I gave up... :(

[consumeritis]

Yep, I gave up as well. A month is too long to wait when upgrade time comes around, never mind a month + 6 weeks shipping. Apple really have dropped the ball on this launch.

I bought a rMBP 13" Easter weekend - and the omnishambles of this launch has done nothing to make me regret my decision. Maybe I'll come back in a few years when the MB has more than one port and Apple have fixed their supply chain.

The Air is a great choice, especially at half the price! My previous machine was a refurbed Air and it was the most reliable machine I ever owned. No question that the retina display looks nicer - but the Air's screen is matte and has fewer reflections, and GPU performance will be much better because it doesn't need to push as many pixels.

 

[melb00m]

I don't mean to be rude, but some people over here need to learn some patience.
Of course, I also wish I could have held the new rMB in my hand April 10th, but apparently that didn't work out for Apple, whatever the reason.

So now, over here in Germany, I'll have to wait until early/mid of May. It sucks, but the world will keep spinning, and I'll get it eventually. This is truly a first world "problem".

 

[AdonisSMU]

I don't mean to be rude, but some people over here need to learn some patience.
Of course, I also wish I could have held the new rMB in my hand April 10th, but apparently that didn't work out for Apple, whatever the reason.

So now, over here in Germany, I'll have to wait until early/mid of May. It sucks, but the world will keep spinning, and I'll get it eventually. This is truly a first world "problem".

When you want people to blow money you have to give them good service. Making them go online and take the service component out of the launch will make people less likely to purchase something...especially when it's a price as a premium product.

To whom much is given, much is expected.

 

[consumeritis]

I don't mean to be rude, but some people over here need to learn some patience.

No, we obviously don't need to learn patience - we can go buy an XPS 13 instead. Or a Zenbook. Or even a different Apple laptop - so much for their investment in MB's new technology.

Apple have only hurt themselves with this botched launch.

 

[melb00m]

When you want people to blow money you have to give them good service. Making them go online and take the service component out of the launch will make people less likely to purchase something...especially when it's a price as a premium product.

To whom much is given, much is expected.

I agree, and I'm not happy with the way they managed the launch of neither the rMB nor the Watch. Hopefully they will learn from it.

What bugs me is that so many people act that they were entitled to hold those product in their hands on day one, and now they'll die on the spot because they can't.

Apple is not stupid, they know that money in the bank is money bank, but some still act as if Apple would do this intentionally to annoy and hurt the customer. I'm sure they're least happy with the way things are going right now.

But sometimes you just run into unexpected problems, especially when you launch two completely new products at the scale Apple does at the same time.

----------

No, we obviously don't need to learn patience - we can go buy an XPS 13 instead. Or a Zenbook. Or even a different Apple laptop - so much for their investment in MB's new technology.

Apple have only hurt themselves with this botched launch.

Well, then why not just do that and be happy?

 

[PDFierro]

To add some additional thoughts, when I thought about sitting it out until the second gen due to this ridiculous launch...I thought about how I use my Mac. I value portability the most. So for me, an extra month is worth the wait.

 

[AdonisSMU]

I agree, and I'm not happy with the way they managed the launch of neither the rMB nor the Watch. Hopefully they will learn from it.

What bugs me is that so many people act that they were entitled to hold those product in their hands on day one, and now they'll die on the spot because they can't.

Apple is not stupid, they know that money in the bank is money bank, but some still act as if Apple would do this intentionally to annoy and hurt the customer. I'm sure they're least happy with the way things are going right now.

But sometimes you just run into unexpected problems, especially when you launch two completely new products at the scale Apple does at the same time.

----------



Well, then why not just do that and be happy?

The watch handling I think is fine IMO. Its the Macbook handling I have some problems with. Its not even a popular product and they cant handle it.

 

[Newtons Apple]

It looks like this is the new Apple way of new product introduction and we can look forward to this in the future.

 

[newellj]

It looks like this is the new Apple way of new product introduction and we can look forward to this in the future.

Honestly, and without any rancor: let's damned well hope not.

----------

I'm already completely convinced and I haven't even seen it in person. Two more days until I can do that. But I do see how this chaotic launch can put people off from buying it.

Yes, unfortunately. I was drinking from the glass of sour grapes there for a while. Glad I persevered.

