Real-world demo of rMB processor on Zenbook (800 MHz clock), also fanless - I'm SOLD!

[Jobsian]

A lot of the people on this forum who are bashing the rMB never give a valid reason for their comments about it lacking power to do almost everything. I personally believe it's their way of making themselves feel better about dropping well over $2,000 on a rMBP knowing they won't even use 1/4 of it's power. A lot of rMBP owners buy it to say they have it, not because they actually need even a fraction of it's capabilities. I believe the rMB is slightly overpriced, but it's to be expected with a brand new Apple product. I would rather overpay by around $300 while getting a whole new design than overpay by around $800 for something I have no use for. I currently own a late 2011 MBP and it's plenty powerful enough for my needs. I will even go far as saying getting opinions on this forum is almost useless, there are way too many spec geeks. Everything is a waste if it's not 15" or a quad core. I even see spec geeks telling others to buy an iPad instead of buying the rMB. It's not like they don't run totally different software or anything. I will choose practical over specs every time. I would love to have a rMBP with the new rMB design, but I know it would be pointless for me. That doesn't mean I should go buy a tablet, it just means I don't need something that is made for professional graphic artists.

Nice post and agreed. Rather than endless benchmark numbers, I'd much rather a demo of everyday use as in the vid above. Not being an artist or coder etc, all I want is to use the internet, word processing, watch videos and maybe occasional heavy-ish lifting on handbrake as smoothly as possible in a device as small and light with as big a battery as they can muster. I imagine most people are in the same category, unfortunately yes that means we're essentially in the market for a 'Facebook machine', no shame in that.

I think I'm gonna fall in love with the rMB.

 

[PDFierro]

Nice post and agreed. Rather than endless benchmark numbers, I'd much rather a demo of everyday use as in the vid above. Not being an artist or coder etc, all I want is to use the internet, word processing, watch videos and maybe occasional heavy-ish lifting on handbrake as smoothly as possible in a device as small and light with as big a battery as they can muster. I imagine most people are in the same category, unfortunately yes that means we're essentially in the market for a 'Facebook machine', no shame in that.

I think I'm gonna fall in love with the rMB.

I agree. Myself, I use my Mac for a little more than that...but most of my work is web-base. So I'll have no issues with the performance. I travel so much that it's worth it for me to go from the 13" rMBP to the new MacBook.

 

[Traverse]

I agree. Myself, I use my Mac for a little more than that...but most of my work is web-base. So I'll have no issues with the performance. I travel so much that it's worth it for me to go from the 13" rMBP to the new MacBook.

This thing is definitely more powerful than people want to admit.

Still i don't know if I want to keep a rMBP and a MB in sync or just get an iPad.

Maybe sell my 15" and get a 13"? SO MANY OPTIONS! It's good, but it's also maddening.

 

[mtneer]

Wow! I am impressed with Intel and the Core-M.

I was expecting this to be a POS, like the Atom N-series that I have in my EEEPC which cannot play freakin 720p on Youtube.

I am not sure if I would want ARM on the Macbook anymore if Intel can squeeze this much performance in a 5W processor. The A8 is what? 3W?

 

[PDFierro]

This thing is definitely more powerful than people want to admit.

Still i don't know if I want to keep a rMBP and a MB in sync or just get an iPad.

Maybe sell my 15" and get a 13"? SO MANY OPTIONS! It's good, but it's also maddening.

I see that you've been struggling with this. I'd just get an iPad if I were in your situation. It'd be good for you to have the tablet form factor since you already have a powerful Mac. I could never have two Macs. On the other hand, I'm wondering if I should even keep my iPad now. Thinking about selling it off.

 

[Mr. Buzzcut]

Did anyone actually expect this chip to fail at playing 1080p videos? Geez, handheld devices from 2-3 years ago can do that much, it isn't that demanding anymore.

The Core M will suck at multithreaded tasks and gaming; watching videos, Facetime'ing and browsing the web will work fine.

Sort of humorous folks think they need a $1.5K computer to (barely) play video. A Raspberry Pi will play 1080p video!

