Should I wait for the 2016 Retina MacBook?

[rochow]

I'm not clear where it fits into the produce lineup, as in, it almost starts with "well if you have cash to burn...". It's got a lot of sacrifices compared to the Air for not that much size decrease (the reason the Air is larger is for the battery. If they chopped the sides of the Air it'd be smaller & be around 9 hrs too). Aside from that it has a retina screen albeit it a lower resolution, which the Air arguably should have got years ago. Which leads into the next point...

It seems Apple have backed themselves into a corner on this one. They have a MB which has a good chassis, is light, however more expensive (Apple had actually been selling good products at not much more than rivals in recent years) and is already quite limited in specs, let alone for 5 years or however long the product life will be. They have a MB Air which is getting long in the tooth but is still a good machine, however if they add Retina they then have 2 almost identical products, the difference being only "this is smaller, and costs a few hundred more". The only way to keep both product lines running is to limit them both - keep MB with no ports and low end specs, and keep Air with no Retina. It's weird.

Not wanting to argue with anyone, just my opinion I wish they'd also stop changing ports, if I bought a MB I'd be on my THIRD power connector for the Thunderbolt display in just 6 years. Sort it out!

2 usb c ports would quell many concerns

Two ports - multi-tasking isn't going the way of the dodo - and the smallest possible adapters. Some of the adaptors are quite large, if someone is willing to shell out a lot of money to get the smallest possible device, selling chunky adaptors is pretty half baked.

 

[zhenya]

I'm not clear where it fits into the produce lineup, as in, it almost starts with "well if you have cash to burn...". It's got a lot of sacrifices compared to the Air for not that much size decrease (the reason the Air is larger is for the battery. If they chopped the sides of the Air it'd be smaller & be around 9 hrs too). Aside from that it has a retina screen albeit it a lower resolution, which the Air arguably should have got years ago. Which leads into the next point...

It seems Apple have backed themselves into a corner on this one. They have a MB which has a good chassis, is light, however more expensive (Apple had actually been selling good products at not much more than rivals in recent years) and is already quite limited in specs, let alone for 5 years or however long the product life will be. They have a MB Air which is getting long in the tooth but is still a good machine, however if they add Retina they then have 2 almost identical products, the difference being only "this is smaller, and costs a few hundred more". The only way to keep both product lines running is to limit them both - keep MB with no ports and low end specs, and keep Air with no Retina. It's weird.

Not wanting to argue with anyone, just my opinion I wish they'd also stop changing ports, if I bought a MB I'd be on my THIRD power connector for the Thunderbolt display in just 6 years. Sort it out!



Two ports - multi-tasking isn't going the way of the dodo - and the smallest possible adapters. Some of the adaptors are quite large, if someone is willing to shell out a lot of money to get the smallest possible device, selling chunky adaptors is pretty half baked.

It doesn't really have any sacrifices at all if you are, like me, one of the large proportion of users who isn't looking for CPU speed in their mobile computer. In fact, it is other laptops with their over-powered processors requiring fans that are the compromise to me. To go back to the car analogy one could say that a Prius has a lot of compromises compared to that Tacoma, and in some sense that is true, however the opposite is completely true as well if your use case is not defined by loading up the bed with equipment and driving off-road, but instead commuting in a city where the Prius gets 4-5x the mileage while being much more comfortable and easier to navigate on the city streets.

The Air is not a contender as stated many times for a number of reasons. First and foremost is the screen which is obviously too low resolution, but less obviously 16:9 rather than 16:10 and the 12" MB gives me a workspace larger than that on the 13" Air in a package smaller than the 11" model. On top of that the Air lacks Force Touch, the trackpad is much smaller in size, and I've grown to prefer the keyboard on the Macbook. Lastly, I can dock the Macbook via a single cable at my desk.

The Macbook isn't going anywhere, it's the Air that will be discontinued or at least left to fill the entry-level niche of the Mac lineup.

 

[tbirdparis]

I'm not clear where it fits into the produce lineup, as in, it almost starts with "well if you have cash to burn...". It's got a lot of sacrifices compared to the Air for not that much size decrease (the reason the Air is larger is for the battery. If they chopped the sides of the Air it'd be smaller & be around 9 hrs too). Aside from that it has a retina screen albeit it a lower resolution, which the Air arguably should have got years ago. Which leads into the next point...

