Did Apple Give us a Good Upgrade on the new 12" MacBook for 2016?
The first 12" Apple MacBook released April 2015 was a welcome innovation from the tech giant. It was Apple's first brand new MacBook in years and it definitely pleased those looking for the ultimate portable laptop with a real OS. iPads are great, but they still lack OS X. For the meantime, the 12" MacBook is the traveling professional's choice.
Without any fanfare, Apple released an update to the 12" MacBook this week. The 2016 MacBook is available for order at the Apple Store, and of corse at PortableOne.com. So is the new 2016 MacBook a big improvement worthy of an upgrade?
Formfactor
The 2016 MacBook uses the same physical look and feel as the 2015 model. It continues to offer only one USB-C port and a headphone jack. Its constructed out of aluminum giving it Apple's now typical strong but sexy feel. Apple did introduce the new Rose Gold color to the line up in addition to the original Space Grey, Silver and Gold colors. It remains at about 2 pounds which interestingly, is lighter than the 12" iPad Pro when fitted with Apple's Smart Keyboard.
Retina Display
While many are still disappointed that the MacBook Air has yet to upgrade to the Retina class, the 12" MacBook for 2016 continues with the same Retina Display it was introduced with last year. It features a 12-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit display with IPS technology and 2304-by-1440 resolution at 226 pixels per inch with support for millions of colors.
Graphics
Apple did upgrade the graphics chip to the new Intel HD Graphics 515 offering a 25% improvement over the 2015 MacBook. This will certainly be a welcome upgrade for many.
Processor
The CPU also received an upgrade. The 2016 MacBook received the latest Skylake 6th Gn processors. Base models start with 1.1GHz Dual Core Intel Core m3 in the 256GB base model and 1.2GHz Dual Core Intel Core m5 in the 512GB base model. Both however can be upgraded to the 1.3GHz Dual Core Intel Core m7 which reaches up to 3.1GHz with Intel's Turbo Boost.Portable One offers all MacBook configurations and allows its customers to easily configure these upgrades on-line.
Storage
Storage options remain the same offering a choice between 256GB or 512GB which gives a great range for most consumers and business professionals alike.
RAM
The 2016 MacBook continues with just one 8GB RAM option; no more, no less. But the BUS seeped got a boost from 1600MHz to 1866MHz LPDDR3 for a speed boost.
Battery Life
Apple is touting an extra hour of battery life in the new MacBook offering up to 10 hours (with a foot note). The rest of us multi-tasker will certainly see faster depletions.
Bottom Line
For those who wanted more power from the 2015 MacBook should be pleased to see these improvements in the 2016 version. While its processing power is less than the MacBook Pro, those who have been critical should really know better to make that comparison. I retired my 15" MacBook Pro Retina and traded it in for the 2015 MacBook. I haven't noticed any real loss of that power. I'm still able to multi-task with multiple desktops for email, multiple browsers and occasionally Remote Desktop to a PC VM in the office. The only strain has been on battery life when I'm working on the road like that so the extra hour of battery life will be welcome. So will I upgrade? No. My 2015 models continues to serve me just fine. However, for those still lugging around older MacBook Air or MacBook Pro, or any PC Laptop, I do recommend you consider the 2016 12" MacBook for typical laptop users.