Apple Announces $1299 12-Inch MacBook With USB-C, Retina Display And Intel Core M Processors

After a long, long wait, Apple has finally revealed the MacBook. The new MacBook weighs just 2 pounds and is just 13.1mm at its thickest point, making it 24 percent thinner than the current MacBook Air. It features an all-metal enclosure (no more plastic backing for the screen hinge) and an all-new key design for the keyboard — the previous scissor mechanism for the keys has been replaced with a butterfly arrangement that provides a much smoother, more stable typing experience. It also allows for a thinner keyboard design. The keys now have individual LEDs for each key, which allows for a more precise distribution of light.

The display measures 12-inches, and features a resolution of 2304x1440 – yes, Apple has finally jumped on the Retina bandwagon for its ultralight notebooks. The panel itself is just 0.88m thick, which helps contribute to the device’s thinness. It also consumes 30 percent less energy than previous Apple displays.

Also new is the new Force Trackpad that includes four force sensors and a “taptic” engine. A range of pressures can be detected by the sensors, and even allows for what Apple calls a “Force Click” — a new way to right click.

The new MacBook is also the first Apple notebook to sport a fanless design. Apple engineers managed to make the logic board 67 percent smaller than what’s found in the MacBook Air. The MacBook is powered by up to a 1.3GHz Intel Core M processor that can be turbocharged to 2.9GHz. With a much smaller logic board and no fan, there’s plenty of room inside for plenty of batteries. Apple is using a new “sheet” design for the batteries that allows it to cram batteries into every nook and cranny of the chassis. Apple says that this allows the new to MacBook support “all day battery life” (9 hours wireless browsing, 10 hours iTunes movie playback).

As we discussed previously based on leaked reports, the new MacBook ditches all legacy ports for a single USB Type-C connector (it’s reversible) that even handles recharging the device — that means no more full-size USB ports, no more MagSafe and no more Thunderbolt ports. That also means that in an effort to make the device as thin as possible, there is no longer an SD slot.

The MacBook comes in silver, space gray, and gold and starts at $1,299. That base price will get you a 1.1GHz Core M processor, 8GB of memory, Intel HD Graphics 5300 and a 256GB SSD. $1,599 will upgrade you to a 1.2GHz Core M processor and a 512GB SSD. The new MacBook will ship on April 10.