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vikpt

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 20, 2012
131
0
For those who are now owning and using a 13 in. rMBP how is it? I'm considering on buying one but I wanna know first how is it performing
 
I have had a 15" MBPr for a couple of months and like it a lot, but while travelling it is just a little bit to large. Therefore I bought a 13" 2.9GHz model yesterday, installed some software (Office and Matlab mainly, as well as Parallels for legacy Windows stuff).

Today I used this new toy in the train. It fitted nicely on the tray. During the 1 hour of using Windows (in Parallels), EXCEL and Matlab I noticed the battery indicator to go down to 90% only (I know that this is probably an over optimistic estimate).

The performance in Matlab, using a single CPU only, is the same as on the 15" 2.6GHz model, which I didn't expect.

The only drawback of the 13" is the obvious loss in screen size, compared to the 15" model. If you need 4 CPUs or a dedicated GPU, this will be different, of course. I used my 15" this way once (4 CPUs in Matlab) and saw the battery go down really fast.

My conclusion is: for travelling the 13" retina model is fantastic, for everything else the 15" is much better.
 
I have my rmbp 13 for a couple of weeks now and it's everything I expected it to be, and then some! I know people think it's a "bad deal" if you look at purely specs, but I don't hear them complaining that the pure specs of the iPhone aren't the best around.... Still a super smooth phone and a joy to use. The same thing goes for the rmbp 13 in my opinion. Look past the numbers and you'll see a quick, responsive machine with a beautiful screen. And then there's the build quality, the feel of this thing.

I also own a MBA but this thing is another level of design, keyboardfeel, rigidity. I love it:)
 
I have my rmbp 13 for a couple of weeks now and it's everything I expected it to be, and then some! I know people think it's a "bad deal" if you look at purely specs, but I don't hear them complaining that the pure specs of the iPhone aren't the best around.... Still a super smooth phone and a joy to use. The same thing goes for the rmbp 13 in my opinion. Look past the numbers and you'll see a quick, responsive machine with a beautiful screen. And then there's the build quality, the feel of this thing.

I also own a MBA but this thing is another level of design, keyboardfeel, rigidity. I love it:)

you got that one right re 13 in rmbp and iphone 5 :)
 
The only drawback of the 13" is the obvious loss in screen size, compared to the 15" model. If you need 4 CPUs or a dedicated GPU, this will be different, of course. I used my 15" this way once (4 CPUs in Matlab) and saw the battery go down really fast.

This is pretty much what it boils down to.

That said, what I like about the RMBP is that you aren't locked into the native resolution. I'd personally run the 13" in 1440x900 mode (like the 13" MBA). The 15" in 1600x1050 mode. This is something that before, you had to hope Apple even offered the option in the form of a hardware upgrade. They offered it for the 15" but not the 13".
 
I owned a 15" rMBP since its launch day, and just picked up the 13" earlier this morning.

I immediately fell in love with the size and the overall footprint of the computer. This is what a notebook should look and feel like. Like the OP pointed out, the particular size is perfect for traveling.

I also don't see any UI lag or Safari lag (I am currently using a native 1280 resolution, thinking of bumping up to 1440 later on and see if anything lags).

So far, the machine serves me very very well:D

I am happy
 
And then there's the build quality, the feel of this thing.
I also own a MBA but this thing is another level of design, keyboardfeel, rigidity. I love it:)

+1. Although I own the 15", my sentiment re Apple build quality is the same. The lid is firm, no creaks, the lid and body line up PERFECTLY, the feel of the aluminum is first rate. Some people poo-poo Apple because they are more enamoured with specs than the overall usage. Yes, build quality does matter and I'm willing to spend more for it.
 
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