New owner - can you set my mind at ease?

[mr_dillinga]

Hi Guys,

Long time lurker and now, after much deliberation - new rMB owner as of yesterday evening!

So, as with any of my expensive purchases, the worrying started before it even arrived. Having been a constant reader of topics on here for a while, I've been expecting - lag, short battery life, over-heating and the list continues.

What I have noticed in my relatively short time with it so far is that the battery temp mostly hovers around the 35F mark when doing very little. What I've found is that the bottom middle towards the hinge feels 'warm' to varying degrees but it never really feels cold except when turning on after a long time idle.

Now, I wasn't necessarily expecting my Core M to run like a fridge but I also wasn't quite expecting a warm underside for general use. Is this normal?

Also, having charged it to 100% just once since I got it, I'm down to 50% and show just under 3hrs remaining which seems a little lacking given that I've not really done much with it yet.

As far as I can tell all of the spotlight indexing is complete and file vault has long since finished encrypting my drive.. I know in a lot of these threads people say to wait for the magical 'bedding in' period to finish but I thought I'd get some advice from my fellow owners.

I initially promised myself I wouldn't get too caught up in all this but it didn't take long for me to install iStat menus and constantly check the temps (reminds me of when I got my 2011 MBA!).

Thanks in advance..

 

[Dayv]

I have never checked the temperature of my CPU. I just use the computer. I was just thinking to myself that this is the nicest piece of consumer electronics I've ever owned. Not the fastest, but the most satisfying.

As far as battery, how long did it take you to get to 50%? What were you doing?

Two huge resource drains are Chrome and Flash. I haven't installed either and haven't looked back once. I try not to use them even on my work MBP.

 

[boltjames]

It's the best notebook I've ever owned for the purposes of portability, quick startup, and battery life.

Enjoy it and don't look back.

BJ

 

[Queen6]

All looks normal. I would tend to avoid continuous monitoring applications 1. They are only likely to get you thinking about issues that likely don't exist 2. They will consume CPU cycles & battery, for the first in time in a long time CPU cycles is now a resource to be conserved with the present Core M, nor is it likely such apps are optimised for Core M.

The warmth is normal, electronic devices in general tend to generate heat, Apple are using the bottom case of the MacBook to dissipate heat from the CPU. If you want to lower the temp, raise the rear off the desk a little or use a small powered cooler. Battery life will be more dependant than ever on your usage, and 6-9 hours is likely. If your use is very moderate & display @ 50% you will see big numbers. Ramp up the display to max, push the MacBook hard, Turbo Boost will eat into the battery in quicktime.

In short I run what I need to run, no more, no less. Currently with the display @ 50% and mail synchronising my 1.2 rMB is reporting over 13 hours: Bluetooth is on, encrypted Cloud service running, AV & VPN running, basically the rMB is at idle. Realistically you can expect around 7 hours for business productivity tasks. Power is not such an issue with the rMB as other portables, as you can now leach off most USB hosts (high power), and small external batteries are coming that can provide up to the full 29W of the wall charger. You can reduce transparency as that will positively impact battery life by a small percentage. I also turn off unnecessary animation for the same reason, as it all adds up.

I would consider turning off FileVault 2 as it doesn't really bring any benefit to the new MacBook. The SSD is now a component on the main Logic Board so physical removal of the drive is near impossible. Applying the firmware password alone will keep any unwanted guests out of your data. This will help to reduce the overhead on the hardware by a small percentage. FWIW my MacBook is the only Mac currently running that is not encrypted with FV-2.

Q-6

 

[Dwayne82]

(...)
Now, I wasn't necessarily expecting my Core M to run like a fridge but I also wasn't quite expecting a warm underside for general use. Is this normal?

Also, having charged it to 100% just once since I got it, I'm down to 50% and show just under 3hrs remaining which seems a little lacking given that I've not really done much with it yet.

As far as I can tell all of the spotlight indexing is complete and file vault has long since finished encrypting my drive...

Don't worry about the warm bottom of your device. It's quite normal. If you want to test the temperature management of your CPU just download Handbrake and transcode a movie. If your Macbook shuts down at this task, it has a problem, otherwise most probably not .

