Apple Watch review: a status symbol for iOS devotees
Mankind's fascination with watches capable of more than simply telling the time is nothing new. But recently, our collective interest in intelligent timepieces has spiked, and we have more and more powerful wrist-worn computers to choose from than ever -- whether made by startups with record-setting Kickstarter campaigns or the biggest names in consumer electronics. Of course, the biggest name of all, Apple, had yet to release one of its own. Well, the Watch has arrived, and its maker has loftier aspirations for it than the smartwatches preceding it. Apple's Watch isn't some utilitarian gadget -- it's jewelry, an object of lust, not only for what it can do, but also for how it looks. Pros Cons Finely crafted hardware Third-party apps can feel sluggish Easy-to-use fitness tracking Some users will crave more control over notification settings Strong app support Expensive Best smartwatch available Summary The Watch is the nicest smartwatch available, but it's more status symbol than wearable revolutionary. Most of the Watch's features can be categorized as nice to have (at best) or superfluous (at worst). As such, if you're not enamored with the Watch's appearance, it's probably not compelling enough to buy one. Hardware For the uninitiated, there are two sizes (38 or 42mm) and three Watch models: Sport, Watch and Edition. The entry-level Sport model starts at $349 and is made of aluminum, while the high-end Edition starts at $10,000 and is crafted of 18-karat rose or yellow gold. Apple loaned me a 42mm stainless steel Watch model ($549) with a bright, lime green Sport Band ($49 when sold separately) and a Link Bracelet ($449). In keeping with its aspirations to luxury jewelry and with Apple's usual obsessive attention to detail, the Watch case is constructed of machined, cold-forged steel polished to a high gloss. Its OLED screen on top and heart rate sensor on the bottom are sheathed in sapphire crystal, a material familiar to any luxe timepiece aficionado. (Note: Sport models make do without the sapphire protection.) The "Digital Crown" on the right edge is machined and polished too, as is the button with an ever-so-slightly chamfered edge alongside it. All of these elements are fitted together perfectly, with uniform gaps and nary a blemish to be found. The result is a watch that looks the part it's been cast to play -- assuming you dig the aesthetics of a rounded rectangle parked on your arm. It's the finest construction of any smartwatch, and none of the others are particularly close (second place: ASUS ZenWatch). More importantly (for Apple), it doesn't feel ridiculous to compare its build quality to something made by Tag Heuer or Cartier. The Sport Band is made of a pliable, soft-touch material called fluoroelastomer and can be had in white, blue, pink and black in addition to the green I received. The Link Bracelet's made of brushed stainless steel (a Space Black Stainless Steel Watch and matching bracelet are also available, though the black bracelet isn't available for purchase separately). There's a plethora of other straps available for the Watch made of metal and leather, as well. Meanwhile, the Link Bracelet is a marvelous bit of engineering, with a unique quad-hinged clasp that latches and releases with rifle-bolt precision. It also has links that can be removed with a simple button press, which makes fitting the bracelet a relatively painless process. Pressing the release button while pulling on the appropriate links required more fiddling than expected, but it also gets easier the more times you do it. The bracelet is comprised of a single band of horizontal scales, which sets it apart visually from the three or four vertical bands of links in most other watch bracelets. When combined with the polished steel Watch case, however, the brushed finish on the bracelet looks incongruous to my eye. Not to the point of distraction, but for a company that so sweats the little things like Apple does, I'm surprised that such a choice was made. At least it matches the bracelet in its precision construction, and the two fit together almost seamlessly. Getting started Setting up the Watch is straightforward. Upon powering it up for the first time, it'll prompt you to pick a language, then open up the Watch app -- which is included with iOS 8.3 -- on your iPhone 5 or later. Tap the 'Start Pairing' option on your Watch and a dancing point cloud (think of it as a beautiful QR code) appears. Point your phone's camera at the Watch's screen, and once the point cloud forms itself into a circular rosette, presto! You're paired. Then, you'll need to agree to the terms and conditions, link up your Apple ID, create a Watch-specific passcode and let it sync all of the compatible apps and info with your iPhone. The whole process takes less than 10 minutes. Apple's Watch display is an OLED unit which, in the 42mm version has a 390 x 312 resolution that performs well in just about any lighting condition. Colors are vibrant; blacks are inky; and it's viewable in direct sunlight, despite washing out. The default mode for that screen is off, but it wakes up when you either touch it or twist your wrist so the Watch thinks you're looking at it. Much digital ink has been spilled about the split-second delay between raising your wrist and seeing the time, and it is noticeable. The bigger issue is when the first arm motion fails to trigger the display, which forces you to either repeat the process or tap the screen to wake it up. Should you have more than one Watch band to choose from, swapping them is a similarly easy affair. On the underside of the Watch sit two-flush mounted buttons that serve to release each side of the band, and those buttons need only be depressed slightly, if deliberately, to release. Sliding the ends out of the channels milled into the top and bottom edges of the Watch in which they reside isn't hard. Also, re-inserting the Link Bracelet requires sliding the tip of one side in before seating the other and pushing them both in simultaneously. Once you feel a muted "snick" on both sides, your band of choice is secure. The mechanism is brilliant in its simplicity and execution, and makes swapping straps a far simpler process than the pin system on your standard watchband or a trip to the jewelers. Given the wide selection of straps Apple is offering out of the gate (and with more to come, no doubt), this feature is of greater importance than you might think. Any wearable device aspiring to be fashionable has to look good, and the ability to tailor colors and styles to taste so easily is key to the Watch's appeal. But tailoring the physical look is only part of the equation. Apple has built in digital personalization options, too. The company has put together a user guide that comprehensively elucidates all that the Watch can do, so for the purposes of this review. In use Generally speaking, the modes of interaction on the Watch's user interface are straightforward, if not always intuitive. In keeping with its primary function, your homescreen