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The personal computer industry backed a promising candidate in the ultrabook concept, convincing even a skeptic like myself that a new class of superslim, superlight laptops was the key to exciting consumers. Ultrabooks were well on their way to becoming the PC form factor of the future.
And now, it's already over.
In record time -- something less than six months -- the ultrabook term has become so overused and amorphous that it's well on its way to being useless.
Liberal terminology The first major examples of this new ultrabook rift are two laptops we recently reviewed. The HP Envy 14 Spectreand the Samsung Series 5 Ultra are both 14-inch laptops pitched as ultrabooks. The idea of bringing the ultrabook concept to larger laptops is a reasonable one -- the initial wave of ultrabooks were all 13-inch systems -- but they need to be nearly as thin and lightweight as the 13-inch models.
Instead, both the HP Spectre and Samsung Series 5 Ultra weigh a hair under 4 pounds, about a full pound more than a 13-inch MacBook Air. Both are also about one-tenth of an inch thicker. That may not sound like much, but when less than an inch is your baseline, it makes a noticeable difference in the feel of the laptop in your hand.
The biggest deviation from the ultrabook model to date is the 14-inch Samsung's use of a standard 500GB platter hard drive. The ultrabook platform is supposed to be built around faster, lighter solid-state drives (SSDs), and Samsung includes a tiny 16GB SSD as a secondary drive, which allows it to meet the letter, if not the spirit, of the ultrabook specifications. This system also includes an optical drive, which is another difference from previous ultrabooks.
It's relatively thin and light, but should it be an ultrabook? CNET
What you end up with, especially in the case of the Series 5 Ultra, is a perfectly fine midsize, mainstream laptop that can stand toe to toe with anything similar in the $850-$950 range. If we had seen it eight months or a year ago, our initial impression would be, "Wow, that's a pretty thin 14-inch laptop."
But today, there's absolutely nothing about it that says "ultrabook," which is bad news for this promising new category.
The origins of ultrabook So, what is an ultrabook supposed to be, anyway?
Seeing the success of Apple's MacBook Air, Intel and PC manufacturers wanted to find a way to replicate it for Windows-based consumers in systems that could be sold at a reasonable price. The idea was pitched as an entirely new laptop category, although the name "Ultrabook" was a trademarked Intel marketing term, and the systems that were going to use it had to meet a series of Intel-set system requirements.
In fact, Intel even set aside $300 million to help PC makers develop these new systems, saying in August 2011 that it would "invest in companies building hardware and software technologies focused on enhancing how people interact with Ultrabooks such as through sensors and touch, achieving all-day usage through longer battery life, enabling innovative physical designs, and improved storage capacity."
The $799 Toshiba Z835. CNET
From that original big idea, and the subsequent challenge Intel presented to PC makers, came the first generation of laptops to use the ultrabook name. These systems, from companies such as Acer, Lenovo, Toshiba, and Asus, came off very well in our initial reviews and we were surprisingly impressed with the platform, especially as prices declined, offering buyers systems with 128GB SSD drives for as little as $799.
Ultrabooks 2012: From noteworthy to no big deal But a few months ago, at CES 2012, I warned that the road ahead looked foggy, saying: "The ultrabook is in danger of being oversold by both Intel and industry watchers overeager to get behind the Next Big Thing."
And that seems to be exactly what is happening here. The ultrabook idea was a hit. It even seemed to have high name recognition with CNET readers, who would e-mail us with specific questions about which ultrabook they should buy. Now, everyone's rushing to join the bandwagon and the bigger 14- and even 15-inch ultrabooks hitting stores feel like they dilute the concept far too much.
For an example of this kind of branding done right, think back to the early days of wireless networks, when Intel's Centrino name meant that a laptop was able to connect to Wi-Fi and do most of the other networking things you needed it to, without you having to delve too deeply into the spec sheet.
In this case, instead of looking for an Intel ultrabook sticker on a laptop and knowing that it's going to be very thin, very light, rely on SSD storage, boot quickly, and run for a long time on a battery charge, now consumers will have to go back to checking the size and weight specs carefully.
How is that helpful for anybody?
Expect to see more laptops that look like this. CNET
The ultrabook is dead; long live the new laptop order But the ultrabook, as originally presented, is still an idea whose time has come. Apple's MacBook Air proved that consumers could live without optical drives and large-capacity hard drives, and valued long battery life and portability over ports and connections (in that sense, systems such as the Dell Adamo were ahead of their time). Also, ultrabook branding is certainly not going away anytime soon, and we'll all see dozens of new ultrathin laptops both with the ultrabook label and without during the rest of 2012.
The real long-term victory is that the ultrabook is rewriting what it means to be a mainstream laptop. By this time next year, I find it hard to believe that any midprice, midsize laptop won't be well under 1 inch, and closer to 3 pounds than 4 or 5. Optical drives will continue to fade away, as will dedicated Ethernet jacks (although I'm still convinced you'll eventually need one in a pinch). If you're a PC maker and most of your future laptops aren't at least trending toward ultrabooks and the MacBook Air, you simply won't be in the game.
So, yeah: I'm no longer sure what "ultrabook" means anymore. But if most future laptops are going to be thinner, lighter, and faster -- whether or not they get an Intel-approved sticker -- maybe that's not such a bad thing.
