New Apple MacBook: So thin and So attractive

(By David Phelan) The MacBook has changed a lot over the years, from its early slick plastic versions in white and then black, to a brief appearance in aluminium casing, to being discontinued four years ago.

That left just the MacBook Air as the entry-level laptop and the MacBook Pro as the power user’s choice. Until the MacBook arrived last month. It looks different from any other Apple laptop. Not least, the Apple logo which lights up is replaced with a gleaming metal logo instead. It still looks good, but what will film-makers do now I wonder, unable to show their characters’ sophistication in a dimly lit scene by that telltale glowing Apple?

Then there’s the colour. Like other Macs it’s cased in aluminium but here you can choose from three colours silver, an understated champagne gold shade and a subtly classy Space Grey which is the most eye-catching of the three.

The new MacBook has a smaller screen than the original – 12 inches instead of 13 inches. And it’s way lighter than any other MacBook available, beating even the 11-inch screened MacBook Air. Maybe they should have called it MacBook Helium.

It’s very thin, though the MacBook Air is a fraction thinner (0.5mm) at its most svelte point. However, at its thickest the Air clocks in at 1.7cm where the MacBook is just 1.35cm.

There’s more to note before turning it on: there’s only one socket. Well, two actually, but one of them is a headphone socket on the right-hand edge. This looks great but is briefly confusing. Where’s USB, HDMI or Thunderbolt? Or the MagSafe power socket? Read more here.