How does the rMB compare to the original MacBook

[JoeLeopard]

Hello everyone,
My first Mac was a late 2007 white MacBook, which is still hanging in there but I'm looking to upgrade very soon. I really like the idea of the rMB but can't help the thoughts that it's too underpowered and I'll be struggling in a few years. Having said that I'm sure most people wouldn't have though my MB would still be useful nearly 8 years later. So I was interested in what people thought about the position of rMB in apples line up. Power wise is it closer to the MB, or is that spot taken by 13" rMBP ?

 

[cambookpro]

In raw power terms (CPU performance), the 2015 MacBook is more than twice as fast as your 2007 MB in single core performance and around 2.5 to 3 times as fast in terms of multi core performance. Then there's the speed of the flash storage, the 8GB RAM, which should make it feel much faster than your 2007 machine.

The rMB isn't that underpowered, and will definitely be a big step up from the old MacBook. The MBP will of course be even faster, but you have to decide whether the size trade-off is worth it.

Depending on what you use it for, the rMB may be not worth buying at all or could last you half a decade. If you're a video editor or render 3D models for a living, it probably isn't the best idea. But if you're just using Safari and Pages, it'll be fine.

 

[boltjames]

Hello everyone,
My first Mac was a late 2007 white MacBook, which is still hanging in there but I'm looking to upgrade very soon. I really like the idea of the rMB but can't help the thoughts that it's too underpowered and I'll be struggling in a few years. Having said that I'm sure most people wouldn't have though my MB would still be useful nearly 8 years later. So I was interested in what people thought about the position of rMB in apples line up. Power wise is it closer to the MB, or is that spot taken by 13" rMBP ?

We have a white '07 MacBook, 2 Air's, and 1 new '15 RMB in the family, my advice to you is this:

Unless you need the ultra-portability of the RMB, wait two months, the Air will be running at 25% to 30% off once it's discontinued, likely right around Thanksgiving and Black Friday. You'll feel a huge jump in performance across the board and save big money on a notebook that will be more durable.

If you need the ultra-portability of the RMB, buy one today, it's a fantastic machine.

BJ

 

[z31fanatic]

The rMB is a Ferrari and your 2007 Macbook is a Kia.

 

[squirrrl]

Hello everyone,
My first Mac was a late 2007 white MacBook, which is still hanging in there but I'm looking to upgrade very soon. I really like the idea of the rMB but can't help the thoughts that it's too underpowered and I'll be struggling in a few years. Having said that I'm sure most people wouldn't have though my MB would still be useful nearly 8 years later. So I was interested in what people thought about the position of rMB in apples line up. Power wise is it closer to the MB, or is that spot taken by 13" rMBP ?

I was in the same boat as you buddy. I had a white early 2008 Macbook that was still working fine (except that the battery needed to be replaced for the 2nd time and even after the 1st battery replacement, only had a few hours of work time on it before battery went dead). I hadn't upgraded it past snow leopard (and I think it could only be upgraded to lion anyways and, most likely yours is the same way).

I bought a 1.3/256/SG rMB and I love it. The battery life is fantastic. I think that besides the processor being faster, the biggest improvement is the PCIe SSD. I'm not sure if you replaced your HHD with an SSD in your machine. I hadn't and the difference in speed in starting up as well as opening documents and programs is like night and day.

If for what you are doing, you can eek out some more life out of your 2007, by all means, stick with it. If I hadn't needed the better battery life for the traveling I'm doing lately, I might have stuck it out another year with my 2008 Macbook, but I needed to upgrade and I've been totally satisfied with my purchase. You may want to wait until the next iteration of the rMB since you say you might stay with yours a bit longer. At best, they might lower the price of the next gen rMB. At worst, you'll have better battery life (with the new processors) and perhaps a second USB-C port.

So, in summary, if you buy the rMB now, I think you'll be happy with it, but if you can still use your current macbook for another 6 months, I would wait until the Skylake version comes out (just guessing, but most likely around late Winter/early spring)

 

[squirrrl]

We have a white '07 MacBook, 2 Air's, and 1 new '15 RMB in the family, my advice to you is this:

Unless you need the ultra-portability of the RMB, wait two months, the Air will be running at 25% to 30% off once it's discontinued, likely right around Thanksgiving and Black Friday. You'll feel a huge jump in performance across the board and save big money on a notebook that will be more durable.