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Apple MacBook (12-inch, 2015) review: A minimalist MacBook that proves less can be more
Apple MacBook (12-inch, 2015) review: A minimalist MacBook that proves less can be more
Editors' note (June 27, 2017): The12-inch MacBook, reviewed in full below, was updated in 2016 and then again in June 2017, at Apple'sWorldwide Developers Conference. The new $1,299 12-inch MacBook and $999 13-inch MacBook Air now have faster, more powerful Intel processors. The current crop of MacBook Pros -- the $1,299 13-inch, $1,799 13-inch with Touch Bar, and $2,399 15-inch with Touch Bar-- have those new chips, too, along with upgraded graphics hardware.
Otherwise, aside from a RAM bump here and a slight price drop there, the 2017 batch is very similar to the one from 2016, with the same enclosures, ports, trackpads and screens. But be forewarned: Buying a new MacBook Pro may require you to invest in a variety of adapters for your legacy devices. Also note that the 13-inch MacBook Pro from 2015 has been discontinued, though the $1,999 15-inch model from that year remains available for those who want all the ports and fewer dongles.
The complaints started even before Apple's first new MacBook demo ended. During the March 2015 press event, observers fretted about the new, slimmer, lighter 12-inch MacBook. "It's underpowered," they said. "The battery life will be short. The new keyboard is too shallow. The no-click touchpad is a gimmick."
The outcry, which ranged from deriding the new, singular USB-C port to the overall price was reminiscent of the world's reaction to the original iPad in 2010. And like that groundbreaking tablet, the new 12-inch MacBook won't do everything and isn't for everyone. But its strictly enforced minimalism will make this laptop the model that industrial designers will strive to copy for the next several years.
Sarah Tew/CNET
The 12-inch MacBook is a system that ditches the Air and Pro monikers and returns to a simpler designation not seen since the classic black and white polycarbonate MacBooks of the mid-2000s (the ones you still occasionally see in coffee shops despite being their being discontinued in 2011).
Starting at $1,299, it includes a high-resolution Retina screen (much sharper than that on the Air), 8GB of RAM and 256GB of solid state storage. Unlike other laptops with removable drives or RAM, everything here is (permanently) packed into a tiny custom motherboard that leaves maximum room for a large battery. A second version, priced at $1,599, adds a 512GB hard drive and a tiny processor speed bump. In the UK and Australia, the prices start at £1,049 and AU$1,799 for the base model and hit £1,299 and AU$2,199 for the upgrade. More expensive build-to-order models are available, too. (The MacBook can be ordered online at 12:00 a.m. PT tonight, the same time as the Apple Watch, and should be available in store -- presumably in limited quantities -- on Friday, April 10.)
By way of comparison, the 13-inch MacBook Air starts at $999, but a similar 8GB/256GB configuration will cost the same $1,299. The 13-inch MacBook Pro starts at the same $1,299 as this new MacBook, but with only half the storage. Upgrading that Pro model to the same 8GB/256GB will cost $1,499. And on the Windows side, a Samsung Ativ Book 9 with the same 8GB RAM/256GB flash drive and the same processor -- will cost you $1,399 (all prices in US dollars). So, in the context of its main rivals, the MacBook is actually priced rather competitively.
Sarah Tew/CNET
Looking only at a spec sheet, it's easy to see why this new MacBook might be a tough sell. The MacBook uses Intel's new Core M processor, designed for slim, light laptops, hybrids and tablets with premium prices. It's efficient enough that full laptops can even run fanless, allowing for quiet, cool operation. But, the Core M has disappointed in the handful of Windows systems in which we've already tested it, turning in sluggish performance and mediocre battery life, the latter an unforgivable flaw for computers designed to be as light and portable as possible.
To spare you the suspense, I can say that the new MacBook performs much better than any other Core M system we've tested to date, hitting 11 hours in our video playback test. That's not nearly as much as you'd get from a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro -- and it puts this system at a disadvantage compared to the longest-lasting laptops -- but battery life is definitely not the deal-breaker it could have been.
Heavy online use will drain the battery even more quickly, and I found myself frequently glancing up at the upper right corner of the screen to see the battery life percentage tick down as I worked. I've found it can last for a full work day of moderate usage, but unlike a current-gen MacBook Pro or Air, it'll be hard to go a few days without plugging it in at all.
Sarah Tew/CNET
Beyond that, the limitations of having a single USB-C port for all your connection needs (with the exception of a standard audio jack that also made the cut) is even more of a challenge, unless you're prepared to arm yourself with a pocketful of dongles and adaptors.
Other changes are easier to adapt to. We've previously gone into some detail about the new click-free pad, which Apple calls the Force Touch trackpad, which is also available in the updated MacBook Pro. It's a clever bit of space-saving engineering that replaces the old trackpad, with a hinged design for physically clicking down, with a flat glass surface augmented by a force feedback engine. The keyboard is an even more radical change, swapping out the long-standing Mac standard of deep island-style keys for a set of much shallower keys, but with larger actual key faces.
Using the new MacBook means accepting its limitations, some of which are deliberately self-imposed. That's especially noticeable when you look at another new laptop, the Samsung Ativ Book 9. It weighs the same as the MacBook, has a similar 12-inch high-res screen, and an Intel Core M processor, but manages to fit in two full-size USB ports and a micro-HDMI output (although it also has a proprietary power connection and lacks USB-C, which is set to become the new standard).
The new MacBook and the similar Samsung Book 9.
