$999 a good price for the 12" MacBook?

[MacRazySwe]

People don't realize, but in a month or two we will receive the upgraded version, which will most likely improve on some of the shortcomings of this model, while probably also reducing the price point. This is usually the case for all first-gen Apple products.

Honestly, the rMB should have been priced at $1099 to begin with, and I think it will be really soon. Possibly even with the next upgrade, or perhaps $1199. Either way it won't take much for retailers to drop it to an equivalent level of today's "deal" and you will be getting a much improved product.

Don't see why this "deal" warrants a purchase.

 

[poematik13]

I agree that it should have been 999 for the base model from day 1, and 1299 for the 1.2/256, and 1499 for the 1.3/512

 

[DSTOFEL]

People don't realize, but in a month or two we will receive the upgraded version, which will most likely improve on some of the shortcomings of this model, while probably also reducing the price point. This is usually the case for all first-gen Apple products.

Honestly, the rMB should have been priced at $1099 to begin with, and I think it will be really soon. Possibly even with the next upgrade, or perhaps $1199. Either way it won't take much for retailers to drop it to an equivalent level of today's "deal" and you will be getting a much improved product.

Don't see why this "deal" warrants a purchase.

I'm sure you are right in that the next rMB is probably right around the corner, will definitely improve some of the first gen's shortcomings and might even be offered at a lower price point. Still, I don't see how you can go too wrong with the $999 deal on the current gen. Worst case you use it a while and sell it to upgrade to one of the new models. I'd bet the 1st gen. will hold its value quite well....especially at this price. To me, it's a sweet deal at $300 off regardless of what the next gen. model brings.

 

[Closingracer]

Facts are fungible most are just opinions

It's a fact where Apple is targeting the Macbook with.... With a Intel core M tells you everything along with how they are marketing the device or you just haven't noticed the specs or the ads?

 

[Closingracer]

People don't realize, but in a month or two we will receive the upgraded version, which will most likely improve on some of the shortcomings of this model, while probably also reducing the price point. This is usually the case for all first-gen Apple products.

Honestly, the rMB should have been priced at $1099 to begin with, and I think it will be really soon. Possibly even with the next upgrade, or perhaps $1199. Either way it won't take much for retailers to drop it to an equivalent level of today's "deal" and you will be getting a much improved product.

Don't see why this "deal" warrants a purchase.

Improve what? To a skylake core M with the same exact but maybe a 0.1 ghz improvement?


Also $999 is still cheaper than $1,099 so for a $100 bucks you get a 0.1ghz increase of a base clock? Yay?

 

[Fthree]

If it makes you happy go with it. Don't sit around and wait if you can enjoy it now especially at a lower price point as a bonus.

 

[MacRazySwe]

Improve what? To a skylake core M with the same exact but maybe a 0.1 ghz improvement?


Also $999 is still cheaper than $1,099 so for a $100 bucks you get a 0.1ghz increase of a base clock? Yay?

You do realize there is more to a computer than clock speed, right? First of all, improved performance is not the sole reason of waiting for the second gen. That's an added bonus. However, there are more important issues at hand.

* Quality control, with regards to keyboard quality and battery life. Read around the forums, people have had issues with sticking keys, keys no longer working et.c. Also, people are reporting that the battery health is not up to Apples standard, less than a year after its release, some are reporting only 80-90 % health.

The keyboard design is completely new, the same goes for the terraced battery cells. Problems are inevitable in a first gen device, this will most likely be corrected in the next revision.

I'm not saying everyone will suffer from these problems, but I am not going to take the risk.

* Secondly, Skylake is assumed to bring much better graphics to the table. This is what matters to me, not an added 0.1 GHz... We're talking a 40 % improvement, maybe more. This will help with the UI lag some users are reporting. Moreover, the Skylake M is also an improvement on the first gen Core M, so should be more reliable.

* Improved battery runtime thanks to Skylake. Most users are reporting around 6-7 hours of usage from their rMBs. This is not enough for me personally, but Skylake could bring it up to 8 hours, which means it would work a full day on battery. This would be great for my needs.

Those are three (for me) very important reasons to wait for the new model. Then, there is also the possibility of:

* 720p FaceTime Camera
* An extra USB-c port, you never know..
* TB3 over USB-C (not that it really matters to me)

Not going to speculate any further.

Even with only the Skylake-upgrade and improvements in quality control, that would seem a much better purchase.

Now imagine a reduced price on top of all this. Maybe at $1199 or $1099. Or you could wait a month or two and find unopened ones on Craigslist/eBay for $1000. Or wait for Best Buy to sell them for $999.

But hey, this is just my opinion of course. Do whatever makes you happy!

 

[jfriedman8]

I just want that second USB port!

 

[Closingracer]

You do realize there is more to a computer than clock speed, right? First of all, improved performance is not the sole reason of waiting for the second gen. That's an added bonus. However, there are more important issues at hand.

* Quality control, with regards to keyboard quality and battery life. Read around the forums, people have had issues with sticking keys, keys no longer working et.c. Also, people are reporting that the battery health is not up to Apples standard, less than a year after its release, some are reporting only 80-90 % health.

The keyboard design is completely new, the same goes for the terraced battery cells. Problems are inevitable in a first gen device, this will most likely be corrected in the next revision.

I'm not saying everyone will suffer from these problems, but I am not going to take the risk.

* Secondly, Skylake is assumed to bring much better graphics to the table. This is what matters to me, not an added 0.1 GHz... We're talking a 40 % improvement, maybe more. This will help with the UI lag some users are reporting. Moreover, the Skylake M is also an improvement on the first gen Core M, so should be more reliable.

* Improved battery runtime thanks to Skylake. Most users are reporting around 6-7 hours of usage from their rMBs. This is not enough for me personally, but Skylake could bring it up to 8 hours, which means it would work a full day on battery. This would be great for my needs.

Those are three (for me) very important reasons to wait for the new model. Then, there is also the possibility of:

* 720p FaceTime Camera
* An extra USB-c port, you never know..
* TB3 over USB-C (not that it really matters to me)

Not going to speculate any further.

Even with only the Skylake-upgrade and improvements in quality control, that would seem a much better purchase.

Now imagine a reduced price on top of all this. Maybe at $1199 or $1099. Or you could wait a month or two and find unopened ones on Craigslist/eBay for $1000. Or wait for Best Buy to sell them for $999.

But hey, this is just my opinion of course. Do whatever makes you happy!

Lol...... The skylake gpu improvement? It will throttle before it has the chance and price will be the same. As far as the keyboard goes it's a pretty bad design in my opinion and probably the sole reason why I didn't buy it. Needed a laptop for school so needed something light but got the Macbook Pro since it had a "normal" keyboard.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Wait - Rev 2 will be much better and not far off..

 

[zachlegomaniac]

I have a late 2013 13" rMBP (that I purchased as a refurb from Apple in spring 2014). I really liked the Air because I was going to use it primarily for writing, but, when comparing the specs (and the recently sleeked down late 2013 rMBP) I went with the rMBP for the same price. Anyways, I buy a new laptop (and sell the old one) every third year, and after playing around with the new rMP I have to say that I can't wait for one of those to be my new laptop of choice. It's as close to an iPad as you can get for someone who wants OS X and a traditional keyboard.

If I had the money (or it was time for me to upgrade) I'd be tempted to grab the rMP for $999. I'd be more tempted to wait and shell out an extra $299 for the second iteration at this point. Especially as processing power isn't that huge of a deal to me, but the current model seems a little too weak.