Hey everyone. Just wanted to chime. There seems to be a lot of hate towards this machine and it seems to be from rumors and media that are looking for click bait. Have you used the laptop enough to make such wide and sweeping accusations?
I have been using mine through the weekend (just received Thursday before Christmas) and so far I'm loving it. Here are some observations...
1. I love the keyboard. It's a little louder than the original, but I actually like the sound. While the "throw" is shorter on the keys, they have great feedback and are very precise/accurate. The keys are also larger. I'm still having some trouble with the arrow keys, but the only different between them and my 2013 rMBP is the left and right arrows take up the full height instead of being half height like the up/down arrow keys.
2. The touch pad is pretty big. It makes doing certain things in Photoshop where you're dragging a selection easier. I haven't noted any issue with palm rejection despite it's enormous size.
3. I like the TouchBar but I think I'm just not accustomed to using it yet. I know all of the keyboard shortcuts for what I need and most of my day is spent docked to a keyboard/screen so I use the shortcuts anyway. I don't think it's gimmicky, I just think it's something new to learn when my fingers are used to muscle memory operations.
4. TouchID is awesome! It makes me forget that I ever had to type a password before. One place they could improve is to offer it as an option when performing "sudo" type actions.
5. The screen is gorgeous and crazy thin for the quality and brightness. The bezel and the entire dimension of the laptop is reduced even further than a MacBook Air 13".
6. I bought a lot of dongles and have invested in a Kickstarter project that makes a "sidekick" attachment. I like the idea of just having one USB-C cable that connects all of my stuff though. I like that idea but technology is not quite there yet (since I already have old peripherals. I do have the TB3 to TB2 adapter and have it plugged into my TB2 dock and everything works perfectly. I used the HDMI dongle and that works too, etc. One qualm... the dongles from Apple are bloody huge! I wish they were a bit smaller or had longer cords or something.
But here's the truth... USB-C *IS* the future. Get used to it. It's a great port design and you simply cannot fit TB2, HDMI, USB-A or even MagSafe in such a thin package. I know, I know... you're all like "but it didn't have to be that thin" and you'd be right... but the future is going to march that direction. Sorry. USB-C is the way forward.
7. The power adapter is a little strange, not going to lie. The power brick DOES NOT have those little flanges to wrap cords around. The USB-C cord is very thick and feels like it's not going to break. Feels like a regular power cord. I like being able to plug in on either side. But here's the thing.... plugging in the laptop in the dark is almost impossible. The ports are so small, your fingers can hardly feel them to line up the USB-C cord. Of course they are reversible, but you can't find the dang ports. I think a future iteration of the tMBP should have very subtle backlighting in the ports to help you find them.
8. MagSafe – I don't really miss it except for the plugging in the laptop in the dark thing. Truth is, when I would sit with the laptop on my actual lap, most of the time the MagSafe adapter would tip and stop charging. USB-C is more secure of a connection. I have not recently had a problem with yanking the laptop of of a desk. Headphones are a bigger issue for me personally.
9. I have NOT had any stability issues with the new device. I saw some reviewers had all sorts of problems. I have not seen that at all. Everything seems to run as it should.
10. Battery Life – here's the big question right? I'm not seeing 10 hours of battery life. But then again, I wasn't expecting to. I just don't watch videos and surf the web for 10 hours a day. Anyone expecting to use the laptop unplugged while encoding video is a bit unhinged from physics and chemistry. That said, I am getting about the battery life I used to get on my 2013" rMBP. I'm going to do a real test today when I'm working to see how it goes and then try to compare with the older Mac and see what it looks like.
So that's my little review in a nutshell. I like the device. I wish it was a bit faster and had a bit better battery life as it's running about 40% faster than my 2013 model and about the same battery life. But otherwise I think it's a perfect laptop in just about every other sense.
I have been using mine through the weekend (just received Thursday before Christmas) and so far I'm loving it. Here are some observations...
1. I love the keyboard. It's a little louder than the original, but I actually like the sound. While the "throw" is shorter on the keys, they have great feedback and are very precise/accurate. The keys are also larger. I'm still having some trouble with the arrow keys, but the only different between them and my 2013 rMBP is the left and right arrows take up the full height instead of being half height like the up/down arrow keys.
2. The touch pad is pretty big. It makes doing certain things in Photoshop where you're dragging a selection easier. I haven't noted any issue with palm rejection despite it's enormous size.
3. I like the TouchBar but I think I'm just not accustomed to using it yet. I know all of the keyboard shortcuts for what I need and most of my day is spent docked to a keyboard/screen so I use the shortcuts anyway. I don't think it's gimmicky, I just think it's something new to learn when my fingers are used to muscle memory operations.
4. TouchID is awesome! It makes me forget that I ever had to type a password before. One place they could improve is to offer it as an option when performing "sudo" type actions.
5. The screen is gorgeous and crazy thin for the quality and brightness. The bezel and the entire dimension of the laptop is reduced even further than a MacBook Air 13".
6. I bought a lot of dongles and have invested in a Kickstarter project that makes a "sidekick" attachment. I like the idea of just having one USB-C cable that connects all of my stuff though. I like that idea but technology is not quite there yet (since I already have old peripherals. I do have the TB3 to TB2 adapter and have it plugged into my TB2 dock and everything works perfectly. I used the HDMI dongle and that works too, etc. One qualm... the dongles from Apple are bloody huge! I wish they were a bit smaller or had longer cords or something.
But here's the truth... USB-C *IS* the future. Get used to it. It's a great port design and you simply cannot fit TB2, HDMI, USB-A or even MagSafe in such a thin package. I know, I know... you're all like "but it didn't have to be that thin" and you'd be right... but the future is going to march that direction. Sorry. USB-C is the way forward.
7. The power adapter is a little strange, not going to lie. The power brick DOES NOT have those little flanges to wrap cords around. The USB-C cord is very thick and feels like it's not going to break. Feels like a regular power cord. I like being able to plug in on either side. But here's the thing.... plugging in the laptop in the dark is almost impossible. The ports are so small, your fingers can hardly feel them to line up the USB-C cord. Of course they are reversible, but you can't find the dang ports. I think a future iteration of the tMBP should have very subtle backlighting in the ports to help you find them.
8. MagSafe – I don't really miss it except for the plugging in the laptop in the dark thing. Truth is, when I would sit with the laptop on my actual lap, most of the time the MagSafe adapter would tip and stop charging. USB-C is more secure of a connection. I have not recently had a problem with yanking the laptop of of a desk. Headphones are a bigger issue for me personally.
9. I have NOT had any stability issues with the new device. I saw some reviewers had all sorts of problems. I have not seen that at all. Everything seems to run as it should.
10. Battery Life – here's the big question right? I'm not seeing 10 hours of battery life. But then again, I wasn't expecting to. I just don't watch videos and surf the web for 10 hours a day. Anyone expecting to use the laptop unplugged while encoding video is a bit unhinged from physics and chemistry. That said, I am getting about the battery life I used to get on my 2013" rMBP. I'm going to do a real test today when I'm working to see how it goes and then try to compare with the older Mac and see what it looks like.
So that's my little review in a nutshell. I like the device. I wish it was a bit faster and had a bit better battery life as it's running about 40% faster than my 2013 model and about the same battery life. But otherwise I think it's a perfect laptop in just about every other sense.