If you need the ultra-portability of the RMB, buy one today, it's a fantastic machine.

BJ

I would also take into account screen size and quality. The rMB screen is fantastic and a big step up from your current Macbook. If you don't care about screen quality (you'll be used to the screen quality of the MBA since you have your 2007 MB) then go for the discount. I don't know how good your vision is, but you can actually fit quite a bit onto the screen of a rMB if you put the screen size to it's smallest settings. Because of the quality of the screen, it doesn't strain my eyes when i have that resolution on the screen.

 

[ghanwani]

If the question was whether the rMB can give you 8 years of useful service, I think the answer would most likely be no.

 

[Ulenspiegel]

The rMB is revolutionary in many ways. It is a quite capable machine, much more powerful than your present Mac. Nevertheless, you should not forget that it is a first gen. device. It would be advisable to wait at least for the 2nd gen.

 

[squirrrl]

Oh please. If this guy is still fine with his 2007 HDD white MacBook I'm sure he could use the rMB for 8 years. The only concern I would have (which would be true of all current MacBooks) is battery replacement since the battery can't be replaced by the user

If the question was whether the rMB can give you 8 years of useful service, I think the answer would most likely be no.

 

[RUGGLES99]

wait two months, the Air will be running at 25% to 30% off once it's discontinued, likely right around Thanksgiving and Black Friday.

If you need the ultra-portability of the RMB, buy one today, it's a fantastic machine.

BJ[/QUOTE]
And I suppose you have been lunching with Cook and Ives, and since you are one of Apple's biggest and most influential stockholders, they violated the rules of the SEC and filled you in on their innermost plans for the future of the MBA, or are you just a blowhard. I believe the latter.

 

[RUGGLES99]

If the question was whether the rMB can give you 8 years of useful service, I think the answer would most likely be no.

It's doubtful any of today's computers will give you 8 years. or 6 years, or 3 years.

 

[ghanwani]

It's doubtful any of today's computers will give you 8 years. or 6 years, or 3 years.

I think they'll give 3 years because that's how long AppleCare goes.

My biggest concern with the longevity of the rMB is that the graphics is underpowered for its display, and we already have the visibility that skylake will bring significant improvement in that area.

 

[ghanwani]

On a related note, perhaps Apple should start leasing computers.

 

[kfscoll]

It's doubtful any of today's computers will give you 8 years. or 6 years, or 3 years.

Really? Hardware is advancing at a much slower rate than it ever has before; year over year gains just aren't what they used to be. Skylake might be an exception for certain processor lines and certain workloads, but my 2012 rMBP is only marginally slower than computers that Apple is currently selling. I have no doubt that it'll hang on for five years with no issues.

 

[boltjames]

And I suppose you have been lunching with Cook and Ives, and since you are one of Apple's biggest and most influential stockholders, they violated the rules of the SEC and filled you in on their innermost plans for the future of the MBA, or are you just a blowhard. I believe the latter.

It's common sense.

Discontinued and obsolete electronics always get marked down in time for Black Friday. The Air is the odds-on favorite to be the Early Bird Special at Walmart.

BJ

 

[kfscoll]

I think they'll give 3 years because that's how long AppleCare goes.

My biggest concern with the longevity of the rMB is that the graphics is underpowered for its display, and we already have the visibility that skylake will bring significant improvement in that area.

El Capitan / Metal will help with this -- based on feedback from current beta users, the rMB performs much better graphics-wise on OS X 10.11.

And even if Skylake does bring a 40% gain in GPU performance (which I'm sure is a best-case scenario), what feels slow on Broadwell's iGPU is also going to feel slow on a Skylake iGPU. I think you really need a 2x gain in GPU performance to seriously improve a given machine's longevity and more like a solid 1.5x gain in GPU performance across the board (and not just in certain use cases) to significantly improve "feel."

 

[kfscoll]

It's common sense.

