Apple : In Depth: Stacking the new MacBook up against its competition |
| In Depth: Stacking the new MacBook up against its competition Posted:  Introduction and comparisonsEarlier today, Apple unveiled its new MacBook, a device that looks to be a marvel of laptop design. Fortunately for laptop enthusiasts, the new MacBook has a ton of competition. In addition to the MacBook, which is sure to rank highly on the spectrum of consumer-class laptops, the new Dell XPS 13, the Lenovo LaVie Z HZ550, and the Asus Zenbook UX305 are the best laptops introduced this year. I'll take you through the specs and design features of each device to help you better understand how the MacBook stacks up against its competitors. Keep in mind, we haven't run the soon-to-be-released MacBook and LaVie through our series of benchmarks, so we're basing many of these comparisons on manufacturer-provided spec sheets. Once we've fully tested these two laptops we will be able to provide you with a much more comprehensive comparison. The MacBookAt just 2.0 pounds (0.90kg) and 0.5 inches (13.1mm) thick, the MacBook is a highly portable laptop among the lightest on the market. It features a fanless Intel 5th Generation Core M processor, a 2304 x 1440 Retina display, and its battery will provide up to 10 hours of video playback. Among Apple's other innovations, the new MacBook features a butterfly mechanism in its keyboard that Apple says will provide more precise clicking. It also features a Force Touch TrackPad that enables you to click anywhere and get the same feel across the surface, unlike old trackpads that are more rigid up top and looser on the bottom. You can use the TrackPad to Force Click, which allows you to preview Wikipedia pages when you select words and phrases, or preview documents before clicking in. You can also Force Click to go faster or slower while scrolling video depending on how hard you press. One of the more interesting innovations is the reversible USB C, which allows you to input and output USB, DisplayPort, HDMI, and VGA from one port. The new MacBook is available starting April 10 at $1299 (£1,049 in the UK). MacBook versus XPS 13 The new MacBook features a 12-inch edge-to-edge display, which stretches your screen pretty close to the edge of the laptop's top panel. The Dell XPS 13, which we awarded a coveted five-star rating, bests this by providing a 13-inch edge-to-edge Infinity Display that packs a typical 13-inch display into an 11-inch body. The MacBook features only a 2304 x 1440 Retina Display, whereas the XPS 13 comes in a full HD model (starting at $799, £520, AU$980) and a quad HD+ (3200 X 1800) touchscreen model ($1,299, £852, AU$1,605). The MacBook does not feature a touchscreen. Because of its Core M processor, the MacBook narrowly beats the XPS 13 in size and heft. The standard XPS 13 is 0.6 inches (15mm) thick and weighs 2.6 pounds. So you're sacrificing about a half-pound by getting the XPS 13 instead of the standard MacBook. However, Core M is less powerful than the XPS 13's Intel Core i5 processor, so you'll have to ask yourself if processing speed is more important than portability. In terms of battery life, the standard XPS 13 is reportedly capable of providing 15 hours of video playback, compared to the Mac's 10 hours. However, we tested the XPS13 QHD+ model and we were only able to crank out 7 hours and 40 minutes of video playback by lowering the screen brightness and audio volume to 50%. So if you're not interested in touchscreen design, but battery life is your number one priority, then you're probably better off getting the standard XPS 13. The XPS 13 is also much more connectable than the MacBook. It features two USB 3.0 inputs, a mini DisplayPort, and a 3-in-1 (SD, SDHC, SDXC) reader. The MacBook only has a USB C input, which will require you to purchase adapters to connect more than one input and output at a time. In terms of storage, the standard MacBook features 8GB of memory and a 256GB SSD, which is comparable to the standard version of the XPS 13. Against Asus and LenovoMacBook versus Zenbook We also awarded the Asus Zenbook UX305 a five-star rating. At an incredibly affordable $699 (£649, around AU$902), the Zenbook provides a solid alternative to the MacBook at almost half the price. The Zenbook only comes with a full HD display, but it is exactly as thin as the MacBook. Like the XPS 13, the Zenbook weighs 2.6 pounds, so by choosing the Zenbook, you're sacrificing screen