Apple introduced its Retina MacBook 10 years ago today
75 comments
·March 9, 2025runlevel1
pier25
Yeah I agree. The 2016 MBP officially started the Mac Dark Ages which lasted until the M1 was released.
The 2015 and 2014 models weren't that great either since they were using old 4th gen Haswell Intel CPUs which ran super hot.
7thpower
My 13” 2015 rmbp is my favorite notebook of all time. My dad uses it now.
I didn’t find it to run that hot and generally found it to be the best windows laptop (via vm) money could buy at the time.
danek_szy
Only the 15 inch 2015 model still had the Haswell CPU, therefore your laptop had a slightly newer processor... That [older] generation was left in the bigger model without the yearly upgrade due to the limited supply / production capacity on Intel's side.
TheNewsIsHere
I wholeheartedly agree. I finally moved to an M2 MBP in 2023. I regard the 2023 the same way I do the 2015. It was a worthy upgrade.
My only complaint is that Apple’s keyboards have become significantly less resistant to finger oils and staying on top of cleaning them is much more demanding than it used to be.
pier25
I had a 2015 15'' MBP and it ran so hot I simply couldn't use it on my lap. Fans became super noisy even with trivial processes. Ended up selling it.
The rest of the computer was great though (display, keyboard, trackpad, ssd).
brundolf
When they came out with the 16" in 2019 it solved most of the issues (no more touch bar, good keyboard, etc)
...and I excitedly bought one. And then a year later the M1 came out, and I was kicking myself
mrbungie
Are you sure about that? I'm pretty sure the 16" models from 2019 also had a touch bar, although as you said the keyboard was much better.
ksec
>Apple finally reversed these decisions and made the M1 MBP
They didn't. The new keyboard is still not old scissors keyboard with 1.5mm Key travel. If I remember correctly it is 1mm or 1.2mm. And it is still a huge difference for me.
cehrlich
Yeah, I don't think the 12" MacBook was anywhere near the most controversial, because it was always clear that it was a niche product. I had one and loved it. Those who it wasn't right for didn't buy it.
The 2016-2019 Pros on the other hand replaced a machine that was universally loved. there were entire podcasts dedicated to complaining about them for four years.
w0m
I had the last non-butterfly MBP, and work tried to get me to move to a new one for years - i fought to keep mine.
Then I switched jobs, got a butterfly MBP and the laptop was honestly one of the worst I've had. After 2 years, I had lost a number of keys (i simply never used the built in keyboard when possible) and the battery started expanding. I couldn't even make it to the normal refresh cycle. Maybe bad luck, but such a POS. Apple phoned it in the generation prior to M1.
vosper
> Whoever had the reigns when Apple finally reversed these decisions and made the M1 MBP
They shoulda kept the touchbar and restored the functions keys (including restoring volume controls etc to function keys). That would have been amazing. There was so much opportunity for cool custom functionality with touchbar, but it needs to be dedicated to that, not doing double-duty as physical keys.
sneak
The M1 MBAir I think is better than the M1 MBP in terms of sheer utility and price/performance. Until the new $999 Air that launched this week, the M1 Air was the best laptop ever launched, IMO.
sgarland
Yes, it was. Previously, I had an XPS 13” that was pretty decent, and then an Intel Air, which was even better.
I bought an M1 Air, base model, at launch, and was blown away. For once, a manufacturer wasn’t lying about battery life. What Apple has achieved with their SoC is nothing short of revolutionary. They make the best laptops by any conceivable metric, and it isn’t even close.
kristianp
Yeah, I thought the article would be about the touchbar macs. Although if most people hate it, it's not controversial right?
moltar
> Touch Bar
… shivers
drdaeman
I liked it - particularly the volume and brightness controls, and for convenient hotkey access in apps that I didn't use too often to memorize. But it was extremely badly implemented and then basically abandoned. At the very least, it should've never replaced function keys.
112233
Touchbar is very fun to use, that alone makes it a great feature (thanks to mountains of work done to get amazing integration across system and many apps)
It's sad to see all that work going to bin.
Did you know that you can get touchbar on ipad that you connect as a second monitor? Excellent way to keep it alive, except, oh, it does not work, unless you drag the window to the ipad first... I mean... Somebody went and designed it to work like that, on purpose...
From the security perspective, having some UI that cannot be controlled by apps (a led, a touchbar, whatever) is very important for signalling app privilege levels. oh well
ksec
It was way ahead of its time. Partly because Intel oversold their CPU. The MacBook 12" is thicker than MBA M4 at its thickest point. But feels much thinner due to its wedge shape.
