Macbook and USB-C Review

[stevewilhelm]

> I think the most perfect tech combo in the world right now might be a 5k iMac at home, an iPhone 6+ as your phone, and the Macbook as an on-the-go device.

Unfortunately, you can't use a 5K iMac as an additional screen for a Macbook.[1]

[1] "Note that the iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014) does not support Target Display Mode." From http://s831.us/1bYWtfj

[bobwaycott]

Nothing in the quote or article suggests using the 5K iMac as an additional screen, though. To my reading, the author was suggesting the iMac for working, and the Macbook for when you're on-the-go and (hopefully) not working.

Why would someone buy a 5K iMac to use it as a second display? That's what the standalone displays are for.

[photojosh]

And an Apple Watch so you don't have to pull the phone out of your pocket to check every notification, and tripping and falling over onto your just-operated-on shoulder because you have zero balance. (source: me, a week ago)

[ggreer]

I'm surprised his battery life is so short (5-6 hours). I have the base model MacBook and I easily get 8 hours. To go as low as 5 hours, I'd have to keep CPU usage at 100% and run the screen at max brightness.

If I focus on prolonging battery life, I can get 12 hours. That means keeping the screen dim, quitting Mail.app, and closing unnecessary browser tabs. Then the only major eater of battery is compiling stuff.

Overall, I really like the new MacBook. It's thin, light, and fast enough for my needs.

[elithrar]

> I'm surprised his battery life is so short (5-6 hours). I have the base model MacBook and I easily get 8 hours. To go as low as 5 hours, I'd have to keep CPU usage at 100% and run the screen at max brightness.

If he's a Chrome user, I wouldn't be surprised. It seems Chrome doesn't sleep/isn't as aggressive at idling as Safari.

I've yet to spend a full day out on my machine though so I cannot confirm first-hand whether Chrome drains the battery so quickly.

[TazeTSchnitzel]

I'd love a MacBook. However, I am a bit concerned: is the maximum performance of it worse than the 2013 MacBook Air (current machine)? On this thing I can play Counter-Strike: Source or Left 4 Dead 2 at reasonable settings at 60fps, and I can also get FFXIV to run at just about 30fps (windowed 720p on Windows with the Standard (Laptop) graphics option). I'm not really a serious gamer, these are all (with the exception of FFZIV) older games I play casually. I mainly do web browsing and programming.

If I tried to do these things on the new MacBook, would it run at similar speed, and would I get a heat warning?

Ignoring gaming for a moment: generally, when really stressed, are heat warnings common?

[MBCook]

This is a lot like the first generation Air. It's a very light, very thin, low performance. If you want to machine for some simple surfing or to do a lot of writing or wordprocessing on that small and easy to carry around... this could be for you.

If you want any kind of performance or good 3-D capability then get the thicker MacBooks or MacBook Pro. That's clearly not what this machine is aimed at.

[photojosh]

There won't be heat warnings. It'll throttle itself back down to its base speed when it starts warming up.

So yes, the maximum performance for an extended period will be much worse than a MBA.

[pbreit]

I don't see the single port as a big deal (it's clearly the future) but I would have expected a USB port on the power adapter (PlugBug-style) at least for power if not transmission.

[elithrar]

No idea why you have been down-voted: it's a good point. having one AC brick with two plugs (USB-C, USB A) would be helpful for charging both the laptop and a phone simultaneously. Right now you can't do that due to the single port on the MacBook.

[mmastrac]

Honest question: once the Macbook reaches the (approximate) weight and convenience of the iPad -- and has touch input -- is there any future for the iPad?

Sure, iPads are more convenient for giving to kids, but a Macbook with a surface-style keyboard and touchscreen kind of moots that entire line.

I see tablets and the requisite limited tablet software/interface as a necessary evil we had to pass through before we could make full-fledged computers small enough to have the same convenience.

[stephen_g]

Why do you think it will have touch input? Apple seems fairly determined that laptops and tablets are different form-factors that work better with different ways of interaction.

I think there is definitely merit to this - Windows 8 showed how easy it is to get the hybrid approach wrong, and the gestures with the MacBook's multi-touch trackpads seem to me to be a better way than having to reach up to touch the screen all the time...

[hkmurakami]

The opposite is true as well -- as the iPad increases in specs it will be able to do more of what the macbook does, for a particular subset of users who don't want any complexity behind their computing (less technical folks, for instance).

[Jack000]

I think the lesson from the success of the iPad is that there is a large market out there that doesn't want an actual computer.

Personally I'm waiting for the macbook air with skylake. The macbook haptic click is surprisingly usable, but the keyboard is a deal breaker for me. There is hardly any travel and it felt very awkward, worse than the surface keyboard IMO.

[panic]

The kinds of interfaces that work on direct-manipulation touch screens are different from the kinds of interfaces that work with traditional keyboards and pointing devices. You'd need some way to adjust the interface to match the input method as the computer is running.

[ghshephard]

Given that I've never connected my iPhone / iPad to my Macbook Air, sounds like I might be a good target for this device.