It seems Apple have backed themselves into a corner on this one. They have a MB which has a good chassis, is light, however more expensive (Apple had actually been selling good products at not much more than rivals in recent years) and is already quite limited in specs, let alone for 5 years or however long the product life will be. They have a MB Air which is getting long in the tooth but is still a good machine, however if they add Retina they then have 2 almost identical products, the difference being only "this is smaller, and costs a few hundred more". The only way to keep both product lines running is to limit them both - keep MB with no ports and low end specs, and keep Air with no Retina. It's weird.

Not wanting to argue with anyone, just my opinion I wish they'd also stop changing ports, if I bought a MB I'd be on my THIRD power connector for the Thunderbolt display in just 6 years. Sort it out!



Two ports - multi-tasking isn't going the way of the dodo - and the smallest possible adapters. Some of the adaptors are quite large, if someone is willing to shell out a lot of money to get the smallest possible device, selling chunky adaptors is pretty half baked.

I don't think it was so much a question of making weird choices to somehow artificially differentiate between product lines... It makes a lot more sense if you think through it logically and see the technical limitations you hit. If Apple had decided to just stick with the hardware that's in the Air, but added a retina display, they would have hit a wall pretty hard. Suddenly all of the amazing battery life people had come to expect from that machine would be gone because you just can't put an i5 or i7 into that thin a chassis _and_ squeeze in enough battery to make it run a retina screen, without losing literally hours of battery life. So what do you do then? You either try to tout the retina display as being the great thing everyone wanted, and brace yourself for the backlash from people who didn't care about that and had come to depend on a machine with 13+ hours of autonomy. Or, you fatten it up to compensate for the increased energy demands of the retina display, and you basically end up building another 13" MacBook Pro. I just don't see how, with currently available tech, they would have been able to move the Air forward into retina territory without making serious concessions that many people would have hated. So it seems they decided the time was right to try and take a new stab at the ultralight premium laptop, betting that the real-use performance of core M (in terms of acceptable speed, extremely low power use and the advantage of passive cooling) would be enough of a draw to make a machine that people would want. Sure, it's a different take on what a product in this range is about, the parameters they were aiming for are not the same as what the Air ended up being. But I reckon they are going to fairly quickly come back with a redesigned Pro range and it wouldn't surprise me if there's a 13" base model that will be slimmed down and cover the territory that the Air currently occupies in a compelling way to draw customers to it. Right now, the rMB pretty much has the goods to satisfy all of the Air customers who didn't really notice or need the almost-MBP power the Air had - i.e., customers who primarily wanted small and light. I'd say over the next couple of iterations of core M, the performance will get to a point where it will also cater to people who wanted the Air for its form factor _and_ its performance.

 

[rochow]

What do you mean - the Air has much more real estate? MB is 2330 x 1440 which ends up being ~1165 x 720 @ 1x vs the Air at 1440 x 900.

When you say mobile computer - you have more than 1 computer? If so, "a large proportion of users" certainly isn't buying US$1200 secondary computers. What you look for in a bedroom TV isn't the same as the lounge room. If the MB pitch is simply "well yeah it's slow, unlike the rest of our lineup it's not meant to be an everyday computer" then it makes more sense.

The original points I mentioned are true: MBA is faster, has better battery life, and is cheaper to boot.
But, if they improve the MBA, it'll sabotage the MB. If they improve the MB, then it'll sabotage the Air.

MB Air lacks the same keyboard & force touch due to decisions by Apple. There's certainly no limitation. Which is my point re: while these two products exist, I can't see either of them reaching their potential (well, the MBA being taken to the next level, given it achieved what it set out to do years ago). Samsung Book 9 has 2 full USB ports, mini HDMI & power in a computer almost the same size as the MB. At the minimum there could have been 2 USB-C ports so you can at least use power & another device at the same time without an adapter.

Make the MB a bit faster, give it a reasonable amount of ports - now what's the benefit of the Air? It's cheaper & has a better battery, however it's a larger and doesn't have a retina screen. It's not so much up to pros and cons anymore, it's simply do you have the extra money to get the better machine?

Until next year when something is updated or is culled it's all hypothetical. Time will tell!

 

[zhenya]

What do you mean - the Air has much more real estate? MB is 2330 x 1440 which ends up being ~1165 x 720 @ 1x vs the Air at 1440 x 900.

