Apple 15in MacBook Pro with Retina Display
Simply, a stunner
Review You’ve got to hand it to Apple. Having created the first Ultrabook about three years before Intel even got around to coining the brand, it has now taken another step forward with the new MacBook Pro With Retina Display.
The 2880 x 1800 screen is certainly a looker, and you can understand why Apple has chosen to focus on that specific feature in all its marketing and advertising. However, the real eye-opener with this machine is the gradual realisation that – admittedly at a seriously high price for a modern notebook – Apple has finally managed to achieve the best of both worlds.
The screen's the star
In effect, this is the MacBook Air Pro – a slim, lightweight laptop that also provides professional-level performance. And a stonkingly good screen thrown in for good measure.
You do notice the crystal clarity of the screen straight away, even though the underlying Mac OS X desktop looks the same as ever. Icons and text haven’t suddenly shrunk to microscopic size because of the higher resolution – which, after all, is four times that of the standard 15.4in MacBook Pro.
Slim is in
That’s partly because Apple has updated the OS X graphics and bundled applications to support the display's higher resolution, but also because of an ingenious tweak to the Displays control panel in OS X. Instead of listing the various resolutions that are available, the Displays panel now allows you to scale the display of windows, text and icons so that they 'look like’ a particular resolution.
By default, the machine opts for a setting that seems to mimic the more standard 1440 x 900 resolution by scaling text and graphics to a comfortable size. Apps with old graphics look no worse than they would anyway. You get that amount of effective screen real estate - the extra pixels are used to improve its level of detail, with suitable upgraded apps, of course.
Select the display's appearance, rather than its resolution
However, you can also select a number of higher ‘look like’ settings in the control panel if you want to maximise the amount of space on screen. So, if you want to have a full - and staggering, for a notebook - 3840 x 2400 desktop, albeit with everything looking a lot smaller, you can. As a part-time programmer, using those extra pixels for a larger rather than better-looking workspace won me over to the new machine.
Next page: Screen space or detail? Choice is yours
COMMENTS
Re: ....you failed.
"Yes it is compromising on connectivity. When will the Apple Fanbois realise that Apple it's slavish legions aren't going to bring Thunderbolt to the world as they've decided to trademark it for themselves and everyone else will now have to license if they want to use? How many "Thunderbolt" peripherals are there? And how that are available still carry a ridiculous apple-like price premium. Adapters are adapters, awkward, annoying and from Apple, ridiculously expensive."
You spelled 'Intel' wrong.
...you *do* know that it's an Intel technology... right?
Not wanting to be rude here - where are you finding an equivalent spec for £900? I'd be delighted to buy something with the same CPU/chipset for £900. The best I can find is around £1100 for a machine with less RAM and no SSD. Oh, and less competent graphics hardiware.
Where's the 15" screened model from a rival with the same resolution then?
Thought not.
Re: you still use optical drives?
Why, yes. My last copy of CS5 and Quark eXpress came on DVD as it happens, as did the operating system, OSX, I believe it was called.
About fucking time
I am looking forward to everybody and his dog copying that screen and finally killing the low-res crap we've had to put up with until now.
