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Retina MacBook plenty of power for normal users

Y

Yamisky0

macrumors member
Original poster
May 17, 2007
77
6
After a week hands on with the Macbook, I can safely say it will take anything you throw at it. As an example here is my daily workload:

I am a heavy user of Spaces, so I typically have 4 running at any given time:
1 for Fun
1 for Business
1 for Messages
Tweetdeck(having its own full screen space)

I usually have the following programs open at all times:
10-15 Safari Tabs open
2-3 Pages documents
1-2 Numbers spreadsheets
1 VM(I have both Windows 10 and Ubuntu 14.04 installed)
Occasional Photoshop
iTunes Radio

I also have been running games in my free time:
Kerbal Space Program(with a few seconds load time between switching what I am doing)
Mostly indie games

Steam Home Sharing has been a god-send for running other games at very high quality.

I was very skeptical when the specs of the rMB was announced, as I consider myself a power user and run an IT company. My biggest fear was not the ports, but the power. It has well and truly exceeded my expectations and I have not run into a single situation in the last week where I went damn this thing is underpowered. I knew I would have 14 days to test this in real life and see if it fit my needs or I would return it. This laptop is going nowhere(unless I sell it to upgrade next year).

Note: I understand there are users who require more power than I do, such as full-time video, photographic, and music editors. I am not one, so when I use Photoshop it is not for intense 4K imagery, but usually less than 2000*2000 pixels for short durations of time and I have yet to run into an issue. I could see how this would not be powerful enough for some, though, hence the qualification plenty of power "for normal users".
 
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I use my Mac to get work done and the rMB will be plenty powerful enough for me. I think it's hilarious how some people on here were saying you could only use this thing for web browsing and movies.
 
Yamisky0 said:
After a week hands on with the Macbook, I can safely say it will take anything you throw at it. As an example here is my daily workload:



I am a heavy user of Spaces, so I typically have 4 running at any given time:

1 for Fun

1 for Business

1 for Messages

Tweetdeck(having its own full screen space)



I usually have the following programs open at all times:

10-15 Safari Tabs open

2-3 Pages documents

1-2 Numbers spreadsheets

1 VM(I have both Windows 10 and Ubuntu 14.04 installed)

Occasional Photoshop

iTunes Radio



I also have been running games in my free time:

Kerbal Space Program(with a few seconds load time between switching what I am doing)

Mostly indie games



Steam Home Sharing has been a god-send for running other games at very high quality.



I was very skeptical when the specs of the rMB was announced, as I consider myself a power user and run an IT company. My biggest fear was not the ports, but the power. It has well and truly exceeded my expectations and I have not run into a single situation in the last week where I went damn this thing is underpowered. I knew I would have 14 days to test this in real life and see if it fit my needs or I would return it. This laptop is going nowhere(unless I sell it to upgrade next year).



Note: I understand there are users who require more power than I do, such as full-time video, photographic, and music editors. I am not one, so when I use Photoshop it is not for intense 4K imagery, but usually less than 2000*2000 pixels for short durations of time and I have yet to run into an issue. I could see how this would not be powerful enough for some, though, hence the qualification plenty of power "for normal users".
Click to expand...


If I missed it somehow - I apologize, but can you specify whether you are on the base model or 1.2
 
vanimal said:
What kind of indie games have you tried on it?
Click to expand...

Hotline Miami, Knytt Underground, NyxQuest, and Peggle Nights. I've put nearly 20 hours into Kerbal Space Program on here.

Will I be running the Star Wars Battlefront on here at launch with maxed out settings? Hell no! But that's why I have 2 custom built gaming rigs/servers, this is great for gaming on the go.

I've barely touched my desktops since I got this last week.
 
Yamisky0 said:
Hotline Miami, Knytt Underground, NyxQuest, and Peggle Nights. I've put nearly 20 hours into Kerbal Space Program on here.

Will I be running the Star Wars Battlefront on here at launch with maxed out settings? Hell no! But that's why I have 2 custom built gaming rigs/servers, this is great for gaming on the go.

I've barely touched my desktops since I got this last week.
Click to expand...

I was just curious what indie games it rand fairly well to be honest haha. I have a gaming rig as well as a Xbox One so i do all my gaming on those :D. I would assume the MBR would be great for something like Hearthstone, Shovel Knight, Hotline Miami in bed. Something along those lines. :D
 
vanimal said:
I was just curious what indie games it rand fairly well to be honest haha. I have a gaming rig as well as a Xbox One so i do all my gaming on those :D. I would assume the MBR would be great for something like Hearthstone, Shovel Knight, Hotline Miami in bed. Something along those lines. :D
Click to expand...

It is great for usage like that! And after a 3 hour Kerbal binge, it is warm to the touch, not hot like certain people have said. Certainly not hotter than my iPad 3 has gotten under intensive usage. Plus, I live in Phoenix so everything is naturally hotter.

I cannot wait to use this on the flight to Newark I am taking next week.
 
Would you say this is good enough to program and code off of? Make it a main machine. The most is be using in terms of power is Xcode and the normal surfing, tweet deck, iTunes etc.
 
blvckk said:
Would you say this is good enough to program and code off of? Make it a main machine. The most is be using in terms of power is Xcode and the normal surfing, tweet deck, iTunes etc.
Click to expand...

I would say yes, it is. That is from my usage. I do some web design and programming, not any app development, so I only mess around in Xcode and am not 100% sure what I am doing even makes sense. I've read mixed reviews about how Xcode runs on this, but I've had not any issues running anything yet.
 
Yamisky0 said:
I would say yes, it is. That is from my usage. I do some web design and programming, not any app development, so I only mess around in Xcode and am not 100% sure what I am doing even makes sense. I've read mixed reviews about how Xcode runs on this, but I've had not any issues running anything yet.
Click to expand...

Ahh ok, Because I don't need crazy power.. But just enough to last me a couple years to do the daily stuff and not slow down after a few months lol.
 
Yamisky0 said:
After a week hands on with the Macbook, I can safely say it will take anything you throw at it. As an example here is my daily workload:

I am a heavy user of Spaces, so I typically have 4 running at any given time:
1 for Fun
1 for Business
1 for Messages
Tweetdeck(having its own full screen space)

I usually have the following programs open at all times:
10-15 Safari Tabs open
2-3 Pages documents
1-2 Numbers spreadsheets
1 VM(I have both Windows 10 and Ubuntu 14.04 installed)
Occasional Photoshop
iTunes Radio

I also have been running games in my free time:
Kerbal Space Program(with a few seconds load time between switching what I am doing)
Mostly indie games

Steam Home Sharing has been a god-send for running other games at very high quality.

I was very skeptical when the specs of the rMB was announced, as I consider myself a power user and run an IT company. My biggest fear was not the ports, but the power. It has well and truly exceeded my expectations and I have not run into a single situation in the last week where I went damn this thing is underpowered. I knew I would have 14 days to test this in real life and see if it fit my needs or I would return it. This laptop is going nowhere(unless I sell it to upgrade next year).

Note: I understand there are users who require more power than I do, such as full-time video, photographic, and music editors. I am not one, so when I use Photoshop it is not for intense 4K imagery, but usually less than 2000*2000 pixels for short durations of time and I have yet to run into an issue. I could see how this would not be powerful enough for some, though, hence the qualification plenty of power "for normal users".
Click to expand...

Thanks for the thoughtful review.
Practical and helpful.

----------
Yamisky0 said:
I've barely touched my desktops since I got this last week.
Click to expand...

Reminds me of the old corny joke.
Question: What's the best camera?
Answer: The one you have with you.
 
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