Machine dreaming while wide awake: A serious look at the new MacBook

By ERNIE AGTARAP

Published March 11, 2015 12:04am

I was having a conversation the other day with a friend. I expressed a desire to one day own a device not unlike an iPad. But that the tablet needs to run OS X, Apple's desktop operating system.

As a designer and developer and sometime photographer, I need to run desktop apps. Primarily the Adobe Create Cloud suite of programs. I said, wouldn't it be great if my iPad mini could run these apps, attached to a big monitor with acceptable performance.

I work on two machines full time. A 13 inch Macbook Pro with Retina and an older albeit souped up 27-inch iMac.

The two machines are wonders of engineering in themselves. Coupled with Adobe Creative Cloud, I can start a project on one machine and my files are instantaneously updated on the other. It's like magic. I love it and is a boon to my productivity.

Back to my iPad/Mac machine dream. Apple must have heard me and yesterday said - 'Here you go, Ernie, take this for now while we figure out your OS X running on a tablet wish'. And I take a serious look at this offering. The new Macbook.

I love the space grey color - like my iPhone.

What leaves me wanting for more is the somewhat (at least on paper) slow processor they used. The Intel Core M. M meaning mobile. There's a reason why they did this and I understand. The processor uses less electrical power thus it not susceptible to overheating. This in turn means Apple can opt to not include a fan. Thinner notebook. I get it.

So I weigh my options and decide, I'd like to test this out and reserve judgement. Managing my expectations, one shouldn't expect this to be as fast as the current Macbook Pro line. And on there other hand, I should expect this to be fast enough for me to be productive.

For me, right now, this machine falls in the category of 'want'. As opposed to a 'need'. But boy, am i tempted.

As an aside, my favorite Apple product was the wonderful but discontinued 12 inch Powerbook. The laptop served me well. In fact, I still have it and probably will keep it forever. So the 12 inch Apple laptop has come full circle and what a revolution it is. The technology that went into making this is just mind-boggling.

So, April 10 we wait. Your guess is as good as mine whether I will buy this laptop. But you're probably right. — ELR, GMA News

(Reposted from Ernie Agtarap's Facebook account with his permission with a few editorial tweaks. Mr. Agtarap is a Filipino-American graphic designer and web developer living in New Jersey.)

Tags: macbook, appleinc