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Apple Macbook blurs the line between tablet and laptop

Macbook (12-inch)

Price $1799 - $2199 (for the upgrade)

What the company says:

"With the new MacBook, we set out to do the impossible: engineer a full-sized experience into the lightest and most compact Mac notebook ever."

What we say:

"Ridiculously slim and light product that blurs the line between tablet and laptop. It can't possibly get any slimmer can it?"

Rating?

4 stars

Review:

Even for a company so in-tune with the aesthetic appeal of its products, the new 12-inch Macbook is, as Derek Zoolander would say, really, really, really ridiculously good looking.

Pulling it out of the box, the first thing that slaps you in the face is its size. It is wafer-thin. Thinner than Kate Moss on the cauliflower diet.

You can handle it like a Frisbee, or, more appropriately, like a tablet.

"You can handle it like a frisbee"

And that is its major appeal. Sure it might not have the power of other laptops on the market for the same price, but unless you're a graphic designer or a gaming fiend, most of us never use the full capacity anyway.

And if one of the battles of technology is to try and incorporate it into your life, and make you want to use it, then the new Macbook goes a long way towards achieving that.

Apple would prefer if I discussed the whiz-bang tech features such as the no-click touchpad (the force touch trackpad) or the keyboard (which is shallower, and takes a little getting used to), but, frankly, they weren't that impressive for this reviewer.

The $1799 model has 8GB of RAM and 256GB of solid state storage. While an extra $400 will give you a 512GB hard drive and a little processor boost.

But add the multiports to that cost. Because it is really, really, really ridiculously thin, it only has a headphone port and a charging port. So you need the adapters (which can be as much as $119) to do pretty much anything.

Its performance and battery life falls short of the MacBook Air and Pro. And that is a major issue. Personally I found after a day's full use, it was almost dead.

But if you can be near a powerpoint, and deal with its limitations, the new Macbook is a laptop that you want to use. And isn't that the point of it all?

Nick Sas @sasbites