I got to see not only the Apple watch, but the new MacBook. I was unimpressed. I've decided to upgrade my 2011 MBA to the latest MBA. Here are photos of each color. It was super thin though.
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Unimpressed @ MacBook (Photos of all colors from the Apple Store)
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Thanks for the pics. What unimpressed you about it? You made a wise decision though because you'd have to pay equal or more than the MBA and would also have to wait most likely a month for it. This way there's instant gratification and better specs on paper in also a thin device. I'm upgrading my 2013 MBA 1.7 i7 256gb to the 2015 MBr 1.2 core M 512gb.
What were you unimpressed with?
I do love the design, the keyboard does look cool, but the from reading the reviews, people are split on the keyboard, some didn't like the larger keys, others not enjoying the decreased key travel, others were not bothered at all buy it. Without using it, I think I like the design of the keyboard.
I do think apple went to far in the name of thinness, but it is a beautiful machine. I don't think going from a 2011 MBA to a 2015 rMB, you'd notice any performance increase if the benchmarks being reported are accurate (and there's no reason to disbelieve them).
I do love the design, the keyboard does look cool, but the from reading the reviews, people are split on the keyboard, some didn't like the larger keys, others not enjoying the decreased key travel, others were not bothered at all buy it. Without using it, I think I like the design of the keyboard.
I do think apple went to far in the name of thinness, but it is a beautiful machine. I don't think going from a 2011 MBA to a 2015 rMB, you'd notice any performance increase if the benchmarks being reported are accurate (and there's no reason to disbelieve them).
I didn't mean to bash the new MacBook. The overall size was too small and it was way to thin. My MBA is thin enough. I guess it's a personal choice. I felt the keys, though larger than the keys on my MBA, had less travel, which was something I wasn't accustom too. It felt squished.
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Me too with the same specs. as yours.
Thats interesting. See I felt the opposite. I thought the keyboard was the best part of the rMB. I hate having to press down on the keys so hard to get it to register the letter.
My issue with the MacBook was that the profile was too thin. Even though the 13" MacBook Pro is only a little wider, I feel like it would make a huge difference when typing on the lap. I would love a 14" model of this machine.
The keyboard takes getting used to, but if you type similar to an iPad and glide across the keys it makes sense and is definitely good.
The keyboard takes getting used to, but if you type similar to an iPad and glide across the keys it makes sense and is definitely good.
Quite a bit of performance increases, but more importantly lots more battery life.
Geekbench scores are about 12-15% better at minimum, and at best we're seeing geekbench score differences (e.g. at everymac) in the 20-30% range. That's quite significant I think, we're talking about differences the size of MBA vs rMBP.
GPU is also a lot better. The new MBA can run twice as many high-res displays, and even do 4K res at 60 hertz.
It's SSD is MUCH faster. Even compared to 2014, the 2015 SSD is 2x as fast. The 2011 is on an old SATA connection, the 2015 on PCIe x4 that you don't often even see in desktops.
Faster wifi, usb etc.
And lastly, battery went from 7h to 12h. And if you've had your MBA 2011 for 4 years, it's likely you're going to go from less than 4h to 12h.
So I'd definitely be happy with the upgrade.
As for the rMB... I'll have to use it first. I'm not huge on the retina displays. I tend to hook into an external display at home (so retina or not, I'm not using it). And on the move, I tend to do word processing, email, blogging, I really don't need a retina screen for that. It's a nice bonus, not a necessity.
The dongle requirements are a joke (I'm writing this with a charger, two USB and HDMI plugged in to my rMBP). The price is quite steep (rMBP level, upgraded MBA level. Its performance in comparison is a joke). I think I can get used to the travel on the keyboard, but it's definitely a bit of a step down for thinness I didn't really need. I don't carry computers in my hand while walking down the street, not even my iPad, it feels weird and can get snatched. (city life). So with this thing in my bag or on the table, once you get into MBA-range weight/size, or even rMBP, I don't really care for ultra thinness. Again, it's not in my jeans or in my hand like a phone, it doesn't to be 1 millimetre thick.
So yeah not excited about it. I'm glad it's here because in 2 years or so, it'll be an excellent buy, when my charger is a dongle, I get a 2nd USB-C port, a high-res camera, a 14" version (the size of the 13" MBP, but thin), with an extra 2h battery life and a bit better performance. Yeah sign me up. But not today. A bit like how the MBA started as an $1800 expensive, low-performance device in a world that wasn't fully wireless / cdless yet with 5h battery, and became a sub $1000 consumer powerhouse with 12h battery over time.
Next year the same keyboard will be on the resigned MBP machines. They will be much thinner.
I agree. Having spent a good half hour with the new MacBook yesterday I wanted to love it. It really is an engineering marvel, and as someone else said, a 14" version would be fantastic. I actually really like the keyboard, but the machine is really small. The thinness was not an issue for me but would love it if it were spread out a bit more with a larger screen.
I believe this machine is what will ultimately replace the 11" Air, and maybe a 14" rMB to replace the 13" Air. And keyboard and trackpad will end up in all of Apple's notebooks.
The internal specs just need a year or two to catch up with the design.
The screen is fantastic. Retina was never defined as 4x (or the way it's referred to in software, 2x, because it refers to the dimensions, not the area). Even the first retina MacBook Pro supported different scaled resolutions.
Fuzziness only really occurs if you can see the pixels. Otherwise, the fuzzy lines just look like a thin, sharp line unless you get real close. And even then you're not going to be able to notice much.
The iPhone 6 Plus does the same thing and it's an option across the board on all retina Macs. The only reason it's an issue on traditional displays is that the pixels are so huge.
What I meant was, when I run my 15" rMBP scaled there is a noticeable (to me) drop in quality. I was wondering if this was noticeable on the new MacBook, but not one review or first impression has mentioned it so I suppose it's not an issue.
Thanks for reminding me. Yes! I did like the larger size keys. And you're correct, you didn't have to press down on the keys as much. It was almost like a tap. Personally, screen size is important to me. If Apple phases out the MBA, I may then have to go Pro. I think I'm going to upgrade my current 2011 MBA to a 2015 MBA. Do you know if Apple is definitely phasing it out?
Just an FYI if you didn't know. Due to the retina display the resolution on the rMB is the same as the 13" MBA. The demo models at the store are not all set to the same resolution. I noticed that this morning.
I have a Gold 5S and Gold 6+. You never really notice the color when you're looking directly at the phone, because of the white borders. But Gold on the MacBook is super noticeable. Initially, I wanted it in gold (if I decided on it), but after looking at it, I wondered if it was too much gold. It really stood out. This was my initial impression of it.
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I noticed that too. I was hoping the displays of the MacBook were next to MBPro to compare its retina. Obviously, both were displayed at a different tables.
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I noticed that too. I was hoping the displays of the MacBook were next to MBPro to compare its retina. Obviously, both were displayed at a different tables.