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The rMB is my take everyone machine. I'll even dock if for use at work. I do light task though :). I was doing this with the pro, but I come nowhere near using that pro power.

Well, I think I could do all I need on the rMB, but I don't want to when I have the 15". The most intensive thing I do is some LR work and Windows work via VMWare.

I often have 10-15 apps running at once, and the rMB is limited to 8GB of RAM. After using the rMBP with 16GB, I won't go back to 8 on my "workhorse" machine.
 
I often have 10-15 apps running at once, and the rMB is limited to 8GB of RAM. After using the rMBP with 16GB, I won't go back to 8 on my "workhorse" machine.

I went from the 15" rMBP with 16GB to the 13" rMBP with 8GB to the 11" MBA with 4GB. Was quite the change, but honestly with paging on the SSD it wasn't a huge dip in performance for me... I certainly couldn't tell except when running VMs. I did not expect things to work so well on the low RAM Air.

My typical workload now on my rMB (minus Xcode): http://imgur.com/i8vz2tY

It's a personal preference, but for me, portability trumped everything in the end.
 
I tried photoshop on a base model and it felt fine. I used a RAW file and did some light editing... I imagine the 1.3GHz model will feel even better. I think some people are confusing the Yosemite OS graphic slowdowns with a slow CPU. Also people look at geek bench scores and say it must be slow... It's really not.
 
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I tried photoshop on a base model and it felt fine. I used a RAW file and did some light editing... I image the 1.3GHz model will feel even better. I think some people are confusing the Yosemite OS graphic slowdowns with a slow CPU. Also people look at geek bench scores and say it must be slow... It's really not.

That was my experience, too. Out of curiosity, have you upgraded to LR 6 yet? I'm wondering whether the new code that allows LR to take advantage of the GPU has (pardon the pun) accelerated things.
 
Yeah. UI lag like everyone complains of, but like I've said elsewhere, all my retina laptops have had UI lag. It is more noticeable when I run VMs though.

I get UI lag on my 15" rMBP too. It's just the price you pay for wanting a super hi-res display, mixed with limited GPUs and bad code.
 
I wanted to like it, I really did. It is a beautiful computer. I loved the keyboard, design, choice of color, etc. After using it for a week I just had to make the logical decision (to me) and return it last night for an rmbp.

It's so easy to justify the computer (1.2ghz), but honestly, it's slow. I had horrible lag which isn't present at all in my new 13" macbook pro, so I know it wasn't just software. It really isn't "snappy" at all, and just feels sluggish.

I get the whole "most people don't need all that power, etc", but it truly makes a difference in every task you do. I had to keep telling myself "it's not that bad", but I shouldn't have to tell myself that. In the end it wasn't for me, maybe next year :)
 
I wanted to like it, I really did. It is a beautiful computer. I loved the keyboard, design, choice of color, etc. After using it for a week I just had to make the logical decision (to me) and return it last night for an rmbp.

It's so easy to justify the computer (1.2ghz), but honestly, it's slow. I had horrible lag which isn't present at all in my new 13" macbook pro, so I know it wasn't just software. It really isn't "snappy" at all, and just feels sluggish.

I get the whole "most people don't need all that power, etc", but it truly makes a difference in every task you do. I had to keep telling myself "it's not that bad", but I shouldn't have to tell myself that. In the end it wasn't for me, maybe next year :)

I agree and I'm with you on this.

For me, the performance issues of the new MB didn't cut it. It's hard for me to accept a computer that feels 3 years old even if it looks 3 years ahead of its time.

But some people on here don't mind the lag and say it's all they need. So whatever.
 
I agree and I'm with you on this.

For me, the performance issues of the new MB didn't cut it. It's hard for me to accept a computer that feels 3 years old even if it looks 3 years ahead of its time.

But some people on here don't mind the lag and say it's all they need. So whatever.

Right? If I really think about it it's as if Apple is trying to tell us it's all we need, and people are believing it. I just didn't feel that way about it. Launching programs, loading web pages, using iMovie, etc. I felt like I needed and expected more from a computer in 2015.
 
I've been using it for almost two weeks side by side with my rMBP. I do not see any noticeable lag or delay compared to the rMBP. Things that one doesn't do well the other doesn't, either. Even when pressed for an extended period, when the rMB understandably slows down (how could you expect otherwise?), it does very well.
 
I've been using it for almost two weeks side by side with my rMBP. I do not see any noticeable lag or delay compared to the rMBP. Things that one doesn't do well the other doesn't, either. Even when pressed for an extended period, when the rMB understandably slows down (how could you expect otherwise?), it does very well.

I almost bought the rMB after lots of using machines at Apple, Bb and lots of hands on with a friends rMB... I couldn't buy it because after real world usage I've decided it's GPU is underpowered for the screen it carries.. I have to say this is the only machine in recent times that seems to be unworthy of a place in an Apple Store, alongside the two current MacBook airs. It is nice to look at, the keyboard is great, the lack of ports doesn't bother me at all. But it's battery runtime is subpar and it's graphics are subpar... If you release a notebook with retina, the hardware should back it up on the processing side.

