30 ms·

Ask HN: What's your experience with the new macbook?

47 points by nyddle 11y ago

I'm about to buy the new 12 inch macbook, primarily for webdev work while traveling. Would be interested in any experiences with this device.

unme009 11y ago
watch the new tested podcast. their advice: do not buy a macbook this iteration.
slamus 11y ago
I advise you to wait for the 2d generation. Like the first iteration of the Macbook Air, it looks beautiful but terribly lacks functionnality (one port only & a weak processor being the most problematic things yet). My advice: Buy a 13-Inch Pro Retina if you absolutely want the Retina Experience. Otherwise, go buy an Air.
- grandalf 11y ago
  the 13" pro retina is an amazing laptop.
  - jaxbot 11y ago
    I disagree, only on the grounds that Chrome will max out the tiny GPU in that machine when HTML5 videos or CSS3 animations play. Even simple video effects like Expose will stutter. It's a great machine, but the video card is much too weak for the pixels it has to push. Take it with a grain of salt, of course.
    - vosper 11y ago
      I'll try to find the source, but I'm pretty sure there are some issues with Chrome on OSX, and that these are thought to be the fault of Chrome. For example, testing has shown that Safari achieves significantly better battery life when running on the same set of pages. Edit: Found it [1]. A couple of salient quotes: "I ran the usual Verge battery test on Apple’s new machine. [...] Safari made the new Retina machine look good: 13 hours and 18 minutes. Google’s Chrome, on the other hand, forced the laptop to tap out at 9 hours and 45 minutes." "The widely used SunSpider browser benchmark clocks the MacBook Pro in at 203ms when using Chrome. Safari scores 30 percent better with a time of 144ms." [1] http://www.theverge.com/2015/4/10/8381447/chrome-macbook-battery-life http://www.theverge.com/2015/4/10/8381447/chrome-macbook-bat...
      - marpstar 11y ago
        There are definitely problems with Chrome on OS X, and it's not just performance. Lots of rendering problems when trying to set background-position: fixed; for large (i.e. "full screen") images where the background images either doesn't show up at all or hops all over the screen.
    - mosselman 11y ago
      Yesterday I ran into this gem: https://github.com/unixpickle/FreeRez https://github.com/unixpickle/FreeRez It allows you to set the resolution to the 'true' resolution of your retina screen. This way you have more screen, but it also fixes the performance issues when playing video, virtualbox virtualisation, etc. Truly recommend.
      - grandalf 11y ago
        Does that mean it's not "retina" resolution anymore for things like fonts, etc?
        mosselman 11y ago
        It does mean that somewhat, but fonts still look fine. I find the huge load of extra screen space very handy when programming on 'just' my laptop screen.
        grandalf 11y ago
        Does it behave differently from just scaling the display in preferences? On Yosemite I can scale mine so that everything is too small, and several levels in between that and the default resolution. It would surprise me if Apple didn't leverage native resolution where possible with this scaling.
  - nawitus 11y ago
    I bought a 13" MacBook Retina Pro last December as my first Apple laptop after several years of Arch Linux. My expectation was that it would "simply work", whereas Arch often required manual configuration. My experience hasn't been very positive with the MacBook. It doesn't support non-Apple hardware well. The software quality is not that great, there are various bugs and issues. I'll sometimes do a bit lightweight gaming, and to my surprise wine works better on Linux than native games on the Mac OS X I've played. There are "known issues" that many MacBook owners have with various games but these are seemingly ignored. With Arch there were issues, but almost always they could be manually fixed with a bit of command line magic. With Apple the usual solution is to either pay around 20 to 30 dollars to buy some random software which should fix the issue or just deal with the problem. Just as an example, even basic stuff like an external mouse with scroll wheel doesn't work well due to inadjustable scrolling acceleration.
    - nazgob 11y ago
      Are you comparing 13" MacBook Retina Pro to Arch Linux? We can discuss OSX vs Arch Linux or MBP vs whatever hardware you used. Have you tried Arch on MBP?
      - nawitus 11y ago
        I'm comparing the whole experience, so hardware + software. The hardware of the MacBook may be a bit ahead of my old laptop, but that doesn't have a major effect on my user experience.
