Got my 1.3/512 yesterday!

Happy customer here. Got my rMB 17 days after ordering. Much better outcome than I expected after ordering on April 10th, and many people still won't get theirs for a few more weeks.

I posted my impressions on here the other week after using the rMB and at the Apple store and I was floored. But as we all know, using it at the store and actually owning it yourself are two completely different experiences. And to be honest, I was a bit worried I would feel it would be too much compromise...especially after reading some of the recent user reports on here. But everyone is different and has their own use case.

I love it. For whatever reason, my experience so far isn't too much different than it was at the Apple store. I don't need to adjust to the keyboard, I'm happy with the screen size, etc. And I'm even finding the palm/wrist rest space area more comfortable than it was on the 11-inch Air I owned a few years back.

If anything, my biggest concern going in was using an extreme ultraportable as my daily driver. I'm coming from a 13" rMBP, which I love. 13" has always been my ideal screen size for laptops, and I think the rMBP has the perfect design for a 13-inch laptop. Before that, I had the 11-inch Air which I struggled with and thought was too small.

For whatever reason, I'm not finding any issues with the 12-inch display. Sure, it's only .04" bigger than the 11-inch Air and is 1.3" smaller than the rMBP, but compared to the Air...it has a 16:10 ratio, Retina display, black/smaller bezel, and the ability to scale resolutions. I've been running at 1440x900, and it's perfect. Things don't really appear to be any smaller than they are at 1280x800.

The 13" rMBP was my only computer, just as the 11" Air was. From what I can see, the people who are returning their rMB are doing it very valid reasons. This machine does have some compromises if you are seeking to use it as your only computer or even as your primary work laptop.

I am going to use the 12" rMB as my only computer, and I'm confident enough in it that I'll sell my rMBP shortly. My Mac is my workhorse, and here's what I use it for: most of the things I do are web-based. I do a lot of writing and things in other lightweight applications. Occasionally, I edit videos and rip Blu-rays to MKVs...but that kind of stuff I'll just let the rMB handle overnight or something. It seems like the Core M is powerful enough to do it, just takes longer than the rMBP/Air. And given that I don't do those things on a daily basis, I'll be fine.

But yeah, I don't actually do anything that demanding apart from those things. And the port issue, the only thing I have ever used the ports for are connecting an external Blu-ray drive and charging my smartphone. I guess I'll just charge from the wall now.

On paper, I actually see no reason to trade in my rMBP for the rMB. I adore the 13-inch screen size, it's more powerful and will handle my MKV ripping with ease, I get to keep my 1TB SSD, etc. But I travel a lot, and I mean a lot. Since I got the 13" rMBP in late-2013...I've used it on beaches, buses, trains, planes (flights ranging from 9-15 hours), etc.

So if I can get a smaller Mac where I don't feel like I'm compromising on anything, then I'm all for it. History shows me that I upgrade my Mac not for performance reasons, but if a certain feature (Air was lightweight, Pro had the Retina display) makes me enjoy using my laptop more or makes me more productive. As I said earlier, most of my work is web-based...so while the bigger 13.3" display is nice, screen real estate isn't crucial. And since I'm running 1440x900, I don't really notice a difference.

I've never been one to go after the smallest Mac laptop just because it's the smallest and most portable. But I'm there now. Where as some people are returning it because they feel it has one too many compromises, I actually don't feel like I'm compromising on anything.