Sarah Tew/CNET
If your need for longer battery life, more powerful performance, or more ports doesn't automatically preclude you, then the in-person experience of using the new MacBook will far outshine the on-paper shortcomings. For writing, Web surfing, video viewing and social media, it's a pleasure to use, and makes the still-slim 13-inch MacBook Air feel a bit like a lumbering dinosaur, to say nothing of other ultrabook-style laptops. It's a perfect coffee shop companion.
Some of the critical reactions to this laptop remind me of another new Apple design introduction I covered seven years ago, the original MacBook Air. That system was also criticized for dropping ports and connections, such as an Ethernet and VGA, that people were convinced they still needed. And, much like the new MacBook, it included just a single USB port.
Back in 2008, I was correct that the Air's new, stripped-down design had real legs, and would set the standard for years to come. But also true was that future refinements down the road would turn the MacBook Air from a speciality product into a mainstream one. When the next 12-inch MacBook update arrives, I suspect it will at the very least add a second USB-C port, and that's when it will become much easier to recommend to a broader audience.
Apple MacBook (12-inch, 2015)
Price as reviewed
$1,299, £1,049, AU$1,799
Display size/resolution
12-inch 2,304x1,440 screen
PC CPU
1.1GHz Intel Core M 5Y31
PC Memory
8GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,600MHz
Graphics
1,536MB Intel HD Graphics 5300
Storage
256 SSD
Optical drive
None
Networking
802.11ac wireless, Bluetooth 4.0
Operating system
Apple OSX 10.10.2 Yosemite
Design and features
This is the thinnest Mac that Apple has ever made: at its thickest point it's just 13.1mm (about half an inch), 24 percent thinner than the existing 11-inch MacBook Air. It's also the lightest MacBook, at 2.04 pounds (0.9 kg). Samsung's new Book 9 weighs 2.08 pounds, essentially the same, although it has a slightly larger footprint.
The overall shape and industrial design is familiar, based on the past seven-plus years of MacBook design, but with a few new twists, such as new colors. Besides the traditional silver, the new MacBook also comes in space grey or gold. Our test unit was gold, and like the iPhone color scheme it copies, the coloration is subtle, and gives off the impression that your laptop has a bronzed finish.
Sarah Tew/CNET
The keyboard, another big change, uses a new butterfly mechanism for keys that's thinner and more stable. The nearly edge-to-edge keyboard has larger key faces, yes, but the keys are also shallower, barely popping up above the keyboard tray and depressing into the chassis only slightly. It takes some getting used to, especially if you're accustomed to the deep, clicky physical feedback of the current MacBooks or the similar island-style keyboards of most other modern laptops.
The first time I tried the keyboard, I couldn't get through even a few sample sentences without several typos, because of the shallow keys and their lower level of tactile feedback. But when I tried again a couple of hours later, it was already much easier.
Sarah Tew/CNET
After using the new MacBook keyboard for the better part of a week, the shallowness of the keys, and a lack of a deeply satisfying click still bothers me. But, as someone who types very longform, the larger key faces and rock-solid stability make up for that, tipping the needle into the positive category. The keys are almost completely wobble-free, as opposed to the wiggle you can get under your fingers on a current MacBook keyboard.
The new trackpad, called the Force Touch, is even more of a change. Nearly the same size as the Air's, but squeezed into a smaller space, it dominates the lower half of the laptop and goes right up to the bottom edge. While previous trackpads had a hinge along the top in a kind of diving board design, the new pad works very differently. We took a deeper hands-on look at Force Touch when we tested it in the only other Apple product to support the new TrackPad right now, the 13-inch MacBook Pro.
Four sensors under the pad allow you to "click" anywhere on the surface, and the Force Click effect, which combines the sensors with haptic (or taptic) feedback, allows you to have two levels of perceived clicking within an app or task. That deep click feels to the finger and brain like the trackpad has a stepped physical mechanism, but in fact, the movement you feel is a small horizontal shift, which, even when fully explained, still feels like you're depressing the trackpad two levels.
Apple describes it like this: "With the Force Touch trackpad, force sensors detect your click anywhere on the surface and move the trackpad laterally toward you, although the feel is the same familiar downward motion you're accustomed to in a trackpad."
With that second, deeper click, you can access several types of contextual information, for example, highlighting a word and getting a Wikipedia pop-up, or seeing a map when deep-clicking on an address. Jumping into the preview view of a document or file works with the deep click, too, just as it does now by pressing the space bar in OS X. The most advanced use is probably fast-forwarding through a video clip in QuickTime, faster or slower, depending on how hard you press down on the trackpad.
I ended up using this trackpad just as I do almost every other one, Apple or otherwise, by tapping rather than clicking. It still bewilders me that Apple turns off tap-to-click by default, forcing you to hunt around the preferences menu to find it. Here's a tip: besides the tapping feature under the trackpad preferences menu, you may want to go to the accessibility menu and look under Preferences > Accessibility > Mouse & Trackpad > Trackpad options to turn on tap-to-drag.
Sarah Tew/CNET
The new MacBook has a 12-inch Retina display with a 2,304x1,440-pixel resolution. It, too, has a new design -- it's the thinnest ever built into a MacBook, at 0.88mm -- with a larger aperture for light and individual pixels in red, green and blue. The slightly unusual resolution is a combination of Apple's drive for a very high pixel-per-inch density, as well as an aspect ratio that sticks with 16:10, as opposed to nearly every other laptop available now, all of which use the same 16:9 aspect ratio as HDTV. (The 11-inch MacBook Air remains the only 16:9 MacBook.)
