I would think twice, hopefully Apple has fixed this but who knows: http://www.staingate.org/
If you're looking for problems, you will always find one.
Don't buy anything. Problem free.
I would think twice, hopefully Apple has fixed this but who knows: http://www.staingate.org/
If you're looking for problems, you will always find one.
Don't buy anything. Problem free.
"stain gate" is a farce.. That crap happens from keeping the notebook surface dirty, usually greasy hands, and then storing under great compression which would keep the dirty surface pressed against the screen for prolonged periods, such as in an overly tightly packed backpack. The oils from the greasy stains will eat away at the glass surface coating over time. It's total PEBCAK. It's very obvious in photos 20 and 21.Not sure what your angle is - just saying it helps to be informed. I wasn't looking for this to happen to my Retina Macbook when I bought it.
Not sure what your angle is - just saying it helps to be informed. I wasn't looking for this to happen to my Retina Macbook when I bought it.
Right, because taking it home is going to make it open so much faster.
They definitely do not open in less than one second, so...
I love it when people say how slow the MacBook is. It's designed for portability, not for speed. If you need speed, you should consider a MacBook Pro.
I surf the web, send/receive emails, type on Word, etc. For me it's perfect. My wife, on the other hand, uses Photoshop a lot. There's no way she could function with a MacBook. She uses a MacBook Pro 15". When I have to use her laptop, I feel like I have my iMac in my lap.
I was shocked by how poorly the Macbook performs. I have a Macbook Air for comparison, so it's not as if my everyday machine is a powerhouse.
I played with in the Apple Store - opened iMovie, iTunes, Safari, Textedit - general everyday stuff. It was noticeably slow to launch apps and do things. Even Textedit. And this is on a fresh machine, heaven help in a years time when it's bogged down with more services! It was like using an old phone after using a new one, everything seems to take forever in comparison.
The ONLY thing Macbook has going for it in my opinion is the form factor (bit smaller than MBA). However, at the cost of less battery life due to the smaller size, and performance that was miles behind in 'real usage', unfortunately can't even consider it until it improves quite a bit. I hope v2 is much better.
I hate to keep harping on it because I almost feel like I'm shilling for Apple but I'm going to anyways.When I had the original iPad it seemed fine. Then I got a v3 and the old one was suddenly slow for everything! Could be the same thing.
"Designed for portability" - outside of on a plane, can't think of any time I've thought "god this MBA is so big and bulky!". That was more my point, the MB is a bit smaller & lighter, however seems FAR slower, battery life is worse, ports suck (no SD card for camera, and I'm often overseas so I charge my phone over USB) and the cost is very high - I paid $1000 AUD for the Macbook Air, Macbook is $1600 AUD. That's a lot of compromise to then pay 60% more for it.
I'm hoping for the MB2 they improve it substantially - at the moment I wonder what void are they trying to fill? If I have a work computer & an iPad, why would I want a Macbook? Do I use it instead of an iPad? But it costs 3x as much, sucks to use around the house in comparison, doesn't have a SIM card slot etc. At the moment it's a weird niche: it's not great for work, and it's not great for consuming media. MS Surface is much better hybrid and a ton cheaper, although to me it's still in the "not great for work, not great for media" category. It does a much better job of trying to do both then the MB though.
Screen size isn't too much of a problem personally, if you're at home you can dock it to an external monitor.
I love it when people say how slow the MacBook is. It's designed for portability, not for speed.
Being in store was already booted. I opened Textedit, Safari & visited a few sites, iMovie, iTunes. As I said originally it was surprisingly slow. It's not like I was converting videos or anything CPU heavy, it was basic usage.
For me personally:
- SD card slot
- a 2nd USB port
are near necessities. Isn't Apple against cables? So why can't I just use my camera, instead I've got to bring a cable to connect it? (which also means going off power. And I can't just grab from my SD card & put on the external drive, I have to middle man it via the computer - lame!). People still use Cameras, we're not talking CDs which have a ton of better options. A lot of cameras don't have wifi & even when they do it's commonly sketchy.
Gun to their head, I'm positive they'd tell you they could have done it, simply if they play all their cards now there's little for future versions. That's the stage they're at with the MBA - slight processor upgrade, ssd upgrade and that's it for a number of years now.
The rMB hardly fits anyones needs, though, which is my point. It's a confused product.
Want a good device for consuming media? iPad (with keyboard dock if doing 'work')
Want a portable laptop with great battery life & enough power for even 'moderate' gaming and editing? MBA
Want a powerful machine while still being somewhat portable? MBP
Want a powerful desktop machine? iMac
I'm not sure why they don't drop the MBA line & make the MB even 25% faster and give it a reasonable amount of ports. Their product lines are becoming a mess especially if an iPad Pro is released. MBA is basically dead in the water. My assumption would be as long as the MBA is around, the MB will remain deliberately 'dumbed down'. If they drop the MBA line, then expect the MB line to be sped up & have more ports. Not that I'd wait for any new Apple product - they release very little information and lots of rumours of upgrades 'around the corner' never eventuate. Where is my new Apple TV, I thought Steve had solved it?!Just buy whatever suits now and then sell should the product you want be released.