 

[Alloy201]

I told myself at the beginning of the year when I purchase a 2015 model I will treat it as if I am buying a new car. When you're looking for a daily driver most buyers (price aside) look for gas mileage and styling before power. Telling me to buy the rMBP instead of buying the rMB due to a power difference is like telling me to buy a Corvette ZR1 over a BMW. In this case the weight/battery would be our gas mileage and the new design would be the styling. Why do you need a over 600hp track car to get from point A to point B? The obvious answer is the rMB is the right choice for the daily driver, if you get me.

 

[Traverse]

I see that you've been struggling with this. I'd just get an iPad if I were in your situation. It'd be good for you to have the tablet form factor since you already have a powerful Mac. I could never have two Macs. On the other hand, I'm wondering if I should even keep my iPad now. Thinking about selling it off.

I think that unless there are specific iOS apps you enjoy, the new MacBook and an iPad would be very redundant.

The biggest bonus to this new MB is truly no moving parts. The Core M is able to perform acceptably without a fan. I would never carry around a notebook that had an HDD, but since all MacBooks (Pro/Air)s now ship with SSD, moving them around while using is no longer an issue.

For me, in the future after I graduate I may get an iPad Mini Retina gen 4/5/6 (whatever is current) for some iOS games I like.

 

[newellj]

This thing is definitely more powerful than people want to admit.

Still i don't know if I want to keep a rMBP and a MB in sync or just get an iPad.

Maybe sell my 15" and get a 13"? SO MANY OPTIONS! It's good, but it's also maddening.

This has gone through my mind (the two laptop question). For a number of years I had both a 13" and a 15" laptop. It wasn't really necessary or very practical. I am asking myself whether the ultra portability of the rMB would change that for me, or whether it's just the same issue dressed up in different clothes.

 

[Traverse]

This has gone through my mind (the two laptop question). For a number of years I had both a 13" and a 15" laptop. It wasn't really necessary or very practical. I am asking myself whether the ultra portability of the rMB would change that for me, or whether it's just the same issue dressed up in different clothes.

Exactly. The MB is a great in-between device, but do I really need an in-between device or do I just need to lighten up my main system.

Still, the 13" rMBP is 3.5 pounds and the MB is only 2 pounds. That a decent difference for a mobile person or small backpack.

 

[PDFierro]

Exactly. The MB is a great in-between device, but do I really need an in-between device or do I just need to lighten up my main system.

Still, the 13" rMBP is 3.5 pounds and the MB is only 2 pounds. That a decent difference for a mobile person or small backpack.

Yup, I travel almost daily. Hence why going from the 13" rMBP to the MB makes sense for me. As for the iPad, yeah I have the Mini now, and I really only use it for a few specific things. I think those things could easily be accomplished on the iPhone.

On the other hand, almost every app I use on my Mac is OS X-exclusive. So I don't understand the people dismissing the new MacBook and saying to get an iPad. It'd be a huge struggle for me.

 

[ByteTheBooty]

this vid made me realize how much i love my apple product and how happy i am not to have disgustingly ugly computer like that zenbook...ugliest **** color I've ever seen...even if it is 600$...

and I never doubted for a second that the new MB would be poor in performance...apple wouldn't make a device that bad/unpleasent for its customers...

 

[iRun26.2]

this vid made me realize how much i love my apple product and how happy i am not to have disgustingly ugly computer like that zenbook...ugliest **** color I've ever seen...even if it is 600$...

and I never doubted for a second that the new MB would be poor in performance...apple wouldn't make a device that bad/unpleasent for its customers...

I sure hope not. It's just a little hard for me to believe that the included M-core processor, with its wesk GPU, can push the number of required pixels in the retina display.

 

[newellj]

Exactly. The MB is a great in-between device, but do I really need an in-between device or do I just need to lighten up my main system.

Still, the 13" rMBP is 3.5 pounds and the MB is only 2 pounds. That a decent difference for a mobile person or small backpack.

Having used a 2.3 pound 11" MBA for 14 days, the weight difference will be very noticeable, especially given how much time I spemd each day walking with the computer.

 

[Traverse]

Having used a 2.3 pound 11" MBA for 14 days, the weight difference will be very noticeable, especially given how much time I spemd each day walking with the computer.

