Apple Boosts MacBook Speed, Battery Life But Key Design Flaws Remain

Ahead of Apple's 27th annual Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) - which kicks off June 13 in San Francisco - the Cupertino, California-based tech titan just updated its 12-inch MacBook with Intel's latest processors (Skylake), which also improved the companion low-end graphics chip (HD Graphics 515), a faster memory and flash drive, plus an additional hour of battery life, for up to 10 hours on a full charge.

The first Pink Mac

Just like its predecessor, the new Retina MacBook is super light (at about 2 pounds), has no moving parts, vents, or fan. It also features the same all-metal unibody enclosure with a major twist: It's now available in a rose-gold finish, just like the iPhones, iPads and smartwatches, and a first on a Mac.

Still just one expansion port

The biggest letdown however is still the lack of connection ports: The newly refreshed MacBook still has just one USB-C "all-in-one" port that supports charging, USB 3.1 (up to 5 Gbps) and video outputs (DisplayPort, VGA and HDMI). However, unless you buy the proper dongle, like the 5-in-1 adapter from Juiced Systems, you won't be able to go far beyond just charging the MacBook.

I've now been using the previous generation of the MacBook for several months, and I was hoping that Apple would add more ports and fix a few more things in this revamp like bringing back the magnetic power cord (MagSafe) and the charging indicator light, as well as upgrade the miserable 480p Facetime camera. A slap in the face really for a premium laptop with a starting price of $1,299.

For a $100 less, you could get the 13.3-inch MacBook Air, with the equivalent amount of memory and storage, in addition to faster processors, 12-hours battery life, a 720p Facetime HD camera, as well as plenty of ports (two USB 3 ports, a Thunderbolt 2 port and an SD card slot).

MacBook Air, TBD?

So the big question now becomes: should you buy it? The pink MacBook sure looks gorgeous, but I feel that Apple missed an opportunity to redefine the premium ultrabook category that it created with the first MacBook, giving away the innovation crown to HP and its Spectre 13.3-inch, which is today the world's thinnest laptop.

But rumor has it that Apple will discontinue its MacBook Air lineup and release instead 11-inch and 13-inch variants of its upcoming MacBook Pro 2016 at the WWDC, but with a much thinner design that'd resemble the 12-inch MacBook. Less than 60 days to wait!