When you say mobile computer - you have more than 1 computer? If so, "a large proportion of users" certainly isn't buying US$1200 secondary computers. What you look for in a bedroom TV isn't the same as the lounge room. If the MB pitch is simply "well yeah it's slow, unlike the rest of our lineup it's not meant to be an everyday computer" then it makes more sense.

The original points I mentioned are true: MBA is faster, has better battery life, and is cheaper to boot.
But, if they improve the MBA, it'll sabotage the MB. If they improve the MB, then it'll sabotage the Air.

MB Air lacks the same keyboard & force touch due to decisions by Apple. There's certainly no limitation. Which is my point re: while these two products exist, I can't see either of them reaching their potential (well, the MBA being taken to the next level, given it achieved what it set out to do years ago). Samsung Book 9 has 2 full USB ports, mini HDMI & power in a computer almost the same size as the MB. At the minimum there could have been 2 USB-C ports so you can at least use power & another device at the same time without an adapter.

Make the MB a bit faster, give it a reasonable amount of ports - now what's the benefit of the Air? It's cheaper & has a better battery, however it's a larger and doesn't have a retina screen. It's not so much up to pros and cons anymore, it's simply do you have the extra money to get the better machine?

Until next year when something is updated or is culled it's all hypothetical. Time will tell!

The standard resolution on the MacBook is 1280x800 and it seems that most users report using 1440x900 like myself. If I really need more space I sometimes switch to 1680x1050. With the retina display you get those options that just aren't practical on the lower resolution screens.

In order for the MacBook to get the u-series processors of the Air, it would have had to be made larger still, with a larger battery, which would have made even a 12" device closer in weight to that of the current 13" which is nearly 50% heavier than it is now. That would fundamentally alter the device, and it's unlikely I would have purchased it in that configuration.

 

[wchigo]

What do you mean - the Air has much more real estate? MB is 2330 x 1440 which ends up being ~1165 x 720 @ 1x vs the Air at 1440 x 900.

They go with 1280x800 as the default resolution and you have the ability to up it to 1440x900 if you so choose. Apparently you can also up it to 1680x1050 like with the 13" rMBP, but I haven't had a need for that.

When you say mobile computer - you have more than 1 computer? If so, "a large proportion of users" certainly isn't buying US$1200 secondary computers. What you look for in a bedroom TV isn't the same as the lounge room. If the MB pitch is simply "well yeah it's slow, unlike the rest of our lineup it's not meant to be an everyday computer" then it makes more sense.

Yes, I do have two computers. One is a Windows desktop where I do all my gaming, and this laptop is what I use as a mobile solution for the work that I do, which is not CPU intensive, when I am away from my office and my work provided Windows desktop. And just because it can't do stuff like 4K video editing very well doesn't mean it can't be an everyday computer for people, because not everyone needs to edit 4K video everyday if ever.

The original points I mentioned are true: MBA is faster, has better battery life, and is cheaper to boot.
But, if they improve the MBA, it'll sabotage the MB. If they improve the MB, then it'll sabotage the Air.

My original replies to you are true, and I'm just going to quote what I said earlier so I don't have to type all that out again:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
however seems FAR slower
Depends on what you're doing on it. Honestly, when I'm just using it to browse the web, send emails and watch videos, it doesn't feel that much slower than my late 2013 13" rMBP. Certainly, it is slower to boot up but aside from that I haven't really noticed any appreciable difference in speed for my use case. Of course YMMV especially when using CPU intensive programs, but then again the rMB wasn't really meant for people with those kinds of needs.

battery life is worse
Compared to the 13" Air, totally. Compared to the 11", it's maybe an hour or so worse. However, it's been more than enough to get me through my work day and still have a good chunk leftover for when I get home.

ports suck (no SD card for camera, and I'm often overseas so I charge my phone over USB)
Mm-hm, you won't hear any argument from me. However, even on my 13" rMBP, I only really used the magsafe "port" with any great regularity. I would plug in a USB/external drive or use the HDMI to plug into an external monitor from time to time, but I can live without attaching it to an external monitor and I bought the USB-C to USB adapter for the rare occasions I need to plug something in.

and the cost is very high - I paid $1000 AUD for the Macbook Air, Macbook is $1600 AUD.
Are the specs completely the same? I'm not sure about in Australia but in the US at least if you want comparable specs (8GB RAM, 256GB SSD) for the 11" Air you're looking to pay $1199 versus $1299 for the rMB, which is a difference of around 8%.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MB Air lacks the same keyboard & force touch due to decisions by Apple. There's certainly no limitation. Which is my point re: while these two products exist, I can't see either of them reaching their potential (well, the MBA being taken to the next level, given it achieved what it set out to do years ago). Samsung Book 9 has 2 full USB ports, mini HDMI & power in a computer almost the same size as the MB. At the minimum there could have been 2 USB-C ports so you can at least use power & another device at the same time without an adapter.

