12-Inch MacBook Now Available in Apple Retail Stores via Personal Pickup

I've honestly never seen a Mac that I had absolutely no interest in, until the Retina MacBook. It's just too underpowered. Even if it's "enough" for someone now, a laptop as underpowered as the Retina MacBook isn't going to have anywhere near the longevity of any of Apple's other offerings. It's thin, it's light, but everything else is worse. I can honestly say I do not see a single reason to buy it. It's short-sighted to even consider it.

I really don't understand this MacBook or its positioning. Everyone wanted a MacBook Air with Retina screen and instead they give us something so freaking thin that you can't even have more than one plug for it. I loved that I could take my MacBook Air and easily hook it up to a monitor. This thing though is dongle city. What's the point in being that thin that you're going to need a dongle? I still want a MacBook Air with Retina screen but I guess that won't be happening.

$1299 MacBook: 1.1 GHz Core M, 8GB of RAM, Intel HD 5300

$1299 MacBook Pro: 2.7 GHz Core i5, 8GB of RAM, Intel Iris 6100

10x the processing power, 8x more ports, larger screen, killer battery life. I know which one I'd pick.

For the same price my money would go to the Macbook Pro. Seems like a no brainer to me.

Those still talking about the one port issue need to understand that people buying it are not using ports.
Cloud and wireless capabilities is the future and this MacBook is a just glimpse of it. They just need to lower the price a little like they did with the Air. That's all.

I've honestly never seen a Mac that I had absolutely no interest in, until the Retina MacBook. It's just too underpowered. Even if it's "enough" for someone now, a laptop as underpowered as the Retina MacBook isn't going to have anywhere near the longevity of any of Apple's other offerings. It's thin, it's light, but everything else is worse. I can honestly say I do not see a single reason to buy it. It's short-sighted to even consider it.

Couldn't have said it better. Went to the Apple store the other day, played around with every other computer in the store, then I played with the MacBook... It was so sluggish in comparison. I thought Apple learned their lesson about releasing gimped launch products with the original Air, but apparently not...

It's very much a first generation product. In a couple of generations it will probably be the standard for the modern laptop, but for now it seems like more of a proof of concept than a viable option for the majority of users.

Four months after release? Hah, how can you call it a release when nobody could get the fabled thing. It was like trying to spot unicorns. My husband waited for ages and had a helluva time getting his MacBook in time for a trip. He had help not readily available to non business customers.

Call me old fashioned but "released" means it's actually out and about for the rest of us unconnected peons to get our hands on it. I'm picky and grumpy that way.

I bought a space grey MacBook on day 1. I bought the top of the line model- the 1.3 Ghz with 500 gig. I've been using it now for 4 months. So I think I can give a proper review. I upgraded from a unibody MacBook (the one that became the MacBook Pro).

* I travel quite often for what I do (carrying my laptop around everyday, often work on airplanes) so the size and weight is perfect.
* I don't need much for what I do- the Office suite of products, teleconference capability, photos and music. I've never edited a video on my computer and I don't see myself doing so. Is the computer slow? When I first started using it with Yosemite, it wasn't amazing. I was somewhat disappointed with the speed. Since I signed up to the El Capitan beta, the computer works much faster in El Capitan. For most tasks, there's no lag whatsoever. Sorting albums in Photos causes lag. Other than that I haven't had any issues. Movies play at 1080p with no lag.
* The computer is beautiful.

* The keyboard you get so used to that going back to the other (normal) keyboard is an adjustment. I'm typing faster than I was on my old Macs.
* The trackpad is excellent- I don't notice at all that it is non-mechanical.
* The screen is excellent quality. When I look at non-retina screens, I can't believe I didn't notice how low quality they were.
* The one port thing is annoying, but you get by. I mean, I live with it- but I'm often in a situation deciding whether to charge my laptop or my phone. And if my phone is dying, charging it usually kills my laptop too quickly. They should have made this with two ports.
* USB-C is also somewhat annoying. You have a new cable to carry (USB-C) which doesn't (yet?) plug into the iPhone, which means you're carrying two cables and two chargers at all times. And since the iPhone constantly needs to be charged, you now have to carry the small iPhone square power converter and hope for two available plugs.
* The computer's power converter is tiny, which is great.
* The FaceTime camera is bad. For a computer that's this expensive, its silly that it doesn't have a FaceTime HD camera.

Would I recommend you buy this now? Sorta. Depends who you are. If you are not a power user who doesn't do Photoshop or edit movies, once you upgrade to El Capitan you'll be happy with this computer. Yes, the one port is annoying, but you just bring the square plug for your iPhone with you. It's not that much more to carry. Does the HD cam thing bother me? Yes, but its not a deal breaker.

Recommendation: Wait a year and buy the version with two ports and a HD camera. It's an excellent computer otherwise, aside from what every power user will say. Aside from its faults, I do really enjoy this computer.

The ironic thing here is that almost without exception, those blasting the rMB are those who haven't used one extensively, and certainly don't own one. Conversely, those who have actually bought one and use it every day are those singing it's praises. Not only that, but almost all the reviews of the computer express surprise at the rMB's capabilities (more than first thought). Sure, it might eventually fall behind workstation systems in sustained, heavy tasks, but almost every review points out that you won't notice a difference between the rMB and an Air or Pro in most tasks.

Somehow, though, some still insist that "almost everyone" hates the new computer. It's severely underpowered (for the vast majority of consumers, who all "edit 4k video while playing BO2 at 60 fps" - - brilliant, whoever said that)!

Maybe, just maybe, it would make more sense to listen to those who have actually used and reviewed the computer. Not only do they have more experience with it, but they also clearly know more about computers than you do (I'm looking at you, aront).