- beat 11y ago
  My daughter is looking for a new Mac, so we compared the other day. I'd buy the new Macbook in a heartbeat over the current-model Airs. If I wanted more power than the Macbook can provide, I'd get a Pro. The single port isn't that big a deal, really. It doesn't need to sit on a charger all day thanks to battery life, AppleTV and Chromecast have replaced wired HDMI, and I almost never use more than one USB device at a time (and if you do, don't you have a hub lying around?).
- lynndylanhurley 11y ago
  I completely agree with you on this. I've had to send my 1st gen retina macbook pro back to the service depot literally 5 times. The first hard drive was apparently defective, as were the first and second logic boards. And twice I had defective parts replaced with identical defective parts. And whenever anything is sent to the service depot, they wipe the goddamn hard drive. No matter what. And you guys know the pain of re-downloading XCode, re-installing everything with homebrew, re-cloning all of your git repos, re-configuring all of your git-remotes, re-installing virtual machines for IE8, etc. It takes like 2-3 days. And it's not an issue that employers with deadlines are sympathetic about. The stupid thing is that every time I get it back I think, "everything will be different this time". It's like a sick abusive relationship. I just got it back like 4 days ago from the latest trip to the depot, and now there's a harsh buzzing sound that I've never heard before. So now I have to weigh the severity of this stupid issue against the headache of re-installing everything again and rolling the dice with another trip to the depot. I guess what I'm saying is that you really should beware of 1st gen apple hardware.
apricot13 11y ago
Never buy first generation apple anything and never be the first to upgrade software! (so many grey screens of death!) As soon as the second generation of macbooks is out I will be upgrading!
- beat 11y ago
  When has Apple ever released a bad product in the first generation? In the 21st century, at least? I waited for second generation for the iPhone and iPad, both far more radical steps than this little Macbook, but the first gen products were spectacular. (edit: My most disappointing Apple product in the past 15 years has been my iPhone 6. Jobs wouldn't let them make it wider due to handling issues. Without his restraint, they made it wider. Now I have to have a case and drop the darn thing all the time. Never had that problem with other iPhones.)
  - FLGMwt 11y ago
    How's your Apple Watch treating you?
    - beat 11y ago
      I haven't bought one. Don't feel a need for it yet. I'm not a reflexive tech buyer.
  - emidln 11y ago
    That first gen iPhone that came with EDGE was spectacular?
    - rbanffy 11y ago
      It kind of redefined what a smartphone is.
      - freehunter 11y ago
        Eventually. Once they got on popular carrier and had the ability to install apps (since user-installable applications pretty much defines the "smart" aspect of smart phone). The first iPhone at launch was basically a tech demo, a taste of what was to come.
cvburgess 11y ago
I recently purchased one for the same thing: web dev, travel, and iOS development too. I had a 2014 MacBook Pro Retina that was stolen and decided to "downgrade" for the replacement. I'm honestly really happily surprised with the little silver box. Its paper thin, the keyboard is really nice after you get used to it (takes a few days). The battery lasts seemingly forever and it runs really smoothly. Compared to my MBPR it feels just as fast if not occasionally faster. However, streaming video to the TV over airplay hasn't been as nice. If you do video heavy things like gaming or video production, its not for you. But as a programmer, I'm really, really happy. Note: I would recommend the 1.2 GHz configuration or the 1.3 - I have the 1.2 and a lot the the reviews are saying that there is a noticeable difference between the 1.1 and 1.2 in terms of computing power. Edit: fixed spelling and grammar.
ebbv 11y ago
I have to echo the other commenters advising against buying the first generation of the 12" rMB. There's a lot of short comings that will certainly be addressed in a second generation model within a year. Right now the 13" rMBP seems like the better purchase in every way right now. I wouldn't buy a current MBA either as they are really showing their age. Their screen is the worst in Apple's line up by a long shot.
bischofs 11y ago
