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The New MacBook 12"

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by SageBrush, Apr 21, 2015.

  1. SageBrush

    SageBrush Senior Member

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    I don't live near an Apple store, so the second stop of our 'city' trip after visiting our son was to try out the new MacBook. I've decided not to buy it despite my wife's supreme confidence otherwise and my positive bias before walking into the store.I figured that was unusual enough (my wife being so wrong in Apple matters and me) that it deserved an explanation.

    First off, I should mention that I value aesthetics and ergonomics much more than "power." I don't play video games, or have any use for super duper video processing or spiffy floating point processing. My eyes are not young anymore, so I do value screen quality very much. I read a lot, and I type a lot.

    And I am able and willing to pay Apple Inc., prices for a machine I'll enjoy using for two to three years.

    I should have been the ideal customer, but I did not like the keyboard. The problem for me was the shallow key movement. While I have little doubt that had the MacBook been the only device I use I would have adjusted quickly, but that is not the case. At work I use a fairly crappy Dell Windows keyboard. At home I have a ChromeBook, iMac, and MacBook Air, and they all have keyboards with generous key travel. People who do not mind typing on a screen will be elated with the MacBook.

    The future always seems to be brighter when it comes to tech toys so I am optimistic. I cannot help but think that a keyboard that incorporates the new trackpad tactile feedback would be awesome.
     
    #1 SageBrush, Apr 21, 2015
  2. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    Bluetooth keyboard finally made these flat-screen and chicklette keyboards tolerable.

    Bob Wilson
     
    #2 bwilson4web, Apr 22, 2015
  3. ETC(SS)

    ETC(SS) The OTHER One Percenter.....

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    After a 15-year hiatus, I was thrown back into the Apple ecosystem by my employer (yeah...the same one that is responsible for the Prius!)
    I (sometimes) drive an i pad and I even have an Apple ID now. :eek:
    I touched one of these recently, but other than a few tentative swipes with the touch pad, I haven't driven one.
    I concur with the OP on the keyboard.
    I don't like the wafer-thin form factor of the newer MacBooks, so I'm biased but it seems to me that $1300 ought to get something more than a notebook with a 2-year life cycle, mediocre battery, one USB port, and no upgrade ability other than to buy the next-generation Macbook.
    I does reportedly have a breathtaking screen, but my eyes are not capable of discerning the extra pixels that are packed into each of the 12-inches of screen.

    Still...I can't really hate on Apple for this computer for a few reasons.
    1. The hardware is phenomenal.
    2. It's actually price comparable with other machines in this category.
    3. It's a Mac. If you're a mac driver, and all of your other gadgets start with a 'i-' then it's either this one, the last one, or the next one.
    In other words, If you have 'the itch', Apple is going to have something to scratch it with.
    If you don't like the 12" ...(or the 13") then last-year's 'puter will do until next year's model comes out.

    Oh...and:
    3. They're going to sell every one that they make.
    The internet is littered with articles critiquing Apple for crazy-stupid hardware....like the i-pod...phone....pad.....watch.

    I don't personally like the form factor, and I'm more of a droid guy than apple so it's not going to be my thing, but it IS one heckuva good looking gadget! It's just that for me a $300 Chromebook would be just as functional.
     
    #3 ETC(SS), Apr 22, 2015
  4. SageBrush

    SageBrush Senior Member

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    That is the idea
     
    #4 SageBrush, Apr 22, 2015
  5. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    my 15" mac is about a year old. i like the keyboard over the dell. have they changed it more recently?
     
    #5 bisco, Apr 22, 2015
  6. DavidA

    DavidA Prius owner since July 2009

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    Myself, I'm waiting for the 2015 MacBook Pro 15" which we should hear about sometime early summer. While the MacBook is cute (yes, I just used "cute" to describe it), it wouldn't keep up with my higher power needs for photo editing. If I was a student who needed to lug the thing around with me, write papers and reports on it and surf the web with it, then I would buy a MacBook in a second. I agree that they'll sell all they make. The quality vs. the competition is there, and the marketing seems right. I haven't tried the keyboard on the baby Mac yet, and now I'm curious about it since it was mentioned.
     
    #6 DavidA, Apr 23, 2015
  7. ggood

    ggood Senior Member

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    I'm considering a new notebook, just for a retina or better display, and because my 2010 Macbook Air doesn't have a backlit keyboard. It also can't directly stream to my Apple TV, though I understand there are 3rd party solutions to that.

    In any case, I was inclined to prefer a Macbook Pro for its better CPU and performance, for what seemed like only a minor weight difference. However, after playing with both at the Apple Store, I won't even consider the Pro. The Pro seems like a brick in comparison, and the Macbook seemingly has more than adequate performance for what I would do with it (internet, email, photo management, and Word docs). I'm trying to convince myself to wait for version 2, but I may not be able to hold out that long!

    Of course, some of the Windows Ultrabooks meet or exceed the Macbook's tech specs and price, so that is also a possibility.
     
    #7 ggood, May 6, 2015
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