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Played with a display unit - first impressions ?
- Thread starter pasadena
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Queen6
macrumors G5
Queen6
macrumors G5
2014 2.8Ghz i5, 8Gb, 512SSD, still very impressed 😀
Q-6
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I would say Q1 2016, if it comes earlier or later it wont be good...
Core M will be the first of the Skylake release, Intel are on target, with a speculated release for Q-3. Broadwell will have a very short shelf-life of that you can be certain...
Q-6
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That's a photo of the iPad Air 2 Space Gray back. Definitely interesting that Apple didn't go with that shade of space gray for the rMB. The iPad Mini 3 space gray did keep the darker shade, but I'm guessing because the Mini 3 update only contained Touch ID. All my devices are in space gray now...so that should be interesting.
First impressions:
The space gray looks amazing! Hopefully other macs come in space gray eventually because it looks really classy.
The new retina Macbook does make me think of an ipad, especially when closed. It feels teeny tiny. Almost too tiny. I'm not sure I can use a screen that small (even with retina to allow for 1440x900 resolution). Screen elements were too small for me.
I could see getting used to the keyboard easily. It does feel a little weird but I like shallow keyboards and the keyboard still felt well built which is the important thing.
The trackpad just felt like a regular trackpad. I couldn't make my mind think it wasn't physically clicking down. I don't think I would get much use out of force touch though. It neither felt intuitive nor that useful.
The screen looked great, but not mind blowing. I am pretty picky about technology and for me the important thing about a screen is color. I really don't like badly calibrated screens but resolution, as long as I'm not staring at huge pixels like the first iPads, doesn't really bother me. Basically for me the 'retina' part of the Macbook was the least impressive thing about it.
Certainly a very well built and quality machine. I couldn't really slow it down or get it to stutter either when I was trying to open a lot of apps and switch between desktops. For reference when Apple released the slightly underpowered 2010 Macbook Air I was able to get those machines to stutter in the store.
I still wouldn't buy one for myself but I certainly wish for the day when a laptop like that will fit my needs. Because it would be awesome to carry around a laptop that thin and light.
The space gray looks amazing! Hopefully other macs come in space gray eventually because it looks really classy.
The new retina Macbook does make me think of an ipad, especially when closed. It feels teeny tiny. Almost too tiny. I'm not sure I can use a screen that small (even with retina to allow for 1440x900 resolution). Screen elements were too small for me.
I could see getting used to the keyboard easily. It does feel a little weird but I like shallow keyboards and the keyboard still felt well built which is the important thing.
The trackpad just felt like a regular trackpad. I couldn't make my mind think it wasn't physically clicking down. I don't think I would get much use out of force touch though. It neither felt intuitive nor that useful.
The screen looked great, but not mind blowing. I am pretty picky about technology and for me the important thing about a screen is color. I really don't like badly calibrated screens but resolution, as long as I'm not staring at huge pixels like the first iPads, doesn't really bother me. Basically for me the 'retina' part of the Macbook was the least impressive thing about it.
Certainly a very well built and quality machine. I couldn't really slow it down or get it to stutter either when I was trying to open a lot of apps and switch between desktops. For reference when Apple released the slightly underpowered 2010 Macbook Air I was able to get those machines to stutter in the store.
I still wouldn't buy one for myself but I certainly wish for the day when a laptop like that will fit my needs. Because it would be awesome to carry around a laptop that thin and light.
i've seen like 15-20 hands on videos on youtube, but when i went to the store and put my hands on it, just one word. amazing.
I'd like to see a 13.3 retina, but the form factor should be smaller - less bezel needed. Or a larger screen in the current size.
Traverse
macrumors 604
I played with a store model today and absolutely loved it, but I noticed it lagged when scrolling through the finder or going into full screen mode. The display models were on OS X 10.10.2 and I know 10.10.3 had graphic driver updates so I wonder if that was improved.
Did anyone else notice this?
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Have you tried the rMB? Did you notice the lag I mentioned?
Did anyone else notice this?
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Have you tried the rMB? Did you notice the lag I mentioned?
newellj
macrumors G3
Didn't see that on the store displays and don't see it on mine. I did see that a lot on 11" MBAs and it drove me crazy so I don't think I'm just not seeing it.
Queen6
macrumors G5
The MacBook`s I looked at were all 10.10.2. I was able to induce lag with ease, by pushing apps to fullscreen/spaces. Lag was most obvious in Mission Control, if I have time I will look early next week and see if the demo`s are on .3
Q-6
newellj
macrumors G3
Given this issue, and the numerous issues during new machine setup, I'm wondering if there are bugs in 10.10.2 as installed on these machines. 😱
Traverse
macrumors 604
Did you decide to not get one?
If you check them out on 10.10.3 please let me know how it works.
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One thing that throws me off thought is that many if the reviews (the more objective reviews like Andatech) said that their units had no trouble staying fluid at 1280 x 800. There must have been something funky with the display unit.
Traverse
macrumors 604
Not sure yet, I'm one of those people that like to quadruple guess themselves until I get nauseous. 😛
I was really impressed by what I saw today. It seems like the perfect device to circumvent the shortcoming of the iPad. Right now I'm planning my future device lineup to ensure the iPad and rMB fit in:
- Do I even need an iPad in the future
- iPad or iPad Mini
- Do I need the rMB or should I just get a 13" MBP
- iPhone # Plus to replace iOS usage
Either way, I won't order online, I'll wait until I can go to the store and pick one up in a month or two. I'm going to wait until after WWDC to see what iOS 9 brings. If it looks like they may make the iPad feasible in the future I'll wait for the Air 3.
