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Roundup of Retina MacBook Pro Reviews

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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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With a number of media outlets having received Retina MacBook Pro review units on Monday after the Worldwide Developers Conference keynote and a few early hands-on reports having been published, more extensive reviews are now beginning to appear. To help summarize the overall response to the new machine, we've put together this roundup of some of the major reviews, along with some highlights from each of them.

retina_macbook_pro_table.jpg



The New York Times - David Pogue
If you could design your dream laptop, how would you describe it?

Superfast. Superthin. Superlight. Superlong battery life. Immense storage. Enough memory to keep lots of programs open at once. Stunning screen, comfortable keyboard, terrific sound. Fast start-up, rugged body, gorgeous looks.

And, of course, inexpensive.

The new Apple laptop that went on sale Monday hits an impressive number of those high notes in one radical swoop. As you might guess, the one it misses by the biggest margin is "inexpensive."
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Engadget - Tim Stevens
Is this the best Mac ever? You can't ignore the Air as an amazing piece of machinery, especially with the new, higher-powered Ivy Bridge processors and faster SSDs tucked inside its wedge profile. But, this new Pro is on another level of performance. With a quad-core processor and up to 16GB of RAM it's a proper beast -- a proper beast that you can throw in your messenger bag and carry around all day without spending all night complaining about an aching back.

That said, this is not exactly a small machine, heavy enough that those happy Air users who've been feeling tempted might want to take a swing by their closest Apple Store and lift one themselves. It's expensive, too.
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The Verge - Ross Miller
If you're in the market for a premium OS X laptop right now, it's hard not to recommend the new MacBook Pro with Retina display. If, however, power isn't your ultimate goal, may we suggest shaving a few pounds and specs for the MacBook Air. As for everything in between, those non-Retina "standard" MacBook Pros, well... the writing's on the wall. And of course, it doesn't hurt to be even a little bit patient and wait for more apps to push Retina-optimized updates -- if you get the MacBook Pro with Retina display now, you'll be waiting on the world to change.
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Time - Harry McCracken
Even for those of us who are unlikely to spend more than two grand on a computer, or who prefer something more ultraportable than a 15´´ model, the arrival of the Retina MacBook Pro is a meaningful moment in Mac history. It's the most refined, advanced PC that Apple has produced to date. And it's a safe bet that the ideas it exhibits will be reflected in future models from the company, including ones with smaller screens and smaller price tags. It's both a great computer, and a preview of great computers to come.
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CNET - Dan Ackerman
I've previously called the 15-inch MacBook Pro one of the most universally useful all-around laptops you can buy. This new version adds to that with HDMI, faster ports, and more portability. But it also subtracts from that with its exclusion of an optical drive and Ethernet port, plus its very high starting price. The Pro and Retina Pro are clearly two laptops designed for two different users, and with the exception of all-day commuters who need something closer to a MacBook Air or ultrabook, one of the two branches of the MacBook Pro family tree is still probably the most universally useful laptop you can buy.
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(Image from CNET)

Article Link: Roundup of Retina MacBook Pro Reviews
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2012/06/14/roundup-of-retina-macbook-pro-reviews/
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epiksol

macrumors newbie
Sep 19, 2011
27
15
Miami, FL
I want one, but I'll wait for 17" version and wait for them to work out all the kinks.

Lets not forget giving the developers some time to optimize their apps for the retina display. Apps on the New iPad are slowly being updated to support this so we'll see how long it takes for desktop developers to get on board.
 
E

Eddyisgreat

macrumors 601
Oct 24, 2007
4,851
2
In before "this is cool, but despite what the reviews say , revision a products always have bugs so I think i'll wait for the one that comes out in two revisions which is the one I buy so it doesn't have any bugs and extra features for a lower price. Besides my late 2011 macbook pro still does everything I need it to so this machine is crap anyway".
 
P

portishead

macrumors 65816
Apr 4, 2007
1,114
2
los angeles
I honestly don't know how anyone could give this a negative review. Even if you personally don't like it, it's one helluva nice laptop.
 
J

Jibbajabba

macrumors 65816
Aug 13, 2011
1,024
5
'inexpensive' - either David had a salary we can all dream about or he is referring to the fact he got this preview model without spending a dime (no idea if they have to give it back).
 
Sabenth

Sabenth

macrumors 6502a
Jan 24, 2003
887
3
UK
its nice its powerful its apple priced so beggers cant be choosers i guess well out of my price range but hell it dose look good
 
A

Andy-V

macrumors 6502
Oct 1, 2007
413
594
Okay as there's already 2 posts talking about the "inexpensive" quote so just to let people know:

If you've come here to talk about the "inexpensive" quote please read the sentence that follows.
 