is, naturally, a watch face, with the app launcher cloud hidden a layer below. Accessing it is a mere press of the Digital Crown away. Press it again and you're taken back to your watch face. It can be helpful to think of depressing that crown as a sort of analogue for the iPhone's home button, as double-clicking it also takes you straight back to the last app you've used. Scrolling through options and zooming in and out with that little knob made perfect sense from the start. Another unique bit of UI comes in the form of Apple's new Taptic Engine, a linear actuator that delivers haptic feedback. Far from a mere buzz or vibration, the engine delivers more detailed and nuanced tactile feedback, that in effect is not unlike Immersion's HD haptic technology. Differentiating between the sensation of the different sorts of taps and rumbles it provides isn't easy at first. Aside from the watch, app tray and individual applications, the Watch comes with a feature called Glances. A swipe up on the watch face drops you into a carousel of widgets for various apps and functions to let you get a quick look at battery life, the weather, or scores from teams you follow. You can add and subtract Glances in the companion iPhone app. You can also ping your iPhone if you've misplaced it. Timekeeper The Watch comes with 10 faces preloaded, and each can be adjusted to varying degrees. There's also a creation engine that lets you make and save variations of those faces for quick access. To swap or tweak one, you'll need to utilize Force Touch, Apple's recently introduced tech that enables the Watch's display (and the new MacBook's trackpad) to distinguish a light tap from a hard press. Jamming your finger into the screen isn't necessary, but you do need to apply significant pressure for the Watch to recognize what you're trying to do. Upon force pressing, the Watch gives you a horizontal carousel of the available faces. Swiping left and right gets you where you want to go, and any faces that can be customized have a button telling you so beneath them. Tap that button, and again, swiping right and left navigates the modes of adjustment. There are two main ways to tailor the faces: first, color. Wind the crown from top to bottom, and the hue of the words, numbers and watch hands change from salmon pink, to purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, red and finally, white. Next, you can adjust a series of widgets on the faces, called complications in watchmaking parlance. Depending upon the face chosen, you've got three to five complications to work with. Tapping on a given widget lets you change it, and turning the crown rolls through the options. These include: date, calendar events, moon phase, sunrise and sunset times, weather, stocks, activity summary, alarm, timer, stopwatch, battery charge and world clock. Fans of simplicity can also turn any and all complications off. Additionally, the Motion face lets you choose among beautiful animations of different butterflies, flowers or jellyfish, while the Chronograph lets you change the watch face itself to black, navy, brown, forest green, dark gray or parchment color. Communicator Some notifications on the Watch are actionable -- such as archiving Gmail messages -- though most are simply informational. Each is accompanied by a short pop or ding and/or a bit of haptic feedback. Both the sounds and vibrations can be turned on and off individually to suit your tastes or differentiate between types of notifications. Should you miss an alert when it first comes through, the next time you check the Watch, a small red dot appears on screen (or not, if you choose to turn that feature off) letting you know. A swipe down puts you in the notification tray, and if you want to dismiss all of them at once, a simple Force Touch does the trick. Plenty of others have complained about a lack of granular controls for notifications. It's just a matter of figuring out what sorts of pings you want on your wrist: either just the important stuff, or the full fire hose of digital info. You can make and take phone calls, send and receive text messages or use Apple's Watch-specific Digital Touch comms technology to send finger paintings, taps, animated emoji and even a facsimile of your heartbeat to your closest friends. Using the Watch to take calls is a middling-to-poor experience, though being able to mute an incoming call by covering the Watch is a handy feature. In a quiet, private place, it's a "good enough" sort of thing, with mediocre audio at limited volume being pumped out of the Watch's speaker. In public? Forget about it. Aside from the obvious lack of privacy and inconsiderate nature of forcing those around you to endure your conversation, you can't hear what the person on the other end is saying when there's any sort of ambient noise. The novelty of talking and listening to my wrist dissipated after just a few calls. Messaging is, by far, the most useful of the Watch's communication abilities. Using the app, you can receive, reply to and send texts, and Apple's made replying to messages, in particular, even easier than on an iPhone. See, the Watch provides a list of (mostly) contextually relevant replies you can simply tap to use instead of typing out a response. You can also use Siri to dictate text replies or send audio messages -- the voice dictation mostly works well, but plenty of times, there's an interminable delay (sometimes of 15 seconds or more) between when I'd speak my reply and when Siri would recognize it. Apple's made much ado about its Digital Touch technology, which, in theory, provides a more personal way to communicate. The tech enables you to tap, draw pictures or scribble words on the Watch screen and have it mirrored on your friend's Watch, even if it's a world away. You can also send your heartbeat by pressing and holding two fingers against the screen for a few seconds. In order to digitally touch someone, they also need to be added to your Friends circle in the iPhone app. Fitness and health tracker When first firing up the app, it prompts you to input your sex, age, weight, height and general activity level in terms of daily calorie burn. The app uses this information to recommend daily movement and exercise goals that can be adjusted manually as well. The app tracks you three ways using the Watch's accelerometer: Move, Stand and Exercise. The aim is to give a comprehensive look at your daily activity and motivate you to stop being such a slothful meatbag. Move is a calorie counter. Stand tracks how sedentary you are on an hourly basis (and prompts you to get up for at least one minute out of every hour). Exercise keeps up with how much time you've spent on any activity as or more strenuous than a brisk walk, with the aim of getting 30 minutes of exercise each day. There's also a separate, more comprehensive Workout app that integrates with the Activity app. The app lets you choose from a set list of types of exercise (walking, biking, elliptical, rowing machine, etc.). It uses that information, plus the accelerometer and heart rate