Retina 13' Macbook Pro Mid 2014 + Anti-Apple Rant.

[Hunter259]

Intro:

I bought this laptop from Reddit user /u/duckypath this August for $850 giving it one of the highest price to performance/portability/quality laptops there is. I have owned now three Apple laptops : 2003 Powerbook G4 1Ghz, Late 2011 Macbook Pro 15' (Which I have also made a review of and is available for sale), and now this one. The Powerbook was given to me and overtime I began to enjoy the Mac OS and decided in Late 2012 that it was time for an upgrade.

 

Reasons for Upgrade:

I decided to upgrade for the following reasons: Lighter and smaller chassis, Cooler running, and the Retina screen. I began looking and came across /u/duckypath 's post on /r/hardwareswap and jumped on it. For the price that I got it for it was cheaper and/or more powerful than most laptops in the price range. You can get better gaming or editing machines but you sacrifice quality and and screen resolution.

 

Build Quality:

All laptops should be compared to the quality that the Macbook Pro carries. Everyone knows about how great these laptops are built so I'm not going to go into to much detail. It's small, light, and gives you the premium feel. Something anything you buy should give you.

TLDR : It's a Mac.

 

OS:

Now I have been using it for a few years so I am more than used to OS X. It's a bit of a shock when you first start using it but it slowly grows on you. It's got a simple feel and does a fantastic job of conserving battery life. If games would run on Mac just like they run on windows, I would be running OS X on everything I can. Another thing is that OS X does a MUCH better job of utilizing and adjusting to High-Resolution displays by scaling the entire OS based on the scale resolution of your choosing. I use 1440x900 so it feels just like my old Pro.

 

Hardware: http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook_pro/specs/macbook-pro-core-i5-2.6-13-mid-2014-retina-display-specs.html

This is the lowest end model of the Mid-2014's with the 8GB ram upgrade. It has a 2.6GHz dual core i5 and the Intel Iris 5100 graphics with a 128GB SSD. Unlike my 2011, it runs plenty cool and very quiet. Even when under a full load it doesn't even hit 90c. In gaming it performs about as well as my 2011 at the same settings and resolution. It beats it in some games and looses in other, albeit its still very close. This laptop does not have near the cooling issues and the single fan does not sound like a 747.

 

Display:

Yeah. Its the best screen I have ever seen. 2560x1600 with some the best viewing angles you can get. A good anti glare coating allows it to be used near anywhere at near any screen angle. It's a screen you have to see to really get its full effect.

 

Keyboard + Touchpad:

Its an Apple keyboard on a laptop. It has a little bit less key travel than the old Pro but thats what you get when you go thinner. It is still the best keyboard on the market with the best touchpad on the market. The glass touchpad is a joy to use and the OS uses it well.

 

Anti-Apple Rant:

I don't get why people are so against everything Apple. I understand that you may not like their devices but damn can some people get into it. I don't hate those that just don't like the devices for GOOD reasons; it's those that just hate it without looking at the facts. The laptops are actually well priced when they are new (And fantastic if you find a good reseller), and the OS is easy to learn if you actually want to use it. You can't have an opinion about an OS if you have never used it. If you have used it and don't like it and aren't a complete dick about it then I like you. If you are the general "Android is the best cause iOS is dumb." or  "All Apple buyers are i-Sheep." then you really do need to grow up and enter the real world.

 

TLDR:

It is one of the best laptops on the market and should be something anyone should look at getting if gaming isn't your number one priority. If you are gaming look at a Razor as they have almost copied the Mac build quality and feel but they tend to be overpriced compared to similar spec laptops. The screen is a huge A+ and is surrounded by great pieces.

[Flight1sim]

I agree 10/10, my 2015 13" rMBP is my best friend (ver similar to yours but mine's 3200x1800p iirc)

[C0LL0SS0S]

Don't even try to argue with them, its pointless, they hate apple but never used a new product, they just look at the hardware and think its too expensive, really its just not worth it.

[Nineshadow]

Cheapest 13" Retina MBP I can find here is $1700 (new) , so no thank you, I won't buy a Macbook.

 

God damn it Apple, what's up with your prices in Romania.

[Flight1sim]

Cheapest 13" Retina MBP I can find here is $1700, so no thank you, I won't buy a Macbook.

 

God damn it Apple, what's with your prices in Romania, jeez.

How much is it to get imported? Or are taxes stupid

[Hunter259]

Cheapest 13" Retina MBP I can find here is $1700, so no thank you, I won't buy a Macbook.

 

God damn it Apple, what's with your prices in Romania, jeez.

Used. Buy used. The Mid-2014 are almost identical the the Early 2015 and cost significantly less.

