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10 Years Ago Today: Apple Announces First MacBook Pro With a Retina Display

My 2012 MBP Retina has served me very well. Max spec 16GB, 750GB SSD. A full 10 years of good service.

Had to replace logic board about 6 years ago. Unfortunately failed again recently, March 2022, likely due to voltage surge from a frayed power supply chord.

10 years service meeting my needs as in, turn on, and just focus on what I want and need to do. I like tech that enables me to just go do, not have to focus and struggle often on the tech itself to squeeze out the capacity and function you want. My use included a research project with increasingly large spreadsheets 350+MB, with many running averages. Only in the last few years has the CPU limits begun to lack.

Sure, costly up front, but then when it works well to meet your needs over 10 years, there is clearly an economy in the longer term. A value realisable given (i) max specs, and (ii) because with Macs, the hardware is solid a build, and (iii) most hardware functionality you need is built in from the beginning.

I valued the good keyboard (before 'those' changes), and the mag safe chord (which saved laptop at least 30 times over the last 10 years). The last why I have put off an upgrade for some years.

As for the retina screen.... I recall my first experience of use, and opening terminal. Such beautiful crisp text I just wanted to learn to code. While I am not a coder, such did lead me to enter the no GUI environment at a very simple level, learning a little unix, and accessing Python and use of stats and science packages. Opening a new world and needed tools to my work.

2022 - Not a bad year to replace a MBP. Changes in OS's and metal, re compatabilities also driving need for upgrade.
 
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Wow, 10 years already?! I remember my rMBP 13 fondly. Bought the late 2013 model to replace my MBA, as Retina was all the rage back then. That said, I remember it running hot and the graphics were nowhere near as “fluid” as the old 2011 13” MBA it had replaced.

Loved the connectivity of this laptop, with HDMI and SD cards and all that. Good that we’re finally back, with the new 14/16 MBPs.
 
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Y'all praise it now, but I remember all the moaning over the price, base storage, lack of ethernet and "How am I going to burn DVD's now?"

You can't hide from me! Gwahaha
 
It had MagSafe, an SD card reader, a good keyboard, no TouchBar, regular USB, HDMI... then they changed all that.

Though it did have problems. My battery expanded and had to be replaced, it was out of warranty and replacing it was too expensive, it was a nightmare (no computer for 1 month). Then the display coating started peeling which they did replace for free, but then it started peeling AGAIN a year later and this time it was beyond the repair period. But it did sort of last me 4-5 years, and I only sold it because I wanted to get rid of it because the display coating issue.

Got a 16 inch MBP instead which looked and felt exactly the same, worked almost the same, except it had a touchbar and cost twice as much. Oh and no ports.
 
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In early 2014, I had just got into the Apple ecosystem with an iPhone and an iPad I had received as a gift. I only had an iPod up until then.
Whilst carrying out some DIY maintenance on my Dell laptop, I managed to damage the motherboard. A new motherboard would be costing almost as much as a new PC, so I started looking for a new PC laptop. I had always wanted to try a Mac and I had tried out my Aunt's 2012 MBP.
I was initially horrified that Apple could release a laptop that was not user upgradeable, so I ordered a 500GB non-Retina MBP with the intention of future upgrades. After a couple of days use, I realised that I would not be happy with the screen, so I ordered a 128GB 13" Retina MBP. This was then swapped for a 256GB Retina model. In the end, I had spent considerably more than I had budgeted for, but it is clear that I had made the right calls. I still have that laptop today.
 
…and I thought my new MacBook Pro M1 Max 64GB would last for the next ten years 🤣
 
I bought the maxed out version of this model for over $4,000 and it was my daily driver for 5 years. Such a wonderful, reliable machine. The only upgrade I did after I bought it was to upgrade the air port to upgrade wifi speed. Never once had an issue with it and was able to sell it on for over $400 in 2017. One of the best products Apple ever made.
 
I get the same feeling looking at the new MBP 16" as I did with the first Retina MBP. Awestruck.
 
TightLines said:
While you all are taking a trip down memory lane… and for nostalgia purposes… Apple has been at the forefront of their product lines, and the features they offer for a long, long, time…. Steve Jobs was a visionary… and often spearheading ideas and things that were way ahead of their time.

Just as an example - nearly 30 years ago (1993) the future iPhone was actually introduced. It took them 14 years for the time to catch up with the vision that Steve Jobs had… people often forget, Apple at its core was a visionary company before all else… they’ve still got it, but not as much as they once had. Who remembers this iconic device that went no where?
Click to expand...
Except Steve Jobs had nothing whatsoever to do with the Newton.
 
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What a beast. This was the only Mac I’ve bought that felt like a true leap in performance and spec beyond everyone else. 6 years of use and the keys had not even faded. Took about 6 months for my 2019 MBP keys to start fading. My current M1 Pro MBP feels like the evolution of the 2012 retina.
 
acorntoy said:
All the praise here is quite hilarious when this forums reaction to this laptop was completely different upon release.

