Apple’s 12-inch MacBook: A Bad Deal?

Apple launched a new 12-inch MacBook, situated in the middle of the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro as a new ultra-thin solution to some of the current portability problems.

It brings with it two ports, a mandatory 3.5mm audio jack and the USB-C port for charging USB, HDMI, VGA and DisplayPort connectors.

The USB-C port has raised a lot of questions, first being why is there only one, when two could allow a user to charge and use another external device. One port limits what a user can do, and the promises of nine hour battery life are not great for the average user.

It makes the goal for the 12-inch MacBook of portability, freedom and wireless everything a hard sell, since users will not be able to spend a day outside without an external charger hooked up to the notebook to keep it alive.

The lack of ports also makes users question the price of the 12-inch MacBook, along with the lower end internals matching up to the cheaper 11-inch MacBook Air.

How much value does 25% weight loss really add to an already portable notebook?

That is what Apple needs to answer in order for the $1,299 12-inch MacBook to sell, because right now internally it looks worse than even the lowest end MacBook Air, and ports-wise it will be a nightmare for customers that enjoy travelling.

It almost feels like a concept, something that will be worked on and next year it will be revamped, with two times the battery life, another additional port and a huge upgrade in internals.

This should be a worry for anyone considering the 12-inch MacBook, because Apple loves to launch a great second generation device. The iPad 2 is still the most popular iPad, the iPhone 3G was the smartphone to define Apple’s mobile goals and even going as far back as the Mac II, the computer to kickstart Apple as a company.

It will most likely be the same with the Apple Watch 2, whenever Apple decides to launch the smartwatch. Apple is already missing key health sensors on the Apple Watch, add to it the reported platinum version, the likelihood of a price drop for the Apple Watch Sport and a huge range of apps by 2016, you can bet the second generation smartwatch will be much better than this year’s attempt.