quality and heft in order to save a pretty penny. Don't fret: Asus also plans to ship a $999 (about £648, AU$1286) version of the UX305, with a 3,200 x 1,800 resolution display in April. Like the MacBook, the Zenbook features an Intel Core M processor. However, the MacBook bests the Zenbook in terms of battery life: we were only able to stretch five hours and 26 minutes out of the Zenbook when pushed at a moderate pace. According to Asus, the Zenbook can run for eight hours of video playback, which is two hours less than Apple's projected 10 hours. Like the XPS 13 and MacBook, the Zenbook comes with a 256GB SSD and 8GB of memory. MacBook versus Lenovo LaVie Z HZ550 At just 1.72 pounds (0.78kg), the Lenovo LaVie Z HZ550 ($1,299, £852, AU$1,605) is the lightest laptop on the market. The MacBook is slightly heavier at 2.0 pounds, but if weight is your primary concern, you can't beat the LaVie. Slightly thicker than the MacBook, the LaVie measures in at 0.66 inches (15mm). Internally the Lenovo LaVie features only 4GB of RAM and a 128GB solid-state drive. As for connectivity, you'll get two USB 3.0 ports, an HDMI output, and an SD card reader, which is similar to the MacBook, minus the DisplayPort and the VGA, but doesn't require an adapter to input and output multiple cords at once. What's really cool about this device is that Intel was somehow able to pack it with a Broadwell Intel Core i5 processor, rather than the less powerful Core M chips you find in lightweight devices. Unfortunately, the LaVie's battery life only nets up to six hours for the WQHD (2560 X 1440) touchscreen model. When comparing this device to the MacBook it is really an apples to oranges comparison; the Lenovo is built more for its portability, touchscreen functionality and processing power, whereas the MacBook is designed to be portable, long-lasting and crazy thin. What to do. What to do.You can't go wrong with any of these devices. Neither of them runs the table in terms of specifications, so you'll have to determine what the most important features are for you and then select your device based on that assessment. This has been an excellent year for laptop design, and the new MacBook furthers a category that was already stacked with major players. |
| Live: Apple Watch launch event: Live Blog! Posted:  (All times in PST)
11.34 That's a wrap guys! Thanks, and see our updated hands on soon. 11.33 Remember, people who drop 10,000 dollars on a Watch won't care about the price. That's not the Watch for people who have to check their bank balance. 11.32 Think that's it. We're wrapping up now. There was nothing big announced, beyond the new medical research stuff and the upgraded MacBook. 11.30 The Watch is coming to a load of countries on April 24, including the US, the UK, Germany and Japan. Apple is 'working hard' to bring it to more. Does that mean it's hard to make? 11.28 For the 38mm it starts at: $549 $1049. For the 42mm, it's $50 more. Watch Edition starts at $10,000 dollars. Wow. It is a load of gold in there. Release date: April 10 for pre-orders and you can check it out in person. 11.27 Through all this chat about things we've mostly already seen, I still think the Apple Watch is one of the best looking out there. It really does look like a watch on the wrist. I just hope that battery life holds. 11.26 I do like that Ive is really into these videos. He makes it sound awesome every time he says 'alloying'. I have no idea what he's talking about as I don't know how steel should be made, but I assume he knows what he's talking about. I want a multi-axis milling machine. What is it? I DON'T CARE. 11.25 Now the main version. Stainless steel that's no ordinary stainless steel. Sigh. Here comes another video. About steel. 11.24 That's Watch Sport. A lot on aluminium. Starts at $349 for the 38mm model, and $399 for the larger model. 11.22 Three collections, as we know: Sport has a special kind of aluminium compared to that 'normal' aluminium we all throw in the trash. IveSpeak is talking about aluminium. I love that he adds in the 'i'. There's a video of a foundry on a white background. I would love it if Apple built one in a white room to make the watches. 11.21 There will be how to videos, set up friends, choose notifications. With all these 'great apps' Apple thinks it's going to be massively, with 'All day' battery life across a range of activities. A typical day will be 18 hours, according to Apple. With the magnetic charger it will click into place. You know, like magnets. 