MacBook Review Roundup: Major Design Appeal, but Too Many Key Compromises

[AppleMark]

I got mine! It's a pity upgrading to 1.3 Ghz makes it 3-4 weeks. I guess I can go to the Apple store and have a look and feel at it while waiting for it to come.

Indeed.

However it appeared that whatever model I tried to order it came up at 3-4 weeks on the UK site and I was pretty quick to order..

Ordered a 1.2Ghz 512Gb in the end. I did not see the point, or value in upgrading to the BTO 1.3ghz personally, as they offered no other upgrade options other than that.

 

[masotime]

Indeed.

However it appeared that whatever model I tried to order it came up at 3-4 weeks on the UK site and I was pretty quick to order..

Ordered a 1.2Ghz 512Gb in the end. I did not see the point, or value in upgrading to the BTO 1.3ghz personally, as they offered no other upgrade options other than that.

Yup paying $150 more for 8.33% performance increase is pretty hard to justify. I noticed the Gold 1.2Ghz model went from 1-3 days to 3-4 weeks pretty fast here in the U.S.

 

[antonis]

Unless this is one of his ideas that has taken time to get developed while they have waited for the right chip.

Personally, I'd be very surprised if it was. He used to offer innovative products (well, not always, but most of the times) without so many steps backwards in terms of performance, just for a trendy look.

 

[bkkcanuck]

Yup paying $150 more for 8.33% performance increase is pretty hard to justify. I noticed the Gold 1.2Ghz model went from 1-3 days to 3-4 weeks pretty fast here in the U.S.

When you are given CPU upgrades - for most people it is like a fish lure to have you upgrade just a little bit and increase the profit per computer model.... Getting a CPU that is 10% faster typically translates into a computer that is a fraction of that faster overall (because of "slow" memory in comparison to any CPU; and slower SSD/hard drive)..... If you gave a person two different computers (1.1 and 1.2 or 1.2 and 1.3Ghz) and did a blind test - almost all would not be able to tell the difference other than looking at system information or "benchmarking" it.

The 1.1 to 1.2 is easily justifiable though in the increase size of the SSD.

I expect the supply to get constrained pretty quickly.

 

[AppleMark]

Seems like a lot of people feel that this product that has a retina display, 8GB RAM and a 256GB SSD should sell for $999 or less.

I don't get that.

You take Apple's cheapest notebook ($899 11" MBA) and customize it with the same 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD that the MacBook comes with, and the price shoots from $899 to $1,199 (which is essentially the same price as this new MacBook)...

Exactly.

But you are making sense and that can be dangerous on here sometimes..

 

[antonis]

It is not "insanely" expensive. 1299 is a just bit more expensive than basic MBA which do not have Retina display. Basically, for 200 dollars you get high definition screen which means a lot if you consider MBA screens.

Yes, you get a retina display but you lose everything else at the same time (and this is compared to a super portable laptop already, the MBA). Hence, regardless if you need the ports and a decent cpu or not, this is overpriced.

Core M can turbo up to 2.9 GHz, yet it is light and fanless. The main draw of the machine is not its gigantic performance (which it doesn't have) but good battery life and Retina display combination with mobility. I see no difference in benchmarks with MBA (mine is MBA 2013). Having a month long very heavy work load with MBA just fine, I would guess that same work load with new Retina MB will be fine as well. Indeed with this hi def screen you get more productivity, less eye strain.

Well, it doesn't really matter how high the frequency of Core M can go, as it falls way behind the i5 and i7. Look at the geekbench benchmarks in the article. A machine that is released in 2015, falls far behind 2013-MBA, and even falls behind the 2011-MBA. Actually, it falls behind everything else released during the last 4 years (!!) and competes only with iPad. This is similar to the case of the latest Mac Mini. I cannot ignore the fact that there seems to be an ugly pattern in recent Apple's policy.