Discontinued and obsolete electronics always get marked down in time for Black Friday. The Air is the odds-on favorite to be the Early Bird Special at Walmart.

BJ

Apple never has blowout or closeout pricing on anything. Either the current MBA models will just disappear or they'll show up on the refurb store for (at most) 20% off.

 

[ixxx69]

Hello everyone,
My first Mac was a late 2007 white MacBook, which is still hanging in there but I'm looking to upgrade very soon. I really like the idea of the rMB but can't help the thoughts that it's too underpowered and I'll be struggling in a few years. Having said that I'm sure most people wouldn't have though my MB would still be useful nearly 8 years later. So I was interested in what people thought about the position of rMB in apples line up. Power wise is it closer to the MB, or is that spot taken by 13" rMBP ?

I don't think that most knowledgeable computer users would say an 8 year old computer wouldn't still be useful - it's more that most typical users would not be satisfied with the performance of an 8 year old computer for it's originally intended usage. After 4-5 years, computers are usually repurposed for a different usage or given/sold to someone else.

As most knowledgeable users in this thread have pointed out, the performance of the current rMB should be fine for the next several years. However, other "features" will continue to advance... e.g. while official external 4K @ 60Hz display support may or may not come on the current rMB, the next MB iteration will almost definitely have 4K @ 60Hz support, possibly for multiple displays... or maybe even 5K displays, etc. TB3-USB-C is in the near future. Who knows what else is coming down the pipeline. Not that the lack of those features will make the current rMB any less usable, only that there's more to how long a laptop will serve your changing needs than the performance of the CPU/GPU (as is the case for any computer).

 

[kfscoll]

^^
Certainly all very good points.

I just wanted to point one thing out, and I'm not trying to be pedantic, but TB3 support in the next version of the rMB is very unlikely IMO. Skylake doesn't support TB3 natively which means that a separate Thunderbolt controller (Alpine Ridge) would need to be added to the already teeny-tiny rMB logic board. Now, Skylake and its supporting chipset are quite a bit smaller than Broadwell/chipset, so there might be room for the external TB3 controller, but I think it's more likely that Apple skips TB3 in the rMB until the processor/chipset can support it natively.

Also, it's going to be a few iGPU generations before an ultra-low power iGPU (like the one in Broadwell-Y or Skylake-Y) has the "oomph" to adequately drive an external 4K display, let alone multiple displays. It could probably technically do it now with Broadwell, and certainly with Skylake, but I doubt it could do it very well.

 

[xmichaelp]

Screen is a million times better. It's faster. No fan, no noise. More RAM. SSD.

It's better in every way.

It's doubtful any of today's computers will give you 8 years. or 6 years, or 3 years.

3 years? Lol. Why not? My MBP is at 3 years and other than me subjectively wanting a thinner device and a better screen, the machine is just fine. Perfectly usable and capable.

 

[Unrealmac1988]

I am in exactly the same situation and even though my macbook is close to unuseable I decided to wait for the skylake update. It really seems that the core M GPU will perform about 40% faster and I think this will definitely be noticeable on the rMB.

Just remember how drastically better the first revision of the original MBa was..

 

[boltjames]

Apple never has blowout or closeout pricing on anything. Either the current MBA models will just disappear or they'll show up on the refurb store for (at most) 20% off.

I believe I paid $125 for my 2010 Apple TV that is now being sold at Apple Stores for $79.

BJ

 

[Dj64Mk7]

I believe I paid $125 for my 2010 Apple TV that is now being sold at Apple Stores for $79.

BJ

It's actually $69, but everyone still gets your point.

 

[ixxx69]

It's actually $69, but everyone still gets your point.

I don't get his point ;-). Apple reduced the price of the ATV (which had been $99 since the ATV2 release) to better compete with market conditions (e.g. Roku, FireTV, etc.). And it's not representative of how Apple typically deals with its computer lineup.

BJ's trolling the forum intentionally starting arguments and making hyperbolic statements to rile people up.

 

[kfscoll]

The iGPU is supposedly up to 40% faster. The CPU performance is reportedly 10-20% faster.

If benchmarks and owner feedback indicate that the Skylake rMB really is noticeably faster, I'll just sell my current rMB and upgrade!