11.20 That's it from the developers. Nothing groundbreaking, but some cool stuff. Tim is back. Going to tell us stuff about availability hopefully. The iPhone will be the place to download and change apps. Apple Watch App coming to iOS 8.2. 11.19 A new app lets you control the home with the Watch. Alarm.com app lets you see your locks, a video of the garage door, and an open button. YES, YES THIS IS WHAT WATCHES SHOULD DO. 11.18 Shazam on the Watch and you can hear what's playing and get the info on the device. People are clapping Shazam. That was around before smartphones. It's cool on the Watch. 11.17 Drawing on fellow watch user's watch faces. That's going to be one thing over and over with my friends. Now looking at hotels - you can unlock your door with your Watch as it's your roomkey thanks to NFC. It's cool. 11.16 Boarding passes on the Watch - including barcode. That means you have to hand your watch over to the airline staff. That's going to be weird. 11.15 So you can call using the phone, as long as it's connected to the iPhone. That's good. Now we're seeing Uber being really integrated. All these apps look very slick. 11.13 How has this gone on for an hour and a quarter? I could summarise this now: we've made medical research on the iPhone, the new MacBook is pretty cool, comes in loads of colours and has one port, and the Watch is still a thing. I'm not saying any of this is bad - the medical research in particular is ace - but I'm not sure why Apple is spending so long on this. 11.12 Apple Watch for Pay now - that does look handy but it's still things we've seen before. I love the idea of being able to pay for things like that though. Everyone needs to do it. 11.11 He's talking about how he can send a message through WeChat. He's sending stickers. I'm really worried there's nothing big or new going to be brought in. 11.09 Day in the life of the Watch. Uh-oh. You can interact with Siri either by pressing the crown or saying Hey Siri... I assume this is when it's in the Siri mode though. 11.08 Talking developers now. Hoping these new apps will be something cool. Yes, Kevin Lunch is coming on! Maybe he'll have something to say! 11.07 Notifications on Apple Watch. There has to be something more. There has to be. This is just the same as what we've seen on Android Wear. 11.06 She's doing a blog, you can follow it to see how people prepare for marathons. Whoop. Ooh, more on the Watch. Please. NO IT'S JUST APPLE PAY AND SIRI. 11.04 She's on stage now. We're hearing about what she's up to. She says she 'relied on it heavily' up and down hills. Now we're talking fashion bands. It's a little awkward. Why aren't we hearing about new stuff from the Apple Watch? 11.03 If she's really a marathon runner, she wouldn't use the Apple Watch unless she has it tethered to her phone. It doesn't have GPS, which gets in the way of being a 'proper' running watch. It doesn't mean it's not good, but it's not perfect for pace tracking in races. 11.01 She's done a half marathon using an Apple Watch. They did a video of it. 11.00 I swear this is new: the Watch can read what machine you're doing in the gym and give you an accurate feedback. Apple gave the Watch to a 'friend'... it's Christy Turlington Burns. 10.58 Onto fitness now. Apple Watch tracks your daily movement, and will tell you if you've been sitting too long. This is, again, stuff we've seen for a long time on other stuff. It will send you a report of how active you've been. People will hate or love that. Like having a coach on your wrist... but what if I want to eat butter all day? 10.56 You can receive calls on your Watch! YAAAY! Wait... no, Samsung did that and then scrapped the idea. That's how old the idea is. I hope there's some new stuff here. All new ways to communicate with Apple Watch: press the side button and it brings up your friends. Digital Touch allows you to share with friends. So sketch and it will show on a friend's watch just as you drew it. Tap your watch to get their attention, or even send your heartbeat. That's still a bit weird. Tim hasn't explained why it's there. 