First, thank you to MacRumors and this forums for directing me along in the transition.
Some background - I have owned a Haswell Macbook Air that was great but unfortunately was stolen. I wanted a smaller macbook and the bezels were bothering me aesthetically, and, as the 12" was not yet available, I went for a rMBP 13" 2.6 Haswell... I loved it but in a bag with folders and other stuff, the additional weight was actually felt on my back. I'm a physician and my laptop travels with me back and forth to work and around the hospital in my briefcase, often times walking to or from work 2 miles, plus any other travel that may ensue. As such, I try to pack light and was interested in a small macbook.
Word of caution - I love this laptop. The experience you get in the store is not fair to the machine. Once the system has settled, everything is just getting better. Like - I for one had an issue with the keyboard in the store. I felt like pressing the keys required too much effort. Either that was the effort itself or less travel - it's hard to appreciate. What I can say though is that I feel like typing got so much easier after about one week - I actually look forward to it. I still feel a little bit cramped - but that is because the style of typing does change. While before I think I was typing with the fingers more extended, now I type with the fingers flexed where in the tip of the digit goes up and down rather than at an oblique angle. It's hard to express, but I guess it makes sense considering the butterfly (symmetric compression) versus scissor (oblique compression) mechanism.
I typically run word, several PDF's open in preview, Papers App with 5-10 PDF's and an active search, Safari with 5-10 tabs, my e-mail, calendar, spotify and recently the Activity Monitor and System Pal just to see what the computer is doing. Another caveat - I run the system at 1536x960 and I run it in nonHDPI... With 10.10.2 that was an ugly washed out picture... Something happened in the way OS X processes the desktop - 10.10.3 and 10.10.4 appear sharp and very tolerable for me. Way way better than my old macbook air and with more real estate space. I've been very happy with that resolution and everything runs super smooth, animations and all. Never saw any skipped frames or other issues... Furthermore, the processor never gets stressed and CPU temperatures never go above 40 or so... 50 with some more intense processes like Photoshop CS5 which I use to edit figures for articles and presentations.
And battery? very comparable to the 2014 rMBP but I do not have the time to spend 9 hours a day on the laptop... who does that? or the single USB-c port - I see that as a positive - now, when plugging into the monitor, I do not need to plug three cables... just one... dongle is attached to power, HDMI, and USB hub on the desk... and for powering - I don't need the brick - I just carry a cable and if needed plug it into one of the desktops at work... win win... Could have they done another one - maybe... do I miss it... no...
Now, like many others, I ordered the AV adapter to HDMI with an estimated shipping of 4 weeks TO STORE. That's annoying, I was at the mall today, at the store where the dongle was supposed to ship... guess what, they have plenty... yet my shipping to store still shows 4 weeks... I don't know what Apple is thinking, but they are going to loose a lot of sales this way, as some people who would have bought on impulse, are long gone. Anyway...
I just came home and plugged the macbook into the LG 34UM95 and it's running great. 3440x1400 via HDMI at 50Hz though. Sure, perhaps moving windows around is not as smooth as with 60Hz, but the tradeoff is that the laptop is actually less stressed than running on the native screen. With the apps open as stated above, CPU temperature is at 32C, laptop body is cool to touch, and mission control or spaces runs smooth without any dropped frames or other concerns people have. It's funny as after all the paranoia on this forum, I actually listed the monitor on Craigslist... well - now I'm glad that I did not sell it. For office work like my typical usage, youtube, and other functions - this thing is great. Like right now I'm running youtube video, a 20 page word 2011 document, iMessage, and macrumors, all spaced out with BetterSnapTool - the video runs great, I feel no difference than the 60z and the temperature is only 35 degrees.
I'm not sure what people are worried about... are they pegging the processor all the time - in my regular use I never saw it. Is it slower than my macbook pro - yes, my brain picks up millisecond pauses. Are they real - I don't know... it's still new (two weeks) and I tend to be OCD (surgeon) - so I think they are there. Are they relevant - not at all. My experience is no different than either the macbook air or the rMBP. And I really think the screen is significantly better than any other laptop I have used. I am a very happy camper.
And now I have listed my 2014 rMBP 2.6 256 with less than 20 cycles on craigslist for 1200... anybody interested?