I used one for a week and kind of had the same problems I had with other tiny laptops...it is nice that is so portable but unless you use it really close to your face you have to hunch over in any other position then on a desk right next to your face. I found myself constantly having to straighten my posture when I was doing any sort of work on it for longer than 20 minutes - and when you do you inevitably start to hunch again as the screen is just too small. I would say this is really just for rich people who want to carry around a fancy email machine rather than someone who uses it for work.
- Eric_WVGG 11y ago
  I don’t get this. Text and widgets on the screen render at the same size as on other Apple laptops, nothing is shrunk. When adjusted for viewing distance, everything displays basically the same as on a monster 27" iMac. Are you using System Prefs to render the content smaller? Why not reverse that?
  - cma 11y ago
    I think he is comparing it vs 13 and 15 inch Apple laptops.
    - kenrikm 11y ago
      The jump between 12 and 13 inches is not really that big however 12 to 15 is. I think apple was more targeting the spot right between the 11 and 13inch that used to be occupied by the 12in powerbook which had a semi-cult following and was widely regarded as one of the best laptops Apple made.
  - bischofs 11y ago
    I get what you are saying, but it is not the content I have a problem with it's the position my body is in to look at the smaller screen. Because it is so thin and the screen only comes up probably 10 - 12 inches from any surface you are working on you have to tilt your head way more than if you working on a 15 - 17 incher.
  - 11y ago
johladam 11y ago
I agree with everyone here. On a side note, I've just purchased a Lenovo ThinkPad T450s, had them throw an i7, 8 GB of RAM, and an SSD in it an it's a great machine. I'm running Ubuntu on it right now, it seems to have pretty good support, though the keyboard backlight is a bit finicky.
- badloginagain 11y ago
  The problem I've had with Ubuntu is that a lot of things are finicky, although every time I try the OS is gets better.
biafra 11y ago
I am very happy with my 11" MBA. Except I could use a larger screen and a higher screen resolution. I wonder if the 12" is noticeable slower than the (1.7GHz i7) 11" MBA.
- kenrikm 11y ago
  From what I've read it is about the same speed as a last gen macbook air.
  - falcolas 11y ago
    In short bursts, but for any prolonged computing, the air will pull ahead due to the active cooling. I use an air as a development machine, and it works great.
    - Cacti 11y ago
      Well, to be fair, any prolonged, heavy computing will also kill the Air's battery. And the fan sounds like a freaking plane taking off.
      - falcolas 11y ago
        Shorter battery life vs. significantly reduced computing power (due to reduced heat dissipation). Personally, for the development use case, I'll take the reduced battery life; I can mitigate that problem with a power cable.
thecolorblue 11y ago
I would like to know how the new macbook compares to the new chromebook pixel. At first glance, the specs look similar but the pixel has more ports, which I think I would like.
- marknow 11y ago
  I'm working on a MBP, but also really interested in the pixel. We tend to now work in the cloud more than ever, and like the lower cost and simplicity of the chromebook.
spotman 11y ago
It's a great machine. Very happy with my purchase. it really depends on your needs though. I use it as my portable machine and it goes wherever I go when I'm on the go, which I previously had an 11 inch air for. Coming from that it's an enormous upgrade. The battery lasted me 7 hours yesterday of constant use, and the screen is the best screen of any laptop I have personally used. it's not really a widescreen anymore which helps with my terminal experience greatly. My normal workload includes 50% terminal.app, 30% Xcode and the rest is split up between instant messaging and emailing. so I don't desire or need to run things like video editing or VMware. I use an iMac for that stuff, infrequently. so for an OS X based machine that is ultra portable and runs terminal well, I'm not sure why you would be better off waiting. it's a great product.
danso 11y ago
In addition to the OP's question, if you are moving from an Air to the Macbook, I would especially love to hear direct comparisons. I was very tempted to get the new Macbook, but couldn't justify it given that the 13-inch Air was substantially faster and not much heavier/thicker...and the Retina screen isn't a huge deal to me for on-the-road work. I ultimately didn't buy anything because I already have a 15-in Retina pro, and on further reflection, it didn't seem that much thicker than the Air...so I just replaced my stolen iPad instead.