[myrandomcomment]

When I can fold over the keyboard behind the screen and read it like an iPad, then I will not need an iPad.

[parkovski]

I know that lots of people are very Microsoft-averse, but this is exactly what the Surface is.

[mikehearn]

My all-in-one dream is a laptop that has a double-sided screen on its lid. When opened, it functions like a normal laptop. When closed, it functions as a tablet. Content is passed back and forth between desktop & tablet mode. Example use-case: I'm surfing the net in laptop mode, and find some longform content; I close the lid and now it's in tablet mode, ready to read.

A double-sided screen might seem like overkill, but it's the only solution I can think of that solves all my personal laptop/tablet-hybrid annoyances, namely (a) kickstand, (b) they often come in two parts, tablet + keyboard, and (c) if you can fold the keyboard over, now the bottom of your tablet is a keyboard.

Asus made a clunky version[1] of this form-factor, but I'm waiting for someone to do it right.

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmpNYWEz-Bw

[NeutronBoy]

> The problem in one sentence: it is impossible to buy a cable, from Apple or otherwise, that let’s you plug an iPhone 6+ into the Macbook.

I'm not an Apple person by any means and don't really keep up with their products, but I feel the Apple of years past would never have let this happen.

[MBCook]

To play devils advocate,

Why do you need to plug your phone into your laptop? Apple seems to found that tons of people don't, that was actually causing them problems. No one would update iOS because they had to be plugged into a computer, and no one would get your pictures off their phone for the same reason, so people would end up running back level versions and having your phones give them space warnings.

At this point it wouldn't surprise me if the average consumer basically never plug the phone into a computer. If you want to do syncing with iTunes it can be done over Wi-Fi, but most people probably just use iCloud. Software updates can be installed over the air. A computer isn't necessary to set the phone up anymore. The existence of things like iCloud photos also means that you don't need to plug your phone into get the pictures off.

People tend to have chargers all over the place, which is really the only thing people plug phones in to do. But you probably charge your phone in a cradle, or in your car, or with the charger that comes with it. Why do you need to plug it into your laptop?

There's been speculation the Apple expect you to treat the new MacBook a lot like an iPad: the port is only there to charge and maybe for an occasional need, but most the time you're not expected to use it.

Will most customers even use it to charge their phone on any kind of regular basis? Even if it came with the cable? Much more cynically, given the size of the battery and that it only has one port do you want to charge your phone at the expense of your laptop?

I hadn't thought of the fact that there was no USB-C to lightning cable. It is an interesting omission, but then again this is an interesting laptop.

[NeutronBoy]

Downvote me if you want, but in the past Apple's product line and releases have been extremely carefully choreographed, and they've generally been careful to make sure that their products integrate and work with each other. From a company that prides itself on having tight integration between products and an 'it just works' mentality, it seems sloppy to me that you can't buy a cable to make two of their flagship products work together.

[ghshephard]

Putting a different spin on this - it's very curious that Apple didn't release a USB-C to Lightning port cable. This was clearly a deliberate decision on Apple's part - and I'm wondering if they just decided that by released the USB-C to USB-A dongle (http://store.apple.com/us/product/MJ1M2AM/A/usb-c-to-usb-ada...) , that would be sufficient?

[ulfw]

Because otherwise you cannot use your iPhone with your Macbook. It's the most senseless oversight I have seen in years. In order to turn on WiFi sync between iTunes on your Macbook and your iPhone, you need to have it plugged in at least once. You cannot plug it in though, because there is no compatible USB-C to Lightning cable from Apple. D'oh.

[cbhl]

TBH, I'm banking on them releasing a refreshed iPhone 7 / iPod Touch / iPad line with USB-C ports supplanting Lightning, so that all you need is more USB C-C cables.

[bluthru]

The same way that the Air made a statement that the future is without physical media, the macbook is making a statement that the future is wireless.

[gcb0]

when apple launched the iphone, they went against the grain on what the industry (nokia and everybody else) was using for headset+microphone+buttons combo (unpatented, mind you). They simply copied the 4 connector headset plug, but surreptitiously switched GROUND and MIC (and patented). bam. all iphone users couldn't get a headset other than the one that come in the box, and it took some 6 mo to start shipping spare ones. and i will give apple that it was a decent one. even to this day, it is the only apple product i like. but that proves you are still in the reality distortion field left by jobs and still think apple poop is rainbows.

[maguay]

If he had a heat warning in LA, I worry about how the new MacBook will hold up in hotter climates (SE Asia, Middle East, etc.)

[ulfw]

People rarely sit outside in the heat for a long time working on their laptops in SE Asia or the ME.

[gcb0]

   1. remove ability for people to use a cable to transfer photos
   2. force everyone to upload pics to icloud
   3. ????
   4. profit!

[TazeTSchnitzel]

> remove ability for people to use a cable to transfer photos

Where did Apple do that? They just made you need an adapter to connect an iPhone to your MacBook.

[pbreit]

Or:

1. Make awesome products 2. Profit

[digi_owl]

And if G or MS pulled the same, everyone would be yelling about antitrust...