 

[kingofwale]

You also got a poor quality display and less RAM. Two pretty important things in a computer. I think you are just trying to justify your purchase when you really wanted the MacBook instead but enjoy the MBA

display is definitely poorer, but less RAM is not an issue considering processor is faster (RAM's performance is minimal).

at Half of the price + less hassle of calling Apple store daily. MBA is a very compelling product for anyone.

and god, love the battery life. my old 15 rMBP does no more than 5 hours, now I'm sitting at 11-12 hours. Swweeet.

 

[jazz1]

I guess I don't blame the OP. I'm really surprised at the backlog for orders on this machine. I think I'm willing to wait because I already have late 2008 MB Pro, and an iPad Air, not to mention a 2012 iMac.

Sounds like the OP did turn it around with a good alternative Apple Laptop.

Good luck to everyone waiting. Maybe Apple will speed things up a little. They did with my original ship date.

 

[PDFierro]

Honestly, and without any rancor: let's damned well hope not.

----------



Yes, unfortunately. I was drinking from the glass of sour grapes there for a while. Glad I persevered.

I think I'm looking more forward to trying it out in the store than I am in owning the damn thing.

 

[Jacoblee23]

display is definitely poorer, but less RAM is not an issue considering processor is faster (RAM's performance is minimal).

at Half of the price + less hassle of calling Apple store daily. MBA is a very compelling product for anyone.

and god, love the battery life. my old 15 rMBP does no more than 5 hours, now I'm sitting at 11-12 hours. Swweeet.

Enjoy it! I love my MBA 13". I wish it had retina, but the screen isn't that bad. Especially if you take advantage of the zoom in feature in Safari. You can see the text much better. And that battery... Beast..

 

[dexterbell]

display is definitely poorer, but less RAM is not an issue considering processor is faster (RAM's performance is minimal).

at Half of the price + less hassle of calling Apple store daily. MBA is a very compelling product for anyone.

and god, love the battery life. my old 15 rMBP does no more than 5 hours, now I'm sitting at 11-12 hours. Swweeet.

People are finding them in Best Buy all over the country and Apple should be getting some today or tomorrow. You couldn't wait a few more days? Keep that receipt!

 

[kingofwale]

People are finding them in Best Buy all over the country and Apple should be getting some today or tomorrow. You couldn't wait a few more days? Keep that receipt!

define "country"

i thought i'd just give it a try one more time

the info is getting more and more vague now on this.

also "hot news" haven't been updated since March 10.

 

[clyde2801]

define "country"

i thought i'd just give it a try one more time

Image


the info is getting more and more vague now on this.

also "hot news" haven't been updated since March 10.

I don't think those are really apple retail employees; they have no facial hair, piercings or tattoos. And I've come to the frak it point on trying to get one. I need to honor my original decision and sit this one out.

 

[Cvx5832]

display is definitely poorer, but less RAM is not an issue considering processor is faster (RAM's performance is minimal).

at Half of the price + less hassle of calling Apple store daily. MBA is a very compelling product for anyone.

and god, love the battery life. my old 15 rMBP does no more than 5 hours, now I'm sitting at 11-12 hours. Swweeet.

I'm happy for you. But to justify that decision by believing that "RAM's performance is minimal" is stretching it.

We get it. You couldn't wait, you got an Air, and let that be that.

 

[melb00m]

display is definitely poorer, but less RAM is not an issue considering processor is faster (RAM's performance is minimal).

Sorry, but that's complete BS.
Once you run out of memory, the operating system has to start swapping between memory and the hard drive, and performance will suffer a lot.

Nowadays, 4 GB is the absolute low end for memory, and half of that can easily be eaten up just browsing with a few tabs open.

If you crank out the MBA to be a little more future-proof with 8 GByte RAM and a larger SSD, you're almost at the same price you're paying for the rMB, missing out on a Retina screen with way better color representation and brightness, the gorgeous design, and the new keyboard and trackpad.

While the MBA's CPU is somewhat faster, it also by no means is a "powerhouse" and able to replace your desktop/MBP for heavy video- and image-editing. The MBA, too, has to live with huge thermal constraints that such compact and mobile machines physically imply.

For typical on-the-go usage of either rMB or MBA, I think the rMP is by far the more reasonable choice even today -- that is, unless you need the thunderbolt port on the MBA.