Some background - I have owned a Haswell Macbook Air that was great but unfortunately was stolen. I wanted a smaller macbook and the bezels were bothering me aesthetically, and, as the 12" was not yet available, I went for a rMBP 13" 2.6 Haswell... I loved it but in a bag with folders and other stuff, the additional weight was actually felt on my back. I'm a physician and my laptop travels with me back and forth to work and around the hospital in my briefcase, often times walking to or from work 2 miles, plus any other travel that may ensue. As such, I try to pack light and was interested in a small macbook.
Word of caution - I love this laptop. The experience you get in the store is not fair to the machine. Once the system has settled, everything is just getting better. Like - I for one had an issue with the keyboard in the store. I felt like pressing the keys required too much effort. Either that was the effort itself or less travel - it's hard to appreciate. What I can say though is that I feel like typing got so much easier after about one week - I actually look forward to it. I still feel a little bit cramped - but that is because the style of typing does change. While before I think I was typing with the fingers more extended, now I type with the fingers flexed where in the tip of the digit goes up and down rather than at an oblique angle. It's hard to express, but I guess it makes sense considering the butterfly (symmetric compression) versus scissor (oblique compression) mechanism.
I typically run word, several PDF's open in preview, Papers App with 5-10 PDF's and an active search, Safari with 5-10 tabs, my e-mail, calendar, spotify and recently the Activity Monitor and System Pal just to see what the computer is doing. Another caveat - I run the system at 1536x960 and I run it in nonHDPI... With 10.10.2 that was an ugly washed out picture... Something happened in the way OS X processes the desktop - 10.10.3 and 10.10.4 appear sharp and very tolerable for me. Way way better than my old macbook air and with more real estate space. I've been very happy with that resolution and everything runs super smooth, animations and all. Never saw any skipped frames or other issues... Furthermore, the processor never gets stressed and CPU temperatures never go above 40 or so... 50 with some more intense processes like Photoshop CS5 which I use to edit figures for articles and presentations.
And battery? very comparable to the 2014 rMBP but I do not have the time to spend 9 hours a day on the laptop... who does that? or the single USB-c port - I see that as a positive - now, when plugging into the monitor, I do not need to plug three cables... just one... dongle is attached to power, HDMI, and USB hub on the desk... and for powering - I don't need the brick - I just carry a cable and if needed plug it into one of the desktops at work... win win... Could have they done another one - maybe... do I miss it... no...
Now, like many others, I ordered the AV adapter to HDMI with an estimated shipping of 4 weeks TO STORE. That's annoying, I was at the mall today, at the store where the dongle was supposed to ship... guess what, they have plenty... yet my shipping to store still shows 4 weeks... I don't know what Apple is thinking, but they are going to loose a lot of sales this way, as some people who would have bought on impulse, are long gone. Anyway...
I just came home and plugged the macbook into the LG 34UM95 and it's running great. 3440x1400 via HDMI at 50Hz though. Sure, perhaps moving windows around is not as smooth as with 60Hz, but the tradeoff is that the laptop is actually less stressed than running on the native screen. With the apps open as stated above, CPU temperature is at 32C, laptop body is cool to touch, and mission control or spaces runs smooth without any dropped frames or other concerns people have. It's funny as after all the paranoia on this forum, I actually listed the monitor on Craigslist... well - now I'm glad that I did not sell it. For office work like my typical usage, youtube, and other functions - this thing is great. Like right now I'm running youtube video, a 20 page word 2011 document, iMessage, and macrumors, all spaced out with BetterSnapTool - the video runs great, I feel no difference than the 60z and the temperature is only 35 degrees.
I'm not sure what people are worried about... are they pegging the processor all the time - in my regular use I never saw it. Is it slower than my macbook pro - yes, my brain picks up millisecond pauses. Are they real - I don't know... it's still new (two weeks) and I tend to be OCD (surgeon) - so I think they are there. Are they relevant - not at all. My experience is no different than either the macbook air or the rMBP. And I really think the screen is significantly better than any other laptop I have used. I am a very happy camper.
And now I have listed my 2014 rMBP 2.6 256 with less than 20 cycles on craigslist for 1200... anybody interested?
