So here is my take on the 12” rMB 2015 if you are considering getting one. After 2 weeks of ownership and fairly non-stop use, I think I can form some opinions.
Why did I get it in the first place?
My daily driver has been a 2014 rMBP 13 which is a GREAT machine but I’m on the road for work pretty much 24/7 and wanted something lighter and easy to carry. If the air had a decent screen, I probably would have got the 11” version but after having used my retina for nearly a year, I just couldn’t imagine having that screen. (First world problems I know)
I just got back from a tradeshow and the only machine I had with throughout the entire week was the 12” rMB. I work in the video industry and my main device I work with is a USB TV tuner like device. I run both Ubuntu and Windows 8.1 in parallels. I have the base model with 1.1GHz CPU and and they both run great, even at the same time. I even have a fair sized netbeans Java project I work on regularly and it compiles just fine.
It never runs hot, I have yet to see the overheating warning others have noticed before.
Battery life is decent, even when windows is running in VM. I easily got through my 7 hour days at the show without issues. For movies and browsing only, I can get 10 hours out of the battery with the screen roughly at 25-40%. I was a bit worried about CPU performance but unless you are compressing movies, it’s great. It’s definitely faster than the Atom based Surface 3 which I thought about getting. (I know the Surface 3 is half the price so it’s not a fair comparison)
The screen is great as always, the black is really black and color depth is really nice.
The single port thing is annoying but I never really found myself cursing about it. The speakers are amazing. In fact they are much better than on the 13” rMB which is surprising considering how thin the whole thing is. I didn’t know what to expect from the force touch trackpad but I really like it. I got so used to it than the old style touchpad feels weird now.
Keyboard: there was a machine on display at my local staples and I went in twice to play with it a bit and the keyboard I kinda found annoying but here is the surprising part. I got so used to it now, I actually prefer it to the rMBP keyboard. Sure the travel is shallow but you get used to it after while.
All in all I really like the machine and can’t really complain about anything. What it lacks in CPU speed it makes up with the speed of the SSD and 8GB of ram in default config. The VM work really well which I was a bit worried about but turned out great.
This is just my take on the machine, I’m sure it’s not for everyone but it’s an amazing unit for mobile use. It’s so light I don’t even notice it in my bag. I frankly don’t even care that much about the USB C connector, but 2 ports would have been nice even if it doesn’t have a USB 3 port.
The built-in webcam is a piece of crap but I don’t really need HD for facetime or skype anyway...
Why did I get it in the first place?
My daily driver has been a 2014 rMBP 13 which is a GREAT machine but I’m on the road for work pretty much 24/7 and wanted something lighter and easy to carry. If the air had a decent screen, I probably would have got the 11” version but after having used my retina for nearly a year, I just couldn’t imagine having that screen. (First world problems I know)
I just got back from a tradeshow and the only machine I had with throughout the entire week was the 12” rMB. I work in the video industry and my main device I work with is a USB TV tuner like device. I run both Ubuntu and Windows 8.1 in parallels. I have the base model with 1.1GHz CPU and and they both run great, even at the same time. I even have a fair sized netbeans Java project I work on regularly and it compiles just fine.
It never runs hot, I have yet to see the overheating warning others have noticed before.
Battery life is decent, even when windows is running in VM. I easily got through my 7 hour days at the show without issues. For movies and browsing only, I can get 10 hours out of the battery with the screen roughly at 25-40%. I was a bit worried about CPU performance but unless you are compressing movies, it’s great. It’s definitely faster than the Atom based Surface 3 which I thought about getting. (I know the Surface 3 is half the price so it’s not a fair comparison)
The screen is great as always, the black is really black and color depth is really nice.
The single port thing is annoying but I never really found myself cursing about it. The speakers are amazing. In fact they are much better than on the 13” rMB which is surprising considering how thin the whole thing is. I didn’t know what to expect from the force touch trackpad but I really like it. I got so used to it than the old style touchpad feels weird now.
Keyboard: there was a machine on display at my local staples and I went in twice to play with it a bit and the keyboard I kinda found annoying but here is the surprising part. I got so used to it now, I actually prefer it to the rMBP keyboard. Sure the travel is shallow but you get used to it after while.
All in all I really like the machine and can’t really complain about anything. What it lacks in CPU speed it makes up with the speed of the SSD and 8GB of ram in default config. The VM work really well which I was a bit worried about but turned out great.
This is just my take on the machine, I’m sure it’s not for everyone but it’s an amazing unit for mobile use. It’s so light I don’t even notice it in my bag. I frankly don’t even care that much about the USB C connector, but 2 ports would have been nice even if it doesn’t have a USB 3 port.
The built-in webcam is a piece of crap but I don’t really need HD for facetime or skype anyway...
