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Laptops · Apple MacBook

Apple MacBook 12-inch Retina

12owners with an opinion
89%of verdicts positive
3/1positive/negative since 2024
0happy after 3+ years

Praised for portability and durability; criticized for performance and reliability.

What owners wrote

Likes it
I’ve felt the same way since way back then ever since reading about this guy’s setup[0], so I paired a 11” MBA with the quad core Mac Mini 2012. I’ve kept that philosophy over the years, the MBA was replaced by the 2017 12” retina MacBook and then again with the 13” M2 MBA. The Mini gave way to the 2018 Mini, then a M1 Max Studio. I even attempted replacing the MacBook with an iPad though that didn’t really workout. It’s the best of both worlds really, enough power to do everything when on the go and even more power back at the office. 0: https://elliotjaystocks.com/blog/a-note-about-my-new-mac-set...
Likes it
I've done web dev work on the 12" retina macbook. Sometimes docker goes crazy and needs to be restarted but otherwise it worked surprisingly well. I used it all the way till the M2 air came. I also have a (relatively) beefier mac mini at home if I needed to something more powerful.
Likes it
Have a look at the 12" Retina Macbook [0]. It's just called the 'Retina Macbook' (not air or pro). It was produced between 2016 and 2019. It is absolutely tiny, it ways just 920gr. It took me a while to find a decent one second-hand, but it has been my ultimate travel companion since. It's small enough to just drop into any bag (handbag even) and can charge of any USB-C charger. No other brand of laptop in that form factor comes even close to build quality. I don't think any other unibody laptop of that size even exists. If you get a later model (2017-2019, 3rd gen) then you get MacOS 13 (Ventura), which still receives updates. If you can find a later-model with upgraded CPU (i5) then performance is actually quite decent, lower-spec models are also still just fine for browsing, email and terminal work. Supposedly it runs Windows just fine using bootcamp (I haven't tried). I have mine setup for dual-booting Linux. Linux support is decent, though out of the box no support for speakers (headphone jack works), it has a broadcom wifi/bt chip and the wifi works just fine, but bluetooth is currently broken. There are some out-of-tree patches that add limited BT support. I'm working on writing Linux drivers for audio and BT in my (admittedly limited) free time, if someone is interested in helping with that: find my email in bio. Upsides: - Very small and light - Robust unibody - Does 10 hours on a battery - Spare parts still available - Later models still get updates, including Windo…
Neutral
It greatly depends on the laptop, even within the same manufacturer. I have lots of old Apple gear that still works but is just too old to get security updates: - 2012 13" MBP, works great with an SSD upgrade, and the hinge is still solid, which was not the case with my 2009 15" MBP where the screen literally ripped off. - 2013 15" retina MBP. Great laptop, still plenty fast to use today, but runs a little hot and the battery life was never amazing. - 2015 12" retina Macbook. Survived two glasses of water spilled on it, but the speakers and bluetooth died. It was miserably slow to use anyway. My daily driver is now a 15" M3 Macbook, which has been amazing in nearly every way. Only minor complaints is that the ram maxes out at 24GB and I wish I had 1 more USB port on the other side.
Neutral
Same here. I use a 12" MacBook "retina" (not air), which is an ultraportable with a weak CPU. Firefox is borderline unusable, even with uBlock Origin, unless you stick to only 1 or 2 tabs. High def video in YouTube really struggles, Google Maps struggles, and other Google properties like Flights have a habit of freezing up. Plus the non-native feel you mentioned. No pinch-to-zoom, moving tabs between windows feels clunky, and scrolling feels different than almost every other app. I try Firefox for Android from time to time, and I also have a lot of issues with polish that make me stop using it every time. Tab management is extremely clunky, the address bar is inconsistent with virtually every other Android text input (e.g. there's a big X that I expect to clear the address bar, but in Firefox this escapes me from input mode). Even getting the toolbars to reappear by scrolling is troublesome - infuriating. It sucks, because I care about privacy and web diversity, and have been a Firefox user since back in the Phoenix days.
Likes it