J

jedivulcan

macrumors 6502
May 15, 2007
424
60
I'm personally looking forward to the Anandtech review and a possible analysis of the display from DisplayMate. Ars Technica also spends a few more days writing up their reviews too, which I can appreciate.
 
pubwvj

pubwvj

macrumors 68000
Oct 1, 2004
1,901
208
Mountains of Vermont
Odd that they complain about it being "expensive". The price is less than that of the early big desktop (they did have a handle though) Macs. Accounting for inflation the price of a Mac has been in free fall. They've never been cheaper.
 
J

Jibbajabba

macrumors 65816
Aug 13, 2011
1,024
5
Just read the full review

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/14/technology/personaltech/apples-macbook-pro-is-just-short-of-perfection-state-of-the-art.html?pagewanted=all

little nugget about the inexpensive part at the end, which is missing here ;)
 
S

ShiftyPig

macrumors 6502a
Aug 24, 2008
567
0
AU
portishead said:
I honestly don't know how anyone could give this a negative review. Even if you personally don't like it, it's one helluva nice laptop.
Click to expand...

There are two knocks on it. The first is price, which I don't think is a legitimate argument because the market is the market. There is a market for $2100 laptops, it's just that the reviewer may not be in it.

The second knock - which is very legitimate - is that third-party applications that haven't been optimized for retina look atrocious. If you're spending $2100 on a laptop, you shouldn't have to deal with Firefox or Thunderbird or any of hundreds of other programs looking like crap.
 
I

I8P'CS

Suspended
Jul 29, 2010
355
31
Great product yes but current iMacs and no retina MBP are quad core too and can take up decent storage amount surly that still makes those great products as well!!

in response to Engadget = but, this new Pro is on another level of performance. With a quad-core processor and up to 16GB of RAM it's a proper beast
 
applegigs

applegigs

macrumors member
Oct 19, 2011
75
50
Copenhagen, Denmark
About to buy new Macbook Pro no idea where to start?

I am about to buy a Macbook Pro from the states due to the fact they are cheaper of course :cool: And I am in high doubt which configuration I should go for. I've been waiting to read reviews how the Non Retina compares to the Retina, and people say it's worth the money. I will be using the MBP for photoshop most of the time and Xcode programming while I am not a spec freak I do wanna get the best for the money. So far I have never had a problem of picking up a mac but, now with the Retina Macbook do I really want it ? Do I really need it are two different things. So I went out and made a quick ugly pros and cons picture to stack them up. Tell me what do you think.
hardone.png


Thanks in advance!

Cheers Simeon!
 
M

madrag

macrumors 6502
Nov 2, 2007
371
92
I couldn't believe the "inexpensive" term used in the review... Did they mean it terms of value for the money, maybe, but I wouldn't call it inexpensive, I would rather call it "invaluable".
 
S

Saikkou

macrumors newbie
May 25, 2010
11
0
If Apple through in the ethernet cable dongle (haha), would people stop whining it about it?
 
sishaw

sishaw

macrumors 65816
Jan 12, 2005
1,147
19
bbplayer5 said:
Stopped reading when the first review said "inexpensive".
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The review wasn't saying that the Macbook Pro is inexpensive, it was saying that being inexpensive is a desirable trait, one that this machine misses by a wide margin. Read more carefully?
 
L

lamboman

macrumors 6502
Aug 13, 2011
394
2
I8P'CS said:
Great product yes but current iMacs and no retina MBP are quad core too and can take up decent storage amount surly that still makes those great products as well!!
Click to expand...

Way to kinda miss the point...

Personally I think that this "expensive" thing is getting a bit old. Yes, they're expensive machines. However, I actually think the price isn't actually that bad for the new model at all. I'd be inclined to say it's actually very good. You're getting a powerhouse of a notebook with an incredible form factor, and incredible display. You're paying extra money for a design that has genuine advantages in usability over both its competition as well as its former self. Expensive is what you get if you want a great machine, it doesn't make it bad value. Are they expecting Apple to sell these for £499?

If it weren't for the fact that I've got two powerful machines already, I'd have ordered a base model the moment it went on sale.
 
J

JohnDoe98

macrumors 68020
May 1, 2009
2,488
99
epiksol said:
I want one, but I'll wait for 17" version and wait for them to work out all the kinks.

Lets not forget giving the developers some time to optimize their apps for the retina display. Apps on the New iPad are slowly being updated to support this so we'll see how long it takes for desktop developers to get on board.
Click to expand...

There won't be any 17" version. The 17" line is dead, time for you to face that fact.
 
menithings

menithings

macrumors regular
Jul 2, 2010
152
157
Los Angeles
The whole "expensive" argument is strange to me. The Retina MBP is actually pretty aggressively priced for what you get. Try pricing any other high end Ivy Bridge laptop (Mac or PC) with similar GPU, RAM and flash storage and you'll see that the MBP is actually a decent deal.

Of course you can argue that a platter HD laptop would cost less. But that's not a direct comparison.
 
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