10.55 Oooh, a new feature. No, wait, it's called Glances. We've heard about this. Swipe up from the bottom and see weather and the calendar, or control music. Or you can even check your heartrate. He just made a joke about how nervous he is. It makes sense - when a guy demo'd the Samsung Galaxy S5 heartrate monitor to me, I thought he was going to die. 10.55 People are clapping the Mickey Mouse face we've already seen. I hope they work for Apple. But this is just the beginning... is this it? 10.54 It tells the time. And tells it well. It has more faces. This is not new news. 10.53 We're back on the same designs we saw last year. Come on, tell us something new. Nobody is clapping. That tells you all you need to know. They clap anything. 10.53 The Apple Watch is not just with you, it's ON YOU. Way to make it freaky, Cook. 10.52 Tim is back. Not the cat though. It would be amazing if he ran out. We're onto the Watch. Finally. 10.51 Starts at $1299, and more processor power and storage comes at $1599. And it will ship next month in April. The MacBook Air is being updated in the CPU area, and the 13-inch gets faster flash memory. MacBook Pro is getting faster flash, better CPU and the new force trackpad. 10.50 DO NOT CLAP THAT. Oh, they did. Oh, no. Schiller just did a hashtag joke. 10.49 Ive keeps saying that things are optimised and engineered to work together perfectly. What on earth was Apple doing before? Just pulling apart old Dells and putting them in a shiny case? 10.48 This is basically Jony just saying everything Schiller just said in 'IveSpeak'. 10.47 Big Sir JI chatting on video now to talk about how beautiful everything is. It's all about design. Whenever he talks I feel like I'm in an IMAX watching a film about fish. 10.45 Comes in silver, space gray and gold. You knew that was coming. And it's the world's most energy efficient notebook. HERE COMES THE VIDEO. 10.43 The vision of this is Wireless. Properly. No wires. So Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Does this mean a real lack of ports? AirDrop, AirPlay? Hotspot on iPhone? Wireless music streaming? Only a power port on here, it seems. One connector to support HDMI, USB, VGA and power. That's going to piss people off. It's going to be USB-C, as expected. 10.42 The battery cells are filling the rest of the space. Batteries are contoured to the shape of the device. 'We don't want to ship air, we want to ship batteries!' Ha. He mentioned Air. The battery tech is done in sheets, so can be stacked anywhere. 10.41 It's a tiny logic board, but it's still a logic board. It's powered by an Intel Core M, can be turbo charged up to 2.9GHz. And only at 5 watts. 10.40 While this is awesome, it still feels like a lot of padding for the launch of the Watch. It is a fanless MacBook though, which people seem to like here. 10.38 Now there are more kinds of clicking - a force click is harder. In Safari a force click will open a Wikipedia entry. Doing the same in email will open up a map. A time will enter a calendar entry. This is all about pressure. Even signatures are more sensitive. 10.37 Phil keeps saying diving board. A bit like Beyonce says Surf Bort. 10.36 It's a Retina display, in a 12 inch frame. This is the Retina MacBook Air by everything else but name. More light comes out, consumes 30% less energy as a result and it's totally light, right? The trackpad is next up for the overhaul. It's called the 'force touch trackpad'. And the taptic engine, from the Watch, will give feedback of the clicking. 10.35 Apple's now made something using a butterfly mechanism, so no matter where you type it will feel more accurate. I'll be honest, I've never had a problem. But thanks Apple for fixing it. 10.34 A full size keyboard that goes all the way to the edge. 'It defines the size of the keyboard'. The team actually studied how people typed using slow mo. Apple employees must have been thinking 'Ah MAN, not keyboard duty!'. 10.33 It weighs just 2 pounds, and is the lightest MacBook ever made, and it's 13.1mm. It's 24% thinner than the Macbook Air... is Apple dropping the Air name? 10.32 Can you even see it? Says Tim. Phil Schiller is here to talk about the new MacBook. 'Most extreme and efficient Notebook ever invented'. 10.31 There's a video playing of a bubble on a screen, and a very thin-looking notebook. I bet it's the MacBook Air Retina. It comes in gold, FYI. 10.30 Another time for Apple to tell us how sales of the MacBook is outperforming the industry. There are a lot of them. But the portability is from the iPhone and iPad... how can that be crammed into the MacBook? How can Apple REINVENT THE NOTEBOOK? Whoa... here it is! 10.29 Weird we've not had a product yet, although that's a big deal if Apple can make it work. And if it gets other phone brands to do the same thing. Next up: let's talk about the Mac. 10.28 ResearchKit comes next month, first five apps available for today. 