April 10th will see Apple officially launch its thinnest and lightest laptop ever, the new MacBook. It’s incredibly portable at just 13.1mm thick and weighing 907g. But is it the right choice for a business user? Here we take a look at the new MacBook and consider the alternatives.
There is no doubting that the new MacBook is special. For portability it is the best Mac yet and the 12” Retina Display gets rid of almost all of the bezel that you have around the screen on other MacBook Pros. However, it is the innovations with the keyboard and new Force Touch trackpad that have created the biggest stir. The keys are 17% bigger than normal and Apple have developed butterfly keys to ensure that the sensation of pressing the key is the same regardless of where you tap it. That rocking sensation you get when catch the edge of the key is now history.
The Force Touch trackpad is the largest trackpad ever on a Mac and like the keys the sensation of tapping it will be the same across the whole pad. Users will also be able to use a combination of hard or soft clicks to complete a variety of tasks. The new Mac boasts a 9 hour battery life and like the iPad you can choose between Space Grey, Silver or Gold for your colour scheme.
The biggest shock about the MacBook is that it only comes with one port. A new technology called USB-C. This will replace your Magsafe connection and USB ports. You will use this port to charge the machine and to connect it to external devices. An obvious downside is that when you are charging the machine you cannot connect it to an external device. Adaptors will allow you to connect it to a monitor that supports Display Port, HDMI or VGA.
However, the big shock is that Thunderbolt is not supported. Considering ever other Mac has at least one Thunderbolt port, this is quite strange. So, if you own a Thunderbolt display you will not be able to utilise it with the new MacBook. The MacBook will be available with either a 1.1GHz or 1.2GHz processor meaning that it will not be the most powerful Mac in the line-up. Therefore, which business user will benefit from owning a new MacBook?
If you are a user with heavy demands, such as photo editing or graphic design and you need to be mobile, then you need to be considering the more powerful 13/15” MacBook Pros with Retina Display. If you are looking for a machine that is portable but has great connectivity, then the newly refreshed MacBook Air would be a great place to start.
That means that really the new MacBook is up against the iPad Air 2. Both are ultra-portable and light and again it really comes down to what your need it for. If you do a lot of office administration work, writing reports, working on spreadsheets, then we would recommend the MacBook. Its screen, amazing keyboard and Force Touch trackpad will really shine through. However, if you are just responding to emails, surfing the web or making the occasional note in a meeting then we would have to go for the iPad Air 2. Fundamentally it’s cheaper and more portable.
The new MacBook has a lot going for it and it does sit neatly between the iPad Air 2 and the MacBook Air. Its lack of connectivity and relatively low performance means that we do not see it replacing the MacBook Pro with Retina Display as being the Mac of choice for mobile business users. However, it is cool and this might just mean that it is incredibly popular. If you are interested in leasing the new MacBook then email us at sales@leaseloop.co and we will promise to send you more information when it is released on the 10th April.
