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Is the MacBook Pro with Retina Display TOO advanced? Concerned by the reviews :(

I

iFanboy

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Original poster
As soon as it was released on Monday I maxed out the options and immediately ordered a 15" Macbook Pro with Retina Display, 2.7Ghz i7, 16GB Ram, and 768GB Flash Drive. This thing looked INCREDIBLE and I have been holding off on upgrading me 2008/2009 15" Macbook Pro Unibody until something awesome came along that justified the upgrade.

After reading the reviews I am now having second thoughts and thinking of cancelling my order. I would be very grateful to get more opinions.

Basically my concern that the retina display is TOO ahead of it's time. Reviews have pointed out that much of the web is now displayed in a more pixelated and "fuzzy" form because website images aren't appropriate for retina displays. (Text of course is fine because that's rendered by the browser)

Secondly, it will still be a while before apps will be updated. Some will move quickly, some of the big ones even, wont. Microsoft, I'm looking at you. It took them almost a year to update to full Lion compatibility, so I'm not holding out any hope that Office For Mac 2011 will get a retina display upgrade any time soon. In the meantime, Office For Mac 2011 looks like this:-

1.**OFFICE FOR MAC 2011**
2.**OFFICE FOR MAC 2011 Pic 2**
2.**OFFICE FOR MAC 2011 -v- TEXTEDIT**

For me, this is a huge annoying problem because I live in Microsoft Office when I'm on my Mac. It looks awful and I can't imagine wanting to spend a great deal of time working in such a pixelated application, and I'll need to.

What do others think? Am I right to be concerned that this isn't an appropriate upgrade YET for people who get irritated at "fuzzy" web pages and who have to use Microsoft Office For Mac 2011 daily until it's updated for the retina display?

I'm just concerned that until apps and the web is updated, usability wise, this thing can be ARGUED to be a step back in usability, because the world isn't YET ready for a display this detailed.

Thoughts and opinions very much appreciated.

P.s - OP is a fag /obligatory
 
This is new and you have to wait for companies to update their applications.. Just like the situation when Iphone 4 came out with new retina display
 
You will definitely be an "early adopter." And I don't mean this in terms of the typical "oh, a new chassis design or processor..." This is early adoption of a new display technology in terms of everyday use.
 
This is the same issue seen on the NEW iPad. I have magazine subscriptions that looked great on the iPad 1 & 2 but unoptimized look like crap (ok not really crap but noticeably fuzzy and annoying). You may just need to pull that slider to 1440x900 a lot until stuff isn't optimized for this new tech.

Cheers,
 
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If you want to hold off on upgrading until apps have been updated, go ahead. I don't really see the point, though.

Microsoft Office does look particularly bad, because the text is so obviously blurry. Hopefully that will soon be fixed. Graphics are much less of an issue. You don't notice pixelated graphics nearly as much as you do pixelated text.

I would definitely not buy a brand-new MBP without the Retina display, though. Retina is the future.
 
I can confirm the new Office for Mac does look pretty fuzzy.
Not so bad you can't use it at all, but looks nothing like the text I'm typing now in Safari , which is mind blowing.

Hopefully it does get updated soon, but who knows this is a MS product.
Might have to switch to iWork, in a month or so.

----------
UPDATE:

I bumped the resolution up one from default (retina) to 1680x1050.

It looks fine, actually it looks very,very good. (Tried Word and Excel)

Of course it will look better, once they update.
 
Luckily I barely ever use word processors at all. My main concern is when Adobe updates their applications for retina display as well as when other browsers do (I generally use firefox).

I really want to upgrade my 2008 aluminum macbook non-pro machine but am waiting for more detailed reviews from the likes of anandtech and such. Most of the reviews out now seem to be more of a race as to who can just get a post about the macbook retina display on their site first.
 
avalys said:
If you want to hold off on upgrading until apps have been updated, go ahead. I don't really see the point, though.

Microsoft Office does look particularly bad, because the text is so obviously blurry. Hopefully that will soon be fixed. Graphics are much less of an issue. You don't notice pixelated graphics nearly as much as you do pixelated text.

I would definitely not buy a brand-new MBP without the Retina display, though. Retina is the future.
Click to expand...

