This is useful to pop up dictionary definitions within web browsers when words flummox you. Really, though, the absence of another traditional moving part has allowed Apple to shave a few millimetres off the MacBook's design. The standard feel of the trackpad Apple has pioneered is still there - namely, the most responsive and pleasing to use on the market.
The trackpad is big and a pleasure to use. It takes up a huge proportion of the area under the keyboard - by our measurements there's 84mm of non-trackpad, then the 112mm-wide trackpad, then another 84mm of chassis, so it's 40 percent of the horizontal space - and has a whisper-smooth top surface.
Where Apple has differentiated this MacBook line from its aging MacBook Air is in the screen. It's amazing. It has Apple's Retina display - but then again, so did the iPhone 4 in 2010. Why Apple has resisted adding such an impressive display to the Air is now slowly being answered by its inclusion here.The MacBook, in all current models, only ships with a 12-inch screen option. It has a 2304x1440 resolution at 226 pixels per inch. In real-life terms, it is one of the best screens we have ever seen on a laptop, with an outstanding range of colours and backlight brightness levels, the auto-adjustment of which is second to none in its accuracy. You can also scale the resolutions, the most useful being the 'More Space' option that pushes the 12-inch display to its most spacious for multitasking.In comparison to the cheaper MacBook Air, the screen has a better resolution but also a more pleasing screen-to-bezel look. Only since this laptop's design premiered in 2015 have people begun to consider the Air as looking a bit aged. The Air's thicker, plastic grey bezel now looks outdated and unnecessarily wide compared to the sleek, thin glass black bezel of the MacBook. It's a small touch, but adds to the premium look and feel of the device.
Straight up - the battery, despite the improvements, is not as good as the current crop of MacBook Airs and Pros. This comes down to simple physics: this computer is tiny, and Apple has done its best to cram as much battery as possible in there.The new Skylake processor performance allows for slightly improved battery consumption compared to last year's model, and Apple quotes up to 10 hours of wireless web use. Using the 2016 MacBook day to day we found we could go through the working day without having to plug the mains charger in.We noticed a sharper drop in the battery levels once you fire up a fair few tabs in Chrome (a famous MacBook energy sapper), along with apps like Mail, Slack, Notes and Google Drive, as well as video playback all chipping in now and then.
What we describe here is many people's daily work needs, and the MacBook offers more than acceptable battery performance for a laptop for these needs. All laptops decrease with this kind of usage. If you really balk at the 10 hours quoted, it's possible that you've been spoilt by the MacBook Air! And fair enough, if you need to push 15 hours away from a plug, coffee shop hopping and working on the go. Your job sounds chilled.
There's no escaping the fact that this is a very similar laptop to its 2015 predecessor, which so divided the tech community. But we think the problems have been overblown. The engineering on show is superb, and the performance is completely acceptable for a modern-day computer of this size. The arguments that there should be more ports on the MacBook only exist because people want one, and are frustrated that their current set-up needs will not allow for it.
Apple has undoubtedly improved the MacBook for 2016. It is a truly outstanding laptop that will be wrongly categorised as a luxury technological item. There's a difference between something costing a little too much and it being luxurious - just like the MacBook Air, this laptop deserves to fall in price and rise in specs to continue to be what we consider an excellent flagship computer. The world and its ports just need to catch up.The US Patents and Trademarks Office (USPTO) has granted Apple a mobile hotspot device patent application, which the company filed last year, that describes a battery-powered device designed purely to provide wireless connectivity to other hardware.The patent, granted yesterday, shows several configurations of the mobile hotspot, including three different-sized units in the shape of an AA battery. Apple envisaged one end of the cylindrical device containing up to a 1000mAH battery, while the other houses electronics like a SIM card.
