I've said before that I'd essentially given up on having a MacBook (Pro or otherwise) as my main development rig. I think that's smart. The Lenovo Y700 I bagged in April has the same processor as the entry-level 15" MacBook Pro, and that MacBook is both a little large and way too expensive -- $2400 minimum buy-in for the 15", where I spent $850 for the same processor, same SSD size, more RAM, and maybe even a better graphics card. I got worse size, battery, keyboard, and trackpad, but I also have $1550.

Yet my Lenovo 100S, a cheapo plastic ultrabook, still gets more use than I would've thought, usually as "the laptop I carry when I'm not carrying a laptop". I bought it sort of on a lark when it was on sale for $150. Horribly underpowered, only two gigs of RAM, 32 bit processor, horrible keyboard, 32 gig "hard drive".

But it does have two great things:

1. Great battery life -- 8 hours or more
2. It's extremely small

As I've said before, it's my knock-off MacBook Air -- or, more recently, 12" MacBook. It's great to have a light computer that doesn't feel like it needs a laptop bag to comfortable schleping around.

Now look, it's crazy to think about comparing the 100S to a computer nine times as expensive. I agree. Mostly. But check this out:

The MacBook is almost half an inch less "skinnier", has two-tenths-inch less depth, is .15" shorter at its tallest, and weighs around 80g less.

That is to say, the 12" MacBook is smaller, has a better battery, keyboard, trackpad, screen, and processor -- surprisingly, it has faster single core performance than my 2012 Mac mini does on Geekbench, iirc. Again, not sure that makes it worth 9x the other, but that's, as the English say, an impressive piece of kit.

If the MacBook gets a boost in March, give or take, and at least holds its price (Touch Bar or no), it's going to be harder to resist.

Labels: hardware, lenovo, macbook, macbook pro, truck, ultrabook