Give me a MacBook Air with terraced batteries to run at least a higher res IPS panel plus it's current battery performance, or better, and I'd buy one in a split second lol

For early adopters the rMB is fine, it's inevitable to accept certain compromises. For the rest of us, this laptop is not ready for prime time.
 
I disagree. These are two notebooks. Very comparable. One has better specs. One has worse specs. Yet, they're basically the same price.

Simple.

And one is 10x more portable than the other.

Stop trying to justify not having a new MB. This thread is sad.
 
That was my experience, too. Out of curiosity, have you upgraded to LR 6 yet? I'm wondering whether the new code that allows LR to take advantage of the GPU has (pardon the pun) accelerated things.

To be honest I never liked lightroom. I haven't tried the new one yet. But Photoshop CC is butter.
 
I agree and I'm with you on this.

For me, the performance issues of the new MB didn't cut it. It's hard for me to accept a computer that feels 3 years old even if it looks 3 years ahead of its time.

But some people on here don't mind the lag and say it's all they need. So whatever.

What specific usage did you find to be sluggish?
 
I've been using it for almost two weeks side by side with my rMBP. I do not see any noticeable lag or delay compared to the rMBP. Things that one doesn't do well the other doesn't, either. Even when pressed for an extended period, when the rMB understandably slows down (how could you expect otherwise?), it does very well.

I almost bought the rMB after lots of using machines at Apple, Bb and lots of hands on with a friends rMB... I couldn't buy it because after real world usage I've decided it's GPU is underpowered for the screen it carries.. I have to say this is the only machine in recent times that seems to be unworthy of a place in an Apple Store, alongside the two current MacBook airs. It is nice to look at, the keyboard is great, the lack of ports doesn't bother me at all. But it's battery runtime is subpar and it's graphics are subpar... If you release a notebook with retina, the hardware should back it up on the processing side.

Give me a MacBook Air with terraced batteries to run at least a higher res IPS panel plus it's current battery performance, or better, and I'd buy one in a split second lol

For early adopters the rMB is fine, it's inevitable to accept certain compromises. For the rest of us, this laptop is not ready for prime time.

I have had one side by side with my rMBP for a week too, and every time I think the rMB is lagging, I see lag in the same place on the rMBP. I really think it is a yosemite issue, and by think I am like 99% certain.

There is no way in hell the rMBP is underpowered, yet I see lag in the same places on both computers. The UI lag sucks, and it is b.c of the retina displays. Once I hook the computers to a 1080P screen the UI lag is way way less. Then that brings you to the GPU. Well, the 15" pro with a dedicated graphics card still has lag.
 
To be honest I never liked lightroom. I haven't tried the new one yet. But Photoshop CC is butter.

Sorry, brainfart!!! Screen real estate and screen management gets to be a challenge with LR on smaller screens (which is probably completely unrelated to your dislikes).
 
Everything.

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Not true. I could buy a quadrillion MB if I wanted. But it's too sluggish for me. It's about the same portability.

Same portability for you. Not me. 13.3 is crap for portability in my use case, which is school and small desks. The 13.3 takes up the whole space the twelve is much better for me. Plus at nearly half the weight I don't think twice about taking it.
 
Finally had a chance to play with one in the Apple store today. They only had the 1.1Ghz version but I confirmed it was running 10.10.3. I immediately noticed what the OP is referring to in terms of lacking "snappiness". Just navigating around the System Preferences and other OS X screens, there was a tiny but very noticeable stutter or delay. I walked over to the 11" MBA 1.6Ghz which was also running 10.10.3 and noticed no such delay. Disappointing.
 
I've had my rMB for 24 hours now and used it a lot.

The only time I notice any lag is when I really look for it, and even then it's minimal to the point of me wondering if it's really there or if I'm imagining it.

This is for surfing, watching videos, viewing photos, backing up, etc...
 
I've had my rMB for 24 hours now and used it a lot.

The only time I notice any lag is when I really look for it, and even then it's minimal to the point of me wondering if it's really there or if I'm imagining it.

This is for surfing, watching videos, viewing photos, backing up, etc...

I think your right. If I'm bound and determined to find a little fault with the performance of this laptop, I see a small amount of lag in Finder related actions. But most of the time I think it is my imagination, and I'm not really seeing it elsewhere using applications.

Does anyone think a fine tuned, future version of OSX might just bring this laptop up to its full potential? I've got a 1.2 BTW. All in all none of this would have prevented me from buying this laptop.
 
I'm just coming back from playing with the 1.1 GHz rMB and the rMBP. The rMB honestly performed much better than I expected. There was lag when I was quickly resizing the Word window but the rMBP also showed lag. The rMBP lagged less but not dramatically so. I do not think that performance will be an issue for my uses(university student) and now the deciding factor is really just if a 12" laptop is practical as a main computer.
 
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