Is the Macbook Good in Theory, Bad in Practice? Some Thoughts on Reviews

[dogslobber]

The comments about the single USB port I find rather hilarious. It isn't the first device to come with a single USB port, that award goes out to the Microsoft Surface series. Sporting a single USB port from day 1 which was somewhere back in 2012 I believe. Yet nobody has been this vocal about having a single USB port on a device as with the MB. Just shows that there have been loads of people not needing more than 1 USB port for some years now. It isn't that much of a deal in reality.

I've yet to ever come across a Surface owner. Even NFL teams use iPads when they should be using these Surface devices but really don't. Anyway, it's a bit irrelevant to the conversation about laptop computers. Indeed, I'm sure a high flying corporate executive wouldn't trade a Surface for his retina Macbook. Would you?

In terms of a single USB port, you're comment is okay when the user can plug their power cord into the power connector, their external monitor into the mini-display port, and not plug in their USB device. But Apple takes away the ability to do the other two together, and remove your right to not plug in your USB device, and that's the Big Problem we're finding in this forum.

Minimalization doesn't work for us. Apple knows this and will resolve it in the rev 2 hardware.

 

[greenlemons]

Even NFL teams use iPads when they should be using these Surface devices but really don't.

Source?

 

[SteveJUAE]

A faster boot time does nothing if you don't boot that often but instead use the sleep/wake functionality. A faster boot time also means that you still have to wait. It's logic like this that is missing in a lot of the discussions here..

To be fair and maybe not clarified by BJ he like I use Widows 10 exclusively on our rMB, sleep is not a viable option currently as the battery drain is excessive, which is probably why he did not note the alternative given their is relatively little difference between boot and hibernate times and his post was more like a diary entry
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I've yet to ever come across a Surface owner. Even NFL teams use iPads when they should be using these Surface devices but really don't. Anyway, it's a bit irrelevant to the conversation about laptop computers. Indeed, I'm sure a high flying corporate executive wouldn't trade a Surface for his retina Macbook. Would you?.

Yes daily and my MBA 11" sits gathering dust

 

[dyn]

I've yet to ever come across a Surface owner.

Depends on what Surface you mean. If you mean the table then I haven't seen many. If you mean the tablet with the non-Intel architecture then I haven't seen any. If you mean Surface Pro I'd say you're dead wrong, those are everywhere.

Indeed, I'm sure a high flying corporate executive wouldn't trade a Surface for his retina Macbook. Would you?

If Windows were the requirement then yes I would without any hesitation. The Surface Pro is like the MacBook/MacBook Air and a wonderful Windows 10 device. No Mac with Windows can beat it. But I don't really like Windows, I like OS X and Linux so if OS weren't a requirement and I could pick any then no I wouldn't trade a MacBook for a Surface Pro.

In terms of a single USB port, you're comment is okay when the user can plug their power cord into the power connector, their external monitor into the mini-display port, and not plug in their USB device. But Apple takes away the ability to do the other two together, and remove your right to not plug in your USB device, and that's the Big Problem we're finding in this forum.

The big problem is people like you: responding from emotion instead of being realistic and rational. The above is a very good example: hardly anybody is going to carry a notebook and an external monitor. That's just looking for extremes to make things fit where in reality they simply don't. USB-C is just a connector, in case of the MacBook it is the connector for the USB 3.0 port (branded USB3.1 Gen1). It still is the same USB as every other USB device. The only issue is the connector and as CES 2016 has shown, in 2016 this will be solved. In the future the old USB-A, USB-B and their mini/micro versions will be the issue.

The single USB port on the Surface Pro is still a single USB port. You want to use a mouse and a keyboard? No can do, only 1 of them can fit in that port. Want to use a wired ethernet? No problem but you can't use it along with that usb drive or the mouse. The only way you can is by carrying a USB hub or a USB network card with USB passthrough like I have. This was not an issue with the first two revisions of the MacBook Air, it isn't with the Surface Pro range and why would that be? Quite simply: because people who bought one actually don't need more than 1 USB port. As for the external monitor: how many come with mini DisplayPorts? How about projectors? Why does everybody still carry around adapters for VGA and HDMI?

Reality is that you still need to carry around adapters even when you have a separate mini DisplayPort and power port. The MacBook has an adapter with USB-C, USB-A, HDMI and it supports power via the USB-C connector. Suddenly you can use USB, video out and power at the same time. Issue? Not really because in order to use HDMI or DVI you still had to carry an adapter (mDP is mDP, not full size DisplayPort, VGA, HDMI or DVI).