Make the MB a bit faster, give it a reasonable amount of ports - now what's the benefit of the Air? It's cheaper & has a better battery, however it's a larger and doesn't have a retina screen. It's not so much up to pros and cons anymore, it's simply do you have the extra money to get the better machine?

Until next year when something is updated or is culled it's all hypothetical. Time will tell!

I'm going to take what you said and instead apply it to the MBA vs the rMBP. "Make the MBA a bit faster, give it a Retina screen - now what's the benefit of the Pro? It can be customized to have more RAM and has more ports, however it's heavier and doesn't have as good battery life."

This may be my last reply to any of your posts, since you have not addressed any of the rebuttals to your comments by several other forum members including myself. You seem intent to talk down the rMB and question its existence when you have been given numerous reasons why it does. I can understand that it doesn't appeal to you and that's fine, but I feel like your comments would be more appropriate if applied to a scenario where Apple discontinued the MBA and/or rMBP instead of introducing the rMB as an additional option for people. You don't like it? That's fine and your prerogative and you have options besides the rMB.

Don't give people enough options, and people grumble about it. Give people more options, and people grumble about it. I knew it already but just wanted to say this: it's really damned if you do and damned if you don't for them.

 

[Queen6]

Until next year when something is updated or is culled it's all hypothetical. Time will tell!

Personally I believe Apple will continue both lines, the Air will be the de facto entry level portable Mac with minimum specification (RAM & SSD) the MacBook will continue to evolve as the premium Ultrabook, receiving the latest tech, while the Air will be more akin to the Classic 13" MBP, the "school" Mac if you will.

As for pricing let`s kill it here and now, a 11" Air with 8GB and 256SSD is around $100 less than the base MacBook, so direct comparisons need to take this into account, given the constituent components of both systems. The stock base Air is cheaper as it has half the RAM & storage capacity of the base MacBook. Nor is the MacBook considered spectacularly expensive in many quarters, as with many purchases there are many considerations not solely the "numbers" If I had to buy an Air it would have to have 8Gb RAM and a 512 SSD, nothing changes here, barring feeding Apple`s extensive margins on upgrades.

2016 MacBook will likely be 15% computationally faster, GPU will receive a genrous bump of up to 40% and we hope to see TB 3 over USB C, depending on sales of the 512, a 1TB option would not surprise me, and on my list to buy with the new 15" Skylake Pro.

If the Air works better for you good, buy one, it doesn't for me, nor many others. I have one and it`s relegated to the "bottom drawer" despite the advantages reiterated, the one aspect that is continuously disregarded and inescapable on a portable device is the display, the Air`s 16x9 Low Res TN panel, is what it is poor at best. For me one of the most important factors of a portable device is the display.

The rational for the two lines to me is perfectly clear.

Q-6

 

[Blatboy]

I donno, man. I'm still rocking a 2008 15" MBP with a couple SSDs in it. Those SSDs gave me a few extra years outta that thing, but I'll be one of the first in line with the next generation in Fall. Believe it or not, it's the lack of a ExpressCard (!) slot that's made me wait this long. I'll spare you the details, but due to that, I'll still have to bring my '08 on trips if I have to do certain types of work on a plane.

I digress. Bring on Fall. For more reasons than one. It's Effing hot and I'm looking forward to a new MBP!

 

[VesselA]

I don't see that. The rmb is very forward thinking. Really I think 2 usb c ports would quell many concerns. Can charge/sync natively.

thunderbolt 3 is the same fitting as usb-c - it is what apple will move to next - you are thinking of thunderbolt 2

 

[Truefan31]

thunderbolt 3 is the same fitting as usb-c - it is what apple will move to next - you are thinking of thunderbolt 2

I'm more referring to the sd slot

 

[Flunkyturtle]

Agree with @relbhcb - more than happy with the v1 1.3.

