I thought i would post my experience about switching from the first gen Retina MacBook Pro to a smaller 13'' Macbook Pro with Touchbar. Maybe someone else is thinking about doing the same.
I have been waiting to get a 13'' for a long time, because the 15'' always seemed a bit too big for me. I use it on the couch alot and it's mostly sitting on my lap. And 15'' is just a bit too big and heavy to use comfortably after a while.
Back when the first Retina Macbook was released, there was no 13'' offering. But the screen looked so great, that i just had to get it.
So i have been waiting for a 13'' with quad core all this time and now Apple finally delivered one after six years. (Or should i say Intel)
Things i noticed so far:
Weight
When i took out the new device for the first time it seemed heavier than expected. It's
3.02 pounds (1.37 kg) according to the specs and my old MBPR was 4.46 pounds (2.02 kg). But somehow it still didn't feel much lighter to me. But after using it for a while on my lap i can feel that it is indeed lighter and takes much longer to get uncomfortable. It's also easier to use on one leg.
Touchbar
The first thing i noticed about the Touchbar was that it needs a higher resolution. It's okay, but could be better looking. Besides that i like it so far. Have not missed the old Keys yet. But need more time to decide. But TouchID works very well and fast. I like.
Sound
The speakers are SOOOOOO much better than the ones in the old MBPR. It's crazy! From what i read they improved them in the 2018 models even more, so i guess i skipped a generation or two. And it "shows". Although i always felt like the speakers on my old MBPR got worse over time and also got quieter. Not sure if that's true, but the past few years i felt like they could be louder. I don't think i have ever heard speakers this good in any laptop. Especially at this size.
Screen
I'm using the same 1440 by 900 resolution as i did on the old 15'' model. That way i'm not loosing any working surface. So far it seems to look great, even though it is a scaled resolution. Scaled resolutions didn't look as good on the old 15'', so they definitely improved something there.
The colors feel more vivid on the new device. Image quality really looks great. Didn't find any lightbleed or dead pixels on my device. And i love Truetone. Finally it's no longer awkward to switch from my iPhone with TrueTone enabled to the MacBook. This always bothered me.
So far i'm not missing the bigger screen.
Battery
I managed to drain the battery pretty fast. Can't really tell you excact numbers, but it went down to 20% in what felt like 4-5 hours. But i was installing and synchronising alot of things, so i guess it is to be expected. Will have to see how it is in normal use. Engadget got like 12h out of it in their testing.
Trackpad
The "new" Forcetouch Trackpad feels great to use. I love the new size and how you can click in every corner without problems. The only thing i don't like is the sound it makes. It sounds tinny and a bit cheap to me, compared to the real click sound the old MBPR makes. Even though it got worn out and a bit loud after all 6 years.
Keyboard
The keyboard feels good to me. I can write pretty fast, because you don't need to push them down very far. I think i will get used to it in no time. Only the sound of the keys is a bit weird. I feel like not all of them sound the same, which will take some getting used to.
Charging and Ports
I actually don't miss MagSafe that much at the moment. Using it on my Lap, it often pushed the MagSafe slightly out and it stopped charging. Or it got out, when i just moved it around a bit. This is not happening anymore. And the charger was always on the wrong side for me. Now i can charge it on both sides. (And luckily all of the ports seem to work on mine.) But maybe i will change my mind once i trip over the cable and destroy this expensive device
I don't use alot of external devices, so i'm fine with only USB-C ports. I just got an adapter for my Superdrive and it still seems to work.
Heat
Even while setting everything up the temperature was always still comfortable to the touch. I was using it on my Lap after all and it never got too hot. This is a big improvement to my old MBPR, which i often had to put aside or sometimes put a pillow inbetween.
Fans
I rarely hear them. The system needs to be under heavy load for them to get loud. Even under full load, they are not very loud or annoying.
I got a Dell Latitude 7390 2-1 (13'') at work and it is also Quadcore, but with a TDP of 15W. The slightest load will speed up the fans and they sound very annoying. Under full load it's really bad. So i'm very happy that my Macbook does not sound like that.
And it's also quieter than my old 15'' Macbook. But it rarely bothered me there.
Hey Siri
Hey Siri works and hears me like 95% of the time. But Siri is still useless to me. She only seems to understand what i want from here, when i ask here in a predefined way and i always have to look up how to ask her... Maybe it would work better in english, but in german it's not working well.