We can take this even further: why does Apple offer bluetooth peripherals but more importantly, why do they bundle these standard with the iMac and Mac Pro? Why is Apple promoting these wireless devices so hard since 2001? And why are they using a standardised multifunction port such as USB-C and Thunderbolt? And why do we have so many devices that are able to charge our smartphone, tablet and notebook or allow them to use the 4G connection or upload files to them? Photographers have these disks where you can insert an SD card and upon insertion the card is automatically backed up. Dunno about you but this is muuuuuuch faster than having an SD slot on your computer where you have to do all this manually (unless you are like me and create a shell script for it, you only have to run the script manually).

Lastly there is something that is called home or work. The place that is stationary and where one usually has a fixed set up. You know, external monitors, keyboards, mice and wired ethernet. It's also the place where we have something called "dockingstation" or "port replicator". These are devices that connect all your peripherals via 1 connector to the machine. There are a lot of those for Thunderbolt, USB and proprietary ports (non-Apple devices only: HP, Dell, Lenovo). CalDigit and others now also have dockingstations for USB-C devices such as the MacBook that not only allow you to connect all your peripherals but also power the notebook at the same time.

This is what being realistic and rational looks like. Not trying to stick to old habits, old tech and most of all, trying to see new uses and solutions instead of desperately trying to find issues in even the smallest of details. In English there is a word for that: nitpicking. Sometimes you just have to rethink things. And in most cases it simply involves observing people. Then you'd notice that anybody with a notebook will use the notebook without any peripherals when on the go.

BTW, my iMac has 4 USB ports and I still had to connect 2 USB hubs to it (granted, one hub is also a 2.5" and 3.5" disk dock) because 4 weren't enough.

Minimalization doesn't work for us. Apple knows this and will resolve it in the rev 2 hardware.

We've seen it with the MBA...oh wait, the second revision still had the single USB port...

Minimalism is working great for us because it leaves out everything we don't need, things don't get in the way (remember that saying about forest and trees?). That's the entire purpose of minimalism: only the bare essentials. It is entirely different of what you mean: stripping away things. Stripping away means reducing the number of things that you can do and thus greatly reducing its functionality.

To be fair and maybe not clarified by BJ he like I use Widows 10 exclusively on our rMB, sleep is not a viable option currently as the battery drain is excessive, which is probably why he did not note the alternative given their is relatively little difference between boot and hibernate times and his post was more like a diary entry

Faster boot times are not about saving energy, they are about speed. If you want speed then you are better off using wake/sleep than having fast boot because it is even faster. The fact that this will also impact other things such as stability, network shares, VPN, licensing of certain software, battery life and so on are being overlooked. And that was exactly my point: people aren't thinking things through properly because they are looking at it with emotion only.

 

[dogslobber]

Depends on what Surface you mean. If you mean the table then I haven't seen many. If you mean the tablet with the non-Intel architecture then I haven't seen any. If you mean Surface Pro I'd say you're dead wrong, those are everywhere.

There's only one tablet in town and that has an Apple logo on it. The only place I've seen an abundance of Surface tablets is when I walk past a Microsoft shop in the mall. Microsoft are struggling to shift 1m units per Quarter. The device is a flop.

The big problem is people like you: responding from emotion instead of being realistic and rational. The above is a very good example: hardly anybody is going to carry a notebook and an external monitor. That's just looking for extremes to make things fit where in reality they simply don't. USB-C is just a connector, in case of the MacBook it is the connector for the USB 3.0 port (branded USB3.1 Gen1). It still is the same USB as every other USB device. The only issue is the connector and as CES 2016 has shown, in 2016 this will be solved. In the future the old USB-A, USB-B and their mini/micro versions will be the issue.

People have external monitors at their destination. Of course they don't carry one around otherwise as that would be silly. CES 2016 showed the direction the rev 2 rMB is headed - it'll have at least 2 USB-C ports which will make it much more productive. The original MBA had THREE ports which were USB, power, and external display. Any two from three using a unified connector will allow you to be comfortable in the use of a power cable and another without needing to resort to a silly external hub or end up suffering from port swap elbow.

