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pmouritz

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 14, 2015
74
10
Copenhagen, Denmark
UPDATE: So I went down to the store with my Macbook today.. This morning I tried to perform an Internet Recovery to make sure that all of my data had been deleted before I returned it. I pressed CMD+R and it began 'Starting Internet Recovery. This might take a while', and the globus spinned around. However, it suddenly stopped moving and the entire computer went stuck. I figured that it was some kind of error and restarted the computer. But it did not boot up and no matter what I did (reset SMC etc.), the Macbook wouldn't boot up.. The trackpad worked so there must have been power in its circuits but neither the display or keyboard turned the light on.
So.. Now they have to check that I have not ruined the computer by sending it to a workshop to take it apart which takes at least 7-10 days and up to 14 days.
Therefore, after a week with the new Macbook, I can now conclude that I'm very happy with (not) having a new Macbook..
I don't even dare to buy a new one now without having my money returned. So I'm stuck with no computer for the next 1-2 weeks. Great.
[doublepost=1474490453][/doublepost]
The 2.7Ghz is for single core overboost. The max overboots for multi core is 2.4 Ghz.

Ah okay, that makes sense.
Now I'm thinking about whether I should get the same Macbook M5 or just the M3 as the one I had only got 5400 in Geekbench 4 and did feel slow. So if the M3 gets 5000-5200 in benchmark, I guess that would be more than plenty. but as it is my main computer, I feel more secure with the M5. I could just save half the cost of an external USB-C monitor, so I might just buy the m3. After all I'm a student at university so I probably should think of the economy in buying the m5 vs m3 :p
 

Mike Boreham

macrumors 68040
Aug 10, 2006
3,907
1,894
UK
UPDATE: So I went down to the store with my Macbook today.. This morning I tried to perform an Internet Recovery to make sure that all of my data had been deleted before I returned it. I pressed CMD+R and it began 'Starting Internet Recovery. This might take a while', and the globus spinned around. However, it suddenly stopped moving and the entire computer went stuck. I figured that it was some kind of error and restarted the computer. But it did not boot up and no matter what I did (reset SMC etc.), the Macbook wouldn't boot up.. The trackpad worked so there must have been power in its circuits but neither the display or keyboard turned the light on.
So.. Now they have to check that I have not ruined the computer by sending it to a workshop to take it apart which takes at least 7-10 days and up to 14 days.
Therefore, after a week with the new Macbook, I can now conclude that I'm very happy with (not) having a new Macbook..
I don't even dare to buy a new one now without having my money returned. So I'm stuck with no computer for the next 1-2 weeks. Great.
[doublepost=1474490453][/doublepost]

Ah okay, that makes sense.
Now I'm thinking about whether I should get the same Macbook M5 or just the M3 as the one I had only got 5400 in Geekbench 4 and did feel slow. So if the M3 gets 5000-5200 in benchmark, I guess that would be more than plenty. but as it is my main computer, I feel more secure with the M5. I could just save half the cost of an external USB-C monitor, so I might just buy the m3. After all I'm a student at university so I probably should think of the economy in buying the m5 vs m3 :p


History now, but Internet Recovery is opt+cmd+R. Cmd+R is ordinary recovery. (see my EDIT below).

When it stuck, did you try shutting down with the power button? Then rebooting to ordinary recovery with cmd+R? Any reason you wanted to start with Internet Recovery? You could have reinstalled with ordinary recovery. Internet Recovery takes a while and downloads the original OS major version the mac was supplied with, which in your case would still be the same.

You may have had a hardware failure but nothing you have done could cause it, and if there has been one it would be covered by warranty anyway. I am guessing you did not buy this from Apple who would not treat you like this. I am surprised that an Apple Reseller would treat a week old machine like this too, and not just give you an instant refund or replacement.

EDIT. Looking at the footnote here https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201314 I see it says that

"Newer Mac computers and some older Mac computers automatically try to start up from OS X Internet Recovery when unable to start from OS X Recovery."

Maybe this is what happened to you.
 
Last edited:

pmouritz

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 14, 2015
74
10
Copenhagen, Denmark
History now, but Internet Recovery is opt+cmd+R. Cmd+R is ordinary recovery.

When it stuck, did you try shutting down with the power button? Then rebooting to ordinary recovery with cmd+R? Any reason you wanted to start with Internet Recovery? You could have reinstalled with ordinary recovery. Internet Recovery takes a while and downloads the original OS major version the mac was supplied with, which in your case would still be the same.

You may have had a hardware failure but nothing you have done could cause it, and if there has been one it would be covered by warranty anyway. I am guessing you did not buy this from Apple who would not treat you like this. I am surprised that an Apple Reseller would treat a week old machine like this too, and not just give you an instant refund or replacement.

Yes, I think it's ridiculous that I didn't get an instant refund or replacement but unfortunately there's no Apple stores in Denmark, meaning that you have to buy your products from other stores. So now I have to wait 7-10 workdays at least..
There's no recovery partition on new Macbooks, so I think that it is the only option to reinstall OS and wipe the harddrive or am I wrong?
It stuck before, I had the chance to wipe the harddrive.. Upon pressing CMD+R a globus starts turning with the text 'Starting internet recovery. This might take a while'. It just stuck there for several minutes, so I thought that I should restart the process but then the computer wouldn't boot up again.
I'm going to be furious if they are claiming that I have anything to do with the computer not working properly as I've taken such a good care of it.
 

Mike Boreham

macrumors 68040
Aug 10, 2006
3,907
1,894
UK
There's no recovery partition on new Macbooks, so I think that it is the only option to reinstall OS and wipe the harddrive or am I wrong?

All Macs (since Lion) have a Recovery Partition. You can't see the Recovery Partition in Disk Utility or anywhere except with a Terminal instruction. You can delete it, but not easily and not by accident. I just booted my MacBook with cmd+R and it booted in normal Recovery.

So if you really used cmd+R, (not opt+cmd+R) and it started in Internet Recovery (which it sounds like it did cos of the globe), that is very surprising and has never happened to me. A hardware failure might explain this. But it really couldn't be blamed on you, so ought to be covered by warranty.
 

Mike Boreham

macrumors 68040
Aug 10, 2006
3,907
1,894
UK
Yes, I think it's ridiculous that I didn't get an instant refund or replacement but unfortunately there's no Apple stores in Denmark, meaning that you have to buy your products from other stores.

There may not be Apple Stores in Denmark, but Applecare exists in Denmark:
http://www.apple.com/dk/support/products/

As I don't speak Danish, this tells me nothing except that Applecare exists in Denmark. Your machine is still covered for the first year without buying Applecare.

Does the link tell you anything useful?

Or try phone numbers on this page:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201232
 

burgman

macrumors 68030
Sep 24, 2013
2,797
2,383
Yes, I think it's ridiculous that I didn't get an instant refund or replacement but unfortunately there's no Apple stores in Denmark, meaning that you have to buy your products from other stores. So now I have to wait 7-10 workdays at least..
There's no recovery partition on new Macbooks, so I think that it is the only option to reinstall OS and wipe the harddrive or am I wrong?
It stuck before, I had the chance to wipe the harddrive.. Upon pressing CMD+R a globus starts turning with the text 'Starting internet recovery. This might take a while'. It just stuck there for several minutes, so I thought that I should restart the process but then the computer wouldn't boot up again.
I'm going to be furious if they are claiming that I have anything to do with the computer not working properly as I've taken such a good care of it.
To me "a while" means much longer than a several minutes. Too late now but it would have been better to walk away for an hour or so. You can't fault the retailer for not believing you without checking it out. If it had water damage, or other hidden damage, then they would not be able to return it to their distributor. Trust but verify :)
 

HonestChicken

macrumors member
Jul 13, 2016
58
23
So is that mean the iPhone 7 Plus with A10 Fusion is as fast as the M5 o_O

iYwYw4z.jpg

a>
 

pmouritz

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 14, 2015
74
10
Copenhagen, Denmark
All Macs (since Lion) have a Recovery Partition. You can't see the Recovery Partition in Disk Utility or anywhere except with a Terminal instruction. You can delete it, but not easily and not by accident. I just booted my MacBook with cmd+R and it booted in normal Recovery.

So if you really used cmd+R, (not opt+cmd+R) and it started in Internet Recovery (which it sounds like it did cos of the globe), that is very surprising and has never happened to me. A hardware failure might explain this. But it really couldn't be blamed on you, so ought to be covered by warranty.

That sounds odd. I couldn't find a recovery partition so I used CMD+Opt+R.. I don't think I have done anything wrong so I hope it gets solved. I really miss having a computer.. I'm going to an exam on monday, so I'm going to borrow my friends MBP since I will probably not get my money refunded in this week..
[doublepost=1474888443][/doublepost]
There may not be Apple Stores in Denmark, but Applecare exists in Denmark:
http://www.apple.com/dk/support/products/

As I don't speak Danish, this tells me nothing except that Applecare exists in Denmark. Your machine is still covered for the first year without buying Applecare.

Does the link tell you anything useful?

Or try phone numbers on this page:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201232

Yes thanks, unfortunately danish law changes the Apple care quite a bit. Especially as Apple products are not sold directly from Apple unless you buy them from Apple store online. However, there is still a 2 year mandatory warranty that covers any problems related to production.
[doublepost=1474888513][/doublepost]
So is that mean the iPhone 7 Plus with A10 Fusion is as fast as the M5 o_O

a>

Hehe, technically yes.. But the iPhones uses a different kind of chipset than the Macbooks, meaning that the Geekbench scores can not be compared 1:1. However, the new iPhones are incredibly fast and will probably match the Macbook in many tests.
 

AdventurousJosh

macrumors 6502
Aug 11, 2008
300
19
hmm should I be worried? I have an m7-- it wasn't from cold start up and i had to close some apps but I just got
Single-Core Score Multi-Core Score
3667 -- 7009

is that average?
 

Mike Boreham

macrumors 68040
Aug 10, 2006
3,907
1,894
UK
hmm should I be worried? I have an m7-- it wasn't from cold start up and i had to close some apps but I just got
Single-Core Score Multi-Core Score
3667 -- 7009

is that average?

Geekbench 3 or Geekbanch 4?

The Geekbench 4 Database has 3044 (single) - 6525(multi) for an M7 2016 MacBook, so if your results were from Geekbench 4 you have a suspiciously good one....probably from Geekbench 3?
 

pmouritz

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 14, 2015
74
10
Copenhagen, Denmark
hmm should I be worried? I have an m7-- it wasn't from cold start up and i had to close some apps but I just got
Single-Core Score Multi-Core Score
3667 -- 7009

is that average?

As Mike Boredom said, if that is for Geebench 4, you have a really good score!

As for my sake, I've finally got my money refunded and ended up buying the Macbook with m3 instead of m5, saving a couple of bucks for a monitor. I now get consistently 5000+ with the m3 in multi-core and am very pleased! :) The only thing is, that this Macbook have a tiny little mark on the 'X' key, like a production error in the paint.. However, it is not worth the trouble :p
 
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Silvestru Hosszu

macrumors 6502
Oct 2, 2016
356
234
Europe
As Mike Boredom said, if that is for Geebench 4, you have a really good score!

As for my sake, I've finally got my money refunded and ended up buying the Macbook with m3 instead of m5, saving a couple of bucks for a monitor. I now get consistently 5000+ with the m3 in multi-core and am very pleased! :) The only thing is, that this Macbook have a tiny little mark on the 'X' key, like a production error in the paint.. However, it is not worth the trouble :p
[doublepost=1475566089][/doublepost]Hi Mouritz,

How do you find the m3?
I need a travel laptop to replace my aging sp3. Will use exclusively for Ms Office and Web browsing. For heavy lifting I do have a maxed out 15` mac book pro.
Is the m3 variant appropriate for this kind of task? The one thing I hate is lack of fluency in the interface, stuttering etc ...
 

pmouritz

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 14, 2015
74
10
Copenhagen, Denmark
[doublepost=1475566089][/doublepost]Hi Mouritz,

How do you find the m3?
I need a travel laptop to replace my aging sp3. Will use exclusively for Ms Office and Web browsing. For heavy lifting I do have a maxed out 15` mac book pro.
Is the m3 variant appropriate for this kind of task? The one thing I hate is lack of fluency in the interface, stuttering etc ...

Hi Silvestru,

As mentioned earlier, I actually started this thread based on my purchase of the m5 rMB (2016), and I got multi-core score at around 5400 consistently (Geekbench 4). On my new m3, I now get about 5200 and as the score says I can't feel the difference, however, the m5 rMB I had was faulty as it should've had a score of 5900-6200.
I have switched from an rMBP from 2012 with I7 2.3 GHz quad core to the now base level m3 rMB and I can't feel any difference in my usage.
I'm an engineering student, so I'm mainly running the Office suite, Safari with many tabs (15+ as of right now), math calculations in Maple, text editing in Latex and all the usual (Netflix, HBO, Spotify, Youtube, browsing the web etc.). I have not felt any slow down or stuttering. At least not yet! :p I used the m5 for about a week before returning it and I have been using the m3 for a day now. I can give you another update by the end of the week, but I'm foreseeing that it won't disappoint me :D
It's a brilliant computer, I think the screen estate is adequate enough for my usages, but I'm going to get an external USB-C monitor when more are available. The size of the computer is absolutely amazing! Can't even feel it in my bag. Additionally no fans = no noise which is awesome, and the heat is barely noticeable with my usage.