Talking about the battery, i can tell you that it needs some time, not only for the classic "settling down" of the system (as you mentioned: spotlight indexing and FileVault encrypting).
Remember: Your battery is brand new! It needs a couple of charging cycles to get to its full potential. Except of that, the prediction of the battery remaining time in OSX (and iStat menus too) depends on your past-to-present usage and settings of your machine. You charged it only once since its first boot, so the system just hasn't really much data for reference calculations. I got my rMB with 3 chaging cycles out of the box (some people had 20+ cycles out of the box, which is also absolutely normal). After the first full charge it predicted about 6H battery life . Now, after 21 Cycles, the prediction fluctuates between 14H and 8H at 100% .

So just settle down, enjoy your brand new and beautiful device and transform your joy for the new MacBook to productivity.

 

[ZipZap]

All looks normal. I would tend to avoid continuous monitoring applications 1. They are only likely to get you thinking about issues that likely don't exist 2. They will consume CPU cycles & battery, for the first in time in a long time CPU cycles is now a resource to be conserved with the present Core M, nor is it likely such apps are optimised for Core M.

The warmth is normal, electronic devices in general tend to generate heat, Apple are using the bottom case of the MacBook to dissipate heat from the CPU. If you want to lower the temp, raise the rear off the desk a little or use a small powered cooler. Battery life will be more dependant than ever on your usage, and 6-9 hours is likely. If your use is very moderate & display @ 50% you will see big numbers. Ramp up the display to max, push the MacBook hard, Turbo Boost will eat into the battery in quicktime.

In short I run what I need to run, no more, no less. Currently with the display @ 50% and mail synchronising my 1.2 rMB is reporting over 13 hours: Bluetooth is on, encrypted Cloud service running, AV & VPN running, basically the rMB is at idle. Realistically you can expect around 7 hours for business productivity tasks. Power is not such an issue with the rMB as other portables, as you can now leach off most USB hosts (high power), and small external batteries are coming that can provide up to the full 29W of the wall charger. You can reduce transparency as that will positively impact battery life by a small percentage. I also turn off unnecessary animation for the same reason, as it all adds up.

I would consider turning off FileVault 2 as it doesn't really bring any benefit to the new MacBook. The SSD is now a component on the main Logic Board so physical removal of the drive is near impossible. Applying the firmware password alone will keep any unwanted guests out of your data. This will help to reduce the overhead on the hardware by a small percentage. FWIW my MacBook is the only Mac currently running that is not encrypted with FV-2.

Q-6

Excellent point about FileVault. One I had not considered. Will be turning it off.

 

[Queen6]

Excellent point about FileVault. One I had not considered. Will be turning it off.

No point in FV-2 with the rMB, just lock the system with the firmware password to be safe. FV-2 has little overhead these days, equally not using it will help to reduce the load on the Core M, 10.11 will bring further benefits.

So far I don't have any issue with my own 1.2 rMB`s performance, I have it set up for business use, nor do I expect it to keep pace with my MacBook Pro`s, in fact the more I use the rMB the more it impresses...

Q-6

 

[nc11]

Had mine for a little over a week now. Must admit I've grown used to it. Sure, it's not lightning fast, but neither was the MBA I had previously (i7, 8GB, 256)...

Screen is great, keyboard is great, and it's light and small. For me it ticks the boxes.

Oh and as to your question about battery...

 

[mr_dillinga]

Thanks for the encouraging (and wise) words guys. Yes, evidently I just need to chill-out, disable iStat menus and just enjoy it. The 14-day return period turns me into a chronic over-thinker!

Cheers!

 

[shenan1982]

Haven't seen any

It's the best notebook I've ever owned for the purposes of portability, quick startup, and battery life.

Enjoy it and don't look back.

BJ

Haven't seen anyone call it fast startup. My 2014 MBA went power button to password prompt in about 8 seconds. My iMac does it in 7. My MacBook retina takes 18 seconds. Watching the loading progress bar is like going back in time to 2010. You must have replaced a really old computer.