The screen looks clear and bright, and works from wide viewing angles. There's a glossy overlay, but I've seen much worse offenders when it comes to screen glare and light reflection. The screen bezel, that dead space between the actual display and the outer edge of the lid, is thinner here than on a MacBook Air, and the screen glass goes nearly edge to edge, giving the MacBook a seamless look much like the current Pro models. Thin bezels are definitely an important style note these days, although Dell does it much better with its current XPS 13 laptop, with an eye-catching barely there bezel.
The speaker grille above the keyboard is predictably thin-sounding -- this is a very small laptop after all, with little room for speaker cones to move air -- but it'll suffice for casual video viewing. With Beats Audio as part of the Apple family we may see a greater emphasis on audio in Macs in the future, just as Beats and HP had a successful partnership for several years.
Joe Kaminski/CNET
One spec that many feel was shortchanged in this new laptop is the built-in webcam. It's a simple 640x480 camera, and not as high-res as the 720p camera found in the Air or Pro laptops. The image above is taken from an iPhone 6, and shows my image, being transmitted from the 12-inch MacBook, via FaceTime. Note the softness of the image, which is an issue with viewing the 480p transmission on a much higher resolution screen.
Ports and connections
Video
USB 3.1 Type C
Audio
3.5mm audio jack
Data
USB 3.1 Type C
Networking
802.11ac wireless, Bluetooth 4.0
Optical
None
Connections, performance and battery
While testing the new MacBook, I found myself frequently plugging and unplugging accessories. Starting with the power cable connected to the single USB-C port, I pulled the power out to plug in a short USB-C to USB-A cable (sold by Apple for $19, £15 or AU$29), and connected the USB dongle for a wireless mouse. When I wanted to use a USB data key, I had to disconnect the mouse, and use the same adaptor cable to connect my key.
Shortly, you will be able to connect video the same way, using a USB-C to HDMI, DisplayPort or VGA adaptor. Apple has two connections blocks that include either HDMI or VGA for $79, £65 or AU$119, but neither was available at the time of this review.
Sarah Tew/CNET
The official pitch is that MacBook users will use wireless connections for just about everything. Bluetooth for a mouse, Wi-Fi for Internet access, AirDrop for file transfer, and so on. Most of these assumptions are correct, but there's something to be said for being able to use a full-size USB or HDMI port to connect to any USB key or HDTV with minimal hassle.
One potentially very useful benefit of USB-C is that, because it's used to power the laptop battery, it can also draw power from the portable backup battery packs that so many people have lying around in drawers and laptop bags. Take a USB-C to male USB cable (we tried a $10 one sent by Monoprice), and you can get some extra battery power on the go without having to bring the whole power brick or have access to a power outlet. It won't fully charge the laptop, but it could offer enough juice to get you out of a jam.
Sadly, MagSafe, truly one of the great developments in the history of laptops, is gone, and the new USB-C power plug has no magnetic connection at all. It simply slots in. The connector is fairly shallow, so it may very well just pop out if you yank the cable by accidentally stepping on it, but it certainly doesn't feel as accident-proof as the MagSafe version does.
The new 12-inch MacBook also breaks from the rest of Apple's computer line in that it does not use a processor from Intel's Core i series. Mostly Macs use Core i5 chips from either the current fifth generation of those chips, or the previous fourth generation (although the professional-level Mac Pro desktop uses an Intel Xeon processor).
Instead, this laptop uses the Core M, a new entry in Intel's laptop family. The pitch for Core M is that it enables laptops to be very thin and light, but still powerful and long-lasting. That's an appealing pitch, and Core M chips are so far only found in premium-priced systems (the least expensive being the $700 Asus T300 Chi).
Sarah Tew/CNET
But, in the first three computers we've tested with Core M chips, the results have not lived up to the hype. Lenovo's Yoga 3 Pro had sluggish performance and weak battery life. The Asus T300 Chi did a little better, but still ran for less than 6 hours in our battery test. The Samsung Ativ Book 9, a 12-inch laptop very similar to this one, did a bit better both on performance and battery life, coming close to 8 hours.
Getting the most out of Core M may require your hardware and software, including the operating system, to be properly tuned for it. And as Apple can control every aspect of its OS and exactly what hardware is paired with it, it's not surprising that the company is able to get some of the best results to date from the Core M. In our benchmark tests, no one will confuse this system with even the basic 13-inch MacBook Air, but it was faster in our multitasking test than the other Core M laptops we've reviewed. More importantly, in day to day use, it often felt just as responsive as a MacBook Air, with a few important caveats.
Sarah Tew/CNET
Basic Web surfing worked flawlessly, as did streaming even 4K video from YouTube or HD video from Netflix. Even basic gaming via Steam was doable, and I could play older or simpler games such as Portal 2 or Telltale's The Walking Dead series if I dialed the in-game resolution down to 1,440x900 and played with middle-ground graphics settings.
Using a browser other than Apple's Safari, which is very well optimized for the OS X/Core M combination, can lead to some slowdown, as can loading up multiple video streams at once. Pushing apps such as Photoshop with challenging filters and high-resolution files is likewise going to be slower than most Windows laptops with Core i5 CPUs.
But for many laptop users, especially those primarily interested in a laptop's size and weight, battery life is of the utmost importance. That is the one area where Apple's use of the Core M platform has caused the most angst-ridden speculation. Other Core M systems, all slim laptops or hybrids, have all turned in battery life scores that are on the low side, from about five and a half hours (for the Yoga 3 Pro and Asus T300 Chi) to seven and a half hours (for the Samsung Book 9) in our video playback battery drain test.
