Ten age ago today , Apple unveil the12 - inch MacBookto the world , claim it had “ reinvented the notebook ” for the better . The laptop almost forthwith divided notion , with fan and detractors at each other ’s throats from the start . And for certain , it was by no means perfect , but look a little nigher and I think you ’ll find a gimmick that has had a monolithic impingement on the world of computing — not just on Apple , but on the industry as a whole .
The 12 - in MacBook is often seen as a dud and as a product emblematic of the excesses of Apple’sJony Iveera , where the design guru ’s penchant forthinness and lightnessruled all . The fact that this MacBook was discontinued after just four long time is meet as test copy of this melodic theme .
Yet I see it as something else : a precursor to many of the course - leading feature of speech that Apple fan savor today . sure enough , it was deep blemished , underpowered and overpriced . But it was also right smart ahead of its time and brilliant in so many ways . at last , we probably would n’t have many of the feature film we see in thebest MacBookstoday were it not for the 12 - column inch MacBook .
Innovative new features
When the 12 - column inch MacBook set in motion , it pull attention for many of the wrong reasons . For one affair , it was expensive , with its $ 1,299 price shred on a equality with theMacBook Pro . That alone made it tough to swallow , but when you realized you were only getting an Intel Core M chip for your money — a chip that was design for mobile devices rather than high - power laptop — it really stuck in the craw .
As well as that , the 12 - inch MacBook introduce the now - infamousbutterfly keyboard , which was uncomfortable and prostrate to nonstarter . Apple drop days strain to fix and refine this keyboard before giving up alone . And then there was the atomic number 79 coloration — the first clip we ’d date this in a MacBook — which just felt manifestly pretentious .
Yet at the same metre , this laptop computer load down in some unbelievable features not found anywhere else . It was astonishingly tenuous and light for a laptop , drawing comparisons to when the originalMacBook Airwas unveiled in 2008 to shocked audience reactions . Ironically , the 12 - in MacBook threaten to cannibalize the MacBook Air , as the former was now far more slimline and portable than the Air .
The 12 - inch MacBook also introduced the large Force Touch trackpad , an ingenious feature that is beloved to this day and hasinspired aper across the industry . And while it might not have been the first Mac with a Retina display , it still got this before the MacBook Air , showing that even portable notebook could come with fantastical screens .
There ’s more . Not only did Apple face pack in an innovative battery design that aid it last all day despite its topnotch - thin chassis , but it even managed to go without an internal devotee , giving you the variety of silent operation that would n’t be get word again until 2020’sApple siliconMacBook Air .
And then there was the singleUSB - Cport , which the 12 - inch MacBook was the first to extend in Apple ’s laptop range . At the time , the move was mocked for ushering in the omnipresent “ dongle , ” but it also helped spur the industry on to follow USB - one C far more widely . Now , it ’s everywhere you look . In a elbow room , it was reminiscent of when theiMac G3dropped the floppy drive . No one misses those disks now .
Time for a reappraisal
It ’s easy to remember the defective element of the 12 - inch MacBook . Do n’t get me wrong , I was utterly not a buff when it launched , and I do it I ’m not alone there .
But armed with a few age of hindsight and the noesis of what the machine rifle on to pep up , I think it ’s deserving reappraising the 12 - in MacBook . While its unsuccessful person were many , it also helped insert legion stratum - leading features that you’re able to find today in Apple ’s MacBook batting order .
The way I see the 12 - in MacBook is that , like the equally notorious Apple Newton , it was a good idea done too soon . It was forrader of its time and was n’t capable to deliver on the promises it made , and while not all of its features were on the money , many of them were . Indeed , the idea it embodied have driven Apple devices forward , and raft of them have been wide adopted across the market .
The 12 - in MacBook may have failed , but Apple returned to the idea of a fanless , lightweight laptop computer driven by a extremely efficient flake a few years down the route in the configuration of 2020 ’s Apple atomic number 14 MacBook Air . Some of the 12 - in MacBook ’s undecomposed conception are still alive today , even if the equipment itself has been consigned to the history . And that ’s get to be deserving something .
