By Stephen Pate – Apple jumped the gun on analysts today by updating the MacBook Retina making it lighter, faster and with colors that match the iPhone 6s.
MacBook Retina 2016 comes in silver, gold, space grey and rose gold (Apple)
The MacBook is now 13.1 mm “thin” as Apple says, 0.9 kg “light”, with a 12″ 2304 x 1440 Retina Display and longer battery life of 10 hrs. The MacBook Retina is the thinnest and lightest MacBook.
Siri leaks date for WWDC 2016 (photo The Verge)
As of yesterday, everyone was reporting the new models would be announced in June at the developer’s conference. Yesterday Siri leaked the date of the conference.
The processor has been upgraded to Intel’s dual core Skylake M series 3 through 7. The core speed runs at low 1.1 to 1.3 GHz with Turbo mode to 3.1 GHz to save battery power and reduce heat. The Intel HD Graphics 515 processor is said to be 25% faster.
It comes standard with 8 GB of faster 1866 MHz memory. Storage is either 256 or 512 GB PCIe-based onboard flash storage.
Even the keyboard got an upgrade with a new style of keys and cleaned up layout. The keypad uses Force Touch.
MacBook Retina (2016) keyboard in rose gold (Apple)
Still only one USB-C 3.1 connector which is expected since Apple is keeping thin the “in” thing. As usual Apple support the latest variety of wireless protocols including Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.0, AirDrop, AirPlay, Personal Hotspot and wireless printing. Of course the MacBook shares the Apple OS ecosystem including iCloud, iTunes, and Mac App Store.
MacBook model comparison 2016 (Apple illustration)
MacBook model comparison 2016
Pricing is reported to start at $1,299 although Apple has pulled pricing offline this morning. In Canada this is the link. The Buy button goes to a dead-end page which means Apple is not yet accepting orders. Stay tuned.
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