Apple notes the device could alleviate the battery drain caused by using a phone as a hotspot. Also, phones aren't ideal to lug around just for mobile connectivity while doing sports or other activities when, for example, the Apple Watch might be used.Apple was also granted patent number 9,397,387 for an "electronic device with isolated cavity antennas". It was granted a similar patent in 2012, giving rise to speculation at the time that Apple might embed a mobile chip in its MacBook. Four years on and Apple still hasn't put a 4G chip in any of its OS X devices. However, hopes are being kept alive by several patents that suggest Apple might do it in the future.This patent describes a device that may have "wireless communications circuitry that operates in long-range communications bands such as cellular telephone bands" as well as Wi-Fi circuitry.
Another patent the USPTO granted Apple in May was for an "electronic device with dual clutch barrel cavity antennas", which contains the exact same wording regarding cellular circuitry.However, in both patents, the devices used to describe the cellular capability include phones, a media player, a gaming device, a laptop, a tablet, a desktop computer, a display containing an embedded computer, and a television or set-top box.While many people would appreciate a cellular option for the MacBook, it would be interesting to see if they're willing to fork out the extra $100 or so for not having to rely on their smartphone for connectivity. Then again, as Apple's mobile hotspot patent demonstrates, you wouldn't need to rely on the iPhone's already short battery life for your connection.
New laptops from the biggest names in the tech industry are expected to be released before the year ends. The likes of Apple, Lenovo and Microsoft are making the rounds when it comes to rumored laptops. However, there is one laptop that is reportedly better than the much talked about MacBook Pro 2016 – the 2016 Dell XPS 15.
Since it remains to be seen if Apple will unveil a new MacBook Pro this year, tech experts have found that the XPS 15 is a potential competitor against Apple's alleged flagship laptop.In a report by Forbes, Dell's update to the XPS 15 laptop is being compared to the Apple's rumored MacBook Pro update. The report mentioned that Dell's iteration has a bigger display size, measuring at 15.6 inches, which is slightly bigger than the MacBook Pro. Despite this size, Dell managed to maintain the lightweight feature of the device, weighing only 4.4 lbs with the battery, which makes it a mobile PC.
The XPS 15 somehow carries attractive specs that would be hard for one to ignore. The device runs on a Windows 10 system. The entry-level variant has a screen resolution of 1080 pixels, but for those who are willing to shell out more money, they can get a 4K Ultra HD resolution. The Intel Skylake processor, coupled with 16 GB of RAM, gives it power and smooth speed. On board for the graphics is NVIDIA GTX 960M.
Battery life is also impressive for the XPS 15. It can last all day after a single charge. With little adjustments, a user can see just how long-lasting the battery is – this means adjusting the display brightness and avoiding watching too many movies or playing games. Dell can also include Dell Power Companion, a portable charger that makes sure the battery doesn't die out, especially when the device is taken out for long trips.
For years, consumer tech companies have dreamed of convergence — that is, the idea of one device being the nexus of all your computing needs.Basically, they’ve tried really hard to have you buy a smartphone (the computer you carry in your pocket) that's also your laptop (the computer you use at home).Microsoft has been the most visible proponent of this idea in recent months; its Continuum feature allows Windows Phones to run a lightweight version of Windows 10 when plugged into a display dock. The problem, in a nutshell, is that nobody buys Windows Phones.Before Microsoft, there was Ubuntu. It’s long struggled to gain traction with similar promises, dating all the way back to its failed Edge project in 2013.
Before that, there was Motorola. Its Atrix phone worked the same way, but its laptop dock cost $500, the software you used with it was half-baked, and the phone was only “strong” by 2011’s standards. Again, few people cared.Still, the dream hasn’t died. The latest group to give it a try is Andromium, a startup headed by alumni of Google and Y Combinator. Its new Kickstarter project, the Superbook, essentially flips the Atrix concept, and applies it to various Android phones
At its core, the Superbook is just a laptop shell. It’s got an 11.6-inch display with a 1366x768 resolution, a QWERTY keyboard with Android-specific keys, a multi-touch trackpad, and a battery that Andromium rates at eight or so hours of use. (Though that’ll move closer to 10 hours if Andromium reaches $500,000 in funding, which currently looks likely.) In a recent Reddit AMA, the company said the device is composed of soft plastic.