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Many Apple Stores Not Carrying Retina MacBook Stock on Launch Day

verniesgarden said:
tell you what, we'll switch to the metric system when the rest of the world starts writing dates properly. :D
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i think we (americans) are also probably writing the dates wrong..

the world writes calendar dates as:
small increment (day)
medium (month)
large (year)

we do:
medium
small
large
:eek:
 
HobeSoundDarryl said:
And did it make you think you might want to return your rMBP to go with it instead? If not, why not?
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Actually I was a little jealous at first, mainly because the rMB is so tiny & thin. It truly felt like I could put it in my jacket pocket and carry it around that way all day. The more I think about it, I wouldn't trade my rMBP for this though. My rMBP is my only computer, so I need it to do everything well. The only thing the rMB seems to do better than my rMBP, is being ultraportable. I'd imagine the more I attempted to do with the rMB, the more its weaknesses would shine. Even the keyboard felt familiar, but still a little small and confined. Typing long documents on the smaller keyboard, attaching accessories or doing other full power tasks is where I'd want the bigger more robust rMBP back.

Oddly enough the reason why I bought the '15 rMBP were because of the same above weaknesses with my '11 MBA, it was simply too "ultra" for everything I needed it to do. 80% of the things I did.. my '11 MBA was the perfect machine. However when it came time to play HD video, or travel for an entire day with no power source, the MBA was fairly weak. Battery life was only about 4-5 hours, and much less if watching an HD movie on a flight. I'd be lucky to get 3 hours battery life watching a Bluray ripped movie. And while doing so, the fan would spin up ridiculously loud. Which is very annoying whenever doing processor intensive tasks like importing/exporting my 100GB photo library to a USB 2.0 external harddrive.

Its in these areas where the '15 rMBP shines. Battery life is a real world 10-11 hours on wifi as long as you avoid using Google Chrome. The only time I've ever heard the fan was when first setup the computer and restored the entire time machine backup from my old MBA to my new MBP. It has every ports I would need on a laptop except ethernet (HDMI, USB3.0, SD MEM). I cannot let go of the Magsafe connector, I'm the guy who always trips over the power cable. Finally the Retina screen, HD Facetime camera, full power 1.3Gb/s wifi, full power 28watt i5 CPU and ability of the 6100 "Iris" GPU to handle 4K video at 60hz out makes it future proof for the next few years.

The only things the rMB can do, from the above list, is operate completely silent (because its fanless) & provide a similiar beautiful Retina resolution.

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flat five said:
i think we (americans) are also probably writing the dates wrong..

the world writes calendar dates as:
small increment (day)
medium (month)
large (year)

we do:
medium
small
large
:eek:
Click to expand...

I disagree.. we do it the right way because we write the date the same way we speak the date.

For example today is April 10th. Which means it makes more sense to write it as 4/10 or 4/10/15.

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RogerWilco said:
Oh please, 100 watts of power? At 5V that is 20 amps of current -- somehow I doubt the skinny gauge wires used in these cables is going to pass 20A of current without seriously overheating.
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You speak as though thicker cables do not exist or cannot be made/sold.

The spec says USB-C supports 100watts of power. Do you have any scientific evidence to contradict that? I'm sure the various engineers at Apple would love to hear it.
 
Bethesda Row had a table full of demos an hour ago. Nothing to sell mind you, but stuff to look at and try out.

Beginning to recant my earlier comment that I don't want to spend $2k on it.
 
i went into my local store and a over enthusiastic blue shirt wearing apple employee told me when the machines were announced ' come in on the 10th and you can have a look at the new macbook'.

So I go in and 'oh its only online and pre order, however would you like a demo of the iwatch?

'No I came in for the macbook, when will it be in?'

'Were not sure, it looks like pre order only, would you like a demo of the iwatch'.

'No, I'm quite happy with my iPhone.'

'I can walk you through it and show you what it can do'

'No thanks, i came in to test the macbook'

and left.

potential macbook sale £1200 - potential iwatch sale 300-500--- result - no sale.
 
Daekwan said:
I disagree.. we do it the right way because we write the date the same way we speak the date.

For example today is April 10th. Which means it makes more sense to write it as 4/10 or 4/10/15.
Click to expand...

everyone doesn't speak the same way or the same language.
we're at a point where things like date,time,length,volume etc should have global standards as opposed to a bunch of local variations.. do a single collaboration involving people outside of the u.s. and it will become much more clear.

our number system is more or less standard throughout the world.. following that, today's date should either be 2015/04/10 (which is how we do time on a clock) or 10/04/2015.. of which, i believe most people would agree to use the second one.

following your logic of how written units should match vocal, we should then be writing 100$ instead of $100
 
Daekwan said:
That would have definitely calmed the haters. But knowing Apple, including a USB-C cable with built in USB 3.0 hub, ethernet and HDMI would have bumped the price up another $100.

I'm telling you, once USB-C/USB 3.1 catches on.. these cables will be $10 bucks in no time. And more importantly we will see tons of new devices coming to market with USB-C ports. I'd imagine even the next wave of smartphones will use USB-C as the single port.. and that same cheap hub/ethernet/HDMI/power cable will be just as useful there for phones & tablets.
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Apparently you don't know how haters work :cool:

I still think Apple did a fantastic job of laying out their vision of what the norm will be in the laptop market in 2-3 years (the lag it took for the fabled "ultrabook" wave to hit).