If Retina is the future whey not buy it when apps actually utilize it? In a year.
 
afurry13 said:
If Retina is the future whey not buy it when apps actually utilize it? In a year.
Click to expand...

This is what I'm concerned about.

Is a retina screen that CURRENTLY most apps and the web look like crap on appropriate for use NOW? Very difficult question...
 
I got my iPhone 4 and 3rd gen iPad on their respective launch days. I survived through the initial ugliness on the iPhone 4, and I'm doing it now with the iPad. :p For me, the way it looks when an app or site uses the resolution to its fullest extent far outweighs the potential for ugliness.

Disclaimer: the MacBook Pro with Retina display is also my first Mac, and I've been itching to get my hands on one for some time, so my opinion may be biased towards the fact that I'm getting one at last.
 
get the rmbp now, if you aren't happy with it in a year resell it and get like 75-80% of your money back.
 
No, Just get it you will love it and adjust.

You can change the res of the monitor as you need also.

Get it! At least if you don't like it once you have it you can return it.
 
DeeEss said:
No, Just get it you will love it and adjust.

You can change the res of the monitor as you need also.

Get it! At least if you don't like it once you have it you can return it.
Click to expand...

Chrome has updated.

Currently in Beta mode but looks and runs brilliantly, text is prefect. Just some images that aren't. But it isn't bad.
 
daven85 said:
Chrome has updated.

Currently in Beta mode but looks and runs brilliantly, text is prefect. Just some images that aren't. But it isn't bad.
Click to expand...

What above poster said.

To be honest, I think companies will have no trouble in updating these apps. Not even Microsoft! They have support for High Resolution in Windows 8, so it shouldn't be too hard for them to figure out to update their Office Suite for Mac.

I also see that VLC will be ready soon.

And when Adobe gets their apps together, everything will be perfect (for me at least)!
 
Well hopefully since RMBP's are in such high demand right now, developers will quickly update their apps. Actually, this could be the master plan of Apple all along. Make very few RMBP's so they sell out everywhere and are impossible to find. Developers catch wind and realize they need to update ASAP since it appears that so many people will be using Retina displays now. Just a thought. :p
 
When it comes to technology us consumers are usually behind.... When we make a purchase the next iteration is right around the corner. For once it's good to be ahead of the curve and have a machine in your hands that the tech industry is trying to catch up to. I say keep it and enjoy! If nothing else you have yourself a hell of a future proofed machine..... And by the way I was playing with one in the grand central store today and Microsoft office looked just fine, as did the Internet
 
You could try putting it to 1920x1200, which will make everything pretty small (physically on the screen) but if you increase the viewing size of the Word document, it should render the text pretty sharply. At least better looking than non-Retina 1440x900, I would think.
 
I think it's a cycle.

Increase in people using retina -> greater demand for retina apps -> more retina apps

as opposed to

People expect retina apps before switching -> no one is using retina -> developers unsure of the demand -> no incentive to spend time updating -> no retina apps

So I guess sometimes us consumers need to step up first...
 
this adds nothing to the topic but you just posted my favorite song, ~ John Mayer ~ Why Georgia in the link to the word document

awesome
 
bigjnyc said:
When it comes to technology us consumers are usually behind.... When we make a purchase the next iteration is right around the corner. For once it's good to be ahead of the curve and have a machine in your hands that the tech industry is trying to catch up to. I say keep it and enjoy! If nothing else you have yourself a hell of a future proofed machine..... And by the way I was playing with one in the grand central store today and Microsoft office looked just fine, as did the Internet
Click to expand...

This.

It only took the web 6 months or so for the web to catch up to the iPhone4 - it wont even take that long for the MBP environment to catch up..
 
Thanks for the responses!

Hopefully the updates to retina compatibility come thick and fast!
 
MacBird said:
It took MS months to include a full screen option for OSX. Let's hope they will be faster this time.
Click to expand...

Actually almost a year. MS have been completely silent so far and the office for mac team have been ignoring tweets asking for info.

It wouldn't surprise me if there was no updates actually, and instead retina support was included with Office for Mac 2014 that is probably going to be released at the end of next year.
 
I have a 22" 1080p external monitor which I connect to my current MacBook whenever I'm at home. When my RMBP gets here I'll just use blocky non-retina apps on my non-retina display.
 
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