Until the rMB can be used in a realistic setting with what I describe above is what will prevent sales of the rMB reaching the height they should be able to reach. Remember, an executive doesn't want to carry about external ports and cables they don't need. That means battery life that outlives a day of constant use and it means no silly external hub which they left in the hotel room.

 

[dk001]

There's only one tablet in town and that has an Apple logo on it. The only place I've seen an abundance of Surface tablets is when I walk past a Microsoft shop in the mall. Microsoft are struggling to shift 1m units per Quarter. The device is a flop.

...

Not sure what your small town is...
The last two conferences I went to (one being SAPPHIRE) the predominance of portables were MBA and Surface Pro. There were many others. Same with travel - at airports I see a lot of slim line stuff - MBA, Surface Pro, HP, Lenovo, etc...
They are everywhere. I suspect your viewing focus is paradigmed.

 

[SteveJUAE]

Faster boot times are not about saving energy, they are about speed. If you want speed then you are better off using wake/sleep than having fast boot because it is even faster. The fact that this will also impact other things such as stability, network shares, VPN, licensing of certain software, battery life and so on are being overlooked. And that was exactly my point: people aren't thinking things through properly because they are looking at it with emotion only.

As I already noted to you, sleep is not currently a viable option on a rMB running bootcamp, hibernate or full boot is the preferred option and has nothing to do with speed or emotion.

There are always exceptions and individual users specific requirements that you seem to overlook in your enthusiasm to support your opinion on emotional response

By all means assist/help someone if you feel their response is incomplete etc, but to tag someone's response as being poor or otherwise as it's emotional or a perception is unnecessary and would make it rather dull here, although I note some extreme views are often better ignored

We are all capable of sorting out the chaff and those who need further assistance can always ask, which is the whole point of joining and contributing and reading a diverse spread of opinions, emotional or factual

 

[palpatine]

There's only one tablet in town and that has an Apple logo on it. The only place I've seen an abundance of Surface tablets is when I walk past a Microsoft shop in the mall. Microsoft are struggling to shift 1m units per Quarter. The device is a flop.

Last I read, Microsoft tablets are close to 20% of the market (I guess Pros are a big part of that) and I think someone mentioned around 2 million units sold per month after the 4 came out, but that might just be expected sales. At any rate, I see them out and about, colleagues who have them are full of praise, and I'd say they are pretty nice. The iPad Pro is something I don't see much, though

As always, though, a lot of people are already in their OS ecosystems, and it really isn't a question of Microsoft or Apple, but which device in their respective product lines, so comparing the Surface Pro 4 and the MB isn't necessarily helpful for a lot of people. I'm always tempted to get a Surface, because the form factor is a lot better suited to my work, but whenever I try and use it, major bottlenecks pop up. Still, I'll try again with the 4 to satisfy my curiosity.

 

[chleuasme]

Last I read, Microsoft tablets are close to 20% of the market (I guess Pros are a big part of that) and I think someone mentioned around 2 million units sold per month after the 4 came out, but that might just be expected sales.

Lol yeah no, Surface&Pro&Book are not representing worldwidely 20% of the tablet market, and are surely much less of the overall visible tablet user base.
I don't think there is the demand for 2M Surface Pro 4 per month and I'm not sure MS has even the capability to get produced 6M+ units in one quarter at the moment.
I think wise to wait for the opaque Microsoft quarter results coming this month to get an idea on their sales.

 

[palpatine]

Lol yeah no, Surface&Pro&Book are not representing worldwidely 20% of the tablet market, and are surely much less of the overall visible tablet user base.
I don't think there is the demand for 2M Surface Pro 4 per month and I'm not sure MS has even the capability to get produced 6M+ units in one quarter at the moment.
I think wise to wait for the opaque Microsoft quarter results coming this month to get an idea on their sales.

hahaha. yeah. i'm trying to track that data down. i thought i read it somewhere, but i'm seeing predicted market shares right now, which are about as useless as you are going to get. i don't know numbers for ms, because they aren't publishing them, so i guess my 2m is suspect as well.

still, i wouldn't be surprised if the sales are fantastic, because i see them cropping up all over the place. they seem to be popular among business folks. one thing i see less of these days are android tablets and full size ipads. it seems people are either on their phones or computers (mac and pc). occasionally, i see minis, but i am often the only one at the airport gate with an ipad in hand.

 

[boltjames]

Minimalization doesn't work for us. Apple knows this and will resolve it in the rev 2 hardware.