rickyc091 11y ago
It really depends on what your web dev work looks like. It's a sleek computer, but the specs are pretty weak for development if you need to run vagrant, a database, a server, etc. The computer specs are similar to a 2012 MBA. The keyboard will take a bit getting use to as it doesn't have the same tactile feel. Accuracy will probably drastically drop. Having a single port isn't horrible, but it's sure annoying when I need to charge my phone.
blisterpeanuts 11y ago
I bought a Macbook Air 13" about six months ago and it's been great. But I especially like the SD slot and multiple USB ports (which I need for my work -- android and iOS app development), and of course the 9 hour battery. This new Macbook seems like a downgrade. Seriously, why didn't they build on the Air instead of what looks like chopping out features to achieve an impractical thinness?
ghshephard 11y ago
39 responses so far, and so far only two people with experience - but lots of opinions. :-) I would love, also, to hear from people who have been using it. Thinking about purchasing it for my personal system to go along with my work computer which I travel with, so I can keep email, photos, all personal stuff off the corporate system. Portability is key - would love to know if anyone is using it in that fashion.
bdon 11y ago
Can anyone with this machine comment on their experience charging it with a standard smartphone/tablet battery pack through USB-C? If this actually works, it's a pretty killer feature over the MBA/Pro.
Cacti 11y ago
It's great. Keyboard and trackpad work surprisingly well (and is highly underrated... other manufacturers are going to have a really hard time getting this right on devices this thin... use one in a store if you haven't). Screen is great. Battery life is as expected. Size is obviously incredible. CPU performance is as expected (1.1) or slightly above (1.3, which is the one I have, is actually fairly fast). It's a superb machine. As far as actual use, well that depends on who is using it. The role that this laptop fits really well IMO is use as a secondary device for consistently mid-level computing tasks (with some burst activity) in an environment where mobility is important. "webdev work while traveling" is exactly this role so as long as you are OK with the form factor then you will like this laptop. If the form factor is an issue, you should consider the Air. If power is an issue, you should consider the Pro. If price is an issue, look at other manufacturers (new Surface and new XPS are both great machines, for example, though neither are really that cheap). The reviews on this device have been mixed but I think a lot of reviews are acting on the premise that it's a one-stop machine, but it's not. It's not perfect. It's a bit pricey. You aren't going to be running a new game at max settings on it. The one port thing is odd and you will need to wait for the adapter market to catch up for some of this oddness/clumsiness to disappear. 8 gig ram isn't quite enough if you are expecting to be running big VMs on it a lot. The CPU is relatively underpowered (though, honestly, I think this is overrated and the 1.3 in particular is quite good... even with the 1.1 you will likely never even notice). For me, this device is replacing a 13" 2011 Air and so far I consider it to be superior in just about every way and my experience has been great. If I need to sit down and do some "serious" computing for a decent stretch of time (new game at max settings for a couple hours, large data crunching, long programming stretch where I really need a desk and several monitors) then, well, that's what my desktop is for (or a powerful, bulky, docked laptop which amounts to the same thing). In other words, what you are buying when you buy this machine over something else is this: the keyboard, the trackpad, the screen, the efficiency of the CPU, the battery form factor, the fanless design, and the entire form factor to bring this all together in such a tiny laptop. In return, the tradeoff is slightly less RAM, slightly less CPU power, and a lack of extension ports.
- akg_67 11y ago
  Can this MacBook handle Windows VM with VirtualBox? My wife is considering this MacBook. She is not a power user/developer, mostly browsing, emails, word processing, and spreadsheets. But she also wants Windows VM for programs that don't have OSX versions or experience on OSX is not that good.
payamrastogi 11y ago
my experience so far : https://github.com/WhenAppleBites/iBugs/issues/1 https://github.com/WhenAppleBites/iBugs/issues/1