Meanwhile, Apple's own current MacBook Air runs for an amazing 18 hours (thanks to its recently upgraded Broadwell Core i5 CPU) and the 13-inch Pro ran for 15 hours in the same test. Two recent slim, premium laptops, the Dell XPS 13 and HP Spectre x360, both managed 12 hours.
Sarah Tew/CNET
The 12-inch MacBook doesn't last as long as those Core i5 laptops, but it does beat the other Core M systems by a large margin, running for 11 hours 3 minutes in our video playback battery drain test. Apple says it should give you at least 10 hours of video playback, so that's in line with the company's claims. Real-world scenarios, with more energy draining apps and frequent online use, will be shorter, and in a secondary test streaming online video non-stop over Wi-Fi, the system ran for 5 hours.
How did Apple manage to get better battery life from the notoriously fickle Core M? Part of it may be the optimization Apple can do as the creator of both the hardware and operating system. But a big part of it may be the large 39.7-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery crammed into the small MacBook's body. The actual motherboard and all the internal components have been shrunk down to be only fraction of the size of a typical laptop motherboard. Instead, the entire rest of the system interior is filled with a battery designed to fit into every nook and cranny of available space.
Conclusion
My initial impression of the original MacBook Air from 2008 feels timely and fitting here. Of that laptop, which was considered both groundbreaking and frustratingly limited, I said:
Sarah Tew/CNET
Likewise, this new MacBook will also be the right fit for a smaller segment of a public than the more universally useful 13-inch MacBook Air or Pro. But those who can work with the limitations -- primarily a lack of ports, shorter battery life, performance that's not suited for pro-level photo and video editing, and a shallow keyboard that takes some getting used to -- will love its sharp display, slim and light body, and responsive touchpad.
My primary caveat is this -- if history is any guide, you can count on a near-future generation of this laptop boosting its utility by doubling the number of USB-C ports to at least two. So like many new technology products, it may be worth waiting for the next version, even if having a 12-inch, two-pound gold MacBook right now will make you the coolest kid at the coffee shop.
Handbrake Multimedia Multitasking test
Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, 2015)370Dell XPS 13 (2015, non-touch)428Apple MacBook (12-inch, 2015)465Samsung Ativ Book 9 (2015)563Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro682
Note: Shorter bars indicate better performance (in seconds)
Adobe Photoshop CS5 image-processing test
Dell XPS 13 (2015, non-touch)263Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, 2015)268Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro294Apple MacBook (12-inch, 2015)307Samsung Ativ Book 9 (2015)311
Note: Shorter bars indicate better performance (in seconds)
Apple iTunes encoding test
Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, 2015)107Dell XPS 13 (2015, non-touch)112Apple MacBook (12-inch, 2015)130Samsung Ativ Book 9 (2015)130Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro142
Note: Shorter bars indicate better performance (in seconds)
Video playback battery drain test
Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, 2015)1080Apple MacBook (12-inch, 2015)747Dell XPS 13 (2015, non-touch)726Samsung Ativ Book 9 (2015)457Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro346
Note: Longer bars indicate better performance (in minutes)
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Microsoft launched Windows 11. Now what? Essential info about the new OS
Microsoft launched Windows 11. Now what? Essential info about the new OS
Windows 11 launched this month, and Microsoft delivered some big changes to the storied operating system, including its first name change in six years. The Windows 11 update began rolling out on Oct. 5, though it will be released in a phased approach on eligible devices. (Here's how to see whether your PC is compatible first and how to download it early if you don't want to wait.)
Read more: Windows 11 review: Familiar but fresh
Windows 11 comes with a truckload of new features, such as the ability to download and run Android apps on your Windows PC and updates to Microsoft Teams, the Start menu and the overall look of the software, which is more clean and Mac-like in design. (Check out all of our favorite new Windows 11 features and how to use them.) But keep in mind that not all of the features are available today.
Here's everything about Windows 11, including price, compatibility, release date, how to download it and new features.
7 new features included in Windows 11
Here are a few of the standout new features in Windows 11:
A new, more Mac-like interface. Windows 11 features a clean design with rounded corners, pastel shades and a centered Start menu and Taskbar.
Integrated Android apps. Android apps will be coming to Windows 11 via the Amazon Appstore, which will be accessible from within the updated Microsoft Store. There were a couple of ways to access Android apps on Windows 10, especially if you had a Samsung Galaxy phone, but this will make it native. (Note that Android apps will not be available upon the initial release of Windows 11.)
Widgets. While they've been around for a while (remember desktop gadgets on Windows Vista?), including in a recent Windows 10 update, you can now access widgets directly from the Taskbar and personalize them to see whatever you'd like.
Microsoft Teams integration. Teams is getting a face-lift and is pinned on the Windows 11 Taskbar, making it easier to access (and a bit more like Apple's FaceTime). You'll be able to access Teams from Windows, Mac, Android or iOS.
Xbox tech for better gaming.Windows 11 will get certain features found in Xbox consoles, like Auto HDR and DirectStorage, to improve gaming on your Windows PC.
Better virtual desktop support. Windows 11 will let you set up virtual desktops in a way that's more similar to MacOS, toggling between multiple desktops for personal, work, school or gaming use. You can also change your wallpaper on each virtual desktop.