[Enderman]

I used a brand new 15" macbook pro 2015 (which I bought with my dad) for over a month

everything was pretty good, except its still overpriced for the amount of graphics power it has, only one colour option, and I really disliked OSX

 

Also it had performance issues with garange band, not sure if it was the macbook or the program that was causing the issues

[Nineshadow]

How much is it to get imported? Or are taxes stupid

There's no official Apple store in Romania, just resellers (some are authorized , some aren't).

 

VAT is 24%, around the same as in most of Europe.

[Hunter259]

I used a brand new 15" macbook pro 2015 (which I bought with my dad) for over a month

everything was pretty good, except its still overpriced for the amount of graphics power it has, only one colour option, and I really disliked OSX

 

Also it had performance issues with garange band, not sure if it was the macbook or the program that was causing the issues

Garage Band has been wishy washy for years. Some updates good, some bad. I really can't say for people to buy new unless they are buying the highest end model as those don't drop as much as the lower end ones. 

[Clyne]

Used. Buy used. The Mid-2014 are almost identical the the Early 2015 and cost significantly less.

Or get the student discount......

My sister bought a 2015 MBP with the discount and came with free beats, i'd say it looks good and performs well. The display is amazing, but the thing that lacks is the storage space.

[Nineshadow]

Used. Buy used. The Mid-2014 are almost identical the the Early 2015 and cost significantly less.

Those are around $1300.

 

 

Or get the student discount......

My sister bought a 2015 MBP with the discount and came with free beats, i'd say it looks good and performs well. The display is amazing, but the thing that lacks is the storage space.

No such thing in Romania.

[Hunter259]

Or get the student discount......

My sister bought a 2015 MBP with the discount and came with free beats, i'd say it looks good and performs well. The display is amazing, but the thing that lacks is the storage space.

I don't think a student discount can get near the cost of what I paid. Now if you really want to get a new one with the box and the beats then yeah go for it. 

[TheMastr13]

im typing this on my macbook pro retina

 

I love it

[lufihengr]

I agree 10/10, my 2015 13" rMBP is my best friend (ver similar to yours but mine's 3200x1800p iirc)

13 inch is 2560x1600 and 15 inch is 2880x1800

[Flight1sim]

13 inch is 2560x1600 and 15 inch is 2880x1800

you're right, weird. Windows says it's 1800p (bootcamp)

[NickTheMajin]

Yup. After owning a retina macbook you will never see me go to anything else. Especially since it syncs so well with all of my devices. Beautiful build quality, amazing battery life. Super fast performance. 

[Swndlr]

Solid review.

[farhanorakzai]

I agree 10/10, my 2015 13" rMBP is my best friend (ver similar to yours but mine's 3200x1800p iirc)

it's 2560x1600 

https://support.apple.com/kb/SP715?locale=en_US

[Thebman712]

For my usage (what i think the average person/apple hater also has in mind) apple prices are high for their devices that may be good but the price shy's people away. I mean for a $1200 device to come with only integrated graphics is a joke, i would expect atleast a 960m or a $200 price cut. I want some light gaming on my laptop, and i could get the same performance out of a $350 laptop (seriously my laptop i got for $350 has a dual core quad thread i3 5th gen with hd 5500) that will likely perform the same in games as a $1200 macbook.

And when it comes to the apple experince, sure it feel premium in the build but then features let me down. Osx and ios (both of which i have used as my main software for atleast 2 months) feel locked down to me and dont have a compelling reason to use over windows and android.

That being said i think the macbooks would be very appealing to me if they were cheaper simply because ssd's are stock and they have great battery life.

[Wiplive]

Yeah, I have the same problem about the pricing here in Latvia. Other brand products are about the same price as in Germany. About 1$ = 1.2€, but for Apple products it's like 1$ = 1.5€. The new Macbook costs 2000€ here. Something like Dell XPS 13 cost the same as in USA (a bit more expensive but relatively decent pricing). Plus we have no Apple stores in the entire country.

[Raccatography]

Wholeheartedly agree that Macs are pretty good. I have a 2013 13" Retina model with an i7, 8gb of ram, 256gb of ssd memory.

 

They have the screen, build quality, CPU, and SSD on point. That's hard to beat and there's not a lot of beautiful Windows laptop out there that can rival Macs in all of the fronts I've said IMO

[TroubleKlef]

Wish my Air had a retina screen. :3 the only thing I'm jealous of MacBook and Pro users.

[Hunter259]

Wish my Air had a retina screen. :3 the only thing I'm jealous of MacBook and Pro users.

I have sneaky suspicion that it will get a new screen very soon. Every other product has it.

[TroubleKlef]

I have sneaky suspicion that it will get a new screen very soon. Every other product has it.

 

Let's hope so. But my sneaky suspicion is telling me the Air will be phased out in 2 years while the MacBook gets more ports and a lot more powerful now that Intel is heavily pushing efficiency. 

[AlTech]

I agree 10/10, my 2015 13" rMBP is my best friend (ver similar to yours but mine's 3200x1800p iirc)

It's actually 2880x1800