Which MacBook to order?

Firstly, you definitely need a Macbook Pro. Since you usually have many applications open at once, you'll probably want at least 4GB of RAM (but more is better). I also recommend 2.0 Ghz or more. If you plan on storing a lot of documents, pictures, videos, music, etc internally rather than over the Internet, then yes, you should probably get somewhere around 500 GB or more of hard drive. However, you can also purchase an external hard drive if you end up buying a Macbook with less hard drive space. The external hard drives are fairly inexpensive.

If you store most of your stuff in iCloud, you probably don't need the 500 GB hard drive. On my old Windows, I had tons of stuff (pictures, videos, video projects, games, music, documents, etc) and it hardly took 200 GB of my 500 GB of my space. I think you could go with less and it would save you money too. As I mentioned before, you could always buy an external hard drive if you ever found yourself scrounging for space.

I've heard that brand new Macbook Pros are lighter and thinner because they've excluded things such as the optical drive and I believe that the solid state hard drives are probably lighter too. I have a 15" mid-2012 Macbook Pro with Intel Core i7, 8 GB RAM, quad core and 2.3 GHz and its fast. My Macbook is also very heavy, as you mentioned yours was too. However, I also chose my Macbook with those specific specs because I do video editing, which needs high processing power. You'd probably be okay with below 2.0 GHz but the more GHz and RAM you have, the faster and more efficient the Macbook is when you open several windows or Internet tabs at once.

I haven't checked up on any of the ratings but I've done a fair amount of research. What are they scoring it out of?

I have a MacBook 1.2GHz with 512GB hard drive and have been using it for about 2 weeks. This can do more with the MacBook than I ever thought. I use Final Cut X to edit 10-15 minute videos, Photoshop to edit photos and all other apps without any issues or slowness. In fact, email and safari are quicker than rMBP 15 inch (Late 2013). You can't go wrong with either a 1.1GHz, 1.2GHz or 1.3GHz. Additionally, I would calculate the space you actually need. I thought I needed 512 but it turns out, 256GB would have been fine. This is by far the best Mac laptop I have ever owned (I started with the PowerBook 170).

First, I would get the 1.3 GHz, you won't have another chance to upgrade it. Specially if you are planning to run VM Fusion in the near future. Second, seems that 256GB hard drive would be enough for your needs. Third, in terms of connecting your apple cinema, what about a HDMI to HDMI cable with one end connected to the USB-C AV adapter and the other end to a MDP to HDMI adapter. Not sure if this setup works, I know data goes one way (MDP to HDMI) to connect a Mac to a TV but unsure if it goes the other way. You could try this setup (still may not work in the actual mac) if you have a MDP to HDMI adapter by using a Xbox or PS4 or a PC with an HDMI output. Hope this helps.

I had the new MacBook for a couple of days and ended up returning it for a MacBook Pro. I love the size, and I only do mostly executive stuff on my laptop, like email, calendar, MS Word, MS Excel and MS Powerpoint. It seemed to handle those tasks with no problem, but at the end of the day I couldn't come to grips with only one connection and having to use dongles to hook up my external hard drives. The new keyboard was also a little funky and took some getting used to. I enjoyed using it, but for what it costs, you can get a very well-equipped 13" MBP Retina. The new ones are pretty thin without the optical drive, plus you get more screen real estate. Lucky for me I have a local Apple authorized retailer who had them in stock - they even had a couple of open boxes because people bought and returned them after realizing it wasn't for them. If you can, get your hands on one and try it for a couple of days...if you like it, then order the exact one you want. If not, return it and go with the Pro. Good luck.

I just got the 15" macbook pro I7 256 16 mid 2015. http://www.macmall.com/p/Apple-MacBook-Pro/product~dpno~13547047~pdp.jbjajaa From B & H cause they didn't charge shipping or tax. Expensive but very happy with it. I didn't think I could handle the smaller 13" model, wanted more hd space but couldn't justify the extra 350 bucks for 512 and some other slight improvements. Might at some point get airport extreme to make up for for the lacking storage space. I went with pro as opposed to air cause it's already very light and compact compared to the 5.5lb acer I was using. Love that it does not have a dvd cause who needs one anymore? Very happy with it!🙂

Did you finally get a new mac and which one did you choose? I am in the same dilemma. I have the MBP 2010 with the NVIDIA Geforce 350M graphics upgraded to 8RAM and now is starting to get hiccups and I start to feel it getting slow so I am looking for an upgrade. It wasn't as quick which is understandable. I'm reading and looking at youtube reviews about the MBA and new Macbook. I'm thinking any of these two will be better than what I have now. Most of the time I open few apps namely: Illustrator, Photoshop, Mail, Excel, Word and an FTP app. For my Illustrator and Photoshop work most of the time is under 5 layers and working on a final size that goes from 100-250mb for Photoshop. I like the portability because for today's standard the MBP 13" 2010 is darn heavy I think for a 13" notebook. I saw the 2015 rMBP at it seems slimmer and lighter but of course the Air is way lighter which is why I'm after it so when I travel around I can save luggage weight and put more clothes (what can I say a woman needs more clothes lol) but at the same time it's a must for me to bring my notebook for work and I hate check-in my bags because i have to queue and wait for it.

So from my computer experience in programs like Photoshop it always needs more RAM. My local istore carries 4gig of RAM for MBA and the new Macbook is 8g. My 2.4gHz Core 2 duo with 8RAM runs well CS5 when it was Snow Leopard to Mavericks. I don't want to order online because when I buy I want to bring it home right away so I'm stuck with what is available. Even if MBA is using i5 it still has 4g RAM and Core M has 8g RAM so wouldn't performance be at par at least? or which one will still be better? The ports I don't have problem with because I only use external hard drive which I use for back up once a month and occassionaly my SD card. I'm after about performance, portability and something I can use for another 5-6 years.

Does it get uncomfortably hot in palm rest area? or no?

I feel that the new Macbook (maxed config) is a little bit slower than my MBA 2010 Core2Duo 4gb ram in terms of post processing RAW files in Lightroom CC, not a huge difference. I have used my MBA with PS CS5 and it is ok. I have not tried the new Macbook with PS yet. I am an amateur photographer so really don't use heavily LR or PS so to me is ok but if my job depended on it I probably wouldn't stick with the new Macbook. I also have an available rMBP 2015 13" (not mine) and it is lighting fast and weight less than its predecessors but it still weights a lot more than a MBA or the new Macbook. I feel that you would be best served by a new MBA but the lack of a retina screen option makes it less desirable like in my case. Don't get am MBA with 4gb of ram, I don't think you can switch it later and nowadays you probably want at least 8gb (may not need that much in OS X but the difference in processing speed is awesome).

Anything with flash will make it very hot and very fast. Photo processing as well. Otherwise, not too bad.

I finally got one today. I settled for the Macbook Air 13in. My old MBP is non-retina display so I can live with it. I'm impress it wasn't hot as I expected when I'm running some apps. The first time I got my MBP I remember it got hot fast but this one I think will take some time to get hot. Perhaps if I multi task on heavy stuff. Happy with my choice.