Easier transition from monitor to laptop, and better multitasking. The new OS includes features called Snap Groups and Snap Layouts -- collections of the apps you're using at once that sit in the Taskbar, and can come up or be minimized at the same time for easier task switching. They also let you plug and unplug from a monitor more easily without losing where your open windows are located.
Microsoft Teams will get integrated directly into the Windows 11 Taskbar, which is now centered in the display.
Microsoft
When will you get Windows 11?
Windows 11 is now available now and will continue rolling out through mid-2022. The newer your device is, the sooner you're likely to have access to the update. The older your PC is, the longer you'll probably have to wait.
Will your computer be compatible with Windows 11?
There are a few different ways to check if your Windows 10 PC is eligible for a free upgrade to Windows 11.
You can download Microsoft's PC Health Check app to see if your device is compatible, and if not, some details as to why. You can use another open-source app called WhyNotWin11 to see if your device is compatible. Plus, here's how to check some hardware compatibility with Windows 11 without either tool.
Or go to Microsoft's website for a list of requirements. If you bought a new PC between now and the general release, that computer will also be eligible for the free upgrade.
Can I still download Windows 11 even if my computer isn't compatible?
Potentially. Even if your Windows 10 computer lacks some of the requirements for upgrading to Windows 11, you may still be able to manually download an unsupported version of the OS. The process would be similar to how many people could manually download Windows 10 free of charge. However, this version likely won't be eligible for updates from Microsoft.
New PCs will be eligible for an upgrade to Windows 11.
Sarah Tew/CNET
How do you upgrade to Windows 11?
Once Windows 11 becomes generally available, you'll download it the same way you would any new version of Windows. Most users will go to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update and click Check for Updates.
If available, you'll see Feature update to Windows 11. Click Download and install. Remember that Microsoft is rolling out the operating system gradually, so don't panic if you don't see the option on Day 1.
Here's more information on how to download Windows 11. If you haven't yet upgraded to Windows 10, you may still be able to download Windows 10 free, too -- here's how.
Is Windows 11 free to download?
If you're already a Windows 10 user, Windows 11 will appear as a free upgrade for your machine.
For more, check out every feature we wanted in Windows 11 but didn't get, everything to know about the Windows 10 May 2021 update, the best Windows 10 hidden features we've found and six simple security changes all Windows 10 users need to make.
Microsoft surface event microsoft surface event september 2021 microsoft surface event live microsoft surface event 2021 date microsoft surface event stream microsoft surface event september 22 microsoft surface event rumors microsoft surface microsoft surface book 4 microsoft surface go 4 microsoft surface pro 8 microsoft surface book microsoft surface laptop 4
Microsoft Surface event: Surface Pro 8, Laptop Studio, Duo 2 and more
Microsoft Surface event: Surface Pro 8, Laptop Studio, Duo 2 and more
It's been nearly a decade since Microsoft surprised the tech industry with its first Surface hybrid tablet featuring a detachable keyboard. Until that moment in 2012, Microsoft had primarily been a software company -- if you don't count its wildly successful entrance into game consoles with the Xbox in 2001 and its failed foray into Windows-based phones in 2010 with Microsoft Lumia.
Today, Microsoft is a hardware veteran, making well-regarded Surface tablets, laptops and desktops.
On Oct. 5, the company will begin rolling out Windows 11, its biggest Windows software update in six years. New hardware, announced today, will also arrive Oct. 5. Today, Microsoft unveiled the upcoming changes to its Surface lineup, from the new Surface Laptop Studio to the revamped Surface Duo 2, with a lesser update for the Surface Pro 8 and minor refreshes to the Surface Go 3 (new processors) and Surface Pro X (Wi-Fi). Also unveiled were a new Surface Slim Pen 2 that introduces haptics for the first time in a stylus and the company's first mouse made from ocean-bound plastics, reinforcing its environmental pledges for 2030.
Microsoft
Surface Laptop Studio
With a three-position display, a slimmer, sleeker profile and 14-inch size, the Surface Laptop Studio replaces the Surface Book 3 with a complete overhaul. There are things that we don't like, such as the nonremovable memory and service center-only storage upgrades, but it sounds like a very intriguing option.
Read our Surface Laptop Studio preview.
Microsoft
Surface Pro 8 and Surface Pro X
Microsoft's hero Surface device grows to 13 inches and gets the essential component updates for better performance. A new Type Cover (still optional) has a resting place for the new, wirelessly charged Slim Pen 2.
The Surface Pro X now has a Wi-Fi only version, too.
Read our Surface Pro 8 preview.
Microsoft
Surface Duo 2
Microsoft takes a small step toward making the Duo 2 dual-screen phone/tablet hybrid more phone-like by adding a trio of rear cameras. We still think it has more walking to do before it's an appealing product, though.
Read our Surface Duo 2 preview.
Microsoft
Surface Go 3
The smallest and least expensive Surface has been modestly updated with faster chips. However, its $399 starting price remains unchanged.
Read our Surface Go 3 preview.
Microsoft
Surface Slim Pen 2
Microsoft has updated it Slim Pen in a few notable ways: haptics for a more paper-like feel, a sharper nib, Zero-Force Inking for better responsiveness and wireless charging.
Read Surface Slim Pen 2 preview.
Microsoft
Surface Adaptive Kit
Microsoft's making it easier for folks who have trouble navigating standard laptop keyboards and connections with its new Surface Adaptive Kit, a set of bumpy decals and more you can use for tactile identification and operation.
Read our Surface Adaptive Kit preview.
