New MacBook: A rant

Okay, I admit it,I fell for the clickbait yesterday. The one about the new MacBook update being the "year's biggest tech letdown so far". No link — if you simply must give them the page views use Google.

MacBook was never meant to be a Mac for the masses. At launch and in yesterday's press release, Apple's senior vice-president of worldwide marketing, Phil Schiller, called the MacBook "our vision for the future of the notebook."

Today's MacBook is the equivalent of the first generation MacBook Air. That Mac launched with less power, fewer ports, and at a higher price-point than their MacBooks of the time. After a few years and revisions, though, it became a breakout product.

MacBook packs a 12-inch Retina display into a footprint roughly equal to an 11-inch MacBook Air, with a fantastic new keyboard and a magical force touch trackpad. (That trackpad is no small feat, by the way, especially in a world where other manufacturers still struggle to match Apple's previous generation technology.)

Oh, and for the technology inside, the new MacBook has a pretty amazing price.

Could the new MacBook benefit from a few features that would make it more palatable to the mass market? Yep. But for now it's targeted at those who want to buy into Apple's vision early and are willing to make some trade offs to do so. And for them — and me — the new MacBook is near perfect.

As for the click bait, it's only relevant to those who expect every single update from Apple to be earthshaking. Which, of course, they never have been.

Not unless you realize the new MacBook just outed the rose gold car. So, pay attention!

Michael Gartenberg

I’ve covered the personal technology beat for more than two decades at places like Gartner, Jupiter Research and Altimeter Group. I’ve also had the fun of contributing my $.02 on the topic at Computerworld, Engadget, Macworld, SlashGear and now iMore. Most recently I spent a few years at Apple as Sr. Director of Worldwide Product Marketing. On Twitter I’m an unverified @gartenberg. I still own some Apple stock.

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