苹果全新Mac笔记本试用总结

    苹果在周一的特别发布会上藏了一手。不，我说的不是Apple Watch。

    公司推出了一款新的笔记本电脑，名字就是简单的MacBook。它看起来更像是一款瘦身版的MacBook Air。你要问它有多轻薄？它的机身最厚处仅有13.1毫米，重量只有2.03磅。当你把手放在它上面感受时，你会不由得惊叹它太小了，小得令人难以置信。

    在跟踪发布会的实时博客文章中，我多次重复了一个类似的短语。当巨大的黑色展示台上只有这一款设备时，你很容易注意到它的大小。这是另一款进入苹果演示区，以金色、银色和深空灰色示人的产品，请再三想象这个场景吧。

    苹果新推出的MacBook确实是一款全新产品，无论是机内部件，还是外观，这款笔记本都堪称彻底革新之作。它没有任何形式的风扇，依靠高能效的英特尔Core M处理器来保持低温和延长电池时间，苹果声称，其续航能力能够持续一整天时间。屏幕是所谓的高分辨率视网膜屏，对角线长度为12英寸，使得其尺寸介于11英寸和13英寸的MacBook Air之间。而它的与众不同之处在于：在这样小的尺寸下，屏幕的分辨率却高达2304*1440。

    键盘上的每个按键都产生了新的“蝴蝶效应”，造就了MacBook的独特输入体验。在我亲身体验这款新产品时，对此感觉颇为不习惯。并不是按键难以按压，也不是键盘布局糟糕。非要说的话，那就是按键太容易按下去了。触屏打字高手在试用几分钟后，应该会爱上它的。而其他人要适应这种延伸到机身边缘的键盘，估计要花上很长时间。我就属于后者。

    MacBook的新触控板采用了与Apple Watch一样的“Force Touch”技术。把营销因素抛开，你会发现无论使用多大的力道按压触控板时，它都不会移动。（好吧，这种设计有一定道理，但小心别把桌上的东西推下去了。）这种固定性可以让它区分按压的力度，并以此完成不同的任务。比如说，将鼠标指针移向文件夹图标，触控板的Force Touching技术就会启动快速预览功能。看到电子邮件里的地址了吗？使用Force Touch功能，苹果地图的对话框就会弹出，并能显示它的具体位置。

    类似的捷径在升级后的Mac OS X系统中随处可见。你可以在系统设置偏好中调整压力程度。在旧金山的芳草地艺术中心会场，我试了各种方法，但仍然无法相信新款MacBook的触控板完全没有移动。苹果工作人员向我保证它的确不会动。铝制触控板底部的“Taptic Engine”震动回馈，让用户感觉它似乎在太空旅行一般。这让我印象深刻——也有些疑惑。

    新款Macbook的接口很少。实际上，它只有一个接口。（如果你非要把耳机接口算上，那就是两个。）在机身的左边，有一个USB-C端口。你可以把它看成一个功能更强大、更新潮的iOS设备电源适配器。通过这一个接口，你可以给MacBook充电，传输内容，或是将其与外接显示器连接。

    这个接口拥有类似于瑞士军刀的多种功能，尽管至少从现在来看，外接显示器还需要一系列转接器。为什么？因为USB-C端口是一种新标准，大部分配件制造商还没有完全采用这种标准，更不用说发布拥有这种接口的产品了。所以到目前为止，对于MacBook用户来说，转接器是必须的。

    作为一个主要用iPad工作的人，我不会抱怨接口少。对我来说，转接器就是生活的一部分，我可以接受，但并不是每个人都这样。苹果的极简派风格将会冲击我们对台式机和笔记本电脑的看法。我在现场询问了几名观众，看看他们怎么看待这款笔记本。他们的反应有兴奋的，也有沮丧的。（后者的观点是：如果我需要携带一堆转接器，那笔记本的超轻便型有什么意义呢？很有道理。）苹果的转接器价格高达79美元，这当然不会减轻人们的烦恼。

    但回头来看这款新MacBook。它的英特尔Core M处理器的频率分别是1.1GHz和1.2GHz，这样的低频让人有些担忧。不幸的是，我没能在苹果的演示区之外对这两种型号进行完整测试，所以我无法对它们的整体性能发表评论。我能说的就是，在使用新款MacBook观看视频、浏览照片库、完成其他各种各样的任务的有限时间内，我感觉相对低频的处理器并未明显影响到机器的性能。

    但那不是重点。苹果的新款MacBook光看大小，就已经很具革新性了。从这个角度来考虑，新款MacBook只比我的iPad加外接键盘重一点点（却薄得多），但却是一台能够创建内容的功能完善的设备。

    这让我，或许还有其他许多人，发出疑问：笔记本电脑、平板电脑，现在是什么？(财富中文网）

    译者：严匡正

    审校：任文科

    Apple had a trick up its sleeve during Monday’s special event. And no, it wasn’t the Apple Watch.