EDIT: Macbook made more sense in the line as an underpowered entry level cheapest product. Now it's almost double the price and still the slowest product in the line. It's a bit odd having a good screen on a slower computer, and having a better computer with a worse screen. Perhaps someone at the Apple store has knowledge of internal guides of who they're recommending it to/what it's target market actually is. $1800 (inc tax - $1600 is without) is almost 2 weeks average salary in Australia. That's a lot of money for a computer with those specifications. How much of a market is willing to pay so much extra for a more polished computer + screen? Especially when the MBA is more future proof, has more battery, more ports/usability, and is considerably cheaper (if it's slow today, heaven forbid 3 years time! My iPhone 5 runs like a $50 knockoff these days). It just doesn't make sense to me, as I said seems a confused product especially in the context of their overall product lineup.
Geekbench 64 bit:
Macbook Air 2013: 6183
Macbook 2015: 5297
Stats aren't accurate, as an indicator I expected something in the ballpark. I use MBA for work every day and it's more than adequate, hence why I was shocked at how slow it was in comparison. I wasn't expecting it to run Crysis![]()
Equally for some of us the Retina MacBook is working as intended by Apple and fits the niche perfectly. My own 1.2 rMB has paid for itself multiple times over, if it doesn't meet your needs move on Apple has a range of portables for that very reason. As for the slowness your describing, not present on my rMB, nor would it be of much use if it did perform as portrayed...
Q-6
Being in store was already booted. I opened Textedit, Safari & visited a few sites, iMovie, iTunes. As I said originally it was surprisingly slow. It's not like I was converting videos or anything CPU heavy, it was basic usage.
For me personally:
- SD card slot
- a 2nd USB port
are near necessities. Isn't Apple against cables? So why can't I just use my camera, instead I've got to bring a cable to connect it? (which also means going off power. And I can't just grab from my SD card & put on the external drive, I have to middle man it via the computer - lame!). People still use Cameras, we're not talking CDs which have a ton of better options. A lot of cameras don't have wifi & even when they do it's commonly sketchy.
Gun to their head, I'm positive they'd tell you they could have done it, simply if they play all their cards now there's little for future versions. That's the stage they're at with the MBA - slight processor upgrade, ssd upgrade and that's it for a number of years now.
The rMB hardly fits anyones needs, though, which is my point. It's a confused product.
Want a good device for consuming media? iPad (with keyboard dock if doing 'work')
Want a portable laptop with great battery life & enough power for even 'moderate' gaming and editing? MBA
Want a powerful machine while still being somewhat portable? MBP
Want a powerful desktop machine? iMac
I'm not sure why they don't drop the MBA line & make the MB even 25% faster and give it a reasonable amount of ports. Their product lines are becoming a mess especially if an iPad Pro is released. MBA is basically dead in the water. My assumption would be as long as the MBA is around, the MB will remain deliberately 'dumbed down'. If they drop the MBA line, then expect the MB line to be sped up & have more ports. Not that I'd wait for any new Apple product - they release very little information and lots of rumours of upgrades 'around the corner' never eventuate. Where is my new Apple TV, I thought Steve had solved it?!Just buy whatever suits now and then sell should the product you want be released.
EDIT: Macbook made more sense in the line as an underpowered entry level cheapest product. Now it's almost double the price and still the slowest product in the line. It's a bit odd having a good screen on a slower computer, and having a better computer with a worse screen. Perhaps someone at the Apple store has knowledge of internal guides of who they're recommending it to/what it's target market actually is. $1800 (inc tax - $1600 is without) is almost 2 weeks average salary in Australia. That's a lot of money for a computer with those specifications. How much of a market is willing to pay so much extra for a more polished computer + screen? Especially when the MBA is more future proof, has more battery, more ports/usability, and is considerably cheaper (if it's slow today, heaven forbid 3 years time! My iPhone 5 runs like a $50 knockoff these days). It just doesn't make sense to me, as I said seems a confused product especially in the context of their overall product lineup.
Think of it like a car. A 13" Pro is a 4wd Tacoma. A 15" Pro is an F150 with a v8, crew cab and the 8' bed. Sure, those are useful tools if you need them, but most people don't need those capabilities most of the time, and carrying around that extra power and weight all the time is just a burden. Some people also make it sound like tools like those are the only way one can do useful work. The Air line is like a 2012 Camry; utterly sensible and dependable, but not the most cutting edge or interesting. The 12" MB is like a Chevy Volt; not able to meet every single person's need on the tail ends of the bell-curve, but built to meet the needs of the heart of that curve, with cutting-edge technology and pushing the envelope of what more conservative folks will say is possible or a good idea. Yet these 'less capable' tools are exactly what the bulk of the world uses to meet their needs and allow them to do their jobs effectively.
Think of it like a car. A 13" Pro is a 4wd Tacoma. A 15" Pro is an F150 with a v8, crew cab and the 8' bed. Sure, those are useful tools if you need them, but most people don't need those capabilities most of the time, and carrying around that extra power and weight all the time is just a burden. Some people also make it sound like tools like those are the only way one can do useful work. The Air line is like a 2012 Camry; utterly sensible and dependable, but not the most cutting edge or interesting. The 12" MB is like a Chevy Volt; not able to meet every single person's need on the tail ends of the bell-curve, but built to meet the needs of the heart of that curve, with cutting-edge technology and pushing the envelope of what more conservative folks will say is possible or a good idea. Yet these 'less capable' tools are exactly what the bulk of the world uses to meet their needs and allow them to do their jobs effectively.
So I've read that most should wait for version 2. Thinking better processor (maybe sky lake), and a big one imo, a second type c port. Better camera( maybe 720p). Anyone else waiting for version 2?
it would be cool if they put an SD card reader in it and two thunderbolt 3 ports