I have an 13" since almost a week. I think it's great. 95% of my time is spent in iTerm/VSCode/XCode/Android Studio.
Some remarks:
- Keyboard, especially arrow keys, took me 2 days to get used to, but now it feels weird typing on a old macbook. I actually love it and prefer it now.
- The thumb + touchpad thing mentioned elsewhere here was definitely a big problem in the first day or two. It isn't anymore (guess I got used to it? not sure because I didn't try to avoid it)
- USB-C is freaking awesome. I bought an adapter with ethernet, HDMI, usb 3 and SD that actually replaces the 3 adapters I had to carry around. And because of UPD, I only have one cable to plug to the mac and everything is there including power.
- I don't miss magsafe as much as I thought I would. Although I would happily buy an adapter if it is thin enough (some are coming).
- Touchbar is actually pretty great, although it being a touch screen, the lack of touch feedback can be annoying at first. Pretty ESC is annoying at first, but I got used to it and don't mind it now.
- Touchbar would be an _awesome_ medium to get notifications (such as long running terminal jobs etc...)
- I didn't get any of the battery life issues people are talking about. Actually, I get 8-10 hours out of it easily (ie plug it at the end of the day because I forgot it was unplugged).
- Thinner bezels around the screen makes it somehow look bigger (even though the visible area is the same size and the screen/lid itself is smaller).
- HiDPi is freaking great. Finally I can use a 4k monitor smaller than 32" and still get retina display (1440p HiDPi and other intermediate resolutions up to native 3820x2160 are fully supported)
- It is really thin (no thinner that a Macbook Air, but still). It's feels really great.
- Actually, I just noticed that because it is thinner, my wrists don't get hurt by the edges like they used to (the exact opposite of what someone mentioned here).
Assuming you're a touch typer, how on earth do you manage to use AS without real function keys? Almost everything beyond just typing code requires them.
As a daily user of various JetBrains IDEs, the lack of a proper keyboard makes the new MB Pro inconceivable for me. I'm actually going to have to go Win or Linux for my next machine.
I've never really used the F-keys since my Visual Studio days (F5/F9/F10/F11) when I used to to .NET 2.0 on Windows. However with the touchbar, when you press Fn, the touchbar displays the F-keys instantly (you can choose for them to be displayed by default).
For Android Studio, I also remap the keys to Cmd+something out of consistency with XCode. For instance, I mapped build to Cmd+B etc...
For those of us who use a variety of JetBrains products, the F-key shortcuts are the consistency. Having them faked on a minuscule screen, rather than being findable by touch, would make the new MacBook unusable for me.
Sad, as I find OSX to be the best in a bleak landscape of OS's, but given Apple's obtuse insistence on knowing what's best for all, to the extent of removing critical components of the universal standard keyboard, my current MB Pro will certainly be my last. Ugh Windows!
Although don't use it for 4k, as it is only HDMI 1.4 (4k@30hz). I am not aware of hubs like this with HDMI 2.0 yet. I bought a USB Type C => DisplayPort adapter for the 4k monitor.
Some remarks:
- Keyboard, especially arrow keys, took me 2 days to get used to, but now it feels weird typing on a old macbook. I actually love it and prefer it now.
- The thumb + touchpad thing mentioned elsewhere here was definitely a big problem in the first day or two. It isn't anymore (guess I got used to it? not sure because I didn't try to avoid it)
- USB-C is freaking awesome. I bought an adapter with ethernet, HDMI, usb 3 and SD that actually replaces the 3 adapters I had to carry around. And because of UPD, I only have one cable to plug to the mac and everything is there including power.
- I don't miss magsafe as much as I thought I would. Although I would happily buy an adapter if it is thin enough (some are coming).
- Touchbar is actually pretty great, although it being a touch screen, the lack of touch feedback can be annoying at first. Pretty ESC is annoying at first, but I got used to it and don't mind it now.
- Touchbar would be an _awesome_ medium to get notifications (such as long running terminal jobs etc...)
- I didn't get any of the battery life issues people are talking about. Actually, I get 8-10 hours out of it easily (ie plug it at the end of the day because I forgot it was unplugged).
- Thinner bezels around the screen makes it somehow look bigger (even though the visible area is the same size and the screen/lid itself is smaller).
- HiDPi is freaking great. Finally I can use a 4k monitor smaller than 32" and still get retina display (1440p HiDPi and other intermediate resolutions up to native 3820x2160 are fully supported)
- It is really thin (no thinner that a Macbook Air, but still). It's feels really great.
- Actually, I just noticed that because it is thinner, my wrists don't get hurt by the edges like they used to (the exact opposite of what someone mentioned here).