Microsoft/Screenshot by CNET
Microsoft Ocean Plastic Mouse
Microsoft launched its first product made with ocean-bound plastics -- a big trend these days -- the Ocean Plastic Mouse, along with promising improvements to its sustainability practices.
Read our Microsoft Ocean Mouse preview.
Our liveblog remains below.
It's been nearly a decade since Microsoft surprised the tech industry with its first Surface hybrid tablet. Until that moment in 2012, Microsoft had primarily been a software company. Fast-forward to 2021, and Microsoft is a hardware veteran, making well-regarded Surface Pro tablets, its Surface Laptops, and Surface Studio desktops too. The company today announced the Surface Pro 8, faster, bigger and cooler and the Surface Go 3. The Surface Adaptive Kit looks really cool for helping folks who have issues with using keyboards and ports and the Surface Duo 2 improves upon its imperfect predecessor. And the Surface Laptop Studio does an articulating display the Microsoft way.
And that's it
8:51 a.m. PT
After a brisk 49 minutes, Microsoft concludes its event.
PCs are 'essential'
8:49 a.m. PT
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella joined the presentation to talk about how the last 18 months has put so much more attention on PCs.
"Technology for technology's sake serves no one," Nadella said. "We must advance both the frontiers of technology and its impact on the world."
"Ultimately though, we build windows for you," he added. "So you have the tools to dream big and turn those dreams into reality. We are so excited to see what each of you will create with these new devices and how together we will shape the next wave of computing for everyone."
Microsoft
'Most powerful' Surface
8:41 a.m. PT
Microsoft replaced its Surface Book laptop with a new design that shifts from it being a laptop to being a "studio"-like device, the Surface Laptop Studio.
So the screen has a kickstand that allows the screen to be put at an angle, like the typical Surface devices. Microsoft says this is "stage mode." And you can fold it down to "studio" mode where the screen is flat like a piece of paper.
Microsoft also includes an Nvidia RTS 3050 GTI GPU, Thunderbolt 4 and an 11th gen Intel chip. It also has an "AI"-enabled camera, which has a face tracker (a popular feature on Apple's iPads, Facebook's Portals and others).
Dual-Screen Life
8:33 a.m. PT
One of the key features of the original Surface Duo was its ability to "span" apps across both its displays, putting an image on one side for example, and editing options on the other. You can also drag and drop items from one screen to the other, taking that photo you were editing for example and dropping it into a Microsoft Teams chat.
"Surface Duo 2 is for the creator in each of us," Microsoft said.
Microsoft
That light bar
8:30 a.m. PT
Since it has no outer screen, Microsoft has added a light bar on the hinge to help you tell how many notifications are waiting when the screens are closed. Microsoft said it'll also help you tell battery life, and of course if someone's trying to connect with you through Microsoft Teams.
Surface Duo 2
8:27 a.m. PT
Microsoft's not-a-phone is official, and promises better cameras, faster chips and 5G wireless.
It also has a light bar on its spine to help get your attention. Microsoft calls it "notifications at a glance."
Inclusive design
8:25 a.m. PT
Microsoft got a lot of accolades for its Xbox Adaptive Controller, which was designed to help disabled gamers play Xbox titles. Now, it's taking that approach to its Surface products with the "Surface Adaptive Kit." The kit adds features to make it easier to use their devices, with glue-on raised keyboard labels. There's also port labels, to make it easier to identify which ports you can plug items into. And there's a stick-on lanyard tab, Microsoft said, which allows someone to more easily pull out the kickstand for their Surface device.
"When you're designing products for someone like me today we're actually building for for our future selves," said one Microsoft employee, born with cerebral palsy.
Microsoft
Ocean Plastic Mouse
8:18 a.m. PT
Microsoft announced a new Ocean Plastic Mouse, which is made of 20% recycled ocean plastic, and the box is 100% recyclable. (Other device makers have also started including ocean plastics in their products, for what it's worth.)
Surface Go 3 is 'fastest' yet
8:15 a.m. PT
Microsoft says its new Surface Go 3 is 60% faster than before, powered by a 10th Gen Intel processor.
Surface Slim Pen 2 in its new charging spot.
Microsoft
Microsoft built a special chip for pen haptics
8:13 a.m. PT
Part of what Microsoft says sets the Slim Pen 2 apart is its custom "G6" processor, which can talk to Windows 11 in interesting ways. Among them, Microsoft said the pen creates "tiny mechanical vibrations that mimic the feel of pen on paper."
Microsoft said the pen tip is also sharper, and it has "ultra low latency."
Surface Pro 8
8:10 a.m. PT
Microsoft begins by talking about Surface Pro 8, which has a new "Slim Pen 2," Thunderbolt 4 and other features that Microsoft says has 43% more compute power and 75% faster graphics. Microsoft will also offer 32GB of RAM, Dolby Atmos and a high-res 13" display. And it has 16 hours of battery life.
Eight devices: Be prepared
8:09 a.m. PT
Panay says there's a new Surface Go, Surface Duo 2 and a "transformed Surface Pro lineup," which he said "brings you incredible power in modern design and details throughout this product."
Panay says the company's also got an "ocean plastics" mouse, and an adaptive kit for accessibility.
And so it begins
8:04 a.m. PT
Microsoft's event begins with Product Chief Panos Panay, who starts by talking about Windows 11. "Windows is a driving force for innovation. It's an enduring platform for each one of us to create," he said. "And it's home for billions to do their jobs, live their dreams, connect with the people they love. Windows 11 gives you a place that feels like home. It's an area of calm, security, openness, and it's designed to be centered around you."