That said, the significant upgrade will be TB3/USB-C in a single port alongside the Skylake processor. Nothing else will change, though.

Edit - it will probably get a 720p FaceTime camera too.

When this happens i'll be selling my V1 - I'd like a 4k mac screen but it's not a requirement right now.
Untill then i love it!

 

[iBilal]

I think people are missing the point, here .. this is NOT a performance machine .. for that get something from the PRO series .. this is an everyday machine for doing research, answering emails, etc ..

it's also a vision of the future ...

 

[jmikhail490]

I think people are missing the point, here .. this is NOT a performance machine .. for that get something from the PRO series .. this is an everyday machine for doing research, answering emails, etc ..

it's also a vision of the future ...

Yes but that's why some of us come to this forum because some things we do on a daily basis may be considered everyday use and some things we do may require a pro machine so for my case I come to ask if using something like a semi large inventory system for my retail business along side excel and 10-15 tabs open in safari and using quick books along side that for my business invoices and information is considered light use or does that really require me to have a pro machine.

Because in my case I go to two businesses everyday and portability matters but if the rMB can't perform those 4-5 tasks I ask of it then I would get the pro as it is portable enough for me.

Some of us aren't as coached on knowing what needs high cpu or what needs high gpu or what just simply needs ram and storage. That's why we come to this forum which so far has never failed me.

Thanks for you're help!!

 

[pjfan]

Yes but that's why some of us come to this forum because some things we do on a daily basis may be considered everyday use and some things we do may require a pro machine so for my case I come to ask if using something like a semi large inventory system for my retail business along side excel and 10-15 tabs open in safari and using quick books along side that for my business invoices and information is considered light use or does that really require me to have a pro machine.

Because in my case I go to two businesses everyday and portability matters but if the rMB can't perform those 4-5 tasks I ask of it then I would get the pro as it is portable enough for me.

Some of us aren't as coached on knowing what needs high cpu or what needs high gpu or what just simply needs ram and storage. That's why we come to this forum which so far has never failed me.

Thanks for you're help!!

I think the rMB would serve your needs.

 

[wchigo]

...if using something like a semi large inventory system for my retail business along side excel and 10-15 tabs open in safari and using quick books along side that for my business invoices and information is considered light use or does that really require me to have a pro machine.

Because in my case I go to two businesses everyday and portability matters but if the rMB can't perform those 4-5 tasks I ask of it then I would get the pro as it is portable enough for me...

As your inventory system is yet unnamed, that's a bit of a question mark. However, I don't imagine it should be that GPU or CPU intensive, unless it somehow has to do a lot of computations or equations in the background?

Excel and Safari can definitely work together no problem. 10-15 tabs should be just fine unless you're having a bunch of videos running on them, especially Flash. Otherwise if it's just emails, forums and those kinds of sites, it'll be fine.

I assume you don't want to go down to the low-res screen of the Air, which is why you said you'd go with the MBP if the MB can't handle your tasks. Based on what I've seen other forum members post, the MB should handle your usage just fine, although you might want to consider choosing one of the higher clocked processors. I'd say, if the option is available to you, buy one and try it out for 2 weeks as that's the best way to get the most definitive answer.

 

[jmikhail490]

As your inventory system is yet unnamed, that's a bit of a question mark. However, I don't imagine it should be that GPU or CPU intensive, unless it somehow has to do a lot of computations or equations in the background?

Excel and Safari can definitely work together no problem. 10-15 tabs should be just fine unless you're having a bunch of videos running on them, especially Flash. Otherwise if it's just emails, forums and those kinds of sites, it'll be fine.

I assume you don't want to go down to the low-res screen of the Air, which is why you said you'd go with the MBP if the MB can't handle your tasks. Based on what I've seen other forum members post, the MB should handle your usage just fine, although you might want to consider choosing one of the higher clocked processors. I'd say, if the option is available to you, buy one and try it out for 2 weeks as that's the best way to get the most definitive answer.

Yea thats exactly what I did. I am actually on day 7 now of the higher end 1.2 GHz processor rMB and so far so good. Although I have seen very slight glimpses of slowing down or lagging, like where you think its about to happen and stalls for a second then does what you want it to do so my only concern is the future. I need it to last me at least 2 years minimum. Thats the least I would accept from a machine with this price tag, which I think is very reasonable.