Seeing that you are the owner of a refurb Mac Mini and a refurb Macbook Air I find this comment quite amusing.

BJ

 

[dogslobber]

Seeing that you are the owner of a refurb Mac Mini and a refurb Macbook Air I find this comment quite amusing.

BJ

I bought my MBA new. Maybe you're confusing that with my refurbished MBP or iMac?

 

[boltjames]

I bought my MBA new. Maybe you're confusing that with my refurbished MBP or iMac?

I'm sorry, but minimalization doesn't work for us and you've been minimalized.

BJ

 

[Max(IT)]

Clickbait aside lets face it the rMB is not the fastest/highest spec/most connected/luxury KB device for the price.

Hardly any Apple device fit in those categories.
Apple isn't known for making the "best spec list ever" on their products.
The user experience is the goal of the company (and their profits, for sure ).

The retina MacBook issues are well-documented in this forum by myself and others. The original MBA in 2008 had some of the same failings, and that model's flag wavers were quickly dumping those systems when the later revisions, which solved the original's shortcomings, were announced. I advise people to not be in possession of a 2015 rMB when the next version is released. It won't be pretty when you realize the difference and the fact you've missed the opportunity to unload a flawed product.

Expect a new on in the next 6 months.

I wouldn't use a forum to judge a product, really.
According to this forum, the iPhone 6 bends by itself, the iPad Air 2 vibrates like an earthquake, the Mac Pro is old technology, not much better than a ZX Spectrum, and so on ....
Forums like this are full of great users, but also populated by haters, astroturfers and extremely picky people (sometimes verging OCD ).
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I'm hanging onto my 11" MBA for the time being, but I suspect it will find its way to one of the resellers soon enough. I am traveling with my 15" rMBP more and more often; since the 13" rMBP seems a dead end (the processor lag gets me with CC apps) there may just not be a more portable solution for the present.

My mom typed 180wpm consistently. I've hit 200 but it's not sustainable. Watching my mom type was quite something! Her grandfather could send and receive telegraph messages simultaneously (back in the day) so maybe there was something in the bloodline.

what kind of apps are you throwing at a 13" MBP to get CPU lags ???
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No, what's clear here is that no Apple product has ever been trolled this hard by bored Air users whose only way to get some notebook discussion thrills is at the expense of others who wish to have legitimate discussions.

BJ

Oh there are quite a lot of Apple product that have been trolled here

 

[dk001]

...
still, i wouldn't be surprised if the sales are fantastic, because i see them cropping up all over the place. they seem to be popular among business folks. one thing i see less of these days are android tablets and full size ipads. it seems people are either on their phones or computers (mac and pc). occasionally, i see minis, but i am often the only one at the airport gate with an ipad in hand.

Seeing this too when I travel - a lot of smartphone use and a lot of thin notebooks. Do see a number of small tablets (like my Mini) however that number seems to be declining over past years. Full size tablets appear to be on the decline.

 

[SteveJUAE]

Hardly any Apple device fit in those categories.
Apple isn't known for making the "best spec list ever" on their products.
The user experience is the goal of the company (and their profits, for sure ).

I wouldn't disagree however there seems more moans about people spending there hard earned cash on the anticipation of something special or have higher expectations because it's Apple only to be disappointed or overly critical of the Apple branding they believe should be there.

As noted before customer service is second to none but your paying for that so should be expected as it's not a bonus but compulsory.

 

[dyn]

There's only one tablet in town and that has an Apple logo on it. The only place I've seen an abundance of Surface tablets is when I walk past a Microsoft shop in the mall. Microsoft are struggling to shift 1m units per Quarter. The device is a flop.

Sales figures show a completely different story though. Windows 8/8.1 and 10 are build with this type of device in mind. If we look at current notebooks/ultrabooks for Windows a large portion is of the same type as the Microsoft Surface Pro. Lots of people, schools, businesses, etc. are now using the Surface Pro because it can run full fledged Windows and also have the ability for note taking with a pen. Lots of people who study are recommending these type of devices (I believe they are calling them 2-in-1's now). You can also see this in sales. Microsoft produces this batch by batch and you have to be quick because each batch is sold out rather quickly. It's like the Apple Pencil. Sales figures also show that with each new model they are selling more and more.

People have external monitors at their destination.

