Apple announces new MacBook

Apple has announced the new MacBook, described as “a new line of notebooks reinvented in every way to deliver the thinnest and lightest Macs ever”.

The new notebook weighs just two pounds and is 13.1 mm thin, features a 12-inch Retina display that is the thinnest yet on a Mac, an Apple-designed full-size keyboard that is dramatically thinner and a new Force Touch trackpad. It also sports a compact USB-C port for data transfer, video out and charging in a single connector, and a new battery design that maximises every space to deliver all-day battery life. And, for the first time, MacBook is available in three aluminium finishes: gold, silver and space grey.

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,” said 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 per cent thinner 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, it is the first MacBook with an all-metal enclosure.

The new MacBook is designed around a new full-size keyboard. Fitting the full-size keyboard into the thin MacBook meant completely re-engineering how a notebook keyboard works. The new keyboard is 34 percent thinner and uses an Apple-designed butterfly mechanism that is 40 percent thinner than a traditional keyboard scissor mechanism, yet four times more stable, providing greater precision no matter where a finger strikes the key. 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.

The 12-inch Retina display, with a 16:10 aspect ratio, measures just 0.88 mm thin. With a larger aperture for each pixel, the new Retina display is also extremely efficient and uses 30 percent less energy than existing Mac notebook Retina displays, while delivering the same level of brightness. It offers a resolution of 2304 x 1440.

The new Force Touch trackpad features built-in force sensors that allow users to click anywhere and haptic feedback that provides a responsive and uniform feel. Users can customise 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 miniaturisation techniques used in iPhone and iPad, MacBook features the most compact logic board yet in a Mac, measuring 67 per cent 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. 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 optimisations throughout OS X to make the new MacBook what is claimed by Apple to be the world’s most energy efficient notebook.

It features a breakthrough terraced battery design that is layered in individual sheets that are precisely contoured to fit the MacBook’s sleek, curved enclosure. As a result, the new MacBook has 35 per cent more battery capacity than would be possible with traditional battery cells and delivers up to 9 hours of wireless web browsing and up to 10 hours of iTunes movie playback.

MacBook is equipped with the latest wireless technologies, including built-in 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 for fast wireless connectivity.

The new MacBook also features a next-generation USB-C port that is incredibly small, yet extremely versatile and user friendly. A new industry standard, USB-C 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.

Every new Mac comes with OS X Yosemite, a powerful new version of OS X, redesigned and refined with a fresh, modern look, powerful new apps and Continuity features that make working across Mac and iOS devices more fluid.

iMovie, GarageBand, iPhoto, and Pages, Numbers and Keynote come free with every new Mac.

Availability

The all-new MacBook will begin shipping on April 10 through select Apple Authorised Resellers. 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: 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. Additional technical specifications, configure-to-order options and accessories are available online at www.apple.com/macbook.

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