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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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Loving mine. It fits my needs perfectly. I travel a lot on business, so it's really important to me to have something portable. As I present a lot to stakeholders and business associates, it's also good to look the part 
I'm happy with the performance for what I use it for (mainly email, editing office documents, surfing and presenting). I also have a top spec Retina IMac for all my heavy lifting (like editing 4K video) so the two work really well together in tandem.
I'm happy with the performance for what I use it for (mainly email, editing office documents, surfing and presenting). I also have a top spec Retina IMac for all my heavy lifting (like editing 4K video) so the two work really well together in tandem.How does it feel while using on your lap?
ive been to the apple store a few times and the machine looks fantastic, but cant demo it laying on my couch lol
ive been to the apple store a few times and the machine looks fantastic, but cant demo it laying on my couch lol
Macbook - 2 days in
I'm loving mine, I'm a freelance graphic designer and wanted a very portable mac that had a full operating system and set up mirroring my main iMac, that I could throw in a bag and go to a local coffee shop and continue work off site. I run latest Photoshop and Illustrator, I don't watch videos or play games and for me this is near perfect. One issue which I knew would be a problem since previously having had a Macbook Air 11.6" is the real estate on screen with the aforementioned programmes. I am relatively happy to start jobs on the iMac then take them out on the Macbook and amend or work on the files but wouldn't want to start and complete a whole job just on the Macbook. My other laptop is a five year old Mac Pro 17" which definitely has the real estate, but what stunned me was how quick this Macbook is to start up and open and run the programmes. I know a lot has changed in five years processor wise, but if you don't expect desktop-like power miracles from this tiny machine then you won't be disappointed. I quickly learnt how to use Airdrop and was stunned how speedy and efficient it was. I haven't missed the ports at all, have never used an SD card slot even though I work in Photoshop nearly ten hours a day. This is the future and it's nice to feel a part of it. One final thing I have learned with Apple products; buy them the day they come out to get the full year's enjoyment out of them, if ready sell them a year later and the depreciation is relatively marginal, maybe 70 to 90 percent. That's not a bad R.O.I. - Go for it!
I'm loving mine, I'm a freelance graphic designer and wanted a very portable mac that had a full operating system and set up mirroring my main iMac, that I could throw in a bag and go to a local coffee shop and continue work off site. I run latest Photoshop and Illustrator, I don't watch videos or play games and for me this is near perfect. One issue which I knew would be a problem since previously having had a Macbook Air 11.6" is the real estate on screen with the aforementioned programmes. I am relatively happy to start jobs on the iMac then take them out on the Macbook and amend or work on the files but wouldn't want to start and complete a whole job just on the Macbook. My other laptop is a five year old Mac Pro 17" which definitely has the real estate, but what stunned me was how quick this Macbook is to start up and open and run the programmes. I know a lot has changed in five years processor wise, but if you don't expect desktop-like power miracles from this tiny machine then you won't be disappointed. I quickly learnt how to use Airdrop and was stunned how speedy and efficient it was. I haven't missed the ports at all, have never used an SD card slot even though I work in Photoshop nearly ten hours a day. This is the future and it's nice to feel a part of it. One final thing I have learned with Apple products; buy them the day they come out to get the full year's enjoyment out of them, if ready sell them a year later and the depreciation is relatively marginal, maybe 70 to 90 percent. That's not a bad R.O.I. - Go for it!
Got the space grey base model.
Love it. Keyboard, screen, trackpad, weight and profile are amazing.
No issues with speed or lag with general usage including streaming, music, surfing, email and Office type applications.
No issues with ports which I thought I might have either - bought the $20 Apple USB adapter and a USB hub and SD card hub for a few bux and a cheap case and I'm all set.
Battery life with music, Chromecast streaming, surfing, email, itunes sync and downloading hopeless. 3-4 hours ish. Never tried for max battery life but I suspect it's possible to get 5-8 hours on light usage, perhaps without wifi and settings turned right down.
But I can't do the 30% brightness. It's like driving a Ferrari in first gear.
Life with a Macbook. All in all, what I expected and a stunning innovative product that will again set the trend in the market for the future as did the Air.
My 2c.
Love it. Keyboard, screen, trackpad, weight and profile are amazing.
No issues with speed or lag with general usage including streaming, music, surfing, email and Office type applications.
No issues with ports which I thought I might have either - bought the $20 Apple USB adapter and a USB hub and SD card hub for a few bux and a cheap case and I'm all set.
Battery life with music, Chromecast streaming, surfing, email, itunes sync and downloading hopeless. 3-4 hours ish. Never tried for max battery life but I suspect it's possible to get 5-8 hours on light usage, perhaps without wifi and settings turned right down.
But I can't do the 30% brightness. It's like driving a Ferrari in first gear.
