The MacBook Air is, in my judgment, the best personal computer ever made. The first time I saw its current design, introduced in 2010, it felt like someone had taken a thin slab of aluminum and magically made it do computer things. Everything about the Air defies expectations: from its unmatched keyboard and touchpad to its excellent battery life and performance. Today, Apple set itself the task of outshining its greatest Mac creation with an all-new MacBook that takes the Air philosophy to its logical extreme.

Read next: 12-inch MacBook review.

The new MacBook is thinner and lighter than the 11-inch Air, but it has a bigger, higher-resolution display. Both of those changes would usually necessitate a compromise on battery life, but Apple promises another "all-day" machine that will last exactly as long as its 11-inch Air. On paper, this looks like a no-compromise upgrade, coming with smarter internal engineering, a new Force Touch trackpad, and the perfect balance of screen size between Apple’s two Air models. But there are limitations to the new MacBook, at least in this first iteration, that prevent it from taking over the MacBook Air’s crown.

Allow me to illustrate the pros and cons of this new MacBook with reference to two Lenovo laptops. Firstly, the ThinkPad X240. I've used that laptop extensively and have come away convinced that its 12.5-inch screen size is the sweet spot for portable PCs. Just large enough to have an uncompromised keyboard, yet small and light enough to be tossed around with the ease of a tablet. Dell's new XPS 13 and Apple's MacBook are occupying similar dimensions and both have me psyched for a future breed of devices that finally nail the perfect size (not perfect for everyone, of course, but optimal in being most usable to the greatest number of people).

The other Lenovo machine I've been using recently has been the Yoga 3 Pro. Like the new MacBook, this computer goes for stunning good looks with an ultra-thin profile and a gorgeous high-resolution display. At the heart of both machines is Intel's Core M processor, which has allowed Apple to produce its first fanless MacBook and the densest logic board in its history. It's all good news so far, but my experience with Lenovo's Yoga showed a computer struggling to keep up with even simple web browsing tasks and a real-world battery life that fell far short of Lenovo's seven-hour promise.

Apple's OS X machines have traditionally had a battery life advantage over their Windows competitors, but the Core M CPU has yet to prove itself as the revolutionary chip that Intel is marketing it to be. Using little power to deliver inadequate performance is not much of a feat. Seeing how the built-in HD Graphics 5300 from Intel handle the 2304 x 1440 resolution will be pivotal in deciding whether the new MacBook represents excellence in engineering or a compromised vision of a future that's yet to come.

I have no doubt that this new MacBook will, over time and one or two more iterations, become my go-to laptop for both work and play. It's headed down the exact path I want to see all portable computers pursuing: dispensing with mechanical cooling, raising resolution, reducing weight, and (hopefully) keeping battery life strong. I also love Apple's aggressive embrace of the USB Type-C connector. There are two ports on the new MacBook: a headphone jack and the reversible USB port that's about to become the standard for smartphones, tablets, laptops, and everything else USB. The Type-C connector will funnel everything into and out of this new notebook, serving as its power supply and, with the requisite adapters, wired internet port, its HDMI video output, and its SD card reader. The adapter part is where (costly) annoyances will arise.

Not quite as a thin as a tablet, but has as many ports: one

In the completely wireless future that Apple and Intel are chasing, people will be transferring photos off their cameras without the need for cables of any kind, but that's not the world we live in today. I'm unconvinced that any modern laptop can really get away with not including an SD card slot. It's just too important, too convenient a feature to omit, and it's the thing that will keep me from giving in to the temptation of buying Apple's latest new thing.

The new MacBook and Dell's XPS 13 are the harbingers of a future of evolved, leaner laptops that continue to be as vital to our daily lives as they've ever been. The notion that tablets would one day obviate laptop computers seems to have been disproven by recent developments, with laptops becoming more agile faster than tablets are growing in functionality. As promising as the new MacBook looks, though — and as undoubtedly sophisticated as its design may be — its first generation looks best-suited to early adopters and those who simply enjoy the idea of owning a "stunning gold" laptop. For the rest of us, the next MacBook will probably prove much more appealing than the brand new one today.

Verge Videos: What to know about Apple's newest MacBook