10.27 People are clapping HARD at that video. It is a good thing for Apple to do - this mass data contribution is great, and it's going to be open source too! 10.25 Watching a video of people talking about how much the iPhone could change medical research. Would have been more awesome if they'd said 'meh, not really bothered'. That's a story. 10.23 How will this data be saved and kept private? Apple is keeping it away from its own eyes, apparently. People clapped that. 10.22 The asthma app can help work out the triggers for Asthma by swabbing surfaces and then using iPhone GPS data to work out who is getting symptoms and why. 10.21 The user can see this data too, so they can use it to influence their health too. GlucoSuccess is coming for diabetes, Cardiovascular disease, Asthma - the ideas to see if apps can really help users by gathering loads of data - even Bluetooth inhalers to help too. 10.18 ResearchKit is a way to easily make apps, and turns iPhone and HealthKit into powerful diagnostic tools. Working with a variety of foundations for huge diseases. mPower is first up - anyone with an iPhone can contribute. There's a tapping test that evaluates hands tremor, or say 'ah' into the microphone and it can read tremors. Or the accelerometer can precisely measure gait. Got to admit, this sounds great. 10.16 Lots of issue with the data that comes in, like the demographics, the fact only quarterly visit to the doctor, and the fact all studies are only one way. Apple's seen an opportunity to help. 100,000,000s of iPhone users who would gladly contribute. To that end: ResearchKit. 10.15 More products using HomeKit too. But the most 'profound impact' is HealthKit. It's all about medical research, Jeff Williams is on stage to talk us through it. 10.14 Back onto the iPhone again, talking about how it was 'The best iPod ever created'. Where's he going with this? Oh, every major car brand has committed to delivering CarPlay. More than 40 new models of cars shipping by the end of the year using it. I tried it last year. It wasn't great. Hope it's improved since then. 10.13 Cook is stumbling on autocue again. Still able to tell us that vending machines are enormously popular with Apple Pay. 10.12 iPhone has sold bagillions, at double the rate of the rest of the industry. It's the number one selling smartphone, and Apple Pay has 'enormous momentum'. Now have 2500 banks supporting Apple Pay. 10.11 Apple TV price is crashing to $69.99, so doesn't look like a new one is coming. 10.10 Tim's back. He's happy. FYI my cat is called Tim. Not because of Tim Cook though. 10.09 I have to admit, I hate Game of Thrones. But I know very, very well that I'm in the minority on that. I enjoyed Tomb Raider 2: Cradle of Life though, so perhaps I'm not the best demographic. There are lots of swords, dragons and overly verbose dialogue. Apparently it's late October in this trailer, as someone mentioned winter was on the way? 10.08 First month free if you subscribe by April. Oooh, they're showing a new Game of Thrones trailer. Wonder if there will be boobs. 10.07 HBO Now is being launched now as a streaming package. Apple is the exclusive partner at launch. When you subscribe you get access to all the programming from the archives. Just need a broadband connection and an 'Apple device' - plus an HBO Apple TV channel. 10.06 That man is tanned. 10.05 Timmy C clearly loves Sex and the City. He smiled to himself when he mentioned it. But today - Richard Plepler, CEO of HBO is coming onstage. Friend of Apple, apparently. 10.04 Going right in with Apple TV. This doesn't sound good... Tim Cook said 'things' (plural) when talking about what was coming up. Cook wants to talk HBO. Apple loves HBO. 10.03 Apple has opened six stores in China in the last six weeks alone. It will have 40 by mid next year. Good news for you, Chinese Apple-loving TechRadar fans. 10.02 Tim Cook is here. Oh, it was a new store in China. It has a cantilevered second floor, apparently. Best kind of floor. 10.01 It's starting! HERE WE GO! There's a video of an Apple store. Another one. People are cheering. If Apple is announcing it has stores, it's a bit late. I'm in one now. 09.59 Nothing on the twittersphere yet. I'm waiting for someone to say something about something. Wonder what Anna Kendrick is up to? 09.58 Two minutes to go. What's going to happen? Who knows. Well, we do. It's going to be about a Watch. 