At last night’s big Apple event at which CEO Tim Cook showed the world the ridiculous $10 000 gold Apple Watch, updated MacBooks were also announced.
For those of us with no money or use for a R120 000 vanity item wristwatch, and an interest in computer tech that we actually have a hope of one day owning, the MacBook Air/Pro announcement – which was broken down in a press release we got our hands on this morning – is of much greater interest.
The new 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display is apparently faster than previous models thanks to Intel’s latest Core i5 and i7 processors and their integrated HD Graphics 6100 chips.
Apple has also used flash memory that it says is “two times faster”, and done some fine-tuning in the background to bring this latest MacBook Pro with Retina’s battery performance up to ten hours, up from nine of the previous generation.
The most intriguing new feature is what Apple refers to as the Force Touch trackpad, which can measure exactly how hard it’s being pressed as well as provide haptic feedback. A new gesture, called a “Force Click” apparently allows people to customise OS X shortcuts based on how hard they press the trackpad.
The 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air also gets a decent overhaul. Both will use Intel’s fifth-generation Core i5 and i7 chips, Intel HD Graphics 6000 for their visuals and Thunderbolt 2 ports. Buyers of the 13-inch model will also get to enjoy the performance benefits of “two times faster” flash memory.
While I haven’t seen either of these in person, Apple sure knows how to make them look good.
The question is, what does all of this mean to you? Well, higher prices for one thing since the rand is on a downward slide at the moment (with no end in sight), but also a faster overall user experience should you take the plunge.
The 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display starts at $1 299, which translates directly to R15 780 as of today’s exchange rate, and naturally we can expect import duties, local resellers and currency uncertainty to add to that, so prices will likely start much closer to R20 000 – or even beyond – when it eventually lands here.
The new MacBook Air starts at $899 (R10 922), which may mean a starting price of around R15 000.
Our local iStore representatives told me they don’t know anything about local pricing or availability of these new laptops yet, but that we should expect to hear more about three months after they are released in the US, which happens in April.
[Image – Apple]