“CANT UPGRADE RAM? Never will buy a machine like that”
“SSD ONLY?! LOOK AT THE PRICE OF STORAGE, STICKING WITH A 1TB HDD SCREW A LITTLE WAIT TIME.”
“DVD DRIVE REMOVED?! THIS WILL NEVER LAST”
“HAH! A display is only one thing people will still choose windows with a better processor”
^
All close to verbatim.
Click to expand...

Yes, but that's the "good old days" effect... like "I remember when gas was less than $1 per gallon" and "I remember when full-sized candy bars cost 25 cents and I remember when one adult's pay could cover the entire core costs for a family so that the other could only optionally have a job too (or if BOTH took jobs, ALL 100% of one of their pay was gravy/bonus/get-ahead money), etc.

If this was gasolinerumors or candybarrumors, etc. the modern view of comments made back then- when gas was $1.50 gallon and candy bars had tripled to 75 cents each :eek: would look just as hilarious relative to current pricing. That's how it always works. Give it another 10-15+ years, when gas might be $12/gallon and candy bars might be $5 each. Then, we'll fondly look back at the good old days of "only $5" and "only $1.25" but our complaints about either at the time (now) will be just as hilarious in hindsight.

Relative to now, those negatives viewed against the computer tech norms of those days looks different. Consider the modern version of the same:

“Must choose total RAM capability up front and can only get RAM from Apple at Apple super-high prices”

“Apple SSD at Apple prices ONLY?! LOOK AT THE PRICE OF Apple STORAGE, vs. STICKING WITH a standard SSD or perhaps m.2 stick. Outrageous price gouging with no choices and no replacement choices if the storage goes bad unless we again buy from ONLY Apple and pay up for Apple pricing.”

Whether then or now, the core complaint is lockdown/lock-in and undermining competition that has greater potential to deliver a better value for consumers... which is relatively worse now than it was in 2012, as now every such choice can only come from one source at whatever price that source wants to charge. Back then, (expensive) SSD pricing relative to HDD pricing was core to that second gripe, but at least one could still get a replacement SSD from other sources- like OWC for example. As we know in capitalism, where there is plenty of competition, there is likely to be very competitive pricing. Where there is little-to-no competition, there is no reason for competitive prices. In other words, the consumer benefit of capitalism "breaks" when there is reduced or even no competition for something. As competitive choices are closed off, the buy:sell proposition only favors the seller.

I just purchased Studio Ultra, paying up for Apple storage (trying to anticipate the total RAM and Storage I'll ever need for life of the device). Relative to comparable storage and RAM in competitive channels, those were VERY EXPENSIVE choices and I can easily feel "ripped off" by that "premium" that had to be paid if I wanted that computer. So I can both be happy with the purchase over time but unhappy at not having any competitive pricing to make it an even better value at purchase time.

I've since learned that storage is slotted and that there is actually an extra open slot inside too. If Studio was only a bit more open, an OWC or similar could offer less expensive storage upgrades- perhaps for BOTH slots- and that would be quite desirable... and likely a great added value to us buyers. Instead, that's fully locked down to make Apple the ONLY possible source of even slotted storage and one slot is left empty, also solely by Apple choices.

Extrapolating: how can it get (consumer) worse 12 years from now so that we look back to that seemingly anti-competitive, 100% lock-in as "good old days." Once a seller can completely own all potential upgrades to a tangible product, the next move is to try to flip usage into some kind of ongoing stream of payments. Is the 2034 version of Macs going to require subscriptions for storage, RAM, CPU, etc? What if the 2034 version is available only inside of goggles/glasses/lenses and you can only rent access to them vs. pay up once and get to use them for as long as the tech can function? Get to that kind of thing and make those subscriptions expensive and we'll look back to complete lock-in, one source of any upgrades as "the good old days" from a consumer value perspective.

I do miss 1999 gas prices... and 2012 gas prices. I do miss 1987 candy bar prices, and 1999 candy bar prices, and 2012 candy bar prices. It's a complete shame that it now takes 2 average incomes to cover the fundamental costs of life. What does the 2030s hold there? Any kids in the family need to get jobs as young as possible to chip in on food/housing/etc. too? "Kids, I remember the good old days... when only your Mom & I needed to work 1-2 jobs each to cover all of our household costs and make a little extra for some fun. Now get to your jobs so that we can eat something next week." And grandpa chimes in: "In my day, I could work ONE 40-hour job to clothe, house and feed a family of 8, own a good car, own a good house, etc." And everyone rolls their eyes at senile grandpa, as that just couldn't be remotely possible through the lens of the realities of the time.
 
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I’m still chasing the high of this laptop. Even the new apple silicon MacBooks don’t feel as huge a leap forward as these were. Incredible stuff.
 
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