Apple has unveiled the all-new MacBook, a new line of notebooks that weighs just two pounds and is 13.1 mm thin. It boasts a 12-inch Retina display that is the thinnest ever on a Mac, an Apple-designed full-size keyboard which is thinner and more responsive than its predecessor, a new Force Touch trackpad, and a compact USB-C port.
“Apple has reinvented the notebook with the new MacBook, and at just two pounds and 13.1 mm, it’s the thinnest and lightest Mac ever,” says Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “Every component of the MacBook reveals a new innovation. From its fanless design, ultra-thin Retina display and full-size keyboard that’s 34 percent thinner, to its all-new Force Touch trackpad, versatile USB-C port and breakthrough terraced battery design, the new MacBook is the future of the notebook.”
Measuring just 13.1 mm at its thickest point, the new MacBook design is 24% than the 11-inch MacBook Air. With a new precision-milled unibody enclosure featuring integrated Wi-Fi antennas and a top case with polished stainless steel Apple logo, MacBook is available in three elegant finishes—gold, silver and space gray—and is the first MacBook with an all-metal enclosure.
The new MacBook is designed around an all-new full-size keyboard. To fit the full-size keyboard into the laptop meant completely re-engineering how a notebook keyboard works, says Schiller. The new keyboard is 34% thinner and uses an Apple-designed butterfly mechanism that’s 40% thinner than a traditional keyboard scissor mechanism yet four times more stable, providing greater precision no matter where your finger strikes the key, he adds.
New stainless steel dome switches located beneath each key deliver a crisp and responsive feel when typing, and every key on the new keyboard is individually backlit with its own single LED to deliver precisely calibrated, uniform brightness behind each keycap, says Schiller.
The new MacBook features a 12-inch Retina display with a 16:10 aspect ratio. Measuring just 0.88 mm thin, the Retina display on the new MacBook is the thinnest display ever on a Mac. With a larger aperture for each pixel, the new Retina display is also extremely efficient and uses 30% less energy than existing Mac notebook Retina displays, while delivering the same level of brightness, says Schiller. It has a resolution of 2304 x 1440, text,.
MacBook also boasts a Force Touch trackpad that features built-in force sensors that allow you to click anywhere and haptic feedback that provides a responsive and uniform feel. You can even customize the feel of the trackpad by changing the amount of pressure needed to register each click. The Force Touch trackpad also enables a new gesture called Force Click, a click followed by a deeper press, for tasks like pulling up the definition of a word, quickly seeing a map or glancing at a preview of a file.
Applying miniaturization techniques used in iPhone and iPad, the MacBook features the most compact logic board ever in a Mac, measuring 67% smaller than the logic board of the 11-inch MacBook Air. With no moving parts or vents, the new MacBook was designed from the ground up to be the first fanless Mac notebook for silent, efficient performance, says Schiller. MacBook features the new fifth-generation Intel Core M processor that runs at just 5 watts and Intel HD Graphics 5300. The highly efficient processors work in conjunction with optimizations throughout OS X to make the new MacBook the world’s most energy efficient notebook, says Schiller.
The new MacBook features a terraced battery design that’s layered in individual sheets that are precisely contoured to fit the MacBook’s curved enclosure. As a result, the new MacBook has 35% more battery capacity than would be possible with traditional battery cells and delivers all-day battery life with up to nine hours of wireless web browsing and up to 10 hours of iTunes movie playback.
The new MacBook also features a next-generation USB-C port for data transfer, video out and charging in a single connector. A new industry standard, it supports higher wattage charging, USB 3.1 Gen 1 (5Gbps) data transfer and DisplayPort 1.2 all in a single connector that’s one-third the size of a traditional USB port.
The MacBook will begin shipping Friday, April 10, through the Apple Online Store (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers.
The MacBook comes with a 1.1 GHz dual-core Intel Core M processor with Turbo Boost speeds up to 2.4 GHz, 8GB of memory, 256GB of flash storage and Intel HD Graphics 5300 starting at US$1,299; and with a 1.2 GHz dual-core Intel Core M processor with Turbo Boost speeds up to 2.6GHz, 8GB of memory, 512GB of flash storage and Intel HD Graphics 5300 starting at $1,599. Additional technical specifications, configure-to-order options and accessories are available online at www.apple.com/macbook.