MacBook 2016 Review

Backstory

As a MacBook Air user for 5 years, I was immediately sold when I saw the new 12" MacBook announced. I bought the first one in a 128gb 1.1ghz configuration, and replaced it two weeks ago with the 2016 MacBook update with ostensibly the same specs. What’s different is the Skylake chipset, which according to other reviews increases performance by 5–20%, depending on your tasks. I wanted to briefly talk about why I switched to a smaller, slower laptop, and what I hope changes in the future about it.

Size

With the amount that I travel, portability and a small-footprint are huge considerations for my computer pick, and the MacBook delivers on that in spades. Now, when I’m on a plane I can use the MacBook on the tray table in front of me, even if someone is reclining. It’s also so small and light that I am able to pack an even smaller backpack for travel. Even between meetings, or when bumping around my home or around town the lightness of this laptop is fantastic.

Speed

This computer has enough speed for me to use Atom, Terminal for ssh’ing into remote servers, multiple tabs including Inbox (personal & work), a few Google docs/sheets, Twitter, and Google Calendar. The previous incarnation of the MacBook struggled occasionally with my daily workload, but apparently it was only struggling by a factor of 5–20 because I’ve stopped getting a beachball every so often.

Battery Life

When I bought last year’s MacBook, I noticed the shortened battery life right away. My MacBook Air boasted 14 hours of battery life, and in my testing, I often got more. Effetively, this mean that when travelling I could usually get away with only charging my computer every few days — or when working I could continue to use my MacBook Air after working all day to watch shows or read blogs without looking for an outlet. With the updated 10 hour battery life (up one hour from last year, but more in my testing), I am back to caring a lot less about where I can find an outlet. I still charge my computer daily, but don’t fret when I head to a coffee shop for an afternoon cowork meeting.

Retina

I’d avoided looking at my friend’s MacBook Pros for years, out of a fear that seeing their retina screen too often would make me regret opting for a MacBook Air over a Pro. My hope was that eventually Apple would update the Air with a retina screen, and now it looks like they just replaced it with the MacBook. The screen on this computer is beautiful. Its resolution is a pixel-doubled 1440 by 900, with 226 pixels per inch and a 16:10 aspect ratio, and text, movies, and websites look crisp and beautful. I have found the switch to be similar to going from regular cable to HD shows, and now MacBook Airs’ screens look terrible, as I feared. I hope Apple replaces the MacBook Pros with a lighter/smaller design, and deprecates the MacBook Air, because at this point I don’t understand why they make a computer without a retina display.

Force Touch

I almost never use it.

USB-C Port

“OMG ONLY ONE PORT” is what I see in a lot of reviews. Honestly, I really don’t care about only having one port. I don’t ever plug anything in besides my charger, and occasionally my phone, and instead wirelessly connect over Bluetooth 4.0 or WiFi to everything from external HDs to my Sonos speakers and Apple TV. Maybe there is a world of casual computer users that still plug devices in, but I’m definitely not one of them.

Speakers

They get pretty loud, but I don’t know why you wouldyou listen to them instead of bigger externals or headphones. They’re good for showing someone something quickly, but laptop speakers are rarely the right choice for audio.

Keyboard

This is one of the most quickly noticeable changes from the Macbook Air and Pro, as they new butterfly hinge allows for a very short travel, punchy keyboard. I absolutely adore the new keyboard feel, and now find other keyboards too squishy. If you love mechanical keyboards, well, nothing is going to make you happy besides those, so look elsewhere. If you are a person who writes a lot, and you do that on your MacBook Pro or MacBook Air, then you might enjoy the different feel quite a bit.

Summary

This is the best computer I’ve ever owned, and I still feel so happy every day that I get to use it. Folks often remark on how tiny it looks, but often get very confused when I say “it’s the MacBook.” “It’s not the Air, or the Pro?” “Nope, just the MacBook.” This computer shedded all the extraneous computing bits, and weight, and even that extra word. I think this is a great computer for folks who spend most of their time in browsers, on Spotify, writing, and chatting in Slack… and that seems to be a *lot* of folks.