Seriously. Are you serious right now? I have probably been the biggest advocate of the rMB on here since March 10th, I've been 100 percent set on selling my rMBP and getting the 1.3/512 in Space Gray ever since event day. And it seems like everyone but me has had the chance to play with the new MacBook in person. Well, I finally made it to an Apple store today and my thoughts follow!
Wow. OK...I had certain expectations about the rMB, but seeing/using it in person completely changes what you thought using the device would be like. Over the past few days, I've been looking into the possibility of buying an external monitor to connect the rMB to. I've never done that, I've always used my laptop screen. My 13" rMBP screen is glorious.
But somehow I thought the 12.0" display would be too small. I struggled using a 11" Air for 2 years, and I was counting down the days until I could get the Haswell rMBP back in 2013. The 12" display on the rMB completely dwarfs the 11" Air display. It's only .04" bigger...and I don't know if it's the Retina display, the ability to scale resolutions, the 16:10 ratio...but it feels completely bigger. I would be squinting sometimes to see things on the 11" Air...not so here. It really didn't feel any different from using the 13.3" screen on my rMBP. And I even tested out the rMB in 1440x900, and it didn't really seem any smaller than 1280x800. Retina is still beautiful in that scaled resolution too. 1152x770 is comically large, though.
And those speakers...****. Not only are the speakers louder than what you get on the Air/Pro, but the sound quality is better as well. I'm no audiophile, I've always been impressed by the speakers Apple puts on everything from the iPhone to Macs, but even I could tell the difference in quality with the rMB speakers. Someone needs to see what this baby can do with Boom 2 installed.
The keyboard...right away I was typing faster than I was on my rMBP. And not just faster, but I was typing the exact same way I always have. No adjustment needed.
The thing is also incredibly light. It's really hard to imagine what using the device is like...until you see in person. The only thing I couldn't test was if the wrist space area would be big enough...but it seemed fine when I was typing. Might be completely different when you are sitting down though. This was a big complaint many people had with the 11" Air.
So my takeaway here is that I was already completely convinced on ditching my 13" rMBP for the 12" rMB...but now I just wish my 1.3/512 would be here already. The screen is perfect size, not too small like I thought it was going to be. And considering how much I travel, I think it'll be my dream laptop. Performance seemed great also.
One other thing. Everyone knows how Apple is always good at the little details, but I couldn't help but notice at the Apple store I went to...immediately to the left of the rMB was the iPad mini, and the iPhone 6 was directly to the right. I was posting in another thread on how I think that's the perfect mobile setup, and I think Apple agrees. Once I get the rMB, that's exactly what my Apple devices consist of.
I also bought the iPhone 6 today. So I have a new gadget to play with until my rMB gets here.
Wow. OK...I had certain expectations about the rMB, but seeing/using it in person completely changes what you thought using the device would be like. Over the past few days, I've been looking into the possibility of buying an external monitor to connect the rMB to. I've never done that, I've always used my laptop screen. My 13" rMBP screen is glorious.
But somehow I thought the 12.0" display would be too small. I struggled using a 11" Air for 2 years, and I was counting down the days until I could get the Haswell rMBP back in 2013. The 12" display on the rMB completely dwarfs the 11" Air display. It's only .04" bigger...and I don't know if it's the Retina display, the ability to scale resolutions, the 16:10 ratio...but it feels completely bigger. I would be squinting sometimes to see things on the 11" Air...not so here. It really didn't feel any different from using the 13.3" screen on my rMBP. And I even tested out the rMB in 1440x900, and it didn't really seem any smaller than 1280x800. Retina is still beautiful in that scaled resolution too. 1152x770 is comically large, though.
And those speakers...****. Not only are the speakers louder than what you get on the Air/Pro, but the sound quality is better as well. I'm no audiophile, I've always been impressed by the speakers Apple puts on everything from the iPhone to Macs, but even I could tell the difference in quality with the rMB speakers. Someone needs to see what this baby can do with Boom 2 installed.
The keyboard...right away I was typing faster than I was on my rMBP. And not just faster, but I was typing the exact same way I always have. No adjustment needed.
The thing is also incredibly light. It's really hard to imagine what using the device is like...until you see in person. The only thing I couldn't test was if the wrist space area would be big enough...but it seemed fine when I was typing. Might be completely different when you are sitting down though. This was a big complaint many people had with the 11" Air.
So my takeaway here is that I was already completely convinced on ditching my 13" rMBP for the 12" rMB...but now I just wish my 1.3/512 would be here already. The screen is perfect size, not too small like I thought it was going to be. And considering how much I travel, I think it'll be my dream laptop. Performance seemed great also.
One other thing. Everyone knows how Apple is always good at the little details, but I couldn't help but notice at the Apple store I went to...immediately to the left of the rMB was the iPad mini, and the iPhone 6 was directly to the right. I was posting in another thread on how I think that's the perfect mobile setup, and I think Apple agrees. Once I get the rMB, that's exactly what my Apple devices consist of.
I also bought the iPhone 6 today. So I have a new gadget to play with until my rMB gets here.
