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Touched my first one just an hour ago. SOLD. Totally agree with your review, I was blown away how great this machine will be for my Systems Architect job from home.

I have rarely posted to this forum in the 7 years I have been a member, and I have never posted a product review until Today. But people need to know how amazing this tiny machine really is for MOST people.

Also, I have rarely bought an Apple product at BestBuy, preferring the Apple Store experience, until this week. Now, thanks to BB, I have cancelled my Apple Store order and have been enjoying for the past few days this little "Miracle Machine".

I know some of you will disagree with my perception, but at sixty years of age, and having gone through many, many products, including the Sinclair, TRS-80, Commodore PET, Apple II, Atari 800, the Original IBM PC, the FatMac 512 and countless others, I have never been so enthusiastic about a machine as this one, nor has my productivity been higher!

Here's the review I posted at BestBuy.com:
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"I purchased my first Mac, a FatMac in 1984 and have owned dozens of PC's and Macs since. I can tell you that the WOW factor of craftsmanship, performance, design and workflow usability of this new rMacBook is the best yet. This should meet well over 95% of all computing requirements anyone will ever have, and for 80% of the people, this will be all the computer they will ever need.

I have been using this rMacBook for several days now, and I can tell you that my productivity has gone up significantly over what I was used to with my already amazing 15" Retina MacBookPro, just by virtue of me being able to use it practically anywhere due to it's portability and "fun" factor.

As an Architect, design and functionality are my priorities, and this MacBook combines the best attributes of any machine out there with very little compromises for the average user. The keyboard is out of this world and has -at least perceptually- increased my typing speed. The Trackpad has that "Magic" factor attached to it, and has me actually "clicking" on an Apple trackpad for the first time in years. The battery life is more than adequate and the screen is amazing.

I am thrilled that even my part-time Network Marketing business has shown over a 20% improvement in the few days I've been using this rMacBook as I will find any excuse to "play" with this machine. I actually enjoy following up with my business prospects and look forward to using Skype for cold-calling leads!

By adding BetterTouchTool, iClipboard, BetterSnapTool, EasyRes and OmniFocus 2, this new rMacBook has definitely become my dream machine and a "Productivity Monster" that I carry everywhere with me...

This is the future of computing for most people and I am glad it's finally here!"

:D
 
I am having an opposite experience. I apparently need the macbook pro power. I didn't think I did, but 5 or 6 spaces and a few programs, and I really feel the machine lag. Also, I love the keyboard when I am using it, but then when I go back the rMBP keyboard I love my pro keyboard even more.

That's ok - it's not going to work for everyone. Your post is practically the definition of reasonable.
 
this reviews reads like the Nissan Leaf review.

sure, do I really need to drive more than 130 km per charge? (I won't except for a few times a year), but it's the anxiety of not being able to do so that will prevent me from getting one.

and for that reason, I'm out

Good for you. Can you're being "out" also mean that you're out of these forums, and out of the practice of leaving negative, critical and condescending comments about other people's preferences? And can you take all your other hater-buddies "out" of here with you, please? That'd be great.
 
As a Architect don't you find the 480p Web Cam a disappointment? Talking to client's via FaceTime at 480p is perfection?

Good question. I was not thrilled about the specs, but in real life they're not looking at me, they're looking at my designs. It's more than adequate for me.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by nj-mac-user View Post
Once you get over that number, in real world use its not that bad... I mean really.

I can't get over having clients seeing my presentation's via 480p.

They are seeing my screen at whatever resolution they have on their machine. In my case, I do not show anything through the FaceTime camera. I take videos of my building models and share those online, as well as any drawings and renderings and send documents/drawings by email. Much easier than having to move the rMB to try and show anything other than my face...
 
As a Architect don't you find the 480p Web Cam a disappointment? Talking to client's via FaceTime at 480p is perfection?

There is a review around here and the 480p looked really good when they used it with good lighting. In dark lighting it will suck though.

Though... I've yet to use my webcam, ever.

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I can't get over having clients seeing my presentation's via 480p.

Wait... you use the webcam to show presentations? Really? Doesn't seem like a good fit regardless of how high res the camera is. I'd imagine a professional camera in the office/conf room you're broadcasting from or sending a digital copy/webex of a presentation would be better.
 
