After 2016's performance and battery improvement, in 2017 Apple will renew its MacBook once again that this year will get new Intel 7th generation processors, faster SSDs and a significantly improved keyboard. We discover together Apple's most eye-catching laptop in our comprehensive review!
Let's start from what has not changed in this new MacBook. First of all, design is a good thing: the new MacBook keeps the design of its predecessors unaltered, and again, with a thick unibody aluminum body of only 1.31 cm in height. The computer's width is 28.05 cm, while the depth is 19.65 cm. The weight that is only 0.92 kilograms is also reduced. With these features, the MacBook is one of the most comfortable laptops to carry with it at any time of the day.
The screen remains unchanged: it is replicating the same IPS unit with 12-inch diagonal and 2304 x 1440 pixel Retina resolution. The quality of the panel is great and we are at the top of the category: the colors are always bright, the contrast is excellent and the brightness is very good, always allowing for optimum viewing of the contents even outside.
The main novelty of this MacBook 2017 is, of course, the new generation 7th Intel processors: it starts with the basic configuration that includes a 1.2GHz Intel Core m3 cpu (and this is the processor mounted on the drive we tested) and Then it rises, both in terms of performance and price, with the i5 and i7 configurations. In any case, already the m3 version seemed more than valid: we did not find any major slowdowns when editing photos with Photoshop or during editing and exporting 4K videos using Final Cut Pro X.
The MacOS Sierra RAM management is excellent and the 8 GB base model is more than adequate for medium use: if you are a bit demanding, you can always configure your MacBook 2017 with 16 GB of RAM. Performance improvements are felt, however, but are still mild. More interesting is the SSD issue: no memory cuts (256 GB for the base, 512 GB for the top version), but read and write speeds are greatly increased. The new SSDs are twice as fast as the previous ones and this translates into copy and move files that take significantly less time to complete.
The sound that is once again confirmed to be one of the best, not only for ultrabook but among the best of all: we are not too far from the 13-inch MacBook Pro's latest generation The challenge is only for a higher volume (but that of the MacBook 2017 is absolutely amazing for the type of computer).
And what about the new keyboard? Maybe it was the news I liked most. In part because the previous keyboard of the MacBook 2015/2016 was stunned to convince me completely, but also and above all because the typing feedback on the new model is much better and it is written even faster without making any mistakes.
The keyboard uses the new second-generation butterfly mechanism, the same as we had already tried on the MacBook Pro 2016. A good step forward with respect to the past. The new MacBook keyboard however lacks the Touch Bar and the Touch ID that remain two exclusive features of the MacBook Pro.
This is, however, a "almost" perfect product: some criticalities are still and are the same as we found in previous models. First of all there is a single USB-C handy handset: with this port you can charge the Mac, connect peripherals (provided they are equipped with adapters and cables) and even monitors. Everything is beautiful, but the USB-C still today, after three years, has not yet become the standard that Apple hoped for, at least in our country.
Limiting the single port is obvious when you want to recharge your MacBook and at the same time connect a device: it will use an adapter that will double the input to do as described. What's more, however, if you consider the nature of the product that, unlike the MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, was born to be used mainly in mobility and much less in "studio". Additionally, this USB-C port does not support the Thunderbolt 3 standard yet.
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All very nice, but also very expensive. In fact, the new MacBook 2017 starts with a figure that is perhaps a bit too high: it will use € 1549 to bring home the entry level model (Intel Core, 8 GB and 256 GB of SSD). Top configuration (Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) is sold at a price of € 2269. The colors are always the same: gray, silver, gold and pink gold. So many, perhaps too many, especially if you evaluate the extreme likeness of this MacBook's MacBook Pro and MacBook Pro 13 without the Touch Bar.
So who is this MacBook for? The answer is similar to what I did in the past, but in part different: it is once again a computer for those who choose portability first, but this year begins to be the substance thanks to new processors and discs more fast. The keyboard improves considerably and is definitely one of the most important items on a laptop, so it is absolutely worth considering. It's a pity for iSight in 480p and for the single USB-C port, but this MacBook is beautiful, has battery sold and a lucrative audio. All in a super compact and enjoyable form-factor, both in view and during use.