sensor in the Watch, along with the GPS and WiFi in your iPhone to measure distance covered and (if you have an iPhone 6) elevation gained and lost. All those elements working in concert enable the Watch, according to Apple, to compute a more accurate estimate of your calorie burn during workouts. Navigation, payments, music and more There are a few other miscellaneous features of the Watch that are of particular value. First among these is Maps. Issues with Apple Maps itself aside, the implementation of it on the Watch is quite useful, especially when used in tandem with the iPhone. It does so with visual cues and haptic feedback. The tap pattern is different for right and left turns. Apple Pay is also, of course, a part of the Watch experience. You add credit cards through the iPhone Watch app -- and even if your iPhone already has Pay activated, you'll need to re-add your card for the Watch -- and you must have a four-digit Watch passcode enabled. Using Pay is easy. Once you're set up, press the lone button on the Watch twice and your available credit cards pop up on screen. Choose the one you want; hold your wrist near the reader until you hear the beep; and you're good to go. The Watch also lets you store up to 2GB or about 250 songs on board, though you'll need a Bluetooth speaker or headphones to actually, you know, listen to those tunes. Battery life Because of the nifty magnetic induction-charging disc, charging it up each night just isn't a big deal. As for battery life, well, do I wish that the thing could last for days or weeks without a charge? Of course I do, but state of the art for smartwatch battery life is no more than a day -- maybe two -- and the Watch is in line with that despite packing a 205mAh battery just two-thirds the size of most of its competitors. The competition Mostly, the Watch's competition comes from a plethora of Android Wear devices. When comparing software, the Watch does most everything that Wear does and more. Sure, Google Now 's contextual suggestions and voice recognition give it an edge over Siri, but the Watch's customizable faces, with their nifty complications, are far more useful. Plus, Dick Tracy fans are sure to love the Apple timepiece's abilities as a phone. Yes, Samsung's Gear S also makes calls, and matches the Watch Sport's $350 price, but it's huge, ugly and lacks app support due to its devotion to Tizen. The Moto 360 ($180) and LG G Watch R ($249) appeal to the circular-watch crowd, but both are masculine in appearance and are too chunky for those with feminine or dainty wrists. ASUS' ZenWatch is only $200 and comes closest to the Apple Watch in terms of attractive design, but its massive screen bezel takes away from an otherwise handsome stainless steel body. Really, if you're smartwatch shopping, it boils down to the age-old question about the phone in your pocket: iOS or Android? Because if you want a Watch, you better be comfy as a resident in Apple's walled garden. Wrap-up There are plenty of folks picking up what Apple's putting down, as evidenced by the estimated million Watch pre-orders Apple received. It's a well-rounded wearable that handles notifications as well as any other smartwatch, has comprehensive activity tracking skills and the cachet of being the hottest device on the planet (for now). If you're firmly on team iPhone, are willing to pay a premium for an intelligent timepiece and can handle charging it on a nightly basis, the Watch is for you. The bottom line is: The Watch is the nicest smartwatch available, but it's more status symbol than wearable revolutionary. Most of the Watch's features can be categorized as nice to have (at best) or superfluous (at worst), and because of that, if you're not enamored with the Watch's appearance, it's probably not compelling enough to buy one. Source: Engadget
New MacBook 2015 review
Verdict Apple has reinvented the laptop with the new MacBook, but there's room for improvement. If you can stomach its flaws, it's such a beautifully-designed machine that they probably won't matter. For Against Terrific design Runs sluggish at times Clear screen Expensive Surprisingly good speakers People will miss ports Introduction and Design Knock it for its USB Type-C port. Bash it for its wimpy horsepower. But don't even try to deny that Apple's new MacBook is one of the most attractive, impressively-engineered laptops that the world has ever seen - there's simply nothing quite as slick out there. Even though it combines the portability of Apple's MacBook Air with the Retina MacBook Pro's high pixel-density Retina display, the new MacBook doesn't resemble either product line – or Apple's older, polycarbonate white MacBook of the same name, for that matter. Instead, it feels like an entirely new species of otherworldly laptop that has more in common with an iPad Air than a ThinkPad. Flip open the lid, and you're transported into the best-looking OS X Yosemite playground yet - one that goes wherever you go. But it's far from perfect: the new MacBook's sole USB Type-C port and moderately-powered Intel Core M processor mean that many of this playground's games are off-limits, and while some will find its unique keyboard more fun than a revolving roundabout, it will make others sick with frustration. Divisive and sickly sweet, the new MacBook is the notebook equivalent of Marmite, but whether it's for you depends on how much you're prepared to compromise. On the catwalk Two qualities stand out above all else when it comes to the new MacBook: thin and lightweight. Apple has managed to squeeze its components into an incredible aluminium body that measures just 0.35cm at its thinnest point and 1.31cm at its thickest. Its thinness is in part due to Intel's fanless Core M CPU, which is passively cooled and runs whisper quiet. There's no fan inside, which enabled Apple's engineers to make its chassis slimmer. The new MacBook is an ideal option if you're frequently sharing a room with light sleepers - particularly compared to noisier, fan-based notebooks sporting Intel's Core-series chips. Another factor that's helped Apple achieve the new MacBook's svelte dimensions is its dramatically thinner keyboard, which uses an Apple-designed butterfly mechanism instead of a traditional scissor type underneath the keys. And while we're on the topic of thin, the new MacBook's bezel is slimmer than ones on previous MacBooks and is complemented by a matte strip along the bottom that bears the MacBook logo. It's available in three colors: Space Grey, Silver and Gold. Cost and competition Everything about the new MacBook's design screams premium, which is what you're shelling out for at the end of the day - you can almost forget what's housed inside. Of course, we've been here before. The original MacBook Air, which was more portable than other notebooks at the time but came with fewer ports, cost an arm and a leg when it first came out - and history has repeated itself with the new MacBook. Starting at £1,049 (US$1,299 or AUS$1,799), the entry-level MacBook comes with 256GB of flash storage and is powered by a 1.1GHz (Turbo Boost to 2.4GHz) dual-core Intel Core M flash storage, 8GB of RAM and Intel HD Graphics 5300. Rising to £1,299 (US$1,599 or AUS$2,199), the top-end model comes with a slightly faster 1.2GHz chip (Turbo Boost up to 2.6GHz) and 512GB flash storage. The nearest alternative price-wise is Apple's less portable but more capable 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina that starts at £999 (US$1,299 or AUS$1,799). That gets you a 2.7GHz (Turbo Boost to 3.1GHz) dual-core Intel Core i5 CPU, 8GB of RAM, 128GB flash storage and Intel Iris Graphics 6100. If you're not too bothered about a Retina display, the top-end 13-inch MacBook Air costs the same price and comes with a 1.