Ok, I do not know how many other home cooks find an 8 inch chef knife a bit silly-large for everyday cooking! This is five inches, has a good grip, scary sharp blade, and a rocker shape for chopping or slicing. Nice extras: shape at the base of the blade means your dish cloth does not catch up in it when wiping it down (oh so irritating with a triangular, sharp, base shape. It is quite light, be aware, so if you equate heaviness with quality you will be dissapointed. I will see how the edge retention and sharpening go, over time -- no opinion yet.
I've only had this knife for a few days but I've used it at work non stop. I am a chef that uses utility/pairing knives a lot for all types of different things and this knife as about as good as it gets for a 5 inch! Its sharp as hell and is beautifully balanced. Its a thin blade and feels great to hold but its best feature is the angled handle and the space it gives your hand that allows you to chop like you would with a chefs knife. Its a joy to use and well worth the money!
I have been using Mac knives for over 20 years and was using my paring knife, in a way not meant to be used, and the tip broke off. I immediately replaced it with the same knife and was very happy I could order one thru Amazon at a reasonable price, and still the same style as my 20 year old Mac paring knife. I still keep my broken Mac paring knife, as I just can't throw it out, it is still a wonderful blade. I find other uses for my broken knife, but am very happy with the sharpness and quality my new knife. Living up to Mac's great reputation.
I am adding this warning to my original review. The stainless steel blade is not proving to be stainless. I have had to clean spots off of this knife with "Barkeeper's Friend." My original knife never stained. - This is my second MAC knife. I used my first one, a large one, continually for 30 years. I retired it, but put it away as a spare, to go to ceramic knives that looked so pretty and cut so cleanly. Oops, what a mistake. My ceramic knives, both large and small, broke with very little provocation. I am back to MAC, my old big one and this new, nice smaller 5 inch one. Both knives cut almost as well as ceramic, but don't need to be babied. My ceramic knife broke cutting a butternut squash, the MAC cut many butternuts with no problem. They sharpen with the back of a plate or a ceramic sharpener. Amazingly my older big knife has no blade nicks after so many years. I did have it professionally sharpened once. The smaller knife seems to be of excellent quality, like the original, old one. My original was of rosewood and this is not.https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/01imfzGuDvL._SS300_.jpg The handle seems to be of dense wood.