09.57 Just started to need the toilet. This is bad news for all involved. 09.55 The feed is starting! I'm looking at video of journalists typing! Wonder what they're feeling, what they're thinking. Hang on... 09.42 Some generic electronica in the background. It's pleasant. 09.39 People around me are both SPEAKING and WRITING in German. Fact. Ich kanne nicht. WHUT 09.35 So, don't forget to tweet @techradar or @superbeav: I want to know what else you think Apple could launch. The best (probably any) tweets will be published here while I fill in this beautiful time. 09.29 Just so we're all clear, I'm a bit mad. I've been hearing rumblings something big is happening today. There are secret spotlights all around. I came here on the plane this morning expecting to be messing around with the Apple Watch again, before heading back to watch a spot of football. If something big happens I'll have to write LOADS to deal with it. I hope you appreciate this. 09.27 I'm in. Front row This picture will tell you all you need to know. 09.12 - You can find me tweeting @superbeav as I ramp up the excitement of walking through doors and finding a seat. 09.10 - Kneel before me, for I have the power. I'm the first one into the Apple Watch event. My mum will be proud. #first 09.00 - There's just an hour to go. Will we see a "one more thing" today? How about new MacBooks, new MacBook Airs or an iPad Pro? Surely Apple isn't doing a second launch event just for the Watch? Surely... 06.00 Pacific - The Apple Store is down. I repeat, the Apple Store IS DOWN. Hopefully it's being stuffed full of 34 different combinations of Apple Watch as we speak. 04.30 Pacific - THIS GUY. Tim Cook has kicked off the jokes early with this cheeky tweet in the early hours. Oh Tim, keep 'em coming champ. March 9 - It's happening, are you ready? The invite asked us to "Spring forward," confirming that this one's almost all about Apple's first smartwatch and giving us a helpful reminder of the US daylight savings time change. Sure, we got hands on time with the Apple Watch at the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus launch event in September, but there were several key details missing about the "iWatch." We're also anticipating a few more surprises from Cupertino, including an all-new MacBook and an update to iOS 8.2. Release dateWe kind of sort of know the Apple Watch release date. It's coming next month with an official April launch window, but we should know today. Apple loves launching new iPhones and iPads on Fridays, so its smartwatch may be due in stores on one of four days: April 3, April 10, April 17 or April 24 if the pattern holds. PriceThink Android Wear watches are expensive? Apple Watch's price is set to be even higher at $350 (likely north of £220, AU$400). And that's just the start. Apple Watch Sport is expected to be the cheapest edition with a lightweight aluminum casing, Ion-X glass and rubber-like fluoroelastomer band. The regular Apple Watch, which will hopefully get a better name, upgrades to a stainless steel casing, sapphire glass and metal band options. That comes at a cost. Reports indicate that the premium Apple Watch Watch Edition will cost as much as $10,000 and be kept in a safe because of its 18-karat gold value. We'll know for sure soon. Apple Watch: what else?Well hopefully we'll get more of an insight into the battery life of the Watch, as conflicting reports continue to muddy the waters. In one camp we have Tim Cook saying the Apple Watch will last a whole day on a single charge, but there are rumors suggesting with heavy usage it may be done after just 2.5 hours. Apple's likely to showcase a whole host of Apple Watch apps from third party developers, allowing the Cupertino firm to really show off what its wearable can do and thus hopefully justifying the high price tag. There will be a strong health and fitness vibe running through the Watch's marketing and release notes for the upcoming iOS 8.2 operating system may see the mobile software launched alongside the Watch. One more thingAs well as getting more details on Apple Watch we're also preparing ourselves for one of Apple's famous "One More Thing" announcements. While nothing is set in stone there are a number of devices which could also sneak out today, including a 12-inch MacBook, Retina MacBook Air or even the iPad Pro. |
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