Otherwise, I'm very confident that I'll pick up the rMB in June. Thanks for asking though 🙂
EDIT: also, I loved the keyboard! I spend a good while typing in Pages (when the Apple Store employee wasn't bothering me to see if I preferred gold) and I must say that after about a minute and a half I was typing a good speeds and I liked the feel to it. The only problem I had was hitting the equal key when I wanted the delete key. There must be slight spacing difference there compared to my Apple bluetooth keyboard.
Dgail
macrumors regular
rMB
I was able to demo one at the Portland Apple store last Sunday. Had a genius appointment form my 2011 MBP as apparently I am running out of disc space, looks like I will need to upgrade sometime before the end of the year. This is the last laptop Apple made with a disc drive and at the time I purchased it, ordered it with a 128 SSD. Considered upgrading the RAM and drive, but a store staff at a reseller felt that it may not be worth it due to upgrades in the software, but runs fine on OS 10.3.
Back to the rMB. Was very impressed with the build quality. The display was stunning, even readable to my "older" eyes. I was not sure what to expect of the keyboard, I have long skinny fingers, it felt very natural (my Pro keys are starting to get threadbare at the bases and occasionally pop off or get misaligned where I have to press them back into place). The track pad for a new Mac user might seem a little weird, I did not feel it was much different from using a standard Mac track pad with the addition of a couple of new features.
I did not notice any lag scrolling up and down, would wonder if that could also be due to demands on the wifi system in the store.
Am not by any means a power user and until last month kept having to schlepp back and forth between home and work on an every other week basis. Will now be working in the same locale as my home. Even with my 2011 MBP, I only have the power cord attached for charging, am now using an AirPrint capable printer and my iThings sync over Wifi on a Time Capsule in another room separate from the laptop.
Unfortunately, in my professional (health care) world, have to access work software via a VPN and function in Windows, so I do plan to Boot Camp a portion of whatever drive I end up with dedicated portion for work applications.
At this point considering purchasing the rMB fully tricked out (1.3, 512 GB) which with AppleCare comes in at just under $2K, interested when that comes out what the reviews will say. Alternatively a refurbed 27" iMac with Retina, which seem to have some pretty good deals on the Apple website. Know I am comparing apples to oranges, but would really like to purchase my last computer! Was wondering why AppleCare is significantly less expensive for an iMac than the laptops?
I was able to demo one at the Portland Apple store last Sunday. Had a genius appointment form my 2011 MBP as apparently I am running out of disc space, looks like I will need to upgrade sometime before the end of the year. This is the last laptop Apple made with a disc drive and at the time I purchased it, ordered it with a 128 SSD. Considered upgrading the RAM and drive, but a store staff at a reseller felt that it may not be worth it due to upgrades in the software, but runs fine on OS 10.3.
Back to the rMB. Was very impressed with the build quality. The display was stunning, even readable to my "older" eyes. I was not sure what to expect of the keyboard, I have long skinny fingers, it felt very natural (my Pro keys are starting to get threadbare at the bases and occasionally pop off or get misaligned where I have to press them back into place). The track pad for a new Mac user might seem a little weird, I did not feel it was much different from using a standard Mac track pad with the addition of a couple of new features.
I did not notice any lag scrolling up and down, would wonder if that could also be due to demands on the wifi system in the store.
Am not by any means a power user and until last month kept having to schlepp back and forth between home and work on an every other week basis. Will now be working in the same locale as my home. Even with my 2011 MBP, I only have the power cord attached for charging, am now using an AirPrint capable printer and my iThings sync over Wifi on a Time Capsule in another room separate from the laptop.
Unfortunately, in my professional (health care) world, have to access work software via a VPN and function in Windows, so I do plan to Boot Camp a portion of whatever drive I end up with dedicated portion for work applications.
At this point considering purchasing the rMB fully tricked out (1.3, 512 GB) which with AppleCare comes in at just under $2K, interested when that comes out what the reviews will say. Alternatively a refurbed 27" iMac with Retina, which seem to have some pretty good deals on the Apple website. Know I am comparing apples to oranges, but would really like to purchase my last computer! Was wondering why AppleCare is significantly less expensive for an iMac than the laptops?
Queen6
macrumors G5
No stock here yet in mainland China/Hong Kong 🙁 so looks like it will be around end June - early August at the earliest for me to now to buy. Am getting too close to going to Norway, I`ll wait and see once I am back from the big freezer.
The obvious downside is that by mid summer Skylake will be rapidly approaching. Just bad timing I guess, looks like I will be a lot closer to the MacBook`s new wallpaper`s than the actual Notebook for a few months 😛
Q-6
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I want to run the MB @ 1440x900 and that makes a big difference on the GPU`s load. Some of the reviews I`ve read/seen have stated the same no issue at 1280x800, but once you step up the resolution things can deteriorate.
I also use a lot of fullscreen/spaces and that is another load on the system.
Q-6
newellj
macrumors G3
Thanks for the expert opinion. 🙄
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I had the same issue with the delete key. I think it is because this keys are just a little bigger than the current keyboards that we're used to.
Traverse
macrumors 604
What was interesting was that when i approached the display model I was blown away by it's quality and used it a good 10 minutes before I realized that it was in 1440 x 900 mode!
I switched back and forth and honestly the 1440 x 900 didn't make a huge difference.
Like I said, there was some slight lag when entering mission control with 6 windows open, nothing major and barely noticeable. There was no lag when scrolling in safari, but there WAS lag when scrolling through anything in the Finder. Abnormal lag so there was some kind of software bug.
mattopotamus
macrumors Pentium
I have rMBP and the rMB side by side. They both have some lag, and it is totally related to Yosemite. 10.10.3 made it better, but it is still slightly laggy. They really need to update it or move on. Turning reduced transparency "on" is the accessibility settings fixes the problem.