This review is for the mid-2015 MacBook Pro 15.4 inch retina. 2.5ghz, 16 gigs ram, 512 gigs memory, Intel iris and AMD graphics.
I have owned it for eight weeks now. My review only reflects what I have encountered thus far for my needs.
I got this computer because I am a college student, an Internet abuser, and most importantly, a applications software developer. This is my first Apple product after the iPad Air which I thoroughly enjoy. I switched from windows because windows 8 was beyond frustrating in so many ways, enough to make me experiment on something new. Folks have been saying for years that Apple machines are designed to create digital media, so I gave in. I am a casualty of the awful Windows 8.
The Pros:
Speed. The Adobe creative suite runs like a champ. Waiting time is measured in half seconds for even the largest files. I am blown away by this. The programs no longer show any load time. They just work when you click the icon. Android Studio, Xcode, eclipse. Sometimes the splash screen whizzes by in an instant, even when several editing programs are open at once. I have yet to encounter a loading bar. Going through thousands of photos in the file manager? No loading. There they are. Very cool. I used to walk around with a half open laptop because once you close windows you can wait forever for it to start up. Not with this thing. I close it and open up right where I left off.
Speaker volume. In the summer heat we keep the air conditioning on which made watching movies on other laptops and the iPad straining on the ears. This machine is loud booming and proud. It is not a boom box but you never want it to be full volume in public.
The keyboard feels amazing. I type fast. Very fast and very hard. I was worried the keyboard would be too soft or be too flat. I assumed it would take a while to get used to a new keyboard. I was wrong. My hands felt like they finally found their home. The touch pad never, ever accidentally interferes. And it glows and it has a dimmer switch. Nice work Apple.
Graphics. I went to download some first person shooter games to test the AMD card. It was quite unusual to check off max graphics performance settings and will take getting used to. Another thing to note is that the anti-glare screen is quite effective even with a bright lamp behind me. I noticed that what was once a problem on my previous computer is a thing of the past.
Function Keys. No mysteries here. I use them often, to do things such as dim the screen and keyboard, volume control, and open window navigation. It sounds small but the little things count. They are very effective and make sense.
Battery power. It depends on what I am doing, but i get a full 8 hours when I am using it for browsing and development work. This number goes down to 4-6 for watching movies via the browser. It charges relatively quickly. I have gone from zero battery to full charge in about an hour, which is better than my phone!
I really appreciate the power cable being as long as it is. The extension is permanently attached for me but can be taken off. I question who actually uses just the smaller connector. I also like the feature that has a light turning green when it is fully charged.
The Cons.
The Apple App Store kind of sucks. This is understandable given that so many things can be found in the browser. There are noticeably not many games compatible with Macintosh, despite their brand popularity. Steam is very sad to go through. That little windows icon is on everything and the Apple logo on very little.
No side split screen. A feature that all developers use is split screen. Following a guideline or tutorial is much easier when you can dual screen. I really miss this feature from windows.
Mouse compatibility. We have an apple Magic Mouse from 2010 era and the laser on it does not register. It works on older macs but not this one. Kind of annoying and sad. A touchpad will just not do for photoshop and precision gaming controls.
The file system is weird. Is everything stemmed down from the desktop? As a former windows user I am used to seeing the trees. With this, not so much. I worry about cluttering my desktop.
The arm rest is kind of sharp on the edge. This leaves red line marks on my wrist at times. An oversight by engineers?!
My final verdict is this as the most capable, powerful machine I have owned thus far, and I can see why so many people love MacBook, I give it an A+. The attention paid to little details shows a love of design by Apple and the effort they put into their money maker shows. I also feel like once you get to this level in specs, Windows machines follow similar price points.
I look forward to putting serious use into this machine for at least five years.
Submitted August 22, 2015 at 11:12PM by cjrun http://ift.tt/1h3V7T2
No comments:
Post a Comment