My point exactly. That's were you'd use a dockingstation/port replicator that you connect to the notebook via 1 port. No need for extra ports in that use case The external monitor argument is just as silly as carrying around an external monitor.

CES 2016 showed the direction the rev 2 rMB is headed - it'll have at least 2 USB-C ports which will make it much more productive.

Maybe, or maybe it showed the direction the MacBook Air is heading. Let's not forget the rumours about this one!

The original MBA had THREE ports which were USB, power, and external display.

That's what I said: only 1 USB port, just like the MacBook and the Surface Pro.

Any two from three using a unified connector will allow you to be comfortable in the use of a power cable and another without needing to resort to a silly external hub or end up suffering from port swap elbow.

With 4 even more comfortably and with 10 you can also connect the various external drives, printer, tablet, charge smarthone, etc. It's not about the amount of ports, it's about purpose of the device itself. The MacBook is not intended for people requiring all sorts connections and using those connections simultaneously. This device is meant for those that do not require wired peripherals when on the road (again, a dockingstation/port replicator allows you to use those peripherals on fixed set ups). It is meant to be mobile and carrying around a lot of equipment (keyboard, mouse, tablet, disk, etc.) is not really what you'd call "mobile". The MacBook Pro is the one that is meant for people who need/want to carry around lots of equipment and thus need lots of ports.

Until the rMB can be used in a realistic setting with what I describe above is what will prevent sales of the rMB reaching the height they should be able to reach.

Even with your changes it won't do that. The MacBook is similar in price as the MacBook Air. The difference: the MacBook is more portable, has a better display but the Air is more powerful and yet has a better battery life. Currently there is too much overlap between the MacBook and MacBook Air. If you don't need all that power you can save money if you buy a lower specced MacBook Air. Is it really a problem? That depends. Sometimes manufacturers try things out and the MacBook could be just that. Which is also the reason why people are comparing it to the first 2 MacBook Air generations.

Remember, an executive doesn't want to carry about external ports and cables they don't need. That means battery life that outlives a day of constant use and it means no silly external hub which they left in the hotel room.

As we Dutch say: you are currently turning small things like a mosquito into something big as an elephant (which is simple saying that you are nitpicking and that you are focussing on the wrong things). Remember: the MacBook, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro all require the use of adapters due to the Thunderbolt port. The MacBook Pro is able to use HDMI which is useless when the projector/display is still using VGA (and there are still an awful lot of those). In reality it doesn't matter which Apple notebook you buy because you end up with carrying the same kind of adapters anyway. The problem isn't that big.
If battery life is important then you shouldn't have bought the MacBook. Both the Air and the Pro offer better battery life.

Also remember that your pro might be a con to someone else and vice versa. You want to help someone? Then help them with forming their own opinion and let them make their own decision by merely giving them some facts. Don't do what you are doing now: respond emotionally and impose your opinion onto others.

Btw, most executives here are wanting/being given an iPad and using it mostly. The notebook is for use at their desk. There are many programs for going paperless that are based upon the use of a tablet (mostly the iPad). A lot of what they do consist of documents and interacting with the CRM system (which is either an app on the tablet or a website). And yes, there are exceptions.

As I already noted to you, sleep is not currently a viable option on a rMB running bootcamp, hibernate or full boot is the preferred option and has nothing to do with speed or emotion.

Still not getting the point are you?

The only reason faster boot times are there is performance. It is not there for battery life or because an OS does a crappy job at energy saving. Sleep/wake is faster thus the entire faster boot times argument is completely moot. And besides that we are talking about a technology shaving of 1 or 2 seconds if you are lucky. The only way to notice what this does is by using a stopwatch and measuring it. It is nitpicking, it is semantics and it is a completely useless argument (the Dutch saying applies here as well). I can't make the point more clear than this.

There are always exceptions and individual users specific requirements that you seem to overlook in your enthusiasm to support your opinion on emotional response

Only when responding rationally you are able to see the exceptions and specific requirements. When responding emotionally you only see what you want to see. And it shows here because not many are asking questions. Most are too busy trying to win something you cannot win (a discussion) and/or disproving the other. No one benefits from that because the only thing it does is scare away anyone actually looking for information/getting their questions answered. So no, I'm not the one overlooking things, you are since you're still not getting the point.