We have the technology today to make a true MacBook Air that is both much thinner and lighter with same battery life. But it would cost a lot more and today's Apple doesn't seems to be interested in these sort of products. I would imagine Steve Jobs would insist on making it at charge it for $1999.
throwanem
Any thinner and it would probably be impossible to achieve mechanical rigidity minimums for a consumer product...
sgarland
I am so upset that Apple nixed the wedge Air. I loved my 2013 Air, and much more so, my M1 Air. Once they lost the wedge, and especially when the MBP got a 14” option, I lost interest. 14” is the absolute perfect size for a laptop, IMO.
ProfessorLayton
I'm the opposite, my M-series Air is so much better in every way than the MacBook 12" that I'm kind of peeved just thinking about it.
The 12 MB had 3 major flaws which were just too much to deal with on a daily basis:
- It was shockingly slow, even for its time. Apple Watch Series 0 slow.
- That keyboard — which I didn't mind the feel of — kept failing.
- 1 USB C port meant I always had to pick charging or plugging something in, and the problem became a lot worse as the battery health declined. The fancy terraced battery design meant it was also pricey to replace.
I do think a 12" MBA would be great, but Apple has forgotten how to design good software for small screens.
sgarland
I think we’re agreeing; I said I loved my M1 Air even more than my 2013 Intel Air. The M1 still had the wedge, they lost it with the M2.
laurencerowe
I was thinking of buying myself a 14” but after using one it is just too heavy compared to an Air. I’m tempted by an M4 Air (mostly for the 32GB) but may wait a couple of years until we get OLED as my M1 Air is still adequate for my needs.
sgarland
That's fair; it is significantly heavier - 360g according to their tech specs. An M1 is still no slouch, especially if you have higher than the base RAM spec.
The other reason I went with (or eventually got to, anyway) a MBP was the nano-texture display. I had bought an available in-store model without it (at least where I am, the only things in stock that have it are iMacs), and after using it for a while, somewhat regretted not getting more RAM, as I had the base M4 Pro, with 24 GiB. My M1 was also base (8 GiB), and over time, I had wished for more. So, I figured if I was going to do that, I might as well bump everything up a little bit, so I got the next higher CPU/GPU spec (14 cores / 20 cores), and the next higher SSD (1 TB) spec. The nano-texture decision was a lot of waffling, because I had seen it on the in-store iMacs, and wasn't sure about it, but reading a lot of reviews, plus Apple's return policy led me to try it, and man I'm glad I did.
I've since come to realize that under the perfect lighting conditions of an Apple store, the relatively small differences in saturation, contrast, and clarity between the nano-texture and standard displays is heavily magnified, while eliminating the thing nano-textures are great at: glare. The fixed position and angle of an iMac probably doesn't hurt, either. But sit down with a laptop in real-world conditions, and the benefits are immediately obvious. If I did a lot of photo or video editing, or if I strictly used my laptop on a desk or docked, I probably wouldn't want the nano-texture, but since none of those are true, it's terrific.
zamadatix
Nowadays Apple would rather try to convince you the 11" M4 iPad Pro means you don't need a MacBook for that.
tonyedgecombe
>I would imagine Steve Jobs would insist on making it at charge it for $1999.
He is still directing from the grave is he?
dylan604
man did you read that wrong. was it intentional to make a point that is lame at best?
sneak
I collect these (yes, this specific model) and have parts to build and repair 4-5 of them.
MacBook8,1 and MacBook9,1 as they are known.
Great little passively cooled machines, only real issue is the underpowered CPU (a legitimate trade-off for size/weight/silent) and of course the butterfly keyboard that is prone to failure.
Fingers crossed they make an Apple Silicon mac in this size one day.
Drop me an email if you are also an aficionado. My email’s in my profile.
kristianp
I loved the rose gold color. This model effectively replaced 11 inch Macbook Air, which was a lot more popular, if comments on HN are to be believed. Netbook sized laptops still had a niche back then, but 12 inches is moving out of netbook territory.
tptacek
Am I old or is this not even close to the most controversial Apple laptop? I feel like the white plastic Intel MacBooks and the original TiBooks were both more controversial.
runlevel1
Purely anecdotal: I worked at an Apple VAR when the TiBook was released, but I honestly can't remember any real controversy. They were a big hit. Quite easy to repair too.
I wasn't there for the plastic Intel MacBooks, but the biggest complaint I remember hearing about was that the black one collected fingerprints like crazy and, later on, some overheating issues. They were also a pain to repair, though not as bad as the iBooks before them.
Cockbrand
> They were also a pain to repair
At least RAM and hard drive were very easy to replace, which I appreciated. I don't think I ever needed to actually open my MacBook back then. But I do remember repairing white iBooks, which was a pain indeed.
timw4mail
The real pain with the (well at least the earlier) plastic Macbooks (especially along with their short support life) is the 32bit EFI, and some even had 32bit-only Intel CPUs.
sneak
There was quite a kerfuffle over these machines, as they were retina (at the time, this means expensive), woefully underpowered, and basically required a dongle (also new then) as they had a single usbc port for all charging and IO. Also the butterfly keyboards failed if you looked at them wrong.