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 CPU (Turbo Boost up to 2.7GHz), Intel HD Graphics 6000, 4GB of memory and 256GB flash storage. If you're in the Windows camp, the number of Core M-powered alternatives are growing all the time. Of those, the Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro, Asus T300 Chi and Asus UX305 share the new MacBook's traits of slimness and portability. And if you wait a little longer, it's possible that there may be a new contender in the shape of the Microsoft Surface Pro 4. Specification and Features While the 13-inch MacBook Air (which weighs 2.96 pounds) never exactly felt unwieldy in the hand, being almost a pound lighter means that the new MacBook (2.03 pounds) is on a different level of portability. The difference in weight between the 11-inch MacBook Air (2.38 pounds) is more subtle; while it's noticeable holding each device in a hand, you're unlikely to tell the difference between the two when they're slung into a backpack. Taking a peek at the new MacBook's Windows 8.1-powered contenders, the Asus UX305 (2.64 pounds) and the Yoga 3 Pro (2.62 pounds) lie somewhere in-between the new MacBook and the 13-inch MacBook Air. The UX305 wins the gong for being the model with the lowest height, measuring 12.3mm, followed by the Yoga 3 Pro's 12.8mm. Although the new MacBook is a whisker taller than the Yoga 3 Pro at 13.1mm, that's when measured from the tallest point at the back. Thanks to its tapered design, it measures just 3.5mm at the front and is easy to open with one hand thanks to a cutaway at the front. At 280 x 197 x 13.1 mm (W x D x H), the new MacBook has the smallest footprint of the three, versus the UX305 (324 x 226 x 12.3), Yoga 3 Pro (330 x 228 x 12.8) and 13-inch MacBook Air (325 x 227 x 17mm), making it the clear winner if you're a frequent traveller requiring that inch or two of extra space on the plane or train. Here is the configuration of the review model: Spec sheet Processor: 1.1GHz dual-core Intel Core M CPU (Turbo Boost up to 2.4GHz) with 4MB shared L3 cache Operating System: OS X Yosemite Memory: 8GB of 1600MHz DDR3 Display: 12-inch LED-backlit IPS display Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 5300 (video support up to 3,840 x 2,160) Storage: 256GB PCIe-based onboard flash storage Camera: 480p FaceTime camera Networking: 1/10/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet Connectivity: 802.11ac Wi-Fi; Bluetooth 4.0 Audio: Stereo speakers; Dual microphones; headphone port (support for Apple iPhone headset with remote and microphone) Dimensions: 28.05 cm / 0.35 - 1.31 cm / 19.65 cm (H x W x D) Weight: 0.92kg (2.03 pounds) Battery: Built-in 39.7-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery Wave goodbye to full-size USB 2.0 ports, and the MagSafe adapters that juiced Apple's old MacBooks, because both have been replaced with a single USB Type-C port on the new MacBook's left-hand edge. The only other port is a headphone jack on the right-hand side. That's right: there are no other USB ports or video outputs to be found - including Apple's own Thunderbolt port. The absence of MagSafe is also disappointing. It was nice to know that you could wrap your leg around the power chord without sending your MacBook flying into the air. Unlike MagSafe, which came out easily (which was the whole point), the USB Type-C connector feels uncharacteristically snug. If we're scraping the barrel to look for a positive, using the MagSafe adapter with the cord at full length meant that it had a tendency to fall out, whereas once a USB-C charger is inserted, it's rock solid. Plus, like Apple's Lightning connector it works both ways around. Oh, forget it: let's hope a USB Type-C MagSafe adapter is invented soon. On a practical level, the change to USB Type-C is the bigger issue as it means that you'll have to connect USB peripherals and monitors using a USB Type-C adapter, which Apple and other vendors supply. You can pick up a USB-C-to-USB-A adapter or a Multi-port adapter that lets you connect another USB-C device, a USB-A device and VGA or HDMI-equipped external monitor. It certainly wouldn't prove a dealbreaker to buying a new MacBook. Of course MagSafe would be better, as would more ports. The obvious drawback is that the adapters aren't free. If you're thinking about prying the new MacBook open and switching that pesky USB-Type C port for the old traditional one, well - you can't. Sorry. In fact, the whole device is incredibly difficult to upgrade, as the guys at iFixit found out in their teardown, rating the new MacBook a measly 1 out of 10 for upgradability. Bundled software One of the positives of buying any MacBook is that it comes with a slew of free Apple software, most of which is of an excellent quality and far from the bloatware your might run into on Windows machines - and Apple's apps look even better on the new MacBook thanks to its high-resolution display. It currently ships with OS X Yosemite, undoubtedly the prettiest version of OS X yet - and future upgrades are bound to be free. Plus, Apple's Mac App Store has come on in leaps and bounds in recent years, proving an excellent resource with frequent recommendations on apps in multiple categories - such as Games, Productivity, Writing, Navigation and more. Here's every app you'll find upon booting up a New MacBook for the first time: iPhoto iMovie GarageBand Pages Numbers Keynote Maps iBooks Safari Mail Facetime Messages Calendar Contacts Time Machine Photo Booth Mac App Store iTunes Game Centre Preview Notes Reminders Performance and Benchmarks The new MacBook's Intel Core M CPU is adequate for handling daily computing tasks - such as browsing the internet, streaming audio and 1080p video and multi-tasking with several browsers open with up to 10 to 15 tabs each. It can't quite match the power of Intel's Core i3, i5 and i7 processors, but it does allow the new MacBook to run silently. Plus, it's mostly cool with the exception of a section along the right-hand side of the base that occasionally gets hot under heavy load. You certainly won't be able to escape the odd bit of slowdown when you start to run 10 or more apps in addition to a ton of browser tabs. After that point, I would find that tasks such as clicking on Google Drive to open its preferences pane, or moving a Firefox window to a different monitor can cause apps to fill with white or black color and