We are all capable of sorting out the chaff and those who need further assistance can always ask, which is the whole point of joining and contributing and reading a diverse spread of opinions, emotional or factual

Judging by the amount of emotional posts in this thread and on this forum where a lot of people are not buying a product or not upgrading to a certain software version because some people on a forum experience problem(s) I'd say that a small amount of people on the forum here are really able to do this. The others merely think they can. If they were actually capable there would be much less bickering.

 

[SteveJUAE]

Sales figures show a completely different story though. Windows 8/8.1 and 10 are build with this type of device in mind. If we look at current notebooks/ultrabooks for Windows a large portion is of the same type as the Microsoft Surface Pro. Lots of people, schools, businesses, etc. are now using the Surface Pro because it can run full fledged Windows and also have the ability for note taking with a pen. Lots of people who study are recommending these type of devices (I believe they are calling them 2-in-1's now). You can also see this in sales. Microsoft produces this batch by batch and you have to be quick because each batch is sold out rather quickly. It's like the Apple Pencil. Sales figures also show that with each new model they are selling more and more.


My point exactly. That's were you'd use a dockingstation/port replicator that you connect to the notebook via 1 port. No need for extra ports in that use case The external monitor argument is just as silly as carrying around an external monitor.


Maybe, or maybe it showed the direction the MacBook Air is heading. Let's not forget the rumours about this one!


That's what I said: only 1 USB port, just like the MacBook and the Surface Pro.


With 4 even more comfortably and with 10 you can also connect the various external drives, printer, tablet, charge smarthone, etc. It's not about the amount of ports, it's about purpose of the device itself. The MacBook is not intended for people requiring all sorts connections and using those connections simultaneously. This device is meant for those that do not require wired peripherals when on the road (again, a dockingstation/port replicator allows you to use those peripherals on fixed set ups). It is meant to be mobile and carrying around a lot of equipment (keyboard, mouse, tablet, disk, etc.) is not really what you'd call "mobile". The MacBook Pro is the one that is meant for people who need/want to carry around lots of equipment and thus need lots of ports.


Even with your changes it won't do that. The MacBook is similar in price as the MacBook Air. The difference: the MacBook is more portable, has a better display but the Air is more powerful and yet has a better battery life. Currently there is too much overlap between the MacBook and MacBook Air. If you don't need all that power you can save money if you buy a lower specced MacBook Air. Is it really a problem? That depends. Sometimes manufacturers try things out and the MacBook could be just that. Which is also the reason why people are comparing it to the first 2 MacBook Air generations.


As we Dutch say: you are currently turning small things like a mosquito into something big as an elephant (which is simple saying that you are nitpicking and that you are focussing on the wrong things). Remember: the MacBook, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro all require the use of adapters due to the Thunderbolt port. The MacBook Pro is able to use HDMI which is useless when the projector/display is still using VGA (and there are still an awful lot of those). In reality it doesn't matter which Apple notebook you buy because you end up with carrying the same kind of adapters anyway. The problem isn't that big.
If battery life is important then you shouldn't have bought the MacBook. Both the Air and the Pro offer better battery life.

Also remember that your pro might be a con to someone else and vice versa. You want to help someone? Then help them with forming their own opinion and let them make their own decision by merely giving them some facts. Don't do what you are doing now: respond emotionally and impose your opinion onto others.

Btw, most executives here are wanting/being given an iPad and using it mostly. The notebook is for use at their desk. There are many programs for going paperless that are based upon the use of a tablet (mostly the iPad). A lot of what they do consist of documents and interacting with the CRM system (which is either an app on the tablet or a website). And yes, there are exceptions.


Still not getting the point are you?

The only reason faster boot times are there is performance. It is not there for battery life or because an OS does a crappy job at energy saving. Sleep/wake is faster thus the entire faster boot times argument is completely moot. And besides that we are talking about a technology shaving of 1 or 2 seconds if you are lucky. The only way to notice what this does is by using a stopwatch and measuring it. It is nitpicking, it is semantics and it is a completely useless argument (the Dutch saying applies here as well). I can't make the point more clear than this.


Only when responding rationally you are able to see the exceptions and specific requirements. When responding emotionally you only see what you want to see. And it shows here because not many are asking questions. Most are too busy trying to win something you cannot win (a discussion) and/or disproving the other. No one benefits from that because the only thing it does is scare away anyone actually looking for information/getting their questions answered. So no, I'm not the one overlooking things, you are since you're still not getting the point.