Yes I would choose the rMBP because I have gotten used to the retinas and since the rMBP is not too heavy for me and i think its portable enough Id rather have the nicer screen and more power as the price is really not the issue.

The inventory and invoice system I will most likely use will be either quickbooks or filemaker (no huge equations or anything of that sort) which was recommended to me by the apple store business team who I will be meeting tomorrow so maybe they can help a little more but to be honest with you, Ive found this forum to be a lot more helpful to me than the geniuses at the apple store lol.

Thank you very much for your help

 

[wchigo]

Yea thats exactly what I did. I am actually on day 7 now of the higher end 1.2 GHz processor rMB and so far so good. Although I have seen very slight glimpses of slowing down or lagging, like where you think its about to happen and stalls for a second then does what you want it to do so my only concern is the future. I need it to last me at least 2 years minimum. Thats the least I would accept from a machine with this price tag, which I think is very reasonable.

Yes I would choose the rMBP because I have gotten used to the retinas and since the rMBP is not too heavy for me and i think its portable enough Id rather have the nicer screen and more power as the price is really not the issue.

The inventory and invoice system I will most likely use will be either quickbooks or filemaker (no huge equations or anything of that sort) which was recommended to me by the apple store business team who I will be meeting tomorrow so maybe they can help a little more but to be honest with you, Ive found this forum to be a lot more helpful to me than the geniuses at the apple store lol.

Thank you very much for your help

My pleasure.

I agree with you on the 2 years thing, though my usage is probably even lighter than yours so I imagine I might be able to even get 3+ years out of it, haha!

If anything, the people in the El Capitan beta are saying that the rMB feels even faster than using Yosemite, which is a good sign. Ultimately though, it depends on what you can accept. If you can live with the small instances of slowdown that you are experiencing now, I think the machine can last you the minimum 2 years that you want. That would include being able to possibly upgrade to El Capitan since that seems to be an improvement over Yosemite in speed, but you might not be able to upgrade to the next OS after El Capitan without seeing performance degradation depending on what Apple does with that.

The rMBP seems like it'd be too powerful for your use case but it'd definitely be a smoother experience overall and you'd probably get 4-5 good years out of it without any worries. However, it'd cost you more if you decided to bump up the storage capacity to match what you have now. If the occasional bouts of slowdown don't happen too often and don't bother you too much, I might say stick with the rMB. However, keep in mind that this will likely continue for the entirety of your ownership of the machine.

 

[Wallabe]

Stick with Macbook Pro if you are not sure. You won't be disappointed.

Only get the Macbook ONLY after you have used other MacBooks and know what you're getting into.

It's like buying sports cars. They are not your first car. If someone ask if they should buy an 2-seat car as their first car, you know what kind of response that would bring. If you know you need a car that can handle the whole family, you're looking at the wrong car. If you need a computer that can handle all kinds of ports, you're looking at the wrong laptop.

Inventory database stall and lag is normal. That's most likely a communication lag or bottleneck on the network or the server, not the laptop. All you're doing is sending queries and receiving data. If you are rendering graphics, then the rMB is not for you.

I've had a Powerbook 17" and 2 Macbook Pros (15" and now 13") up until now. I never need an external display or do presentation, I don't use thunderbolt external drives, and rarely connect USB devices since they are all bluetooth. Even my iPhone don't get plugged in much anymore. After years of lugging around your laptop, you would know if you need those extra ports or not. My daily tasks aren't CPU intensive, so the Macbook is more than enough. The Pro is already an overkill for me in CPU power.

Smaller, less deadweight, and I don't have to carry extra ports around all day that I won't ever use. But that's just me. If you make money rendering graphics and need bigger screens, then your needs are different, so your choices will be different.

 

[jmikhail490]

Stick with Macbook Pro if you are not sure. You won't be disappointed.

Only get the Macbook ONLY after you have used other MacBooks and know what you're getting into.

It's like buying sports cars. They are not your first car. If someone ask if they should buy an 2-seat car as their first car, you know what kind of response that would bring. If you know you need a car that can handle the whole family, you're looking at the wrong car. If you need a computer that can handle all kinds of ports, you're looking at the wrong laptop.

