This retro 12 inch 2015 MacBook Retina is unexpectedly awesome

There is something about that Apple retro style: from the beige-colored case, to the air vents, it’s a semi-industrial, raw reminder of how far along computing has come over decades. Alas, when applied to modern-day devices, the result can only be either absolutely awful, or spectacular.

Surprisingly enough, the latter is true for a 10-units limited edition 12 inch Apple MacBook Retina, transformed by high-end device customizer ColorWare, into something short of a work of art.

This configuration of the 12 inch MacBook, is powered by a dual-core 1.3GHz Intel Core M7, and comes with 8GB LPDDR3 SDRAM, and Intel HD Graphics 515. The color treatment seems to resemble almost perfectly the Apple Macintosh beige, which is challenging enough, considering that the MacBook Retina anodized aluminum unibody is a far different metal than what computer cases were made of in the 1980s and 90s, which would vary from machined aluminum, stainless steel, to plastic.

The “vents” on the edges of the MacBook’s cover are purely decorative, but they do add to the final result, with an accent as simple as it is visually powerful and evocative.

Of course no retro project we’d rightfully call as such, would be complete without the rainbow Apple logo, which appears to be a repainted version of the original 12 inch MacBook Retina logo.

This is not the first time that ColorWare has grabbed the attention of Apple fans, as a similar recolor of an Apple iMac Retina 5K has managed to turn our clocks back by 25-30 years, complete with retro-style Magic Mouse, and Mac keyboard.

As with all limited editions, this 12 inch MacBook Retina comes with a hefty price tag, in this case over $3,000 plus tax, although the chance of getting one are now next to none, as all the units appear to have been sold.