freeze, motionless, before springing back into life. The new MacBook felt more responsive overall than the 2014 MacBook Air, which is likely down to it having 8GB of RAM, rather than the MacBook Air's 4GB. On the other hand, tasks that required the MacBook to do any sort of heavy lifting, such as using Gimp to scale the 60MB (or so) images that I took for this review up or down, took anything from 10 to 15 seconds longer than the Air. Given that editing images is a vital but infrequent task that I need to carry out, the longer scaling and export times were well worth the trade off to get the new MacBook's svelte build and impressive display. Benchmarks Xbench: Overall: 314.66; CPU: 202.72 Cinebench R15 (CPU) Single Core: 98cb; Multi Core: 209 cb; Open GL: 19.05 fps Unigine Heaven 4.0 Medium Quality (1,680 x 1,050): Score: 219; FPS: 8.7 Unigine Heaven 4.0 Ultra Quality (1,680 x 1,050): Score: 153; FPS: 6.1 NovaBench: Score: 500; Graphics: 29 Batman: Arkham City: Minimum 13 , maximum 25, average 19, 1440 x900 Tomb Raider: Medium quality, minimum 6fps, maximum 11.7, average 8.7 Geekbench 3 (Single Core): 2,299; (Multi Core): 4,423 Battery life (looping HD video over Wi-Fi, three-quarter brightness): 7 hours and 5 minutes But make no bones about it: the new MacBook is no powerhouse, and that's reflected in the benchmarks. With a Geekbench 3 score of 4,423 on the Multi-Core test, its CPU came out 46% slower than the dual-core 2.7GHz Core i5 chip in the early 2015 Retina MacBook Pro. While that may not come as a huge shock, it was also soundly beaten by the top-end 11- and 13-inch MacBook Air models from earlier this year, which attracted an average Geekbench user score of 8,947 and 6,828, respectively. If you're looking to use a MacBook for regularly editing image files or editing or converting video, those MacBook Airs both cost less than the new MacBook and would be far more suitable while remaining plenty portable. The new MacBook's graphical grunt was nowhere to be found due to the inclusion of Intel's integrated graphics. Both Batman: Arkham City and Tomb Raider mustered low frames per second scores that would make either game unplayable. Display Here it is: the highlight of the new MacBook. The display is one of the best I've seen on a notebook, with incredibly rich colors and excellent 170-degree viewing angles. Measured with our X-Rite colorimeter, it notched up a brightness level of 375.15cd/m2, which easily proved bright enough to see indoors and was just about good enough to read websites in bright sunlight too - even if videos were a little harder to follow. Elsewhere, the MacBook produced decent black levels of 0.33 cd/m2 black levels, with color accuracy standing at 91.3% of the sRGB color gamut. While it's not quite high enough for media professionals, you probably won't notice the difference. The display's inky blacks and bold colours make text and images 'pop' on the impressive display - and once you've seen it, it's so, so hard to go back to a MacBook Air. There's another advantage to that 2,304 x 1,440 pixel-resolution display: you can scale it up to get more desktop space and go far beyond Apple's default scaled resolutions. By adding a custom resolution, I managed to soar all the way up to 1,920 x 1,080 in High-DPI mode using SwitchResX, which allowed me to see the same amount of spreadsheet rows and columns as a 27-inch monitor. Sure the text was tiny, but I could still make out the numbers and edit the spreadsheet without any trouble. I might not be doing it all the time, but compared to my old setup, which was an 11-inch MacBook AIr connected to a portable USB DisplayLink monitor, I now have enough desktop real-estate to switch to see more on the screen at the same time. Sure, that's been possible on high-resolution Windows and Apple machines for some time, but having all that desktop space is even more impressive on a titchy 12.1-inch machine as thin as a pencil. The new MacBook's stereo speakers are one the of the surprising highlights of the new MacBook. It's incredible what Apple has managed to do in that department. Located on the top of the base under the bezel, they're pleasingly punchy with good mid-range tones, even if the bass is predictably lacking. They're loud, too, for the size - and sound far better than the 11- and 13-inch MacBook Air's comparitively tinny speakers. The new MacBook uses a new Force Touch trackpad that adds an extra click using haptic feedback. That means there's no mechanical construction under the trackpad, instead using haptic feedback to let you indicate where abouts on the trackpad the click takes place. Initially I found that the larger trackpad size actually made me accidentally miss the right-click zone more often than I did on the 11-inch MacBook Air (which was never). However, after some practice I soon got used to the larger trackpad, which has tons of potential once developers get to grips with Yosemite's Force Touch Trackpad API (or application programming interface). The new MacBook has good, but not excellent battery life, ekeing out 7 hours and 5 minutes from its 39.7Wr battery on our looping video test over Wi-Fi. That's not quite post-Haswell MacBook Air levels of battery life longevity, but it isn't far off Apple's older Ivy Bridge models. Still, that Retina display has to draw oodles of power from somewhere, and if you need the best battery life in a MacBook you can get, the new MacBook is not the way to go. Keys to the heart Apple has completely redesigned the new MacBook's keyboard, which now uses a new Butterfly hinge rather than the scissor switch under each key. The keys are still backlit, only now they have individual lighting zones that prevents light from bleeding between the keys - and you get fewer crumbs dropped between them, too. The changes make the keyboard by far the most divisive feature of the new MacBook. The reduced amount of pressure needed to make each key actuate makes the New MacBook's keyboard slightly more comfortable for typing on for hours at a time. The New MacBook is the future, but it isn't for everyone just yet. The lack of USB ports and the need to buy an adapter (if you have peripherals and a monitor) will likely be the first dealbreaker, followed by its price. If you're still onboard after those potential pitfalls, the new MacBook is one of the most luxurious, compact and fun notebooks to use today. Liked After the Retina MacBook Pro's display, it was always likely that the new MacBook would have a stunning display - and it doesn't disappoint. Great viewing angles and bold colors make it one of the best in a laptop. It's all part of a brilliantly portable package that's the closest a laptop has come yet to offering the portability of a tablet (well, an iPad). The new MacBook's speakers gave surprisingly full-bodied sound that won't shake the room but make for a far more pleasant listening experience than Apple's previous MacBook Air or MacBook Pro models. While many will sit on the fence when it comes to the keyboard. It's a similar scenario with the Force Touch Trackpad, which felt a little