First the competitors laugh.
Then they run ads waving ports at people whom couldn't care less.
Then the industry rushes to adapt.

This cycle has happened 3 times in the last decade.
 
Daekwan said:
I didn't think about playing 1080p Youtube video (because that would definitely make the fan kick up to high speed on my '11 MBA) but I will give that a try when go back to the Apple store. There's a good chance I'll be going back to the Apple store tomorrow, as the Gold Macbook purchase is a gift for my fiancee.. and I want her to see it/test it to be sure she wants it. Her job issues her an older MBP with the optical drive.. and she wants a smaller computer. Just not sure if she would be better off with the new Gold Macbook or something a little more robust like the '15 MBA.

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That would have definitely calmed the haters. But knowing Apple, including a USB-C cable with built in USB 3.0 hub, ethernet and HDMI would have bumped the price up another $100.

I'm telling you, once USB-C/USB 3.1 catches on.. these cables will be $10 bucks in no time. And more importantly we will see tons of new devices coming to market with USB-C ports. I'd imagine even the next wave of smartphones will use USB-C as the single port.. and that same cheap hub/ethernet/HDMI/power cable will be just as useful there for phones & tablets.
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Things are different with Youtube now that they have officially switched over to HTML5 from Flash. Flash crushes cpu.
 
For all those concerned about performance, let me give some hopefully helpful information. Many tests have put the base processor on par with 2011 1.8ghz i7 MBA.

I owned this exact MBA (the 1.8 i7 was a BTO option that I bought) and I used and loved the system for 3 years. It handled anything and everything I threw at it without issue, and I should mention that I am a senior IT systems engineer, not just surfing the web and reading email. I often ran virtual machines and had no issue doing this either. It was slower than pro level systems at doing pro level stuff like transcoding video or compiling code, but it could still do it nonetheless. You can forget about gaming though. Only reason I sold this system is because I got to the point where I really wanted a Retina display.

Now looking at the new Macbook, you can bump this sucker up to a much faster processor that is 200mhz base/500mhz turbo faster than the lower end chip. It also has a pci-e ssd that is about 4x faster than what was in the 2011 MBA, and probably has faster ram too. Even though it has to drive a Retina display, the graphics in the new Macbook are also far superior. According to Engadget the new Macbook boots faster than any Mac they have ever tested at under 7 seconds.
 
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Daekwan said:
The one port thing is also being ridiculed but people don't understand how USB-C or USB 3.1 works. It's an open standard that supports up to 100watts of power. The laptop only needs 29watts to charge. So one port is all that is needed. Once the 3rd party market starts making cables and adapters you be able to find $10 cables all over Amazon and EBay that have 2 or 3 port USB-C hubs built into them.
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Not only that, it seems most people do not understand the purpose of the MB. For example, with my MBA, 99+% of the time I have nothing connected to it. I barely use the ports, other than to occasionally backup, or transfer something to a USB memory stick. And, 99+% of the time I'm doing basic stuff; i.e. not running Logic, Final Cut, Matlab, etc - yet still good enough to process my photographs (I'm a photographer, www.citysnaps.net) in Lightroom when traveling. As I'm on the road a lot, I value the portability and long battery life (and have a couple of desktop Macs for the other stuff, like maintaining my large Lightroom library).

That's the market Apple is going for; i.e. people needing a 2nd machine who value portability, weight, size, yet still needing a great display. Apple will sell a ton of them, not just now with the initial release, but over the years as it evolves when better CPUs and other components are ready. Just like the MBA.
 
Daekwan said:
I disagree.. we do it the right way because we write the date the same way we speak the date.

For example today is April 10th. Which means it makes more sense to write it as 4/10 or 4/10/15.
Click to expand...

Wow, I'm from NZ, and I always wondered why you would write it as 4/10/15. What you say makes sense! (I don't agree with it, but at least it makes sense)

And on a different note, I see the 512 Space Gray has now slipped to 3-4 weeks in the US store too. So both the golds, and the 512 SG, can't be got anywhere in 1-3 days.
 
I just called the Yorkdale apple store in Toronto and they told me that none of the Apple stores in Canada have any Macbooks in stock or even any display models and will not have any for at least two weeks. I don't understand why they decided to formally launch it today if the initial supplies are so tight. It's not like the Watch where their hand was forced by the promise to launch it in early 2015 months in advance. No such promises were made about the macbook. and there is no way I am going to buy a product like that without testing it first.
 
Traverse said:
To me, Apple was not clear on this or the Apple Watch's availability.

Saying "available on 4/10/15" leads many (most) people to think you can actually get one, not just preorder.
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They never said it would be available April 10th, they said it would SHIP April 10th, big difference.
 

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Traverse said:
To me, Apple was not clear on this or the Apple Watch's availability.

Saying "available on 4/10/15" leads many (most) people to think you can actually get one, not just preorder.
Click to expand...

In the first Apple Watch event on September they said it will be available "Early 2015". To me early would have been January or February. Now it seems more like May or June. I think they have had major issues producing both of these new products.
 
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