    The company announced a new laptop, which it calls simply MacBook, that looks more like a MacBook Air that went on a diet. How slim, you ask? It measures just 13.1 millimeters at its thickest point, and weighs in at a mere 2.03 pounds.

    And then you put your hands on it and realize. Gosh, it’s small. Incredibly small. Unbelievably small.

    I repeated a similar phrase during the keynote that introduced it, which I live-blogged for this very publication. It’s easy to think dwell on size when the device is the sole item on a sweeping black stage. It’s another thing to walk into Apple’s demo area, lay your eyes on the gold, silver, and grey varieties, and think the same thing all over again.

    Apple’s new MacBook is indeed all-new, and it’s a complete overhaul of the device, from components on out. It lacks fans of any sort and relies on an energy-efficient Intel Core M processor to keep it cool and prolong battery life, which Apple claims lasts an entire day. Its screen, the so-called high-resolution Retina display, measures 12 inches on the diagonal, situating the new laptop in between Apple’s two models of MacBook Air, at 11 inches and 13 inches. The difference: That Retina display packs 2304 pixels across by 1440 pixels down into that diminutive picture.

    Each key features a new “butterfly mechanism” that provides for a unique typing experience. It’s one that I struggled with during my hands-on time with the new MacBook. It’s not that the keys are hard to press, or even awkwardly placed. If anything, the keys are almost too easy to press. A touch-typist will fall in love with it after just a few minutes of tapping away. Others will take long to adjust to a keyboard that stretches to the very edges of the MacBook’s housing. I’m in the latter camp.

    A new trackpad offers the same “Force Touch” technology found in the Apple Watch. Push past the marketing and you’ll find a trackpad that doesn’t move when pressed, no matter how hard you do so. (Well, within reason—don’t shove the thing off a table.) Its immobility allows it to differentiate between amounts of pressure, and by extension, intent to accomplish different tasks. For example, moving the mouse pointer over a file icon and Force Touching on the trackpad prompts Quick Preview to open. See an address in an e-mail? Force Touch on it and a dialogue box with Apple Maps appears to reveal its exact location.

    Similar shortcuts are present throughout the updated Mac OS X operating system. You can adjust the degree of pressure in the System Preferences area. And try as I might on the floor of the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco, I still couldn’t believe that the new MacBook’s trackpad wasn’t actually moving. Apple assured me it’s not. The “Taptic Engine” underneath the aluminum pad leaves the user with the impression that it’s traveling in space. Color me impressed—or confused.

    There is a notable lack of ports on the new MacBook. In fact, there’s only one. (Well, two if you want to make the argument a headphone-jack is a port.) On its left flank is a USB Type-C port. Think of it as the more capable, younger sibling of the Lightning adapter on your iOS device. Through this single port you can charge the MacBook, transfer content, and connect it to an external monitor.

    It’s the Swiss Army Knife of connectors, though for now at least, external monitor functionality will require a series of adapters. Why? USB Type-C is a new standard—one that most accessory manufacturers have yet to fully commit to, let alone release products with it incorporated. So for now, adapters will be a necessity for MacBook owners.

    As someone who works primarily from an iPad, I can’t complain about the lack of ports. For me, adapters are a way of life and something I’ve come to accept. But that’s not for everyone, and Apple’s minimalism will be a break in how we’ve come to think about the desktop/laptop computer. I asked several attendees at the Apple event what they thought about this issue; reactions ranged from excited to discouraged. (The concerns of the latter group: what’s the point of ultraportability if I need to carry around a bunch of adapters? Fair point.) That Apple’s adapters are priced as high as $79 won’t help.

    But back to the new MacBook. Its Intel M Core processors clock in at a lowly 1.1GHz and 1.2GHz respectively, which is cause for concern. I wasn’t able to fully test either version outside of Apple’s demo area, unfortunately, so I can’t comment on their overall performance. I can say that during the limited time I used the new MacBook—to watch videos, browse through a Photos library, and accomplish other miscellaneous tasks—I was left with the impression that comparatively slow processors wouldn’t adversely impact performance too much.

    But that’s not the real point. Apple’s new MacBook is transformative based on its size alone. To put it into perspective, the new MacBook is only slightly heavier (and far thinner) than my iPad-plus-keyboard setup, but it’s a full-fledged content creation device.

    Which has me, and I suspect many other people, wondering: Laptop. Tablet. Now what?