For all of mine heavy workload, I use only one USB port. Guess, that I can still use the port in the Retina MBA, cause its got one. Should I need HDMI and USB3.0, there is adaptor, no big deal. If you constantly use USB 3.0 and HDMI out at same time, you can get MBA, Macbook Pro (both Retina and non-Retina). Or just buy adaptor. I never use HDMI from my macbook, but use instead mini display port- to -VGA adaptor and its just fine.

I use an ethernet cable in my work, and this is for more than 8 hours every day. This means that I need to have the charging cable on, as well. I also hook the iPhone on it, plus external usb drives/sticks that occasionally need connect. This is not an extreme usage scenario, it's a typical computer usage, and still renders rMB useless.

What do you mean ' retina display could be used in any other laptop line?" Retina for the first time comes to supermobile Macbook Air line and its welcome addition. You don't need it, dont buy it. Others may enjoy it, for example, photographers will greatly appreciate better display and so will graphic artists, publishing and typography people, as well as many who read a lot of PDFs on their notebooks.

I meant that there was no reason to cripple a machine in so many ways in order to deliver a retina display as a compensation. Retina could be used on an MBA and voila; you have a near-perfect laptop, still greatly portable. Photographers and other artists will get the impact of the underpowered performance before everyone else does. This product is just an internet consumption device, just like the iPad. The difference is that iPad has a good excuse for this; it's a tablet.

Pipeline looks just fine to me. There mobility notebooks like MBA, pro notebooks like MB Pro. You have budget versions for both (non-retina) and Retina versions as well (one Retina model for Macbook Airs). Choice is yours.

Well, the point of most people irritated by apple's latest pipeline is not about the choices you get, but more about the ones you don't. In this particular example, everyone would love a retina MBA, the possibilities would be great for such machine. But this rMB is not even remotely something like that.

 

[Narcaz]

I'm not defending them, but it's clearly obvious that YOU ARE NOT the target audience. Lets think about this logically. If you don't want to buy it, then you weren't really the audience. I don't understand why people don't get this. When given choices, company's don't think you're the target audience for all of their products, that's why there is a lineup of CHOICES.

Not a great machine, I agree with you, at least from my personal opinion. Now, to those that are the target audience, they'll probably think it is a great machine. See how perspective works? I think it's over priced, under performing. Which brings me to my next point.

Future of Macbooks, of course it is. You'd have to be crazy to think it isn't... hence it being called a Macbook. Like it or not, Airs will be phased out soon (within next year or so). It's the same way the Airs first came in, over priced and under powered at $1700 or $1800 (can't remember) yet now they go for ~1K.

So yeah, my personal view is it isn't a great machine and apparently we agree on that. But the "you're not the target market" is true, so is it's "the future of macbooks". If you disagree on the target market aspect, then why haven't you bought every single product Apple offers? Reason you haven't is, you're not the target market.

There are already many posts about who is the potential target audience and who is not. But your definition is somehow flawed. I can surely be the target audience while having zero interest in really buying this product. Apple has to convince me to do so. I don't deny that this machine has a certain appeal. And i was interested to buy it until i discovered the complete loss of connectivity and the hefty premium price (a dongle for 89€?!). It is fine to buy it and see its value in portability. But this doesn't change the facts about pricing and ports. I am sure the target audience wouldn't mind a price drop and a second USB C port. Some forum members use this target market argument mostly as a straw man to justify everything Apple does.

And why does Apple have to repeat the failures from 2008? Apple has changed since the reveal of the first MB Air, the market has changed and the user habits have changed. They are a big player now and there are many other light notebooks around. And users shifted many computing tasks to tablets and smartphones. This comparison between the first Air and the rMB leads nowhere. They could easily updated the screen of the air by now without creating a another product category. Instead they pushed this engineering study to the market. In a landscape, where everything isn't wireless. Even the future of USB C is uncertain. It could be the next big standard, but there is still the possibility that it ends as a niche product like Firewire or Thunderbolt. So if Apple added one or two mainstream ports like USB 3.0 and HDMI, the transition would be way easier for most people. Prepared for the future, but not useless in the present.