Life with a Macbook. All in all, what I expected and a stunning innovative product that will again set the trend in the market for the future as did the Air.
My 2c.
It's perfect on the lap. I can barely tell there's any weight or warmth, compared to laptops I used just a few years ago that were hot and heavy. As a result, I haven't used my iPad at all since getting the new MacBook. And despite not really liking the new keyboard, it's 100 times better than an iPad keyboard!
base works fine with 1080p youtube even 4k youtube looks great. 1080 mkv too and quicktime trailers 1080
and I use PS without issue
What about video editing and multitasking? And is there any significant ui lag?
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Agreed! I would take it one step further and call it the ultimate computer, Apple has definitely hit the sweet spot!
I've only had my rmb for almost a week but i did a lot of research and have used it extensively for work etc in that time. After much consideration, i ended up getting the 1.3ghz version.
I have been using it as my portable work computer for photomechanic, Lightroom and emails/web.
No it does not replace my home computer, which is a retina macbook pro 15.
BUT it does however perform much better than I had expected based on the specs. I have really no issues at all using lightroom on RAW files and photomechanic is fast (as it is on everything).
In lightroom my biggest concern in getting the computer was the speed in the developing module. Would it be "laggy?" After extensive use I find it to be completely usable. I would NOT however recommend large import /exports, thats where you see the lack of speed. Takes FoooRRRevver But that was never my intended use anyways. I bought this computer as a portable to leave in my camera bag and so I could begin my edits while in transit, to be finished on my computer at home.
SO far only having one port has been a non-issue for my needs. Again, this isn't my main computer and being portable doesn't really involve plugging much in at once.
The areas that I still don't love are the keyboard and trackpad. The keyboard is still awkward for me. Maybe it's the key size or positioning. I don't know but i "miss-hit" the keys a lot. I don't think the low profile is the issue.
I don't find the trackpad as smooth as the one on my 2013 rmbP 15" Feels like there is a little more resistant on this trackpad, fingers don't glide as smoothly.
I also tried the MBA 11 inch but the screen was a deal breaker. Yes the MBA was super fast and is also a great computer, loved and preferred everything except the screen, but for photo editing, the screen was quite a step back. I find the color etc of the rMB to match my main computer very well so transitioning over and continuing my work is no issue at all.
Anyways, those are my thoughts.
Did you purchase the Space Gray model? I found the trackpad feel slightly different on the SG color, and I ended up switching back to Silver, which feels the same to me as my previous MBA.
I don't think so. Given my dislike to the feel of my SG unit but really liking the look of it, I started to test various demo units at Apple and Best Buy. Unfortunately, the trackpad glass consistently felt the same as my own SG unit, whereas the Silver trackpad glass was more like what I was used to. Give it a try.
I have mine for 2 weeks now (1.3) as a replacement for a mid 2012 13 air (I7/8/512).
i use it mainly for office documents, access to my work virtual machine (using citrix), usual Safari, Itunes and Mail, and some DVD ripping, plus one widows XP virtual machine that i need for a specific GPS software.
Experience so far is very good, the system is snappy are reactive. Some specific feedback:
- battery is a good 8hours of light use with brightness at 2/3 (citrix receiver, 5 larges excel files open, 2 or 3 powerpoint documents, a couple of large PDF, Mail and Safari with 1 or 2 tabs)
- video playback is smooth (tried hd videos on SSD using VLC, netflix streaming and Youtube)
- DVD ripping using handbrake is same speed as the air, about 45 minutes for compression, but silently
- i installed skim for PDF's that seems smoother than the adobe software
- XP in virtual box runs smoothly, no issue
- wifi seems faster as it is on ac while my air was not (and i have a new extreme that support ac)
- sound is now good enough to watch a movie (bass is lacking of course but stereo effect is better and SQ seems better)
- the screen does not feel smaller than the air as i use the same 1440/900 space.
i use it mainly for office documents, access to my work virtual machine (using citrix), usual Safari, Itunes and Mail, and some DVD ripping, plus one widows XP virtual machine that i need for a specific GPS software.
Experience so far is very good, the system is snappy are reactive. Some specific feedback:
- battery is a good 8hours of light use with brightness at 2/3 (citrix receiver, 5 larges excel files open, 2 or 3 powerpoint documents, a couple of large PDF, Mail and Safari with 1 or 2 tabs)
- video playback is smooth (tried hd videos on SSD using VLC, netflix streaming and Youtube)
- DVD ripping using handbrake is same speed as the air, about 45 minutes for compression, but silently
- i installed skim for PDF's that seems smoother than the adobe software
- XP in virtual box runs smoothly, no issue
- wifi seems faster as it is on ac while my air was not (and i have a new extreme that support ac)
- sound is now good enough to watch a movie (bass is lacking of course but stereo effect is better and SQ seems better)
- the screen does not feel smaller than the air as i use the same 1440/900 space.