MacBook Pro Retina Discussion

[Timman_24]

I don't know about that. There are still quite a few apps on the iPad that haven't been updated. I have a feeling the major applications will get quick updates, but it may be a year or more for some of the other stuff.

It'll be quite some time. I mean think about it, why would a developer go back and spends days/weeks recreating high res assets for a small subset of Mac owners? The amount of people buying a 2200+ Macbook is insignificant in the global market.

We won't see much at all until the entire mac lineup is "retina." We won't see a major adoption until very high res PC monitors are released.

[flutie98]

We won't see a major adoption until very high res PC monitors are released.

I cannot wait for high ppi / 120Hz LCD's are affordable and prevalent.

[Timman_24]

I cannot wait for high ppi / 120Hz LCD's are affordable and prevalent.

The coolest thing on the horizon is the South Korean 27" 2560x1440 IPS displays that are overclockable to 120hz! I can't wait for those to start trickling in.

[Steven P Jobs]

It'll be quite some time. I mean think about it, why would a developer go back and spends days/weeks recreating high res assets for a small subset of Mac owners? The amount of people buying a 2200+ Macbook is insignificant in the global market.

We won't see much at all until the entire mac lineup is "retina." We won't see a major adoption until very high res PC monitors are released.

for a lot of devs creating high dpi assets is very easy. many mac apps have had them for years "just in case". like ever since hi-dpi was introduced as a hidden menu setting, which was 10.5 i think? sure the retina macbook pro is a tiny sliver of the market, but the same people who buy that are also the types of people who spend a lot on software. once retina displays come standard on macs (no more than 2 years, maybe even next year) we'll see everything adapt. retina 20+" desktops screens are still a long time away, but desktops are such a small percentage of the mac market that i doubt it matters.

[ImaNihilist]

for a lot of devs creating high dpi assets is very easy. many mac apps have had them for years "just in case". like ever since hi-dpi was introduced as a hidden menu setting, which was 10.5 i think? sure the retina macbook pro is a tiny sliver of the market, but the same people who buy that are also the types of people who spend a lot on software. once retina displays come standard on macs (no more than 2 years, maybe even next year) we'll see everything adapt. retina 20+" desktops screens are still a long time away, but desktops are such a small percentage of the mac market that i doubt it matters.

I dunno. Retina on the whole lineup is really up to Intel. What does the successor to the HD4000 look like?

[Steven P Jobs]

My MacBook Air can drive its own display and a 2560x1440 Thunderbolt Display so I see no reason why next-gen Intel IGP couldn't drive at least its own retina display and one external display.

The Retina MacBook Pro is specced for using all of its display outputs at the same time (ie driving its own 2880x1800 which I believe actually pre-renders at 3840x2400 and then downsamples if you have it set to the pretend 1920x1200 resolution), two 2560x1440 Thunderbolt Displays, and one 1080p HDMI display). If they want to make a retina MacBook Air, they can just say "ok guys you can drive the internal display and one external, no more, sorry it's Intel's fault".

[Timman_24]

My MacBook Air can drive its own display and a 2560x1440 Thunderbolt Display so I see no reason why next-gen Intel IGP couldn't drive at least its own retina display and one external display.

The Retina MacBook Pro is specced for using all of its display outputs at the same time (ie driving its own 2880x1800 which I believe actually pre-renders at 3840x2400 and then downsamples if you have it set to the pretend 1920x1200 resolution), two 2560x1440 Thunderbolt Displays, and one 1080p HDMI display). If they want to make a retina MacBook Air, they can just say "ok guys you can drive the internal display and one external, no more, sorry it's Intel's fault".

Then I don't understand how anandtech had lag trouble with just the one screen. Others have said on message boards that it feels sluggish compared to their lower resolution MacBook Pros on certain websites after they received theirs. Of course, I haven't used one so I can only go by what others have said.

[James]

I dunno. Retina on the whole lineup is really up to Intel. What does the successor to the HD4000 look like?

Do a search for "Haswell" to get a feeling for what we are looking towards. The next jump in on-die GPU is supposed to be quite impressive.

[Nabby]

First retina display MacBook pro for company coming in on Tuesday. It was for the one of the guys on my team but he quit so I'm taking it .

[Nabby]

Just finished restoring from time machine all my settings and am now on the Retina Display MacBook Pro. 3 Major points:

1) Insanely thin. It is more comfortable then my previous Macbook Pro to type on and use. The keys seem to be thinner as well, really odd at first.

2) Native apps look fantastic. I wasn't sure if I would notice a difference but good god is it apparent. Everything looks so crisp and clear, even dropping the scaling and upping the resolution for more space is clear and crisp.

3) Third party applications look incredibly ugly. Anything not retina ready is ugly and blurry. I had to switch a few applications to run in low-res mode to make them look somewhat acceptable. For example neither Firefox nor Chrome look anywhere near as good as the Safari.

The one I have in my possession is the lower end model, the base $2199 model.

[ImaNihilist]

Just finished restoring from time machine all my settings and am now on the Retina Display MacBook Pro. 3 Major points:

1) Insanely thin. It is more comfortable then my previous Macbook Pro to type on and use. The keys seem to be thinner as well, really odd at first.

2) Native apps look fantastic. I wasn't sure if I would notice a difference but good god is it apparent. Everything looks so crisp and clear, even dropping the scaling and upping the resolution for more space is clear and crisp.

3) Third party applications look incredibly ugly. Anything not retina ready is ugly and blurry. I had to switch a few applications to run in low-res mode to make them look somewhat acceptable. For example neither Firefox nor Chrome look anywhere near as good as the Safari.

The one I have in my possession is the lower end model, the base $2199 model.

Yeah, it's just like the new iPad. The native experience is great. The upscaled experience is horrible. When you see the two side by side on the same screen, the upscale looks even worse. High res UI elements on top, high res fonts in some areas, horribly upscaled sprites all over the place. A lot of iPad apps still haven't been updated.

[vertices]

All I can add is that I was so impressed with my new MBA I stopped by Verizon the other day to grab a new iPad as well. My ICS Xoom is now just backup/testing. This iPad is also hugely impressive. Great products.

[Steven P Jobs]

Someone wrote a hack that allows the Retina MBP to run at native res instead of 2x scaling. Would be nice to see if apps like Final Cut Pro and various DAW suites would be usable running at 2880x1800 or if UI elements are just way too small.

[Nabby]

Someone wrote a hack that allows the Retina MBP to run at native res instead of 2x scaling. Would be nice to see if apps like Final Cut Pro and various DAW suites would be usable running at 2880x1800 or if UI elements are just way too small.

I'm trying this now and it is insanely tiny. It's so insanely tiny it would be relatively unusable at this resolution. MY EYES! THEY BURN!

Yes, that is 2880x1800 on a 15.4" Display...



EDIT: Sorry but had to black out the top right corner of screen. Can't really trust them there Internets/Photobucket.

[ImaNihilist]

Someone wrote a hack that allows the Retina MBP to run at native res instead of 2x scaling. Would be nice to see if apps like Final Cut Pro and various DAW suites would be usable running at 2880x1800 or if UI elements are just way too small.

AFAIK the creative assets DO render at full res. Only UI elements are larger.