I can only encourage you to buy one! The m5 is a 20% increase in price for about 10-15% increase in performance. Al though, you do get the 512 GB SSD but I initially bought the m5 in fear of the performance. For me (as a student), I can now save those 20% in price difference towards a new iPhone or something else ;)
 

Silvestru Hosszu

macrumors 6502
Oct 2, 2016
356
234
Europe
Thank your for your answer. I am a lawyer and need it for mobility only. I`m also an amateur photographer but for that I do have the 15 macbook pro which I use it home. So I dont need any real muscle.
My only desire is to have a pleasant user experience with this laptop.
I will buy one tomorrow, probably the m3 variant.
Thanks again for your thoughts.
 

AdventurousJosh

macrumors 6502
Aug 11, 2008
300
19
Geekbench 3 or Geekbanch 4?

The Geekbench 4 Database has 3044 (single) - 6525(multi) for an M7 2016 MacBook, so if your results were from Geekbench 4 you have a suspiciously good one....probably from Geekbench 3?

Nope its actually geekbench 4. My ram failed on this mac a couple of weeks ago, i finally got my MacBook back from apple (they had to ship it to headquarters) I ran it several times and the score always came back ball park the same. Maybe the update sierra increased performance? when I got my MacBook back, thats the first thing I did was upgrade.
 

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viperGTS

macrumors 68000
Nov 15, 2010
1,560
941
I'd also like to add my experience using the m3 for those interested (I initially wanted an m5 as well).

It has been an amazing machine so far. It runs Xcode like a champ (with very rare beach balling, which happened on my 2012 Pro too so I doubt it's a lack of processing power), plays my old PS1 favorites just fine with OpenEmu, and is a pleasure to use when web browsing; sites load quickly and I have yet to have any hiccups with Safari. I also tested a VM on it (Ubuntu) a while back and it ran very well, though I do want to test that a bit more; I'm confident it'll do just fine. It also runs CoD 4 and Black Ops with no hesitation (just be careful of the machine warming up; even Pros will do this).

I'm also amazed at just how portable this thing is, even 3 weeks after receiving it. Basically, it has been a huge pleasure to use and I highly recommend it. Don't let the Core M and GHz clock speeds scare you; the chips are really something special and were designed for the modern computing world.
 

AdventurousJosh

macrumors 6502
Aug 11, 2008
300
19
Hey guys, just checked the kind of ram I have (curious on why I got these numbers) is this standard MacBook ram?
 

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Eggtastic

macrumors 65816
Jun 9, 2009
1,052
702
NJ
I'd also like to add my experience using the m3 for those interested (I initially wanted an m5 as well).

It has been an amazing machine so far. It runs Xcode like a champ (with very rare beach balling, which happened on my 2012 Pro too so I doubt it's a lack of processing power), plays my old PS1 favorites just fine with OpenEmu, and is a pleasure to use when web browsing; sites load quickly and I have yet to have any hiccups with Safari. I also tested a VM on it (Ubuntu) a while back and it ran very well, though I do want to test that a bit more; I'm confident it'll do just fine. It also runs CoD 4 and Black Ops with no hesitation (just be careful of the machine warming up; even Pros will do this).

I'm also amazed at just how portable this thing is, even 3 weeks after receiving it. Basically, it has been a huge pleasure to use and I highly recommend it. Don't let the Core M and GHz clock speeds scare you; the chips are really something special and were designed for the modern computing world.

This was refreshing to see. I still want to wait to see what the rMBP bring if we ever get an update soon. However, the rMB has impressed me quite a bit and my uses would work fine. It is just the possible OLED bar that the rMBP are getting and I would like to see that first before I make my decision.
 

AdventurousJosh

macrumors 6502
Aug 11, 2008
300
19
This was refreshing to see. I still want to wait to see what the rMBP bring if we ever get an update soon. However, the rMB has impressed me quite a bit and my uses would work fine. It is just the possible OLED bar that the rMBP are getting and I would like to see that first before I make my decision.

Agreed with ViperGTS- another worthy mention is the screen quality and the built in speaker. Ive never heard a MacBook that sounds this good. Pretty unusual given its size, but I've read many review sites that also note its the best sound system on any mac today.(laptop)
 
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