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Any students with the new macbook, impressions?

muffinman3679

muffinman3679

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 24, 2012
30
5
After lugging around my retina 15" for almost 3 years now, i'm lusting for the 12" macbook. More so now than ever as my transit between uni and the train station has now become a 40 minute adventure:(.

Anyways how is it? can it handle multiple word documents, chrome tabs and Spotify open all at once?
 
muffinman3679 said:
After lugging around my retina 15" for almost 3 years now, i'm lusting for the 12" macbook. More so now than ever as my transit between uni and the train station has now become a 40 minute adventure:(.

Anyways how is it? can it handle multiple word documents, chrome tabs and Spotify open all at once?
Click to expand...

It can handle all of what you've mentioned with ease.
 
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Don't worry, I open approx. 3 Word docs (2016) and I have Apple Music/iTunes (so basically Spotify for you) opened non-stop + Tabs for research and homework and it doesn't even become hot ;)
 
I constantly have a few MS Word docs, 5-10 Safari tabs, Apple Music, Mail, Messages, and 1-3 other programs and have not yet hit a single slowdown. FWIW I'm on 10.11 Public Beta (GM).
 
Just an outstanding MacBook and easily to use for studying! Using mine now for a few months and everything runs perfectly on my 1,1GHz! Using daily: Word, Powerpoint, Excel, Safari (multiple tabs), Mail, Message, Spotify and Final Cut Pro, all these programs I am using at the same time during my college runs smoothly without having any lag!
 
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I bought mine for exactly that reason (the weight). Handles everything beautifully, especially study related applications. I'm also liking the new keyboard for writing long reports and reviews.

It can easily handle Office / iWork, Preview (many many PDFs), EndNote, iTunes, etc. all at the same time :)
 
Bought mine for the same reason! My 15in. rMBP was also getting way too heavy for me. I was sad because I loved that machine more than anything, but I had to downsize for my portability needs. Little did I know I would love this machine even more :) It has been great for everything I've needed as a student.
 
I did exactly what you're considering. I went back to school and stopped using my 15" RMBP and now use the rMB instead. Can't recommend it enough. I've never had a situation where the rMB can't handle something I need to do.
 
Being a student I'm really tempted by the light weight of the rMB, but unlike the MBA which was a portable lightweight do-it-all laptop (well, for me), the rMB really does feel like a compromise. (for me... right now...) I'd be happy to be proven wrong, but please answer my concerns rather than telling me I'm wrong just because it works for you.

* Are you bothered by the one port? We have our fair share of presentations where the video-port is needed to show Powerpoints. It's not like we have AppleTVs laying around at Uni, so an adapter would be needed. Seeing as I always forgot/lost the Mini-DVI adapters to my old white MacBook back in High-school I don't think I could live with needing to bring the video adapter. First of all I'd forget it, then next time I'd lose it and it would cost me $79 to replace. The MBA needed the adapter, but at least it was cheap.

* Do you ever feel restrained by the battery-life? I've heard 6-7 hours is basically what you get. Far from the 9 hours claimed. I get 10 hours no problems on my rMBP and I love not having to bring a charger.

* Performance? Some people claim that the rMB can cope with coding apps, websites, photo editing and even slight video editing, whereas others state that the rMB is lagging like crazy even working with spreadsheets in Excel or using mission control? I really wonder what the deal is, are people having such high expectations that they are surprised at some slowdowns in Excel at times, or are people trying to rationalize their $1500 purchase by saying that its faster than their old rMBPs...?

* Build-quality? Squeaks and rattles seem not to rare here on the forums. How does it compare to the rMBP? My old MBA used to squeak from the bottom plate. Two (!) demo rMB models has broken at my local Apple reseller, and the employees recommended I wait for Rev. B.

Yes, I am one of those who hoped for a retina MacBook Air... (You probably hate us! :D)

* rMB feels like a compromise, as I said, compared to the MBA.
* My rMBP is slightly thick and heavy at times (I'm not comparing it with a 2007 MacBook, as I'm coming from the MBA).
 
My advice is to go to an Apple store / dealer and sit and type out a page of text on one. I did this and simply could not get used to the keyboard. It has almost no vertical travel so it feels like you're typing on a virtual keyboard, if that makes sense. To me it seems like an unnecessary sacrifice and I'm hoping future versions include an extra 0.5 mm of vertical travel.
 
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FuNGi said:
My advice is to go to an Apple store / dealer and sit and type out a page of text on one. I did this and simply could not get used to the keyboard. It has almost no vertical travel so it feels like you're typing on a virtual keyboard, if that makes sense. To me it seems like an unnecessary sacrifice and I'm hoping future versions include an extra 0.5 mm of vertical travel.
Click to expand...

That's exactly what I did. I was taken in by the thinness and the amazing screen, however once I typed on it, I just hated it.

Furthermore, the store where I went to had a conventional apple wireless keyboard next to it, and when I typed on that, there was such a massive difference that I ended up disliking the rMB even more. Also, i then realised that when I went back to my Hack Pro to type/use after I'd used the rMB (If I did buy one), I probably would stop using the rMB as there would be such a massive difference in keyboards. My point being, if you have to live with both keyboards, make sure you can adjust to both.
 
guychicago said:
What about Xcode?
Click to expand...

Being a Software/Computer Engineer that does almost all of my programming work in Xcode (I use the beta 7.2), it has never been a problem in terms of speed in any stretch. Compiling is very fast. Matter of fact, I also have an installation of Debian 8.1 in Parallels I run at the same time (Nano and G++ inside a split Terminator Shell is my favorite setup), at the same time as Xcode is pretty much as smooth as butter. I feel Xcode is so much more straightforward in contrast to Visual Studio. So I can vouch here for that setup.
 
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