 

[Hankster]

Hi Guys,

Long time lurker and now, after much deliberation - new rMB owner as of yesterday evening!

So, as with any of my expensive purchases, the worrying started before it even arrived. Having been a constant reader of topics on here for a while, I've been expecting - lag, short battery life, over-heating and the list continues.

What I have noticed in my relatively short time with it so far is that the battery temp mostly hovers around the 35F mark when doing very little. What I've found is that the bottom middle towards the hinge feels 'warm' to varying degrees but it never really feels cold except when turning on after a long time idle.

Now, I wasn't necessarily expecting my Core M to run like a fridge but I also wasn't quite expecting a warm underside for general use. Is this normal?

Also, having charged it to 100% just once since I got it, I'm down to 50% and show just under 3hrs remaining which seems a little lacking given that I've not really done much with it yet.

As far as I can tell all of the spotlight indexing is complete and file vault has long since finished encrypting my drive.. I know in a lot of these threads people say to wait for the magical 'bedding in' period to finish but I thought I'd get some advice from my fellow owners.

I initially promised myself I wouldn't get too caught up in all this but it didn't take long for me to install iStat menus and constantly check the temps (reminds me of when I got my 2011 MBA!).

Thanks in advance..

I've had my rMB since five days after launch. The above items in bold I have zero issues with - zero. All the haters here all always post hate. Don't listen to anyone and enjoy your new laptop. If you have issues then address it.

 

[PsychicRutabaga]

I've had my rMB since five days after launch. The above items in bold I have zero issues with - zero. All the haters here all always post hate. Don't listen to anyone and enjoy your new laptop. If you have issues then address it.

Ditto for me. This little computer is a gem. I'm sure if I paid attention to all the naysayers and MacBook hypochondriacs I would be pacing the floor and biting my nails with worry. But since I ignore them, I have no problems!

 

[shenan1982]

I've had my rMB since five days after launch. The above items in bold I have zero issues with - zero. All the haters here all always post hate. Don't listen to anyone and enjoy your new laptop. If you have issues then address it.

The haters post hate? So in other words, I own the laptop, and I'm posting my gripes, but you want the people to buy the laptop, and they're allowed to post their gripes? Won't you just tell them their gripes are invalid and that they're just "haters"???

Sorry just because someone doesn't agree with you doesn't mean they're just "hating". They're posting issues from their experiences just like you tell them to do in your 5th sentence.

Not sure why people defend complacency. You really ought to hold companies you provide business to at a higher standard. When you pay a premium (or a minimum) for a product, one has the right to be satisfied with it. Clearly since you seem so annoyed by people posting negativity, there's a lot of negativity. I guess everyone should be like you and just say "I LOVE THE SHORTCOMINGS OF MY MACBOOK!!!!"

 

[Queen6]

Everyones workflow and usage patterns are different, resultantly the New MacBook will impress or not as the case may be. Can Apple do more on the software side? Yes, are they engaging? Yes 10.11, will it be perfect ? No, will Apple work on it? Highly likely.

We should hold Apple accountable for both failure & success, as without "us" Apple would be another no name brand...

Unhappy? feedback to Apple directly, it`s the only path to change

Q-6

 

[CD3660]

...I was just thinking to myself that this is the nicest piece of consumer electronics I've ever owned. Not the fastest, but the most satisfying.

This pretty much sums up the way I feel about the rMB myself.

 

[whitestar27]

Haven't seen any

Haven't seen anyone call it fast startup. My 2014 MBA went power button to password prompt in about 8 seconds. My iMac does it in 7. My MacBook retina takes 18 seconds. Watching the loading progress bar is like going back in time to 2010. You must have replaced a really old computer.

Mine does it in about 4 seconds. I find it quite astonishing really

 

[MVPinFLA]

Mine does it in about 4 seconds. I find it quite astonishing really

I haven't needed to try it from the power button; but I am still amazed at how fast this little thing is. I truly love it and am so glad I bought it. I was concerned at first about the complaints, but so glad I got it anyway. It is my first Mac and I will probably end up buying an iMac, since I like this so much. Coming from Win, this is an incredible machine. Apple has increased my commitment to them from iOS to OS X.