There is a review around here and the 480p looked really good when they used it with good lighting. In dark lighting it will suck though.

Though... I've yet to use my webcam, ever.

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Wait... you use the webcam to show presentations? Really? Doesn't seem like a good fit regardless of how high res the camera is. I'd imagine a professional camera in the office/conf room you're broadcasting from or sending a digital copy/webex of a presentation would be better.

Nor have I, and when we want to do video conferences with clients we use expensive professional-grade fixed installations in our conference rooms, not a webcam on a computer.
 
I agree. Now that people's attention span's are so short, my days of using FinalCut or iMovie to edit some video for work are long gone. The rMacBook is more than enough to handle MOST anything for MOST people.

I understand people's reluctance to switch, and if you were going on specs only you'd be justified, but I am very confident that if you take it for an extended "test drive" and spend a few days doing your normal day-to-day workflow, you will find this is more than enough, unless you are a photographer, film editor or in one of the many activities that could justify the use of a Mac Pro.

Time with the rMacBook will tell how right or how wrong we are in our initial perceptions...

I have a retina 15" MBP. Stopped using it the day I got the base gold macbook and haven't touched it since. I also have an iMac if I need any heavy lifting but honestly this Macbook is doing everything I was doing on my pro. I am a light user, surfing, streaming music, editing pictures in photos. So easy to pick up and take with me. Even my iPad sits idle. Great machine in my opinion as long as it jives well with your daily needs for your computer.
 
But Apple wasn't able to put $30.00 technology into a $1300 laptop?

Oh, you're still trolling I see. Why don't you figure out a way to get a 1080p webcam to fit inside a screen only .088mm thick and report back to Apple. We will be waiting.
 
Oh, you're still trolling I see. Why don't you figure out a way to get a 1080p webcam to fit inside a screen only .088mm thick and report back to Apple. We will be waiting.

trolling is not defined by criticizing a valid issue.

do you even know if 1080p internals have different housing tolerance requirments? how do you know it is not strictly the ignorance of apple saving it to string buyers into the next rMB?
 
trolling is not defined by criticizing a valid issue.

do you even know if 1080p internals have different housing tolerance requirments? how do you know it is not strictly the ignorance of apple saving it to string buyers into the next rMB?

This isn't trolling?

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1868597/

and since you are so concerned about the webcam in the new MacBook, why don't you look up that info for yourself and report back to us. Off you go.
 
But Apple wasn't able to put $30.00 technology into a $1300 laptop?

I don't think we know enough about the space needed for an HD webcam vs the space available behind the bezel in this razor thin lid yet to be able to say whether this was a realistic possibility or not.
 
[Mod Note]

Several off topic posts related to electric vehicles have been removed. Please keep the discussion on the thread subject. Thank you.
 
I'm switching from the 13" rMBP and this will be my only Mac, just like my rMBP was/is. I don't think it's crazy at all.

It's not crazy as long as you know what you are getting yourself into. The slowest 13" rMBP is as fast as the fastest MacBook Air, and the rMB is about as fast than the slowest MacBook Air at its peak. It does slow down more often, since it has no fan. So it's not ideal if you need to use a virtual machine (I still use Quicken). However, it's fine for about 95% of what I use a Mac for (e-mail, Office, Safari, light touch ups in Photo). I think I'll like it after I've re-acclimated from the relative snappiness of the 13" rMBP. I used an 11.6" MBA until the 13" rMBP came out, and this reminds me a lot of that, except the screen is significantly better, and it's even lighter.

The hardest part so far has been setting it up. I got spoiled by Migration Assistant over Thunderbolt. For some reason I had issues getting my USB SSD working (a used 256GB SSD from a 2012 rMBP in an Envoy Pro), Wi-Fi would have taken too long, and trying to piece together an Ethernet setup over my Time Capsule using the TB adapter on my rMBP and two adapters on my rMB (the VGA/USB combo to a USB/Ethernet hub I bought at Best Buy) was too kludgy. Finally I found an old USB hard drive and got it working in an external enclosure. Today I'm letting it go through the Time Capsule backup after I got Parallels and Windows 8.1 set up. Fortunately, setup is a one-time thing.