47 points by nyddle 11y ago

I'm about to buy the new 12 inch macbook, primarily for webdev work while traveling. Would be interested in any experiences with this device.

unme009 11y ago

watch the new tested podcast. their advice: do not buy a macbook this iteration.

slamus 11y ago

I advise you to wait for the 2d generation. Like the first iteration of the Macbook Air, it looks beautiful but terribly lacks functionnality (one port only & a weak processor being the most problematic things yet). My advice: Buy a 13-Inch Pro Retina if you absolutely want the Retina Experience. Otherwise, go buy an Air.

grandalf 11y ago
the 13" pro retina is an amazing laptop.
- jaxbot 11y ago
  I disagree, only on the grounds that Chrome will max out the tiny GPU in that machine when HTML5 videos or CSS3 animations play. Even simple video effects like Expose will stutter. It's a great machine, but the video card is much too weak for the pixels it has to push. Take it with a grain of salt, of course.
  - vosper 11y ago
    I'll try to find the source, but I'm pretty sure there are some issues with Chrome on OSX, and that these are thought to be the fault of Chrome. For example, testing has shown that Safari achieves significantly better battery life when running on the same set of pages. Edit: Found it [1]. A couple of salient quotes: "I ran the usual Verge battery test on Apple’s new machine. [...] Safari made the new Retina machine look good: 13 hours and 18 minutes. Google’s Chrome, on the other hand, forced the laptop to tap out at 9 hours and 45 minutes." "The widely used SunSpider browser benchmark clocks the MacBook Pro in at 203ms when using Chrome. Safari scores 30 percent better with a time of 144ms." [1] http://www.theverge.com/2015/4/10/8381447/chrome-macbook-battery-life http://www.theverge.com/2015/4/10/8381447/chrome-macbook-bat...
    - marpstar 11y ago
      There are definitely problems with Chrome on OS X, and it's not just performance. Lots of rendering problems when trying to set background-position: fixed; for large (i.e. "full screen") images where the background images either doesn't show up at all or hops all over the screen.
  - mosselman 11y ago
    Yesterday I ran into this gem: https://github.com/unixpickle/FreeRez https://github.com/unixpickle/FreeRez It allows you to set the resolution to the 'true' resolution of your retina screen. This way you have more screen, but it also fixes the performance issues when playing video, virtualbox virtualisation, etc. Truly recommend.
    - grandalf 11y ago
      Does that mean it's not "retina" resolution anymore for things like fonts, etc?
      - mosselman 11y ago
        It does mean that somewhat, but fonts still look fine. I find the huge load of extra screen space very handy when programming on 'just' my laptop screen.
        grandalf 11y ago
        Does it behave differently from just scaling the display in preferences? On Yosemite I can scale mine so that everything is too small, and several levels in between that and the default resolution. It would surprise me if Apple didn't leverage native resolution where possible with this scaling.
- nawitus 11y ago
  I bought a 13" MacBook Retina Pro last December as my first Apple laptop after several years of Arch Linux. My expectation was that it would "simply work", whereas Arch often required manual configuration. My experience hasn't been very positive with the MacBook. It doesn't support non-Apple hardware well. The software quality is not that great, there are various bugs and issues. I'll sometimes do a bit lightweight gaming, and to my surprise wine works better on Linux than native games on the Mac OS X I've played. There are "known issues" that many MacBook owners have with various games but these are seemingly ignored. With Arch there were issues, but almost always they could be manually fixed with a bit of command line magic. With Apple the usual solution is to either pay around 20 to 30 dollars to buy some random software which should fix the issue or just deal with the problem. Just as an example, even basic stuff like an external mouse with scroll wheel doesn't work well due to inadjustable scrolling acceleration.
  - nazgob 11y ago
    Are you comparing 13" MacBook Retina Pro to Arch Linux? We can discuss OSX vs Arch Linux or MBP vs whatever hardware you used. Have you tried Arch on MBP?
    - nawitus 11y ago
      I'm comparing the whole experience, so hardware + software. The hardware of the MacBook may be a bit ahead of my old laptop, but that doesn't have a major effect on my user experience.
beat 11y ago
My daughter is looking for a new Mac, so we compared the other day. I'd buy the new Macbook in a heartbeat over the current-model Airs. If I wanted more power than the Macbook can provide, I'd get a Pro. The single port isn't that big a deal, really. It doesn't need to sit on a charger all day thanks to battery life, AppleTV and Chromecast have replaced wired HDMI, and I almost never use more than one USB device at a time (and if you do, don't you have a hub lying around?).
lynndylanhurley 11y ago
I completely agree with you on this. I've had to send my 1st gen retina macbook pro back to the service depot literally 5 times. The first hard drive was apparently defective, as were the first and second logic boards. And twice I had defective parts replaced with identical defective parts. And whenever anything is sent to the service depot, they wipe the goddamn hard drive. No matter what. And you guys know the pain of re-downloading XCode, re-installing everything with homebrew, re-cloning all of your git repos, re-configuring all of your git-remotes, re-installing virtual machines for IE8, etc. It takes like 2-3 days. And it's not an issue that employers with deadlines are sympathetic about. The stupid thing is that every time I get it back I think, "everything will be different this time". It's like a sick abusive relationship. I just got it back like 4 days ago from the latest trip to the depot, and now there's a harsh buzzing sound that I've never heard before. So now I have to weigh the severity of this stupid issue against the headache of re-installing everything again and rolling the dice with another trip to the depot. I guess what I'm saying is that you really should beware of 1st gen apple hardware.