Inventory database stall and lag is normal. That's most likely a communication lag or bottleneck on the network or the server, not the laptop. All you're doing is sending queries and receiving data. If you are rendering graphics, then the rMB is not for you.

I've had a Powerbook 17" and 2 Macbook Pros (15" and now 13") up until now. I never need an external display or do presentation, I don't use thunderbolt external drives, and rarely connect USB devices since they are all bluetooth. Even my iPhone don't get plugged in much anymore. After years of lugging around your laptop, you would know if you need those extra ports or not. My daily tasks aren't CPU intensive, so the Macbook is more than enough. The Pro is already an overkill for me in CPU power.

Smaller, less deadweight, and I don't have to carry extra ports around all day that I won't ever use. But that's just me. If you make money rendering graphics and need bigger screens, then your needs are different, so your choices will be different.

Good comparison and analogy. I absolutely understand your point.

I don't do any type of graphic work. Neither video nor photos. So that doesn't entail to me.

I didn't know that inventory systems don't really need a faster machine. I figured I may want the extra speed for it just to be safe but so far the rMB hasn't failed me. I have a meeting today with the apple business team to hear what recommendations they may have and to see if their pricing is better than the price I got using the education discount my brother gets. So I'll see what happens. As of now I just use quickbooks which isn't bad at all. The apple business team specialist told me he would recommend FileMaker to me which I haven't heard of so I don't know if the rMB would be sufficient for that or not. Do you have any idea? Between that or quickbooks which is better as a program and if the rMB can easily handle both for a few years?

I really appreciate your help! Thank you!

 

[Wallabe]

Any laptops made by Apple today is more than enough to handle database queries. As long as you're not running the database server on the laptop itself, you will be ok. You're just manipulating, sending queries and receiving tables and datas. Even a 10 years old laptop can handle that.

It's your other needs that matter. Do you constantly need other ports, like external displays? If not, the Macbook is just fine for your needs. You don't want to have to constantly carry around adapters and worry about losing it if it's critical to your business. You don't want to forget or have lost the display adapter when you're on stage getting ready to do a presentation. The less stuff you have to carry, the better.

I can't recommend one or the other. Go to youtube and watch some videos of both applications at work, and see which one you like better.

 

[madrich]

I would think twice, hopefully Apple has fixed this but who knows: http://www.staingate.org/

I never heard of this problem before now. Thanks. I wonder how Apple could say it's cosmetic. What causes this problem?

 

[jmikhail490]

Any laptops made by Apple today is more than enough to handle database queries. As long as you're not running the database server on the laptop itself, you will be ok. You're just manipulating, sending queries and receiving tables and datas. Even a 10 years old laptop can handle that.

It's your other needs that matter. Do you constantly need other ports, like external displays? If not, the Macbook is just fine for your needs. You don't want to have to constantly carry around adapters and worry about losing it if it's critical to your business. You don't want to forget or have lost the display adapter when you're on stage getting ready to do a presentation. The less stuff you have to carry, the better.

I can't recommend one or the other. Go to youtube and watch some videos of both applications at work, and see which one you like better.

No I don't use externals at all besides tv's with thumb drive menus on it so that's simple and doesn't require other adapters. I also use Apple TV and will get the new one when it launches soon I hope. Maybe I'll even grab one for the store tv's. I also already have the hdmi, usb-c, usb-a female 3 port adapter Apple sells and it's not bad to carry I guess. But I just realized I will need to re-make the new menu of inventory for sale and different things I want my customers to see at my new shop opening soon; in photoshop. So that's just simple copy and paste of the brand names and logos of the brands I use and just simple text. I'm sure the rMB can handle that?

As for the programs. I will look it up. Thanks again!

 

[Cankoda]

Didn't the mba have 1 port in version 1 too though? Not saying there will be a 2nd usb c port but it could happen. I know some were saying they wanted to be able to charge and use peripherals natively without adapters.

I love the form factor. But a 480p camera is atrocious on a 1300 laptop

If they do only keep the one port thank you s may be a solution for you
http://www.nonda.co/products/usb-c-hub-for-apple-new-macbook-12-plus

 

[jamesryanbell]

If they do only keep the one port thank you s may be a solution for you
http://www.nonda.co/products/usb-c-hub-for-apple-new-macbook-12-plus

Wow that looks really nice. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Truefan31]

Looks nice. Small too