For reference, I have the 15″ Retina Macbook Pro, 2.7 GHz Intel Core i7, 16GB ram + 1tB hard drive. It’s hard for me to compare Apples to Apples (quite literally) when you have a high specification machine like that.
My good friend Jessica Hische convinced me back in 2013 to stop working between an iMac and a laptop, and instead get a high-spec laptop and a display. She was right, I haven’t looked back since.
The portability (read: weight) of the Retina Macbook Pro, for someone who travels a lot, is the main issue for me. It’s heavy, it doesn’t fit well in any constrained space like airplanes or train tables, and I spend my entire time on a plane, worried the person in front of me is going to recline their chair and break my screen. Battery life runs at about 3 hours for me, and always has, even if I’ve only got a lightweight code editor open.
Watching the Apple Event yesterday, I don’t think I’ve ever yo-yo’d so much over their products. My initial glee at the unveiling of a gold Macbook wore off a few hours later when I imagined designing on that for 10+ hours per day, and wondering how that would affect how I would see colour in my designs, or whether it would affect it at all.
After the whole Gold/Blue/Black/White dress debacle, I’m taking no chances.
Yes, that was a joke.
I saw gold and white.
Moving on…
The main issue is, while I would love a new shiny; I want to feel the butterfly keys, and the Force Touch Trackpad – I just don’t think it’s got enough power for working professionals? It seems good for recreational use, but I keep reading reports that it’s just not got enough power if you want to work from it day in day out and that the power inside that Macbook is comparable to an iPhone 6?
I’d be interested to hear from anyone who is a UI designer who’s been using a machine with similar specs to the new Macbooks, for day-in-day-out design work. There’s been times my MBPr has gone into fan-overdrive, so I’m a little hesitant in switching.
The Watch? I’m disappointed that they went to a $10,000+ version. It seems to go against the fabric of Apple, in my opinion, but hey – to each his own.
I personally like the navy blue regular version. The watch doesn’t give me warm fuzzies as yet – as I know we’re a little way off what they’re going to be capable of, but as a UI designer who specialises in iOS platforms, it’s a must; it is representing an intriguing and fascinating new era of design to me. That, I’m exceptionally excited about.
When I spoke at AEA Orlando this year, and had to wear the Disney MagicBand it gave me a taste of what I think we’re about to head into with Apple Watch; except Disney has its own ecosystem, and thus much easier to roll-out to, and control, than the big wide world.
If payment, door access and all the other demos shown to us yesterday, are truly on their way to the masses, exciting (and trying!) times lay ahead for all designers, everywhere.
There’s some good discussion happening around this over at Designer News.