apricot13 11y ago

Never buy first generation apple anything and never be the first to upgrade software! (so many grey screens of death!) As soon as the second generation of macbooks is out I will be upgrading!

beat 11y ago
When has Apple ever released a bad product in the first generation? In the 21st century, at least? I waited for second generation for the iPhone and iPad, both far more radical steps than this little Macbook, but the first gen products were spectacular. (edit: My most disappointing Apple product in the past 15 years has been my iPhone 6. Jobs wouldn't let them make it wider due to handling issues. Without his restraint, they made it wider. Now I have to have a case and drop the darn thing all the time. Never had that problem with other iPhones.)
- FLGMwt 11y ago
  How's your Apple Watch treating you?
  - beat 11y ago
    I haven't bought one. Don't feel a need for it yet. I'm not a reflexive tech buyer.
- emidln 11y ago
  That first gen iPhone that came with EDGE was spectacular?
  - rbanffy 11y ago
    It kind of redefined what a smartphone is.
    - freehunter 11y ago
      Eventually. Once they got on popular carrier and had the ability to install apps (since user-installable applications pretty much defines the "smart" aspect of smart phone). The first iPhone at launch was basically a tech demo, a taste of what was to come.

cvburgess 11y ago

I recently purchased one for the same thing: web dev, travel, and iOS development too. I had a 2014 MacBook Pro Retina that was stolen and decided to "downgrade" for the replacement. I'm honestly really happily surprised with the little silver box. Its paper thin, the keyboard is really nice after you get used to it (takes a few days). The battery lasts seemingly forever and it runs really smoothly. Compared to my MBPR it feels just as fast if not occasionally faster. However, streaming video to the TV over airplay hasn't been as nice. If you do video heavy things like gaming or video production, its not for you. But as a programmer, I'm really, really happy. Note: I would recommend the 1.2 GHz configuration or the 1.3 - I have the 1.2 and a lot the the reviews are saying that there is a noticeable difference between the 1.1 and 1.2 in terms of computing power. Edit: fixed spelling and grammar.

ebbv 11y ago

I have to echo the other commenters advising against buying the first generation of the 12" rMB. There's a lot of short comings that will certainly be addressed in a second generation model within a year. Right now the 13" rMBP seems like the better purchase in every way right now. I wouldn't buy a current MBA either as they are really showing their age. Their screen is the worst in Apple's line up by a long shot.

bischofs 11y ago

I used one for a week and kind of had the same problems I had with other tiny laptops...it is nice that is so portable but unless you use it really close to your face you have to hunch over in any other position then on a desk right next to your face. I found myself constantly having to straighten my posture when I was doing any sort of work on it for longer than 20 minutes - and when you do you inevitably start to hunch again as the screen is just too small. I would say this is really just for rich people who want to carry around a fancy email machine rather than someone who uses it for work.