Despite all that, I loved these machines, but many people found them to be just a bit too Apple.
jsheard
The touchbar models didn't go down too well either, even after software had some time to catch up with the hardware it was still so unpopular that Apple gave up and completely walked it back.
Nextgrid
I really want an Apple Silicon version of this.
adrr
Want a mac with just one USB C port and the butterfly keyboard that would fail after a year?
akerr
No, “an Apple Silicon version of this”.
sneak
A very very low power Apple Silicon version of this that has a non-butterfly keyboard would slay.
The size and weight of this form factor is imo ideal for a daily carry portable computer. It’s an iPad with a keyboard, that runs a real OS.
Cockbrand
+1, I'd actually buy that as an addition to my regular MBP.
adrr
What about the air? Its only an inch bigger.
sneak
I have a maxxed out 24G M2 Air that serves as my main portable (I also travel with a big 64G MBP). The inch matters a lot, and the Air’s screen edge is thicker, and it’s substantially heavier due to not having the terraced/tiered battery structure.
I still have a MacBook9,1 with kubuntu on it I use for certain things sometimes.
The small one really is so much more portable, even moreso than an iPad Pro with a keyboard cover (which is surprisingly dense).
wpm
It’s 320g/0.7lbs heavier.
throwanem
I regret the loss of the illuminated logo.
ziml77
I hated that so much. I don't want the device I'm using drawing attention to the brand. And unfortunately there was no way to disable it because it was illuminated by the display's backlight.
throwanem
You could get metallic stickers to block the light from the old style. Unfortunately, no one I know of makes an illuminated sticker in the classic logo colors, to replicate the effect I used to enjoy with a simple vinyl overlay.
throwanem
On reflection, le mot juste would instead have been "mourn."
rtchau
I had a 2015 M5, it was easily one of the best Macs I've owned. Ultra-ultra-ultra portable, I had great battery life with mine, and it was as fast as my 2013 Macbook Pro. I used it as my daily driver for 3 years before I got a new job (and a new work-issued laptop). Paired with a monitor that provided USB-C power (there were a few at the time, I got one of the Philips displays) it got me through several sizeable web dev projects. It's only just been retired, as the battery finally made it unusable, and now its logic board (and 2 others: my wife's 2015 Macbook and a lucky score on eBay) are part of a 3-machine cluster with Ubuntu installed, because why not... each one just has a USB-c power/ethernet dongle plugged into it, and I've got a little compute cluster that punches way above its weight for the amount of space it takes up (and the power it consumes, which is very little, especially with the display removed).
If you could buy SBCs based on the m5, I'd eat them up.
macNchz
I bought one of the refreshed ones in 2016 as a sort of "I want something like an iPad but I just can't tolerate not having a real keyboard and OS" thing and was super pleased with it.
The size was really so good—great on a plane, so light I never thought about it in my bag. I took it all over for years. Wrote a little iTunes library export tool in the back seat of a minivan on the drive from NYC to Maine right after I got it^. It's nice to have an actual laptop when traveling rather than just a phone or tablet, but even a little bit bigger and heavier can be annoying. My wife still uses it for web browsing and has only just recently started to mention it being unusably slow (it was never fast, but it was passable). I have an M1 Air now but would absolutely prefer something a bit smaller.
cosmic_cheese
The 12” MacBook had a great size and form factor with a niche that remains unfilled by the Air, as good as it might be. It also looked great, but then again I’m a sucker for machines where the keyboard goes from edge to edge (PowerBook G4 12” is great for the same reason).
If they were to attempt a modern re-do, I think it’d be smart to go hard on the hyperportable angle and pare down the hardware a bit to accomodate that. With how powerful Apple Silicon is these days, you wouldn’t need a full fat M-series SoC for a good macOS experience… a passively cooled A-series like those used in iPhones could do the job about as well. Heck you could probably even downclock the SoC a bit for better thermals and still have about as much power as much of the thin and light competition yet have ridiculously better battery life.
throwawa14223
I still get angry thinking about that butterfly keyboard.
underseacables
I just got a Macbook Pro and it is absolutely an amazing machine. The butterfly key board, touch bar, and no mag safe kept me away. Glad to be back
happyjack
Hi! Stumbled on an old comment of yours about vhs tapes + recording cycling off satellites. Would love to hear about your system!
happyjack@mailbox.org
The bigger controversy was the MacBook Pro launched a few months later:
- Ditching MagSafe
- Touch Bar (at first without a dedicated escape key)
- Butterfly Keyboard
- Uncomfortably hot to the touch
- Full-sized left and right arrow keys which made it harder to find without looking
- Only USB-C ports
Whoever had the reigns when Apple finally reversed these decisions and made the M1 MBP -- this is the best laptop I've ever owned.