The future of Macbooks argument is also as thin as the new rMB. Lighter, Better battery design, clever screen technology and fanless design are welcome. Loss of magsafe, connectivity, cpu performance, good keyboard, hd facetime camera and battery life not so much. It is a shift in the notebook comprise and it won't work for everyone. So let's hope they won't push every other mac product in this direction.

 

[justinhu8]

The Verge nailed it in their review. This is the future of notebooks in terms of design and ports but isn't ready just yet.

Please describe to me the target audience, who would choose this over a MacBook Air? Probably the same as the first generation Air. Apple clearly hasn't learnt from that, especially when it came to ports and performance.

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but it's clearly obvious that YOU ARE NOT the target audience.

Then who is?

 

[bkkcanuck]

The Verge nailed it in their review. This is the future of notebooks in terms of design and ports but isn't ready just yet.

Please describe to me the target audience, who would choose this over a MacBook Air? Probably the same as the first generation Air. Apple clearly hasn't learnt from that, especially when it came to ports and performance.

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Then who is?

I am. I want an ultraportable device with a keyboard that is hinged and not flimsily connected that is as unobtrusive and unannoying as possible for when I am not at my desk at home (whether in the plane, down in Singapore or near the beach) that I can use. I would prefer a retina screen, I want a very fast SSD and it has to be able to run my applications below.

All the applications should not be a problem on this Macbook.

Affinity Designer, Doceri Desktop, Evernote, Google Chrome, Intellij, iTerm, Libre Office, Microsoft Office, Limechat, MacGourmet, Mental Case, Microsoft Remote Desktop, MPlayerX, OmniGaffle Professional, Pixelmator, Reunion 9, Screenflow, Textmate, VLC, VMWare Fusion for Linux and Oracle database, Winzip.........

The only thing that might stress it would be VMWare Fusion/Linux/Oracle combo but I don't need it often and I don't need large datasets.

Ports are not an issue, and the screen is great. The CPU is sufficient.

 

[StoneJack]

I use an ethernet cable in my work, and this is for more than 8 hours every day. This means that I need to have the charging cable on, as well. I also hook the iPhone on it, plus external usb drives/sticks that occasionally need connect. This is not an extreme usage scenario, it's a typical computer usage, and still renders rMB useless.

This is an example where you'd be better off not using the new Retina MBA. Did you consider MBA or Macbook Pro? MBA doesn't have ethernet either (usb to ethernet is possible though).

 

[bkkcanuck]

This is an example where you'd be better off not using the new Retina MBA. Did you consider MBA or Macbook Pro? MBA doesn't have ethernet either (usb to ethernet is possible though).

MBA does have thunderbolt which should work better for lower latency tasks such as wired ethernet. It would have been nice if they could have integrated a wired ethernet cable in using the USB-C connector as well... but c'est la vie.

If not in a rush though the rest of the line should be refreshed sometime this year top to bottom -- once Skylake is released.

 

[bkkcanuck]

I use an ethernet cable in my work, and this is for more than 8 hours every day. This means that I need to have the charging cable on, as well. I also hook the iPhone on it, plus external usb drives/sticks that occasionally need connect. This is not an extreme usage scenario, it's a typical computer usage, and still renders rMB useless.

I am not surprised they don't allow wireless direct access to the internal network, BUT I am also surprised they have not worked out a compromise while maintaining security. One "compromise" that works well is to allow wireless access to an access point "outside" the internal network (treated like the same security as the internet). Allow only specific MAC addresses to connect to this wireless point, then requiring a VPN connection in (similar to what is allowed from home at my place of work).

 

[NATO]

I think people are missing the point of this MacBook - it's not for the likes of us who patrol Mac forums (ie, the geeks).

This is the sort of laptop for the sorts of people who just want a thin/light laptop for surfing the web, listening to music or writing etc.

Expect to see a LOT of these in coffee shops the world over...

 

[Tech198]

He's pressing on it to hard, look... the Mac is bouncing all over the place....

I would have actually said "It's like a MBA with compromises."

I would have like to seen two USB-C ports, not just one... they'll probably be a next model..

We should rename the Force Touch to "Fake Click", but i guess Apple wants to give users the illusion (scary stuff)


Look at all those batteries surprising that tiny board. I guess battery technology isn't there just yet either.

 

[bkkcanuck]

I think people are missing the point of this MacBook - it's not for the likes of us who patrol Mac forums (ie, the geeks).

This is the sort of laptop for the sorts of people who just want a thin/light laptop for surfing the web, listening to music or writing etc.

Expect to see a LOT of these in coffee shops the world over...

It is for me... and yes I am a geek. I will use it when I go to the beach (can only relax so long before I have to get to a keyboard to code), I will use it on a plane, and even a train (though last year quite a few derailed). I will use it sitting in an airport, and comparing notes with friends in nearby countries. So who says it is not for geeks.... Geeks just have more toys, what self respecting geek only has one, two or even three computers....

I was told my desk/work area at home looked more like NASA space control....

 

[jeffreyg]

As usual everyone misses the wood for the trees

I absolutely love this new Macbook, and I embrace the aggressive amputation of physical ports that Apple have done to achieve it. Good riddance, it needed to be done, and who but Apple would have the guts? Surely the fact that this is called simply "Macbook" is a hint that Apple are considering this the template for future Apple laptops?

And available in gold? i could almost faint. I have to have it. And the bestest one too.

Is this first iteration underpowered? Yes it probably is a bit. But it is also an absolutely beautiful distillation of what laptops have been, and in the future, will all be. What they can be.

But I'm sure this first iteration is a capable enough computer for most. I'll be using mine for everything, and I'm sure it will cope, just as my current mid-2012 11 inch MBA does. Although as IT and production manager for an advertising agency of 30 staff, perhaps my needs aren't as "pro" as many on these forums.

Part of me wants me to say, "get on board and understand that this is a new idea of a totally wireless, beautifully miniaturised hi-res Mac laptop".

But the vindictive old queen in me is probably more going to have me saying, "okay, so don't buy one then".

Because I'll be grabbing one, and in gold with the BTO faster processor too. And then I'll have one, and you won't. Your loss.

And I'll bet that in a couple of years the laptops you do buy are more like this beautiful little Macbook than the other Apple laptops available right now.

 

[niun]

The arguments for this machine appear to be that it's aimed at the web browsing, Facebook checking, simple task user. IE, not a power user.

Is this not the market that the iPad currently swamps?

As so many people have asked about the Surface,

Who is this for?

 

[bkkcanuck]

Maybe it is time for a little look back.... and have a laugh at John C. Dvorak's expense..... a noted Apple doomsayer....

Prediction in 2006 of Mac OS X's demise....

 

[jcmeyer5]

Yep... exactly what was said about the MBA.

Its portability and overall intention as a product and its uses is what's ahead of time.

However, the MacBook Air had the novelty of never being done before. The Air began the ultrabook form factor. This thing has nothing new that distinguishes itself from the Air, other than the features that Apple CHOOSES not to include in the Air... namely the retina screen, but also the new trackpad and USB-C. There's no reason those could not have been incorporated into a redesigned Air chassis... other than Apple with the mistaken belief that "the customers don't know what they want until you tell them."

 

[jeffreyg]

However, the MacBook Air had the novelty of never being done before. The Air began the ultrabook form factor. This thing has nothing new that distinguishes itself from the Air, other than the features that Apple CHOOSES not to include in the Air... namely the retina screen, but also the new trackpad and USB-C. There's no reason those could not have been incorporated into a redesigned Air chassis... other than Apple with the mistaken belief that "the customers don't know what they want until you tell them."

But isn't that exactly what the new Macbook is - with the excision of a couple of rarely used USB ports? Who needed them? I've plugged a hard drive or USB stick into mine about every month or so. And it could easily have kept powering on with no power source while I did. So what's really lost here?

So this is really the new "Air", but by not calling it "Air", Apple are also saying that this isn't an especially light, small thing, this is just what an Apple computer is like now.

Seems you're not happy, but I don't understand why. I think it's a perfect evolution myself.

 

[jcmeyer5]

For me, more portability,

Seriously? Go get exercise or something. under a pound difference (less when you consider all the other stuff you have to drag around with you given the limited nature of the new MacBook).

larger screen estate,

MacBook Air 11.6", MacBook 12"... This is enough to suck $500 more out of your pocket?

retina display,

Right. Because there is NO WAY an Air could handle a retina display, Apple made this new machine who's only real selling point is the one feature everyone wanted for Air.

Force Touch trackpad,

Apple has told you that you want it. It's a gimmick.

and equal battery life to the 11" MBA.

Why stop there when you can have 33% MORE battery life in the 13" Air?


I think I am done with these conversations. Clearly Apple DOES know what they are doing when they release these products. There are enough people willing to pay through the nose for little (weight and screen size) to no (trackpad and battery life) to negative (processor speed, ports, keyboard) improvements that they can sustain a product like this... and even charge a premium.

Have fun with your new machine.

 

[bkkcanuck]

MacBook Air 11.6", MacBook 12"... This is enough to suck $500 more out of your pocket?

It would NOT have sucked $500 more out of my pocket because if I had gone with a Macbook Air -- I would have wanted one with 8GB of memory and 256GB SSD (it would be the sweet spot for me).... Difference of $100 for me and the screen is worth it.

I noticed a few people here have already ordered it and posted about it... one going for the 1.2 model.... IMHO there is only one really good reason for going with the 1.2 model for $300 more.... and that is an extra 256GB of SSD.

It is enough space that I don't feel overly restricted....

Right. Because there is NO WAY an Air could handle a retina display, Apple made this new machine who's only real selling point is the one feature everyone wanted for Air.

It could handle the Retina.... but at 60%ish of battery life.... and Apple had previously stated that was a compromise they were not willing to make.... As this is an interim upgrade and not a full refresh of the Air and Pro lines.... and not a full redesign.... I am not surprised to see a Air-like (whether Air or Pro) retina version....

 

[wiredup72]

Once again Apple is stuck going backwards to go forwards. And if you can't see that from a technical viewpoint, I can't help you. But this will not run Logic with multiple plugins along with productivity apps better than a similar priced MBA.

Just another generation for me to skip. Like the current Mini.

Personally, I blame this on Intel's production problems, not Apple.

I am desperately in need of a machine and my wife gets the rMBP for her modeling software. I can't afford a MBP or nMP and would prefer some portability. Hang on there '06 MBP and Logic 8.

 

[Gudi]

What upsets me about the verge review is the MBA is now thick and clunky? Really? That's true RDF. Apple announces a new design and all of a sudden yesterday's elegant beauty becomes "thick and clunky."

The MacBook Air was nice only between October 2010 and October 2012. Beginning with its redesign around flash storage and ending with the introduction of the 13" rMBP. Yesterday the MacBook Air without Retina Display was an ugly brick which needed to be replaced for more than two years. Today it has been replaced. Finally.

It's like all the ppl who banged on about how vulgar phablets were but now swear 5.5" is the perfect screen size.

Phablets are still stupid and the iPhone 6+ is merely the best of them.

 

[LordVic]

Personally, I blame this on Intel's production problems, not Apple.

Out of Curiosity, why?

Intel didnt' change their product roadmap here. In fact, they have more offerings of different levels then ever before, including even lower scale (core M, and the new Atom)

it was Apple that makes the decision which CPU choice to make in their products, and then build their product around it.

Intel's chips now are better than they ever have been in the past for power consumption and heat.

it isn't Intel's fault if Apple chose a product that doesn't best suit your needs.