consumers don't care or need a laptop to have 24-hour battery life. 10 hours is plenty on one charge. I for one am glad to have the mid-2013 Macbook as well and enjoy it for years to come. Why would you be even thinking about moving to a new computer at this point unless your needs dramatically changed?
The new Macbook is far superior to the polycarbonate Macbooks made years ago that sold in huge numbers. These computers will do everything those did and more for 99% of users and its very light and a cool design with an awesome screen, complaints are a real stretch.
If you dont believe me take a look at all of the ARM based Linux distros
This is the biggest issue ive had with the machine. It is pretty useless without ports.
Performance is a real concern also. I have no doubt at all that it will be suitable fir many users, but that isn't suitable for everything i do with my laptop. Given that the Mac Book might make a better solution when it come time to replace my iPad. In some ways it is an iPad with a Keyboard.
Wow! That's impressive considering they launched the same year and the tray price of the Core-i7 is more than $100 higher.
I didn't realized Core M-5Y71 doesn't offer virtualization. I'm curious how that will affect running Fusion or Parallels.
That's a good guess. Another possibility is that the backlighting for this display, since it's IGZO, is too dim to light up the Apple logo with the customary brightness. It would be perhaps 30 % dimmer, in other words, and look defective next to earlier non IGZO models. Or, I suspect they have some tricky light-guiding going on to get the dimmer lighting spread properly across the display, and the logo would cause a visible disturbance on the display side. Both of these are just guesses, but the fact is that an oxide backplane changes the lighting equation significantly.
It has to do real-time encoding of the video for the stream on the GPU. It could be that driving the high-res display and doing 720p real-time encoding was too taxing on the 5300 GPU. They'd be able to offer a Skylake update at the end of the year with a faster GPU and that can possibly have a 720p camera along with a faster USB C port.
I assumed it had to do with the size of the camera module allowed for the new thin display casing. I thought we experienced that before with an iDevice.
That depends upon whom you believe. Some rumors indicate that SkyLake will delver the biggest jump over a previous proceeor than we have seen in a decade. This is actually hard to believe as the architecture is awful mature. However since we have been getting minor bumps for years now I could see 10-20% faster cores.
Proof that the currently shipping A8X has a 4.5W TDP?
Wow! That's impressive considering they launched the same year and the tray price of the Core-i7 is more than $100 higher.
I didn't realized Core M-5Y71 doesn't offer virtualization. I'm curious how that will affect running Fusion or Parallels.
Paralleles and Vmware ought still to be able to work without VT-x and VT-d, but it has to make it much slower. I used to run both on an ATOM processor (before Apple made the Air) and yes - it ran - but very slow. This is something you may need to try - it could be a showstopper in your particular application.
The Air is Apple's best selling and most affordable laptop. It is not going anywhere anytime soon. If Apple has kept around the regular MacBook Pro it definitely will not get rid of the Air. If anything it will be updated next year with the Retina display.