Specs:
13'' / 16GB / 512GB / i5
15'' / 8GB / 256GB / i7
Anyway... sorry for wasting your time
I have been waiting to get a 13'' for a long time, because the 15'' always seemed a bit too big for me. I use it on the couch alot and it's mostly sitting on my lap. And 15'' is just a bit too big and heavy to use comfortably after a while.
Back when the first Retina Macbook was released, there was no 13'' offering. But the screen looked so great, that i just had to get it.
So i have been waiting for a 13'' with quad core all this time and now Apple finally delivered one after six years. (Or should i say Intel)
Things i noticed so far:
Weight
When i took out the new device for the first time it seemed heavier than expected. It's
3.02 pounds (1.37 kg) according to the specs and my old MBPR was 4.46 pounds (2.02 kg). But somehow it still didn't feel much lighter to me. But after using it for a while on my lap i can feel that it is indeed lighter and takes much longer to get uncomfortable. It's also easier to use on one leg.
Touchbar
The first thing i noticed about the Touchbar was that it needs a higher resolution. It's okay, but could be better looking. Besides that i like it so far. Have not missed the old Keys yet. But need more time to decide. But TouchID works very well and fast. I like.
Sound
The speakers are SOOOOOO much better than the ones in the old MBPR. It's crazy! From what i read they improved them in the 2018 models even more, so i guess i skipped a generation or two. And it "shows". Although i always felt like the speakers on my old MBPR got worse over time and also got quieter. Not sure if that's true, but the past few years i felt like they could be louder. I don't think i have ever heard speakers this good in any laptop. Especially at this size.
Screen
I'm using the same 1440 by 900 resolution as i did on the old 15'' model. That way i'm not loosing any working surface. So far it seems to look great, even though it is a scaled resolution. Scaled resolutions didn't look as good on the old 15'', so they definitely improved something there.
The colors feel more vivid on the new device. Image quality really looks great. Didn't find any lightbleed or dead pixels on my device. And i love Truetone. Finally it's no longer awkward to switch from my iPhone with TrueTone enabled to the MacBook. This always bothered me.
So far i'm not missing the bigger screen.
Battery
I managed to drain the battery pretty fast. Can't really tell you excact numbers, but it went down to 20% in what felt like 4-5 hours. But i was installing and synchronising alot of things, so i guess it is to be expected. Will have to see how it is in normal use. Engadget got like 12h out of it in their testing.
Trackpad
The "new" Forcetouch Trackpad feels great to use. I love the new size and how you can click in every corner without problems. The only thing i don't like is the sound it makes. It sounds tinny and a bit cheap to me, compared to the real click sound the old MBPR makes. Even though it got worn out and a bit loud after all 6 years.
Keyboard
The keyboard feels good to me. I can write pretty fast, because you don't need to push them down very far. I think i will get used to it in no time. Only the sound of the keys is a bit weird. I feel like not all of them sound the same, which will take some getting used to.
Charging and Ports
I actually don't miss MagSafe that much at the moment. Using it on my Lap, it often pushed the MagSafe slightly out and it stopped charging. Or it got out, when i just moved it around a bit. This is not happening anymore. And the charger was always on the wrong side for me. Now i can charge it on both sides. (And luckily all of the ports seem to work on mine.) But maybe i will change my mind once i trip over the cable and destroy this expensive device
I don't use alot of external devices, so i'm fine with only USB-C ports. I just got an adapter for my Superdrive and it still seems to work.
Heat
Even while setting everything up the temperature was always still comfortable to the touch. I was using it on my Lap after all and it never got too hot. This is a big improvement to my old MBPR, which i often had to put aside or sometimes put a pillow inbetween.
Fans
I rarely hear them. The system needs to be under heavy load for them to get loud. Even under full load, they are not very loud or annoying.
I got a Dell Latitude 7390 2-1 (13'') at work and it is also Quadcore, but with a TDP of 15W. The slightest load will speed up the fans and they sound very annoying. Under full load it's really bad. So i'm very happy that my Macbook does not sound like that.
And it's also quieter than my old 15'' Macbook. But it rarely bothered me there.
Hey Siri
Hey Siri works and hears me like 95% of the time. But Siri is still useless to me. She only seems to understand what i want from here, when i ask here in a predefined way and i always have to look up how to ask her... Maybe it would work better in english, but in german it's not working well.
Specs:
13'' / 16GB / 512GB / i5
15'' / 8GB / 256GB / i7
Anyway... sorry for wasting your time
Last edited:
