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What's the new mb like for people who have had one for some time now
- Thread starter Samtb
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I've owned it for 48 hours now and absolutely love it.
Its not the best solution for the power user; it's for someone who can live with a little less horsepower because they value portability over performance. That said, I'm a businessman who primarily uses his notebook for email, Powerpoint, YouTube, Slingbox, iTunes, Excel, and web and for that it has no performance drawbacks at all.
BJ
Macbook sounds like it perfectly fits my needs since I am not a power user as well. Your uses exactly describe mine.
Are you still planning on using your iPad as well? Because of the new slim size and weight of the Macbook, I see less and less use for the iPad. If I eventually get the new Macbook, I would definitely sell my iPad Air (or give it to the wife).
I view my new iPad Air 2 and my new MacBook as "travel tools for the executive". I don't use either when I'm at home or in the office. Sounds like you are in a similar position.
On an aircraft, the iPad is just perfect for watching movies and TV shows, no keyboard to take up tray table space, folds down and tucks in the seatback perfectly. It's just a giant screen. So I don't see myself losing the iPad for the Mac even though the size difference is virtually nil and the battery life is comparable. The keyboard gets in the way when its mealtime. I view each as a separate tool for a separate purpose.
iPad = Movies and TV Shows on the plane
Mac = Executive Work and Family Communication in the hotel room
BJ
My rMB 1,3/512/S arrived on may 15.
I use it as my main computer for private purpose and in my Office as a secondary machine. I do daily tasks on it including the classic apps like Safari, Mail, MS Office '11, Calendar, Maps. Beside that, i play older games on it, use Ableton Live for jamming around and use Fotos (1000+ Picture-Archive). All in all i do all the Stuff i did on my 2011 MBP 13" before, except in most cases it runs faster and smoother.
Agree with you mostly, but for me I would slide up the Family Communication bit to the iPad as well. The MB is just for the work bit.
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I've ordered one. Should be perfect for me - just want something I can work on while I'm commuting. I only use office/the occasional SPSS.
I use mine as a "normal life" machine. I do also have a "geek machine", a Mac Pro, but I like to keep all my day-to-day life, and photos and email and movies and all that, on a separate portable laptop.
That portable has been a 2012 rMBP up till now. I've had the rMB (1.2ghz) for about 3 weeks now, and it's fantastic. Super-portable, and usually you can't notice a difference, no matter what you're doing. I.E. in day-to-day computing it's as smooth and snappy as any MacBook
I've also helped pick out a school notebook for a younger relative (13yrs old). An rMB of course Seems like a perfect laptop for a student (due to portability, responsiveness, and quality display).
That portable has been a 2012 rMBP up till now. I've had the rMB (1.2ghz) for about 3 weeks now, and it's fantastic. Super-portable, and usually you can't notice a difference, no matter what you're doing. I.E. in day-to-day computing it's as smooth and snappy as any MacBook
I've also helped pick out a school notebook for a younger relative (13yrs old). An rMB of course
Seems like a perfect laptop for a student (due to portability, responsiveness, and quality display).
I have to put up with Word and Excel at work, so I don't have them on my rMB. For Pages and Numbers and Keynote, it's quick and smooth. I've heard no reports of it being otherwise in Office.
I'm afraid not.
For example: Lenovo LaVie HZ550 (a 13" laptop!) weighs 1.72 pounds (780g).
It's awesome. Switches between tasks and windows and spaces moire cleanly that my rMBP 15" 2102 does.
Seriously, it's a great machine, it will do ALL normal tasks fine.
So what will it not do fine? I don't know if I should get it over the pro given the fact that they are the same price with a USB-C to multimedia adapter which I'd want.
It won't do-just-fine things that involve intense long-duration processing. For example, video-rendering, bitcoin mining, DNA sequencing, weather modelling, etc
If you're outputting an iMovie family movie of 5 mins, it might take 10 minutes to render on the rMB vs 6 mins on the rMBP. It will still work fine, and the result will be identical.
If you're doing day-to-day things, response will be instant, just like it is on all MacBooks.
It's great.
Despite the rumors, I've been putting the rMB through its paces and haven't yet ran into an issue of it acting sluggish. It's much faster than my two year old Sony ultrabook which similarly had SSD, mobile processor, etc.
BJ
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What it doesn't do fine and where you may need to compromise (beyond the previous response about heavy video processing) I find is in the area of connectivity. The tradeoff for the earth-shattering slim/light design is the need for dongles.
As I sit here with the notebook on my lap and typing away without heat or a fan or weight or large size I am beyond thrilled at its compact engineering. It's practically breathtaking. When I'm in a meeting and need to connect to a projector and ethernet and a power source I've got Apple's big dongle and a bunch of sub-dongles to make that happen. As elegant and simplistic as the MacBook is on my lap it's inelegant and complicated when connected to a bunch of stuff on a desk.
I'm good with that tradeoff. For others, maybe not.
BJ
Nice hardware
Over the last 10 years I have owned many MacBook Pros. My most recent MacBook Pro was the 13" Retina which I liked very much. I even have an 11" MacBook Air that I quit using once I started using the 13" Retina MacBook Pro. I just couldn't look at the 11" display after having gotten used to the Retina of the Pro. I am a physician and like to carry my computer into the room with me. I have been experimenting with many different combinations including an iPad Air 2 with a variety of keyboards and couldn't quite find the combination. Looking for the right combination, I have wasted a lot of money on a variety of hardware and accessories to find a combination that works. The minute I saw the MacBook I knew it is what I was looking for. A Retina display bigger than an iPad with an attached full size keyboard. I have found no significant lag, no annoying waiting. The keyboard is fine. There isn't much play. It is a little noisier than I would have preferred but that depends somewhat on what surface you are typing on. It doesn't wobble in my lap. It feels fine when you type sitting. Because the keys don't have a lot of play I tend to make more mistakes if I am standing and typing. Overall it is precisely what I was looking for.
Over the last 10 years I have owned many MacBook Pros. My most recent MacBook Pro was the 13" Retina which I liked very much. I even have an 11" MacBook Air that I quit using once I started using the 13" Retina MacBook Pro. I just couldn't look at the 11" display after having gotten used to the Retina of the Pro. I am a physician and like to carry my computer into the room with me. I have been experimenting with many different combinations including an iPad Air 2 with a variety of keyboards and couldn't quite find the combination. Looking for the right combination, I have wasted a lot of money on a variety of hardware and accessories to find a combination that works. The minute I saw the MacBook I knew it is what I was looking for. A Retina display bigger than an iPad with an attached full size keyboard. I have found no significant lag, no annoying waiting. The keyboard is fine. There isn't much play. It is a little noisier than I would have preferred but that depends somewhat on what surface you are typing on. It doesn't wobble in my lap. It feels fine when you type sitting. Because the keys don't have a lot of play I tend to make more mistakes if I am standing and typing. Overall it is precisely what I was looking for.
Office 2011 runs great on the rMB.
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Agree with this, but I'll put a different number on the comparison: 10 minutes on the rMB is probably more like 8 minutes on the rMBP unless you're comparing it to a quad 15" and the software takes advantage of a quad core processor. That's based on real world use/comparisons.
Yep, and I'd agree with you there too. And I was indeed comparing to the 15" based on my own impressions and fairly unscientific testing.
Which makes the rMB an impressive performer in the real world.
I've had my sg/1.3/512 for 3.5 weeks, and I absolutely love it. Highly recommended!
The keyboards is exhilarating to use. The keys don't wobble around like my old mba. I love typing on it.
It operates completely silently which is amazing! Watching videos quietly in bed is pretty surreal, you can make the audio super quiet and still hear it just fine. And yet the speakers can get really loud, possibly louder than any other laptop made by Apple.
I had problems with it stuttering the first few days of use, but somehow I don't have that problem anymore. I think people are woefully underestimating the Core M. This is just the tip of the iceberg in the world of fabless laptops, I feel like it really changes the whole engineering rules of engineering a Lagos and the real benefits are yet to come.
The keyboards is exhilarating to use. The keys don't wobble around like my old mba. I love typing on it.
It operates completely silently which is amazing! Watching videos quietly in bed is pretty surreal, you can make the audio super quiet and still hear it just fine. And yet the speakers can get really loud, possibly louder than any other laptop made by Apple.
I had problems with it stuttering the first few days of use, but somehow I don't have that problem anymore. I think people are woefully underestimating the Core M. This is just the tip of the iceberg in the world of fabless laptops, I feel like it really changes the whole engineering rules of engineering a Lagos and the real benefits are yet to come.