Apple seems determined to continually push the boundaries of "small and light," and today's announcement of the new 12-inch MacBook is further proof.
Rumors circulated before today's special event in San Francisco that the company would reveal a new version of the MacBook Air, the ultra-thin laptop that has quickly become one of the most popular computers in the world. Instead, Apple revealed a 12-inch laptop that's much thinner than the Air, but is not an Air at all.
To accomplish this feat of engineering, Apple had to re-think the laptop from top to bottom. You'll notice just two ports on this bad boy: a headphone jack and a rounded rectangular spot on the top left. That's the new USB Type C port created by Apple and other companies, which is actually a reversible port that can work as a charging port, a display adapter, and a USB port. That's actually kind of neat, and it means Apple had to cram less into the MacBook, resulting in a thinner machine.
The rest of that space is taken up by three things: the new Force Touch trackpad, the new keyboard with individual LED lights under each key, and batteries. Apple promises all day battery life with this thing, or at least over 11 hours of video playback. That's impressive. And it'll look incredible on the new Retina display.
If you travel a lot on the poker circuit and need a great laptop, this might be the way to go. It's incredibly thin, light (it weighs just 2 pounds) and is designed to help you work all day without charging or fussing with cables. It comes in silver, space gray and gold. But let's be honest: nobody really wants a gold laptop. Right?
What do you think?