Hopefully this will be different than most of the other should I buy it threads. Im a sysadmin, I own a small MSP, my personal use consists of basic web browsing, music, videos, word docs, etc, my workflow consists of mostly remote support sessions right now via team viewer, but that will change to spashtop when the RMM software I want supports Macs on both ends in March, ssh, web browsing, etc mostly in a docked format. Currently I have an early 2015 13 inch MacBook air (the 2016 refresh) and I have no complaints performance wise but I hate the screen and the fact it feels dated. I don’t do much in the way of photo or video editing, I rarely see my current machine maxed out. I like the size, weight and form factor of the MacBook much more than the Air which has a very dated feel. My hang-up is budget and power, I know the synthetic benchmarks show them to be within 5ish percent of each other, for people who have moved form an Air to a base model MacBook, did you notice a legit change in the performance? S throttling as big an issue as I’ve seen in some reviews? Is it worth the extra money?
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Should I buy a 2016 MacBook?
- Thread starter jesse.bruffett
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As someone who just picked up a 2015 base model, I would think the 2016 would be perfect for your needs. The Air was my favorite MacBook of all time except for the display. When I decided I wanted to go back to a MacBook, after using iPad Pro as my primary machine for a while, I picked up a 2015 13 inch retina MBP. I really liked it except after using a MB Air, then an iPad Pro, the retina pro felt heavy and bulky. I contemplated going back to a retina MacBook (briefly tried it when the 2015 first came out) but was worried about the display being too small and the unit being underpowered.
My plan was to pick up a 2016 model but I found such a great deal on a 2015, that I went ahead and bought it. If it didn't work out, I could always resell it and not lose anything based on the deal I got.
Long story short, so far it's great. I loaded everything I need onto it and it handles everything with ease. Being that this is the 2015, I know the 2016 would serve you well. Although I am still getting used to how small the screen is, I absolutely love how thin it is, and I'm a huge fan of the keyboard, no adjustment needed.
I would definitely recommend trying a 2016 model. Worst case, you can return it if it's not what you need.
My plan was to pick up a 2016 model but I found such a great deal on a 2015, that I went ahead and bought it. If it didn't work out, I could always resell it and not lose anything based on the deal I got.
Long story short, so far it's great. I loaded everything I need onto it and it handles everything with ease. Being that this is the 2015, I know the 2016 would serve you well. Although I am still getting used to how small the screen is, I absolutely love how thin it is, and I'm a huge fan of the keyboard, no adjustment needed.
I would definitely recommend trying a 2016 model. Worst case, you can return it if it's not what you need.
I think your workflow (minus the spashtop, which I've never heard of) would be fine on a MacBook. People are too hung up about specs. I would urge you to visit an Apple Store, see how much you like the screen and size, and then decide on that fact alone. It's easy to argue about performance and the classic "Chrome tabs" question people consistently raise, but in the real world, unless you're doing genuinely performance heavy tasks (usually hammering the GPU/CPU), your laptop decision should really come down to screen quality, memory, disk speed, size, and budget. If all those are ticked, with an emphasis on the screen quality and size, then I would go for the MacBook.
(I won't suggest waiting for the next iteration, as then we'd be down the rabbit hole....)
(I won't suggest waiting for the next iteration, as then we'd be down the rabbit hole....)
My use case scenario is way more demanding then yours. I use VM-s for .NET development and Linux, I run Unity3D for light mobile game development, and Corona SDK for the same purpose. A lot of small utility apps are opened all the time (Bartender, Hazel, Keyboard Maestro, Ant Notes, Near Lock, etc.)...
And to my surprise, everything works like a charm. I am planning on opening a new topic related to my use of this little machine. I own a iMac 5k, 2014, fully loaded. iMac went to Apple Store for repairs a week ago, and since then rMB (m5, 2016) is the only computer I have for my work. And it handles everything without any major hiccups.
Of course, not nearly as fast and powerful as my iMac, but this thing is a lot more powerful then people think. I am really considering selling my iMac, and using solo rMB hooked up to 1440p monitor and usb-c dock.
If you are worried about performance for those kind of tasks - don't be. But if you find rMB lacking in any regard, just return it.
And to my surprise, everything works like a charm. I am planning on opening a new topic related to my use of this little machine. I own a iMac 5k, 2014, fully loaded. iMac went to Apple Store for repairs a week ago, and since then rMB (m5, 2016) is the only computer I have for my work. And it handles everything without any major hiccups.
Of course, not nearly as fast and powerful as my iMac, but this thing is a lot more powerful then people think. I am really considering selling my iMac, and using solo rMB hooked up to 1440p monitor and usb-c dock.
If you are worried about performance for those kind of tasks - don't be. But if you find rMB lacking in any regard, just return it.
Sorry that I haven’t been on here since the initial post. To clarify on a few things, the “chrome tab” test is negligible for me since I use chrome as a secondary browser, my primary is Safari. I know the MacBook will handle any taskes except gaming that the larger machines can handle, my real question is I guess, when compared to a 2015 (8gb) MacBook Air how much of a noticeable slowdown am I going to see and how affected is the overall user experience by it? Disk speeds mean nothing to me if since the 2013 MacBook Air, the screen will be obviously nicer but I don’t don’t graphics or video work to the level that a gorgeous screen is relevant, its more of a pride/second-kind-of-cool thing, same with any disk space over 128gb and graphically so long as I can drive a 1440p monitor without stutter or dropped frames gpu-wise om good. My big things on a laptop, provided the above are meet, are size and weight, battery life and performance/user experience. How noticeably different will the 2016 MacBook be from my current 2015 MacBook Air?
That's what I did. Got a 2015 base model for $600 with only 38 charge cycles. It handles my work perfectly.
I will say this though, I have noticed better battery life but that could be an age thing.