I'm looking forward to traveling with this. It fits in between two padded inner pockets in my messenger bag. It will be so easy to travel with my work PC and MacBook now (much easier than with the 13" rMBP).

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But Apple wasn't able to put $30.00 technology into a $1300 laptop?

Probably not without making it thicker. The entire MacBook is not much thicker than the goofy touchscreen on my "thin" HP Elitebook 820 that I use at the office (and the first thing I did with that was turn off the touch screen).
 
It's not crazy as long as you know what you are getting yourself into. The slowest 13" rMBP is as fast as the fastest MacBook Air, and the rMB is about as fast than the slowest MacBook Air at its peak. It does slow down more often, since it has no fan. So it's not ideal if you need to use a virtual machine (I still use Quicken). However, it's fine for about 95% of what I use a Mac for (e-mail, Office, Safari, light touch ups in Photo). I think I'll like it after I've re-acclimated from the relative snappiness of the 13" rMBP. I used an 11.6" MBA until the 13" rMBP came out, and this reminds me a lot of that, except the screen is significantly better, and it's even lighter.

The hardest part so far has been setting it up. I got spoiled by Migration Assistant over Thunderbolt. For some reason I had issues getting my USB SSD working (a used 256GB SSD from a 2012 rMBP in an Envoy Pro), Wi-Fi would have taken too long, and trying to piece together an Ethernet setup over my Time Capsule using the TB adapter on my rMBP and two adapters on my rMB (the VGA/USB combo to a USB/Ethernet hub I bought at Best Buy) was too kludgy. Finally I found an old USB hard drive and got it working in an external enclosure. Today I'm letting it go through the Time Capsule backup after I got Parallels and Windows 8.1 set up. Fortunately, setup is a one-time thing.

I'm looking forward to traveling with this. It fits in between two padded inner pockets in my messenger bag. It will be so easy to travel with my work PC and MacBook now (much easier than with the 13" rMBP).

quick note about quicken. although the features are lacking, once you give quicken mac 2015 a chance it's actually not that bad.

makes windows quicken look outdated and cheesy looking.
 
quick note about quicken. although the features are lacking, once you give quicken mac 2015 a chance it's actually not that bad.

makes windows quicken look outdated and cheesy looking.

Unfortunately I need the additional features. If they ever give it feature parity and make it file compatible, I'd switch to the Mac version. They can do that for TurboTax, so I don't know why Quicken hasn't been updated yet.
 
Unfortunately I need the additional features. If they ever give it feature parity and make it file compatible, I'd switch to the Mac version. They can do that for TurboTax, so I don't know why Quicken hasn't been updated yet.

Question, when you open quicken under bootcamp or VM...does it open weird?

by this i mean when the program windows opens does it look like it has a scaling issue and or glitch issue?
 
I didn't expect to see this as a replacement for my rMBP, but after using it for the last five days I'm beginning to see that this really could work. It's more capable than I had been willing to assume, and the port issue is (or at least will be) manageable.

Actually today I convinced myself to get the new 13" rMBP instead of the Retina MacBook. The reason? Mobility is not my top priority, but I wanted a great laptop as a second Computer, next to my Retina iMac.
The 13" rMBP is not significantly bigger than the new MacBook, but it's much more powerful. It could become my primary computer if I wanted to. The best part was also the price. It's the same. For this money and for my needs I couldn't justify the Retina MacBook. Maybe the second generation.
 
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Actually today I convinced myself to get the new 13" rMBP instead of the Retina MacBook. The reason? Mobility is not my top priority, but I wanted a great laptop as a second Computer, next to my Retina iMac.
The 13" rMBP is not significantly bigger than the new MacBook, but it's much more powerful. It could become my primary computer if I wanted to. The best part was also the price. It's the same. For this money I and for my needs I couldn't justify the Retina MacBook. Maybe the second generation.

If you don't need the portability, the rMBP is clearly a great choice (I still really love mine), but depending on which model you're buying I wouldn't say it's much more powerful. More powerful, yes. Enough to notice? Depends on what you're doing. I ran some tests that were extremely demanding - far more than most users would ever try - and the difference was ~20%. In a less demanding use, you'd never see it, I think.
 
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