Rui Carmo
I know a bunch of people will disagree, but this is the most relevant Mac announcement in years for two reasons:
- It’s the first new Mac model in a while that isn’t just a spec bump, but rather a new product line with a clear target audience and a pretty aggressive price point (at Apple standards, that is).
- It’s not running on an M-series chip, which is a bold move that could have significant implications for Apple’s product strategy and the broader Mac ecosystem.
The fact that it has “only” 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage (which is OK if you think of it as a school machine) is going to be widely maligned, whereas I would focus on the missed opportunity to make it even more portable by shipping a 12” display instead of 13” (probably some sort of golden ratio thing) and the unbelievable stinginess of shipping with a USB-C 2.0 port.
What? You couldn’t afford a USB-C 3.0 port? Really? I mean, I get that this is an entry-level machine, but come on, Apple.
Update: this seems to be a limitation of the A18 chipset’s I/O setup, from what I’m reading. There’s a lot of chip information out there now, including breakdowns of the new M5 lineup that are worth perusing as well.
That said, I would swap my iPad Pro for it in a flash (if it had a 12” display, that is). And that is probably exactly why it is that big.