 

[RUGGLES99]

this is the nicest piece of consumer electronics I've ever owned.

how, why, what are you comparing it to?

 

[shenan1982]

Mine does it in about 4 seconds. I find it quite astonishing really

4 seconds? I would absolutely love to see any computer cold boot in 4 seconds. It takes 2-3 seconds just from the time you press the power button to get the Apple logo. I believe you're exaggerating. Happy to look at a 4 second youtube video, though.

 

[whitestar27]

4 seconds? I would absolutely love to see any computer cold boot in 4 seconds. It takes 2-3 seconds just from the time you press the power button to get the Apple logo. I believe you're exaggerating. Happy to look at a 4 second youtube video, though.

Hmm.. Could be 4 seconds from the apple logo appearing. Whoops! I will have to double check but whatever it is , it seemed bloody quick to me

 

[tillsbury]

Wouldn't know about boot times -- have never done it since first power-on six weeks ago. Why would you even know, in fact? OS upgrades reboot but take longer usually.

 

[shenan1982]

Hmm.. Could be 4 seconds from the apple logo appearing. Whoops! I will have to double check but whatever it is , it seemed bloody quick to me

Now that I'd believe. ;-)

It's very fast if coming from a HDD but compared to a MacBook pro or air with ssd it's a lot slower.

 

[boltjames]

4 seconds? I would absolutely love to see any computer cold boot in 4 seconds. It takes 2-3 seconds just from the time you press the power button to get the Apple logo. I believe you're exaggerating. Happy to look at a 4 second youtube video, though.

I was referring to waking from sleep. I open the lid, 2 seconds later it's up and connected to wi-fi.

That's amazing.

BJ

 

[shenan1982]

I was referring to waking from sleep. I open the lid, 2 seconds later it's up and connected to wi-fi.

That's amazing.

BJ

Has there been a laptop not capable of that in the last 5 years? I've had 6 and that part is normal, especially with SSD..

 

[alex.pickett]

Hi Guys,

Long time lurker and now, after much deliberation - new rMB owner as of yesterday evening!

So, as with any of my expensive purchases, the worrying started before it even arrived. Having been a constant reader of topics on here for a while, I've been expecting - lag, short battery life, over-heating and the list continues.

What I have noticed in my relatively short time with it so far is that the battery temp mostly hovers around the 35F mark when doing very little. What I've found is that the bottom middle towards the hinge feels 'warm' to varying degrees but it never really feels cold except when turning on after a long time idle.

Now, I wasn't necessarily expecting my Core M to run like a fridge but I also wasn't quite expecting a warm underside for general use. Is this normal?

Also, having charged it to 100% just once since I got it, I'm down to 50% and show just under 3hrs remaining which seems a little lacking given that I've not really done much with it yet.

As far as I can tell all of the spotlight indexing is complete and file vault has long since finished encrypting my drive.. I know in a lot of these threads people say to wait for the magical 'bedding in' period to finish but I thought I'd get some advice from my fellow owners.

I initially promised myself I wouldn't get too caught up in all this but it didn't take long for me to install iStat menus and constantly check the temps (reminds me of when I got my 2011 MBA!).

Thanks in advance..

Hey Man,

I totally feel you, I was regretting the purchase for about 2 weeks into owning my 1.3 512 SG. I wasn't totally sold on the keyboard, couldn't quite find the right resolution, bottom felt sort of hot, battery life wasn't great, and the performance was a little sluggish.

I've found that every aspect has improved. The keybaord took longer to get used to than most say, but now I love it. The battery life has also improved substantially after a few charges. When I 1st got it I had about 6 hours on a regular basis. This week I unplugged on Monday and have used it for 2 - 3 hours each night, leaving it unplugged during the day, and it's still at 25%. Performance is similarly better. I think downloading all of my pictures and music ect. at the beginning took a while to really settle. Not a technical explanation, but that's my experience.

Give it another week or two and I'm sure your opinion will change, and your experience will improve. If you still have your 2011 MBA, try not using it for a week or two straight and then go back to it from the rMB. It will blow your mind how odd and old-school it feels.