alien at first but became more comfortable over time. Disliked The new MacBook is far from a monster under the hood. However, if you can get over the fact that it's designed for anything from browsing the internet to light image editing, streaming video and music to other light computing tasks, it should perform OK for what you want it to do. Bear in mind that you will need to pay for at least one of several USB Type-C adapters out there to use your existing peripherals and monitors. Some say that's just the price to pay for being an early adopter, but it could be hard for you to stomach considering its already high starting cost. Final Verdict The decision of whether you should buy a new MacBook is a simple one: does it play to your strengths? Perhaps you need the lightest and most portable OS X machine out there today, one with good battery life. Maybe you appreciate an incredible, vibrant display that's equally as good at rendering your crisp documents as it is displaying the same amount of a spreadsheet as a 24-inch monitor. Maybe, just maybe, you travel a lot and play music out of your laptop's speakers. But - and it's a big but - you need to be prepared to put up with its pitfalls. Don't expect to crunch through major mulittasking without slowing down. And you may end up merely coping with its keyboard rather than falling in love with it. You'll definitely have to put up with at least one adapter if you want to use any peripherals or an external monitor. Like in any relationship, the one between you and your MacBook will be frought with compromises. But if it's meant to be, then you will be prepared to make them. If you're not, you can always take it back to the Apple store to save yourself a messy divorce. In other words: if possible, try before you buy. Source: Techradar
Dell XPS 13 review (2015): Meet the world's smallest 13-inch laptop
CES has come and gone; the holidays are long past; and now all we're left with are a few months of dreary weather. No fun, right? Right. Except if you're a tech writer. Now that most major companies have revealed their new lineups, we have the exciting job of testing all this stuff; seeing how it holds up in real life. The first product of the year to cross my desk: none other than the Dell XPS 13, a compact 13-inch laptop that ranked as a finalist for our annual Best of CES awards. In addition to being the first system we've tested with Intel's new fifth-generation Core processor, the redesigned XPS is notable for its nearly bezel-less display -- a design feat that allows it to have the footprint of an 11-inch machine. Particularly with a starting price of $800 (pretty reasonable for a flagship laptop), it seemed poised to become one of our new favorite Ultrabooks. And you know what? It actually is. Pros Cons Nearly bezel-less display allows it to be more compact than other 13-inchers Merely average battery life, at least on the touchscreen model Vibrant screen, strong audio to match Touchpad could use some fine-tuning Attractive design, well-built Doesn't come standard with a touchscreen -- Comfortable keyboard and is expensive if you do opt for that feature Fast performance Lots of configuration options Summary Other than an update to the touchpad, there's very little we would change about Dell's redesigned XPS 13: It's compact and well-built, with a gorgeous screen, fast performance and surprisingly good audio quality. You'll pay dearly to get it with a touchscreen, but even then, it's priced in line with other flagship Ultrabooks -- and in some ways it's a better choice, too. Hardware I suspect many people will buy the XPS 13 purely because of that gorgeous screen, but personally, after using the laptop for a week, I'm more impressed with how small it is. To be fair, of course, I'm a little late to the game: Netbooks and 11-inch laptops have been around for years, but until now, I've avoided them precisely because I prefer the extra screen real estate. That said, with a display this big, the XPS 13 feels like the best of both worlds. Especially for frequent travelers like me. Take my recent cross-country flight to Seattle. The laptop took up less space in my backpack than my MacBook Air would have. It was easier to balance on a cramped airplane tray, even with the person in front of me leaning all the way back (thanks, dude). And for those moments when I had to put my laptop out of sight, it was small enough that I could stow it inside the seat-back compartment with room to spare. At the same time, I had enough space to juggle multiple browser tabs, as well as WordPad in a separate window. After a week with the XPS 13, I'm reminded that weight and thinness aren't everything, though it definitely helps that this thing starts at just 2.6 pounds. Not bad for a 13-inch laptop! (Even with the optional touchscreen, it's still 2.8 pounds.) Other than the smaller footprint and nearly bezeless screen, the XPS 13 hews to the same design language as Dell's previous Ultrabooks. Which is to say, it features a smooth metal exterior, with details that include a metal plate on the bottom side to cover up all the required FCC fine print. On the inside, a soft carbon fiber finish stretches across the keyboard deck all the way from the hinge to the palm rest. It's a design that's both beautiful and practical, and I'm glad Dell didn't mess with a good thing just for the sake of shaking things up. For one thing, the carbon weave is nice to look at. Disagree with me if you like, but I think it instantly makes this $800 machine look more expensive than it actually is. It feels nice too, especially if you have the laptop on a flat surface and are letting your wrists hang off the palm rest. Also, thanks to that weave pattern, scratches are virtually a non-issue. Fingerprints too. Speaking of the keyboard, I really like it, even if it does require a bit of upkeep to keep the fingerprints away. Despite the XPS 13's compact footprint, this feels like a full-sized layout. Though there are a few shrunken buttons (backspace, for example), most of the backlit keys feel generously sized and well-spaced. Even the arrow keys are easy to find by feel, and those are usually the first things to get squeezed when space is an issue. The buttons also have a surprising amount of travel compared to some other Ultrabooks, with a springiness that made it easy for me to type at a fast clip. My only quibble is that the keyboard sometimes failed to register my button presses, forcing me to go back and re-type stuff. To be honest, though, this is an issue on many Ultrabooks; in fact, it's probably less of a problem here, what with those relatively cushy buttons. I won't go so far as to say I hate the Microsoft-made Precision touchpad, but it's definitely not as well-engineered as the keyboard. There's just a little too much friction, to the point where I noticed some stuttering even while doing basic two-finger scrolling (that's not just in IE, but in apps like File Explorer and WordPad too). Pinch-to-zoom also didn't feel as controlled as on some other Windows PCs; it sometimes took me multiple