A bunch of different companies have Windows 11 devices they're building, but today is about Surface, he said. "Surface has always been a stage for software and hardware to come together," he adds. "For the last 10 years it's been a force for revolution in this industry, creating products that push the boundaries of what's possible."
Windows 11 around the corner
7:30 a.m. PT
All these Surface announcements aren't happening in a vacuum. This event is happening less than two weeks before Microsoft begins rolling out Windows 11, its biggest Windows software update in six years. Though Microsoft is focusing on its devices for this launch, many of its partners like Dell, HP and Lenovo have PCs prepped for the big release.
Microsoft's also started an ad campaign around the launch. We don't know how much Microsoft is spending to get the word out, but in the past it's laid out hundreds of millions of dollars as part of its ad blitzes.
Surface not-a-phone
7 a.m. PT
Probably the biggest rumors for Microsoft's event suggest the company has an upgrade for the Surface Duo phone-not-a-phone in the works. A leaked image earlier this year pointed to a trio of much better cameras, which was a key complaint of the original device. Whether it'll have 5G is still an open question -- last year, Microsoft made it clear that omitting the wireless technology last year was about tradeoffs of battery life, thickness and other issues.
READ MORE: Here are all the rumors swirling ahead of Microsoft's big Surface event
Modern times
6:30 a.m. PT
In nearly a decade since, Microsoft has done a lot more work to make its Surface appealing. In 2013, it announced the Surface Pro, a more performant version of the Surface that's since become what CNET's reviewer Dan Ackerman now says is "the best overall Windows two-in-one tablet."
Microsoft also revamped the Windows software to be more tablet friendly when it released Windows 10 in 2015, and will go even a step further by giving Windows 11 and Apple-like feel when it launches on Oct. 5.
Microsoft's also expanded out its lineup of Surface devices. There's now the Surface Go, a smaller more small-bag-friendly Surface. Ackerman called last year's Surface Go 2 an improvement on the "good-but-not-great" design. He did say that the smaller tablet may become popular though when the pandemic wanes, and people start considering taking their computers to the park, coffee shop or plane.
There's also the Surface Book, a more powerful two-in-one that leans more into being a laptop than a tablet.
Don't forget the Surface Pro X, a two-in-one that's more of a tablet than a laptop, down to the specialized chips inside that are more akin to the innards of a smartphone than a power-sucking laptop.
And I didn't even get into the Surface Duo dual-screen phone-that's-not-a-phone, the unreleased Surface Neo dual-screen tablet and the $3,500 Surface Studio massive-screen computer.
Bumpy ride
6 a.m. PT
The thing I remember from when Microsoft announced its first Surface tablet devices in 2012 was how upset PC makers were with Microsoft. I was covering the PC industry at the time, and Microsoft gave them little warning about this new device.
Microsoft had been playing with tablet ideas for years, even creating a prototype called the Courier, that lit up the internet when it leaked back in 2009. Microsoft eventually killed the project, in favor of its Windows 8 software and the Surface tablet project.
By the way, if you want to go down memory lane, here's the video demo that leaked:
When the Surface launched in fall of 2012, CNET's Eric Franklin said it was "innovative" in his review at the time, and that its keyboard cover accessories were "the best way to type on a tablet, period." But he also said Windows software wasn't a good match, and that it left users in an "app desert."
Long way
5:30 a.m. PT
It's been interesting to follow Microsoft's hardware ambitions over the years. The company started its Surface line of products back in 2012, ahead of the release of Windows 8.
At the time, the Surface an unusual take on the still burgeoning tablet form factor. Microsoft's surprise announcement wasn't so much the idea of a Windows tablet -- plenty of companies had been trying to sell those -- but rather the keyboard cover. Though some iPad cases had keyboards integrated into them, the Surface largely changed how we thought of tablet accessories. It had so much impact in fact that Apple followed Microsoft's lead, and created its own take on the keyboard cover with the first iPad Pro in 2016.
Welcome
5 a.m. PT
Well, here we are, ahead of Microsoft's big hardware event for the year. Rumors seem to have settled on the company announcing an updated phone-not-phone Surface Duo 2, in addition to the pretty much expected updates to the Surface Pro, Surface Go and other Surface products.
READ MORE: Microsoft Surface event 2021: All the rumors, predictions and announcements to expect on Sept. 22
Microsoft also teased at least one other change in its announcement for the event, tweeting a profile image of what appears to be a thinner Surface tablet device than it's offered so far. We'll be keeping our eyes peeled.
When is the Microsoft Surface Event?
Microsoft's event will be held entirely online, starting Sept. 22 at 8 a.m. PT, 11 a.m. ET, 4 p.m. BST and Sept. 23 at 1 a.m. in Sydney, Australia.
Where can I stream Microsoft's announcements?
The event will be livestreamed on Microsoft's website. CNET will cover the event live, as we always have, with real-time updates, insights and analysis you can only find here.
What can expect from the Surface event?
Microsoft's gotten progressively better at holding online events. Despite the glitchy struggles it faced during its Windows 11 reveal, the tech giant's taken a similar tack as companies like Apple, Samsung and Sony, which have put significant resources into creating slickly edited presentations. With the company putting so much effort into its surface line, as well as the recent promotion of product chief Panos Panay to Microsoft's senior leadership team, it's a good sign the presentation will be a worthwhile watch.