On my work desktop (iMac 5k) I use a Das ultimate mechanical keyboard, I’ve been a big fan of Das keyboards with Blue or Brown switches for many years, I purchased a MacBook 12” Retina when they came out and it certainly took some adjusting to get used to the new keyboard but - after a week or so I really, truly liked it, I found myself typing very fast will a low error rate, when the new MacBook Pro came out a few months back I noted that they used a new generation of the same low profile keys that the MacBook 12” had, again I really enjoyed it because I was used to new style of key mechanism thanks to having the 12” for some time, I ended up buying a 13” MBP and oh my I’d almost go as far as saying I love the keyboard. Yes it’s very different from both mechanical keyboards such as my Das keyboards and legacy laptop keyboard designs and I think after a short adjustment period many people would likely enjoy the feel of the keys more than legacy / previous designs - it really grows on you.
Recommends it
I went through the same thought process in December, never owned an Apple computer but needed a new laptop. Despite trying to fend off the idea of getting a Macbook (due to some combination of price/not wanting to succumb to herd mentality/proprietary nature of Apple) I caved. It felt silly to spend a lot of time researching and configuring a custom laptop. I've never purchased a pre-built desktop but customizing a laptop seemed too poor a risk/reward proposition for my liking. Even with a great deal of effort it would be difficult to create something comparable to what I could simply purchase. Apple's hardware is easy to appreciate down to small details. You can open the lid without holding the other half of the laptop (my previous laptop would lift up otherwise) and the screen isn't too loose either (doesn't bounce when you type hard). The speakers sound orders better than any of my previous laptops. Battery life is great. Retina is beautiful & responsive (easy to read text, even while scrolling). The trackpad is unbelievable for a variety of reasons (click anywhere, accuracy to the very edge of the pad, multitouch/gestures). I hadn't previously seen any trackpad worth using let alone nearly as good as a standard mouse, but haven't ever needed to connect a mouse to this one. It's just a great overall experience. There have been a couple software glitches that required a restart to fix, but other than that and the temps (~90°C) it reaches under load it has been a pleasure (@
Likes it
Im curious for more in depth detail about the differences between 1440p at native scale or 4k at 2x scale, does the loss of effective screen space not negate any gains in crispness? I've only recently upgraded from two 1080p screens to a single 2560x1440 screen and I'm finding the extra space incredibly useful. That being said I absolutely love the fine text on my retina macbook.
Recommends itHasn’t owned it
For many power users, Macs are an invisible laptop that just works. When apple releases a 12" retina Macbook M-series, I'll be the first in line, I don't think there's a better laptop for size and aesthetic.
Doesn’t like itHasn’t owned it
Actually that is relatively cheaper than Apple has ever sold ram. They would always charge $200 for each ram upgrade and it might have been only 4gb or less back then. The twist now though is they started soldering in the RAM with the retina macbook, so you can't run around apple's extortionate pricing like you could in the past and just buy components off the market. Such a stupid cartoon evil villain move too, just to force us into getting RAM from them. I have never been memory bandwidth bound (Apple's excuse for soldering in the RAM) in my life and yet I am forced to buy computers that optimize for this at the expense of things I actually care about like serviceability. And also consider the fact it incentivizes people to buy more RAM than they need today in effort to future proof their device, in a time of RAM shortages. And who knows maybe by the time that RAM amount is relevant the CPU can no longer keep up so the hoarding might not even be for anything either.
Doesn’t like itHasn’t owned it
That or the 12" Retina MacBook, which weighed 0.67 lbs less than the neo and Air do. And it does make a difference! It's disappointing they finally got the silicon for the "thin and light at all costs" form factor but gave up on the form factor. I just want my clipboard laptop back!
Doesn’t like itHasn’t owned it
I still have my 2013 11.6” i7 and once I replace the battery and hinges (threw it across bed while open too many times) it’ll be good for another 10 years. The original “MacBook” 12” retina could have been wonderful aside from the extremely poor performance, keyboard, and single USB, and battery life. Most of which Apple Silicon/lack of Jony Ive would fix. I don’t know why, but for me about 1kg feels negligible for a laptop I carry constantly, where 1.5kg feels heavy.