Loppan Torkel
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Anyone own or use a retina Mac or any other of the new Macbooks? What are your experience of it? Good/bad/overpriced/etc?
New Macbooks: opinions and experience
- Thread starter Loppan Torkel
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Loppan Torkel
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- Feb 21, 2004
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Mainly hardware. ..and battery life, which is one concern. I've used up three batteries so far on my old macbook, over a course of 6 years now, I think. It being built in, in the new macbooks seems like a good way to increase profit.
Also, the Retina display - good choice?
Also, the Retina display - good choice?
I just recently purchased a laptop and ended up shying away from the Macbook series largely due to the price tag and software compatibility problems I would have transferring stuff from a Windows build. Although Office files transfer easily now, I'm not repurchasing my game library (and some aren't even available for the Mac since they are developed by small studios who don't have the resources to maintain both versions).
All of my buddies seem to like their Macs, although they have problems hooking it up to projectors because they need to have several specialized dongles or whatever the hell they are called on hand to hook them up. Not a big issue if you aren't giving presentations, but a headache in the research community. Make sure you will get the ports you need.
All of my buddies seem to like their Macs, although they have problems hooking it up to projectors because they need to have several specialized dongles or whatever the hell they are called on hand to hook them up. Not a big issue if you aren't giving presentations, but a headache in the research community. Make sure you will get the ports you need.
Hardware of the Retina editions are rather closed down beyond batteries - proprietary parts, RAM not replaceable. Not necessarily a reason to stay away, but something to be aware of.
The high resolution screens may be a little hit and miss until application developers take them into account, especially with regard to fonts. This will only get better though, and it's about time!
The high resolution screens may be a little hit and miss until application developers take them into account, especially with regard to fonts. This will only get better though, and it's about time!
I couldn't be happier with my 17" MBP, sure it's overpriced compared to simple tech specs but the as a whole, build quality, durability, the OS, the slim frame and weight, battery power relative to an equally specc'd PC, it's fairly priced and the fact I got mine for $1800 doesn't hurt either.
The new non-retina 15" is probably on par or better than the old 17s now, if you want a beautiful laptop and a great experience I highly recommend 'em. OSX is just magnificent. The track pad is unequalled anywhere.
The new non-retina 15" is probably on par or better than the old 17s now, if you want a beautiful laptop and a great experience I highly recommend 'em. OSX is just magnificent. The track pad is unequalled anywhere.
Hardware overall is top notch.
Battery life is pretty much what you'd expect from any similarly-specced laptop: http://www.anandtech.com/show/6023/the-nextgen-macbook-pro-with-retina-display-review/16
Battery in any laptop is going to run down about evenly over years.
Retina display is amazing, far better than I expected before getting this laptop. (For comparison, my other daily monitors are a 27" 2560x1440 thunderbolt display and a pair of 24" 1920x1200 displays.) 1920x1200 is still pretty good for a 15" laptop, but I certainly wouldn't go any lower. Since getting the rMBP, I've put off my purchase of a 30" screen until I can get either 3840x2400 or 3840x2160.
The rMBP has mini-displayport and HDMI, those are *the* modern standards, I wouldn't want to buy a new laptop which includes older obsolete standards.
Yeah, absolutely get the full 16GB of RAM when you order, Mac OS with a browser and startup programs eats 4GB.
Apps aren't bad for retina, mine are almost all supportive, webpages with low-res assets are far more noticeable, very few webpages have retina-quality images.
The only things you get with an Apple laptop that you don't get with a PC:
Mac OS
Best in class trackpad.
Retina display.
All the rest you can find in a PC.
Zack
99% hot gas
I have a couple questions, myself.
What are the differences between the 15" and 13" rMBP besides screen size?
How does Mac OS compare to Windows 7?
How much of a visible difference does the retina display make compared to the non-retina MBP?
If one has a rMBP, is something like Parallels that can run Windows worthwhile or a waste of money?
Any other things worth noting would be much appreciated!
What are the differences between the 15" and 13" rMBP besides screen size?
How does Mac OS compare to Windows 7?
How much of a visible difference does the retina display make compared to the non-retina MBP?
If one has a rMBP, is something like Parallels that can run Windows worthwhile or a waste of money?
Any other things worth noting would be much appreciated!
The 13" has no dedicated GPU, which is a core feature for me a least. You can find more by comparing the two directly at apple's website.
Mac OSX is a pure pleasure to use. Get used to the hotkeys and gestures and you'll hate dual-booting or running Parallels. That said, Windows is definitely still good to have... depending on your use case, of course.
From the reviews I've read and based off a friend's rMBP, negligible difference between the Retina display until the two are side by side or when editing very large projects.
Mac OSX is a pure pleasure to use. Get used to the hotkeys and gestures and you'll hate dual-booting or running Parallels. That said, Windows is definitely still good to have... depending on your use case, of course.
From the reviews I've read and based off a friend's rMBP, negligible difference between the Retina display until the two are side by side or when editing very large projects.
13" rMBP weighs 25% less, no quad-core, no dedicated graphics, only 8GB RAM. I think which one you choose depends on what other devices you own.
I wouldn't compare Mac OS to Windows 7. Mac OS and Windows 8 are largely comparable, they each do a handful of things better than the other.
Like I said before, retina display is amazing, I wouldn't consider a non-retina MBP, if I was getting anything else it would be a 1080p or 1920x1200 PC.
I'd try to avoid running Windows if you're running Mac OS, native things tend to work more seamlessly with less hassle.
When you are giving a talk a month, perhaps more, and all the equipment used in the universities and conference centers do not have HDMI jacks, you will wish you had a classic port. That's one of the reasons why I ended up going with a PC--mine has both a "traditional" port (forgot what it was called) and an HDMI.
Part of the reason why I don't like Apple is that they don't do much customization for their machines, and they have a tendency of deciding what the new standards are before everyone else catches up. The combination of the two isn't great.
That's about what I figured when I was shopping. Line-by-line, PCs are matching Macs under the Apple premium (and the recent PC trackpads are way better than the old ones, they are catching up to Apple pretty quickly).
From my limited experience with Mac OS, it's frustrating. I couldn't get used to not having a scroll wheel on my mouse, or the whole one-button thing. Just got accustomed to the PC's control scheme.
Zack
99% hot gas
What exactly does a lack of dedicated graphics translate to (other than the effects on gaming)?
What? You can plug in any USB mouse I'm using a Logitech wireless right now with five buttons and a scroll wheel. Even if you get Apple's 'Magic Mouse' it still scrolls just like the trackpad.
Zack
99% hot gas
That brings me to another point. Is the trackpad good enough to forgo a mouse?
Nah, they are, most are still crap, but you can find good ones that are nearly on par with macbook trackpads.
Part of the issue is software, Mac OS has a cursor acceleration curve which is more well suited for trackpads than mice, compared to Windows.
Not unless your mouse is awful.
Zack
99% hot gas
Then what's the big deal about how good the trackpad is, if it's best to simply use a mouse anyways? Honest question.
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