Eric_WVGG 11y ago
I don’t get this. Text and widgets on the screen render at the same size as on other Apple laptops, nothing is shrunk. When adjusted for viewing distance, everything displays basically the same as on a monster 27" iMac. Are you using System Prefs to render the content smaller? Why not reverse that?
- cma 11y ago
  I think he is comparing it vs 13 and 15 inch Apple laptops.
  - kenrikm 11y ago
    The jump between 12 and 13 inches is not really that big however 12 to 15 is. I think apple was more targeting the spot right between the 11 and 13inch that used to be occupied by the 12in powerbook which had a semi-cult following and was widely regarded as one of the best laptops Apple made.
- bischofs 11y ago
  I get what you are saying, but it is not the content I have a problem with it's the position my body is in to look at the smaller screen. Because it is so thin and the screen only comes up probably 10 - 12 inches from any surface you are working on you have to tilt your head way more than if you working on a 15 - 17 incher.
- 11y ago

johladam 11y ago

I agree with everyone here. On a side note, I've just purchased a Lenovo ThinkPad T450s, had them throw an i7, 8 GB of RAM, and an SSD in it an it's a great machine. I'm running Ubuntu on it right now, it seems to have pretty good support, though the keyboard backlight is a bit finicky.

badloginagain 11y ago
The problem I've had with Ubuntu is that a lot of things are finicky, although every time I try the OS is gets better.

biafra 11y ago

I am very happy with my 11" MBA. Except I could use a larger screen and a higher screen resolution. I wonder if the 12" is noticeable slower than the (1.7GHz i7) 11" MBA.

kenrikm 11y ago
From what I've read it is about the same speed as a last gen macbook air.
- falcolas 11y ago
  In short bursts, but for any prolonged computing, the air will pull ahead due to the active cooling. I use an air as a development machine, and it works great.
  - Cacti 11y ago
    Well, to be fair, any prolonged, heavy computing will also kill the Air's battery. And the fan sounds like a freaking plane taking off.
    - falcolas 11y ago
      Shorter battery life vs. significantly reduced computing power (due to reduced heat dissipation). Personally, for the development use case, I'll take the reduced battery life; I can mitigate that problem with a power cable.

thecolorblue 11y ago

I would like to know how the new macbook compares to the new chromebook pixel. At first glance, the specs look similar but the pixel has more ports, which I think I would like.

marknow 11y ago
I'm working on a MBP, but also really interested in the pixel. We tend to now work in the cloud more than ever, and like the lower cost and simplicity of the chromebook.

spotman 11y ago

It's a great machine. Very happy with my purchase. it really depends on your needs though. I use it as my portable machine and it goes wherever I go when I'm on the go, which I previously had an 11 inch air for. Coming from that it's an enormous upgrade. The battery lasted me 7 hours yesterday of constant use, and the screen is the best screen of any laptop I have personally used. it's not really a widescreen anymore which helps with my terminal experience greatly. My normal workload includes 50% terminal.app, 30% Xcode and the rest is split up between instant messaging and emailing. so I don't desire or need to run things like video editing or VMware. I use an iMac for that stuff, infrequently. so for an OS X based machine that is ultra portable and runs terminal well, I'm not sure why you would be better off waiting. it's a great product.

danso 11y ago

In addition to the OP's question, if you are moving from an Air to the Macbook, I would especially love to hear direct comparisons. I was very tempted to get the new Macbook, but couldn't justify it given that the 13-inch Air was substantially faster and not much heavier/thicker...and the Retina screen isn't a huge deal to me for on-the-road work. I ultimately didn't buy anything because I already have a 15-in Retina pro, and on further reflection, it didn't seem that much thicker than the Air...so I just replaced my stolen iPad instead.