And actually, my iPad 3 is about 1.5 pounds and the keyboard cover is 0.7 pounds. I'm actuall shedding 0.2 pounds! The iPad isnt as lightweight as I thought.

 

[newellj]

And actually, my iPad 3 is about 1.5 pounds and the keyboard cover is 0.7 pounds. I'm actuall shedding 0.2 pounds! The iPad isnt as lightweight as I thought.

I had an iPad 3 and the thing was a boat anchor, almost literally. I ditched it promptly when the Air came out and went back to being able to use the thing one-handed. There's basically no difference between the iPad 2, Air and Air 2 in terms of weight, but 3 and 4 were real heavyweights. Too much battery, too little efficiency.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

It makes sense in smaller screens too. A computer monitor at 21.5 inches 4k would be amazing. Too bad the only 4k monitors are larger.

I think they have the 24 inch ones out.

The closer the pixels are together the brighter the backlight needs to be and the more power it uses. This makes 4 k in mobile devices a thing of the future at teh moment.

 

[iSheep5S]

I had to come back to this thread to check the Asus was the model i first read...

A guy called Markus Persson the original creator of a little game called MineCraft?

He tweets as @Notch Here is three tweets mentioning this Asus. A nod to how this MacBook may be?

I got an Asus UX305 because I figured I was too married to my MacBook Air. Way, way too slow. Can't even run twitch fullscreen properly.

Sorry, that was unclear. The ASUS is too slow. I'm actually impressed with how slow it is, my CELLPHONE runs twitch at full hd at 60 fps.

Oh, it's not just twitch or flash that's slow. Trust me, the machine has the worst performance per dollar I've ever seen, and I'm on a mac.

 

[Jobsian]

I had to come back to this thread to check the Asus was the model i first read...

A guy called Markus Persson the original creator of a little game called MineCraft?

He tweets as @Notch Here is three tweets mentioning this Asus. A nod to how this MacBook may be?

I got an Asus UX305 because I figured I was too married to my MacBook Air. Way, way too slow. Can't even run twitch fullscreen properly.

Sorry, that was unclear. The ASUS is too slow. I'm actually impressed with how slow it is, my CELLPHONE runs twitch at full hd at 60 fps.

Oh, it's not just twitch or flash that's slow. Trust me, the machine has the worst performance per dollar I've ever seen, and I'm on a mac.

Uh oh. Notch's word means something. This is one of the reasons I'm going for 1.3GHz, eek out every Hz out of this thing. 800MHz to 1.3GHz is a 61% increase, hopefully should smooth out the performance a bit more (along with a more optimised OS).

 

[Serban]

so it will be an ok laptop like the macbook air was in 2012 or it will be slower?

 

[newellj]

so it will be an ok laptop like the macbook air was in 2012 or it will be slower?

I think most people expect it will be about the same. The only qualification would be that although the Core M is really good at burst tasks, it's not going to be as good as an MBA or rMBP at tasks that require extended runtime. So, if you want to rip videos with Handbrake, this is probably not the right machine to use.

 

[iRun26.2]

I think most people expect it will be about the same. The only qualification would be that although the Core M is really good at burst tasks, it's not going to be as good as an MBA or rMBP at tasks that require extended runtime. So, if you wwant to rip videos with Handbrake, this is probably not the right machine to use.

I definitely plan to use Handbrake but I plan to have it run overnight while I sleep.

 

[shenan1982]

so it will be an ok laptop like the macbook air was in 2012 or it will be slower?

Well you're not going to notice the difference in your web pages, emails, word documents, and iTunes, which are what 90% of mac users do on their laptops.

 

[Serban]

Well you're not going to notice the difference in your web pages, emails, word documents, and iTunes, which are what 90% of mac users do on their laptops.

yea but the lag of the HD4000 with that retina display will be noticed since the HD5300 is on par with HD4000?
Yes still this macbook has 1440p instead of 1800p but still wondering

 

[OzyOly]

I sure hope not. It's just a little hard for me to believe that the included M-core processor, with its wesk GPU, can push the number of required pixels in the retina display.

My 13 rMBP struggles sometimes. I think skylake will be just what the rMB needs at the end of the year.