Judging by the amount of emotional posts in this thread and on this forum where a lot of people are not buying a product or not upgrading to a certain software version because some people on a forum experience problem(s) I'd say that a small amount of people on the forum here are really able to do this. The others merely think they can. If they were actually capable there would be much less bickering.

I think I have the gist of your opinion now and sorry I can only respond emotionally

Whilst there are many things I disagree with dogslobber I think I rather read his posts than yours as it's simply sapping my will to live if I try to explain the irony of your own replies

But don't worry I'll just pop a few more rMB happy pills and go for a forum group hug with the rest of the satisfied owners

 

[boltjames]

Remember, an executive doesn't want to carry about external ports and cables they don't need. That means battery life that outlives a day of constant use and it means no silly external hub which they left in the hotel room.

American traveling executive here, coming to you live from a Shangri-La Hotel deep in China, and here's the perspective you continue to miss, probably because you're not a traveling executive:

First, the Retina MacBook has all day battery life. These past 10 days I've been moving from office to office, conference room to conference room, powering on and off, and was getting enough battery to last me from 9AM to 6PM each day without a charge. Today was the most taxing day of all, I sat in a conference room and had appointments come to me, notebook was powered on from 10AM to 5PM, connected to wi-fi, Outlook running and pinging for push email non-stop, running three instances of Excel, running one instance of Word, running one instance of Powerpoint, flipping through photos, using Firefox for browsing during downtime, Bluetooth mouse connected, and at the end of this long 7 hour day I still had 2 hours and 46 minutes left on the battery meter.

Second, the entire point of the RMB is to leave the external hub in the hotel room. With this notebook, Apple took all the thickness and weight and battery consumption of the ports out of the design allowing someone to leave them behind if they don't need them. Throughout this business trip I have had days where I did not need a USB port, an SD port, an HDMI port, a VGA port, etc. and so I was allowed to leave them in the hotel room. It's brilliant. After decades of dragging around SD ports and VGA ports for no reason, finally, didn't have to. And on those few days where I needed a port? Carried the Apple USB-C adapter that weighs a whopping 1/10th of a pound, about the same as 3 slices of cheese.

You're wrong when you say "an executive doesn't want to carry around external ports and cables they don't need". The correct phrase would be "an executive doesn't want or need the ports or cables at all". And that's what the Retina MacBook delivers.

BJ

 

[palpatine]

I don't think anyone would complain about more power, more ports, or anything else additional, especially if it doesn't affect the weight or price. But, that macbook doesn't exist, so it doesn't seem like a productive conversation to have.

From my perspective, we can speculate about the future (isn't the next generation always better somehow?), but we can only purchase and enjoy what exists in the present, and it turns out (in my case) that the rmb is a great fit, with no worries about the stuff that lots of folks have complained about: the battery life (I use it all day without charging -- somewhere between 7 and 9 hours of use each day this week), keyboard (no complaints), and the trackpad (best I have ever used), and the ports (a non issue for me, and I have plenty of peripherals) are fine.

I don't know what executives need, because everyone is different, but I think the rmb is flexible enough to fit a lot of workflows, especially if mobility is a priority. In my case, I commute to work by bike (sometimes going a roundabout way to rack up mileage -- 30km or so) and travel a lot on trains and planes, so the size and weight are perfect. If I sat in an office most of the time, I'd get a massive imac, pro, or something that would be more appropriate for my work. Who wouldn't want more screen real-estate and other goodies? There are tradeoffs that seem quite reasonable to me with the rmb, though. The best computer is the one you have on you at the time, and I pretty much have this with me everywhere I go.

 

[xDKP]

Must say I actually think of it exact opposite. It's bad in theory (the spec's would indicate that it's slow, unresponsive, and not really up to any real computing tasks) but in reality it's a fantastic little machine with surprisingly well performance for just about anything I throw at it.

I use it as my main machine every single day at the office (so far no dock and no external monitor or mouse/keyboard) and it just plows on - work in a web-based insurance system and the Office 2016 pack, and all of it feels every bit as fast and snappy as it would on my i7 Late 2011 15" Pro with SSD... And the lack of ports haven't been an issue at all yet... I dont even bring my charger to work, as it has no problem going a full day on the charge (often over 20% when I go home after 8-9 hours)

Now I haven't edited video on it (yet - I do some iMovies for fun sometimes)