rickyc091 11y ago

It really depends on what your web dev work looks like. It's a sleek computer, but the specs are pretty weak for development if you need to run vagrant, a database, a server, etc. The computer specs are similar to a 2012 MBA. The keyboard will take a bit getting use to as it doesn't have the same tactile feel. Accuracy will probably drastically drop. Having a single port isn't horrible, but it's sure annoying when I need to charge my phone.

blisterpeanuts 11y ago

I bought a Macbook Air 13" about six months ago and it's been great. But I especially like the SD slot and multiple USB ports (which I need for my work -- android and iOS app development), and of course the 9 hour battery. This new Macbook seems like a downgrade. Seriously, why didn't they build on the Air instead of what looks like chopping out features to achieve an impractical thinness?

ghshephard 11y ago

39 responses so far, and so far only two people with experience - but lots of opinions. :-) I would love, also, to hear from people who have been using it. Thinking about purchasing it for my personal system to go along with my work computer which I travel with, so I can keep email, photos, all personal stuff off the corporate system. Portability is key - would love to know if anyone is using it in that fashion.

bdon 11y ago

Can anyone with this machine comment on their experience charging it with a standard smartphone/tablet battery pack through USB-C? If this actually works, it's a pretty killer feature over the MBA/Pro.

Cacti 11y ago

It's great. Keyboard and trackpad work surprisingly well (and is highly underrated... other manufacturers are going to have a really hard time getting this right on devices this thin... use one in a store if you haven't). Screen is great. Battery life is as expected. Size is obviously incredible. CPU performance is as expected (1.1) or slightly above (1.3, which is the one I have, is actually fairly fast). It's a superb machine. As far as actual use, well that depends on who is using it. The role that this laptop fits really well IMO is use as a secondary device for consistently mid-level computing tasks (with some burst activity) in an environment where mobility is important. "webdev work while traveling" is exactly this role so as long as you are OK with the form factor then you will like this laptop. If the form factor is an issue, you should consider the Air. If power is an issue, you should consider the Pro. If price is an issue, look at other manufacturers (new Surface and new XPS are both great machines, for example, though neither are really that cheap). The reviews on this device have been mixed but I think a lot of reviews are acting on the premise that it's a one-stop machine, but it's not. It's not perfect. It's a bit pricey. You aren't going to be running a new game at max settings on it. The one port thing is odd and you will need to wait for the adapter market to catch up for some of this oddness/clumsiness to disappear. 8 gig ram isn't quite enough if you are expecting to be running big VMs on it a lot. The CPU is relatively underpowered (though, honestly, I think this is overrated and the 1.3 in particular is quite good... even with the 1.1 you will likely never even notice). For me, this device is replacing a 13" 2011 Air and so far I consider it to be superior in just about every way and my experience has been great. If I need to sit down and do some "serious" computing for a decent stretch of time (new game at max settings for a couple hours, large data crunching, long programming stretch where I really need a desk and several monitors) then, well, that's what my desktop is for (or a powerful, bulky, docked laptop which amounts to the same thing). In other words, what you are buying when you buy this machine over something else is this: the keyboard, the trackpad, the screen, the efficiency of the CPU, the battery form factor, the fanless design, and the entire form factor to bring this all together in such a tiny laptop. In return, the tradeoff is slightly less RAM, slightly less CPU power, and a lack of extension ports.

akg_67 11y ago
Can this MacBook handle Windows VM with VirtualBox? My wife is considering this MacBook. She is not a power user/developer, mostly browsing, emails, word processing, and spreadsheets. But she also wants Windows VM for programs that don't have OSX versions or experience on OSX is not that good.

payamrastogi 11y ago

my experience so far : https://github.com/WhenAppleBites/iBugs/issues/1 https://github.com/WhenAppleBites/iBugs/issues/1