attempts to scale text exactly the way I wanted. One time, I actually zoomed in on a webpage by accident when all I meant to do was scroll through. On the bright side, the trackpad does well at single-finger tracking -- an area where other laptop touchpads frequently fall short. Though it's a smaller-than-average machine, the XPS 13 thankfully still includes all the usual ports. Well, most of them anyway. Over on the left side, we have a Mini DisplayPort, a headphone jack, one of two USB 3.0 connections and the all-important power socket. The right edge is less crowded, with a Kensington lock slot, a full-sized SD card reader and that second USB opening. There's also an HD webcam, nestled in the lower-left corner below the screen (clearly, Dell had to get creative to accommodate those skinny bezels). Really, of all the things you might reasonably expect to find on an Ultrabook, the only thing missing is an HDMI port. Even then, I suspect many of you will do just fine without it. I know I have. Display and sound Dell's marketing team has taken the liberty of calling the XPS 13's screen an "infinity display." While that's technically incorrect -- you can still make out the 5.2mm-thick bezels on either side -- this is perhaps the closest thing I've seen to a true edge-to-edge display, with pixels stretching all the way across. Also, the screen here has the tiniest bumper you ever did see, which also helps create the illusion of uninterrupted glass. In any case, it's all very pretty, as you'd expect, and it's practical too: You get the same real estate as any other 13-inch laptop, just with a smaller footprint.。 Dell didn't skimp on the display quality either. The IPS Gorilla Glass screen (which starts at 1080p resolution, but goes up to 3,200 x 1,800) offers wide viewing angles, which came in handy during my six-hour flight from New York to Seattle. Even with the window open and sunlight pouring in, I could still make out the screen without issue. Also, given that I was trapped in economy, I didn't exactly have much space to work with. Still, whether I had the machine in my lap or balanced on the tray table with the lid dipped forward, I enjoyed bright colors and even contrasts. No washouts here. My only complaint? The XPS 13 doesn't come standard with a touchscreen; for that feature, you'll need to pay $1,300, not $800. It's easy to miss the XPS 13's stereo speakers the first time you pick it up: They're nestled on either side of the laptop, toward the front where the chassis gets really narrow. While the audio might seem like an afterthought, it's actually surprisingly good -- among the best in its class, even. The volume is strong enough that I typically didn't need to push it much beyond the 30 out of 100 mark. And while this isn't the most bass-heavy setup you've ever heard (why would it be?), the speakers stand up well to a wide variety of musical genres, from classical to jazz to hip-hop and pop. All told, even when I needed to go back to my "real" laptop for certain things, I continued to use the XPS 13 as my music machine. Performance, battery life and software PCMark7 3DMark06 3DMark11 ATTO (top disk speeds) Dell XPS 13 (2015, 2.2GHz Intel Core i5-5200U, Intel HD 5500) 4,900 7,433 E2,114 / P1,199 / X330 515 MB/s (reads); 455 MB/s (writes) Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro (1.1GHz Intel M-5Y70, Intel HD 5300) 4,699 4,734 E1,076 / P595 / X175 515 MB/s (reads); 455 MB/s (writes) Samsung ATIV Book 9 2014 Edition (1.6GHz Core i5-4200U, Intel HD 4400) 4,835 5,947 E1,752 / P948 / X297 551 MB/s (reads); 141 MB/s (writes) Microsoft Surface Pro 3 (1.9GHz Core i5-4300U, Intel HD 4400) 5,024 5,053 E1,313 / P984 555 MB/s (reads); 252 MB/s (writes) Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (2014, 1.6GHz Core i5-4200U, Intel HD 4400) 4,773 5,881 E1,727 / P930 / X284 555 MB/s (reads); 137 MB/s (writes) Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 2 Pro (1.6GHz Core i5-4200U, Intel HD 4400) 4,676 5,688 E1,713 / P914 / X281 546 MB/s (reads); 139 MB/s (writes) Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus (1.6GHz Core i5-4200U, Intel HD 4400) 4,973 5,611 E1,713 / P914 / X281 547 MB/s (reads); 508 MB/s (writes) Acer Aspire S7-392 (1.6GHz Intel Core i5-4200U, Intel HD 4400) 5,108 5,158 E1,724 / P952 / X298 975 MB/s (reads); 1.1 GB/s (writes) Initially, I was mainly interested in testing the XPS 13 because of its compact design. Its gorgeous display. The fact that it nearly won a Best of CES Award. In addition to all that, though, this is my first opportunity to test a PC running one of Intel's new "Broadwell" chips. For the uninitiated, Intel's fifth-generation Core CPUs have the same basic architecture as last year's processors, except they've been shrunken down from a 22nm process to a 14nm one. Given that the chip design is generally the same, then, you should expect some fairly modest performance improvements. For instance, Intel is touting just a 4 percent boost in productivity tasks, as measured by the test SysMark. The company has also said battery life could be up to an hour and a half longer than on last year's "Haswell" machines, but even that's just a best-case scenario. If anything, Broadwell has the most promise on the graphics front. Even before Broadwell PCs started hitting the market, Intel claimed that its new chips performed 22 percent better than last year's models in 3D graphics benchmarks. Indeed, about two-thirds of the die area on these chips is dedicated to graphics. Sure enough, with a dual-core 2.2GHz Core i5-5200U CPU and 8GB of RAM (a configuration worth $1,300), I saw huge gains in every test I ran -- just look at the comparison table above if you don't believe me. By the same measure, general performance, as measured by PCMark, was only slightly improved over machines running last year's processors. Its 10-second boot-up is also par for the course. Although my particular test unit included a 128GB solid-state drive from LiteOn, a Dell spokesperson told me that some machines will instead make use of a fast new Samsung drive that claims up to 2.15 GB/s read and 1.55 GB/s write speeds, all while sipping just two milliwatts of standby power. While I was a little disappointed not to find that listed in my machine's Device Manager, I still enjoyed some fast disk speeds, with up to 515 MB/s reads and 455 MB/s writes. That last figure -- the write rate -- is especially impressive: Though many laptops can get into 500 MB/s territory for read speeds, most top out in the mid-200 MB/s range on writes. So, Samsung or no Samsung, you should enjoy some better-than-average performance here, at least as far as disk speeds are concerned. Battery life Dell XPS 13 (2015) 7:36 MacBook Air (13-inch, 2013) 12:51 MacBook Pro with Retina display (13-inch, 2013) 11:18 Samsung ATIV Book 9 (2014 Edition) 5,024 Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus 8:44 HP Spectre 13 8:30 Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro 7:36 Acer Aspire S7-392 7:36 Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro 7:33 Samsung Series 9 (15-inch, 2012) 7:29 Microsoft Surface Pro 3 7:08 Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro 6:32 Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (2014) 6:18 Depending on your usage patterns, Dell says you can get up to 15 hours of battery life with a full HD display, and up to 11 hours with a 3,200 x 1,800 touch panel. On my test unit, which had a 3,200 x 1,800 touchscreen, I got an average of seven hours and 36 minutes in our standard video-looping test, though I bet I could have squeezed out even more runtime had I lowered the brightness to an even dimmer setting (the panel goes all the way up to 400 nits, so even half or three-quarter brightness can drain the battery fairly quickly). It should go without saying too, that models with a lower-res 1080p screen will probably have longer runtime, just because there are fewer pixels to light up. In any case, the new XPS 13 represents a tremendous improvement over the original version from 2012, which could barely crack five hours (and that was with a lower-resolution screen, too). Just as important, the XPS 13's battery life matches other thin-and-light machines we've tested recently, including the Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro and Acer Aspire S7. The fact is, for a laptop that's this thin and this light with that pixel-dense a screen, getting eight hours on a charge is pretty respectable. And again, I suspect it's actually capable of lasting even longer than that. Should the built-in battery not be enough, Dell also sells a spare, 12,000mAh cell for $120 that plugs into the laptop's power port, much the same way you'd use a mobile charger to refuel a phone or tablet. All told, Dell claims that the Power Companion, as it's called, can help the XPS 13 reach 22 hours of battery life. That's impressive, to be sure, and it's also more convenient than swapping out your notebook's built-in battery or attaching a cumbersome sheet to the bottom. As a bonus, the charger also has two USB ports for charging mobile devices, which means you could potentially travel with just one adapter for all your gadgets. As for bloatware, Dell may have once had a reputation for loading its Windows PCs up with unwanted programs, but the manufacturer has apparently turned over a new leaf. There's very little here in the way of superfluous apps; just Flipboard, Microsoft's own Bing Translator and 20GB of Dropbox storage, free for one year. There's also a trial of McAfee LiveSafe Internet Security and Microsoft Office (activation key required). And... that's it. Configuration options The XPS starts at $800, with base specs that include an Intel Core i3-5010U Broadwell processor, 4GB of RAM, a 128GB SSD, Intel HD 5500 Graphics and a matte (non-glare) 1,920 x 1,080 screen. As I hinted earlier, though, that low starting price is slightly disingenuous when you remember it doesn't come standard with a touchscreen. Not that you need one, per se, but many users will want one, especially considering how touch-optimized Windows 8 is (and Windows 10, when it comes out). If you do want that 3,200 x 1,800 touch panel, be prepared to pay at least $1,300. In addition, you'll find some mid-range configurations that give you the Core i5 processor with a 1080p screen with either 4GB or 8GB of RAM. Throughout the line too, there are configurations with larger 256GB solid-state drives. At the higher end, Dell is even offering a couple Core i7 configs, one of which has a 512GB SSD. That top-of-the-line model goes for $1,900. All in all, then, you've got a lot of customization options -- more than on most Ultrabooks, in fact. The competition The Dell XPS 13 is going to be a smart buy for many, many people. But it's also in good company: I can think of several other ultraportables you'd probably be happy to own. For starters, there's Lenovo's convertible Yoga 3 Pro ($1,299-plus), which measures just half an inch thick and weighs only 2.62 pounds -- crazy light for a machine with a 360-degree hinge. The only potential downside is that it runs one of Intel's low-powered "Core M" chips, which aren't quite as robust as fifth-generation Core processors. If you need a little more oomph, Lenovo is also readying a 1.7-pound laptop -- the world's lightest 13-inch PC, in fact -- which, despite its dainty frame, will run full-fledged Core CPUs. The only thing is: It's not shipping until May, which could be a problem if you need a new notebook now. There are a couple other options too, but I haven't had a chance to test all of them. One is the new Samsung ATIV Book 9, a 12.2-inch, fanless machine that uses a Core M processor to achieve a thin design. Of note: It comes standard with a 2,560 x 1,600 screen that goes all the way up to an impressive 700 nits of brightness. Aside from the lower-powered processor, the only real concession seems to be that machine isn't offered with a touchscreen. Meanwhile, some of our favorite Ultrabooks have been refreshed with Broadwell processors, theoretically bringing them in line with newer machines like the XPS 13. These include Acer's Aspire S7 ($1,300-plus) and Samsung's ATIV Book 9 Plus ($1,299-plus). Microsoft's Surface Pro 3 actually hasn't been updated with Broadwell, but it's nonetheless a well-built, thin and light tablet that more or less matches the XPS 13 on battery life. If you mainly want a laptop, a proper Ultrabook is still your best bet. But if you want the option of using your device in tablet mode, both the Surface Pro 3 and the Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro are good choices. And what of the MacBook Air, which I keep comparing to Dell's new machine? I'm sure there are some folks out there who insist on OS X, and probably aren't giving serious consideration to the XPS 13 (or any Windows machine, for that matter). Even if you are Mac-leaning, though, you'd be doing yourself a disservice if you bought an Air now. Don't get me wrong: It's a well-built machine with long battery life, but it's also sorely in need of an update. As of this writing, Apple hasn't refreshed it with fifth-generation Core processors. And that's not even taking into account that a new, drastically smaller device might be in the works. If you think you want an OS X-based machine, I'd suggest you wait, if possible. Wrap-up There's a reason the XPS 13 was a Best of CES finalist: It's not only one of the top laptops we saw at the show, but also one of the finest PCs we're likely to see for months to come. If you're in the market for a new Windows laptop -- something small and light with fast performance and a great screen -- this should absolutely be on your short list. There are other fine choices too, as I've laid out in the previous section, but the XPS 13 is a winner its own right, with very few flaws to speak of. The only things I'd caution you of are the touchpad (it needs a little work) and the battery life, which is merely average, at least on the touch edition. Speaking of, it's on the pricey side if you do indeed configure it with a touchscreen. Even then, though, the $1,300 asking price is worth it Source: Engadget