Core M architecture is not as bad as some people seem to think, especially with the burst-intense tasks that most people use those machines for. This can cleary be seen in Anandtechs review, too. http://anandtech.com/show/9136/the-2015-macbook-review

Simply put, I can understand use cases for which buying the MBA today might still be the smarter choice over the rMB. Justifying one's own impatience, however, is not one of them.

For me, the only understandable reasons to buy the MBA over the rMB are thunderpolt or the price. And one should be very clear that in it's base configuration, the MBA will be old and need replacement way earlier.

 

[maflynn]

OP got the Air, not the rMBP.

My mistake, I misread his post.

 

[legioxi]

Sorry, but that's complete BS.
Once you run out of memory, the operating system has to start swapping between memory and the hard drive, and performance will suffer a lot.

Nowadays, 4 GB is the absolute low end for memory, and half of that can easily be eaten up just browsing with a few tabs open.

Coming from a 4GB Air I can tell you the swapping isn't causing noticeable performance degradation. With the SSD, especially the new ones, swapping is fast. It isn't as fast as ram of course but it isn't like the old days when swapping to disk caused your computer to run like **** either.

Now I still recommend extra ram but it isn't a death sentence to have 4GB in an SSD enabled computer.

 

[melb00m]

Coming from a 4GB Air I can tell you the swapping isn't causing noticeable performance degradation. With the SSD, especially the new ones, swapping is fast. It isn't as fast as ram of course but it isn't like the old days when swapping to disk caused your computer to run like **** either.

Now I still recommend extra ram but it isn't a death sentence to have 4GB in an SSD enabled computer.

Not a death sentence, but performance degregation should be far more noticeable than the CPU difference between the two machines.

The problem is not drive speed, but the latency required to push data through another layer, which (even worse) is not optimized for random access (hence it's not called RAM, "random access memory").

Obviously, the operating system will always try to keep the data of the currently running application in memory, and swap/page data from background applications or tasks first when memory gets low. Once your memory is insufficient of handling the currently used application, you're basically dead, performance wise, and often the application will simply quit. A well known phenomenon from iOS devices.

 

[legioxi]

Not a death sentence, but performance degregation should be far more noticeable than the CPU difference between the two machines.

The problem is not drive speed, but the latency required to push data through another layer, which (even worse) is not optimized for random access (hence it's not called RAM, "random access memory").

I understand how RAM works, again it isn't as bad as you make it out to be.

Obviously, the operating system will always try to keep the data of the currently running application in memory, and swap/page data from background applications or tasks first when memory gets low. Once your memory is insufficient of handling the currently used application, you're basically dead, performance wise, and often the application will simply quit. A well known phenomenon from iOS devices.

OS X and iOS do not operate the same. OS X doesn't kill apps due to RAM as it will swap data out to the SSD.

 

[RodDavies]

It looks like this is the new Apple way of new product introduction and we can look forward to this in the future.

Well...may as well shut up half their stores then. Think of the money savings on rent and staff that don't have .... well... stuff to SELL then!

 

[Nemomagic]

I've been excited about this product since day 1... Heck, I even justified the whole lack of port thing, but at this point. I finally gave up.


Woke up at 3AM EST, pre-ordered the rMB with 512GB, and showed 3-4 weeks. No worries, I am just going to pop into the nearest Apple store in Toronto and get it there.

Got to Apple store.. **Sorry, we don't have it in stock, not even in store display for you to try it on **

How long do I have to wait? entire 4 weeks. So I opted to get a macbook air 13 refurbished model for half of the price (vs rMB + adaptors)

Sorry, just feel like ranting

...
150 millions people live in my country.
my country is biggest on this planet by its size.

And how many do we have apple stores in our Country?
ZERO. just absent. So it's impossible to go and to buy.
(by the way I live not in capital, but in middle of this Country)
We should wait for 4-6 weeks, if ordered online at Apple.com, but delivery work only at 7 (seven!!!) of 1100 cities (mine not in list), this means I shoud arrange delivery to other person or move to another city far far away...

Conclusion: we should understand value of what we have ;-)

 

[Nemomagic]

And by the way (addon for my previous post):

In our country price of rMB 1.3 256Gb : 2 600 United States Dollars... )))

But never the less I am not even thinking to give up! I fight for my rMB! ))