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13" Retina @ 1440x900 - Is it OK?

MrGimper

MrGimper

macrumors G3
Original poster
Sep 22, 2012
9,189
13,384
Andover, UK
Hi

Decided to pull the trigger on a new 13" retina i7/16GB/512GB to replace my mid 2012 13" Air.

My intention is to run at 1440x900 most of the time, to match the outgoing Air's resolution.

Interested in hearing from people who do the same, and any opinions.

G
 
Tried them

MrGimper said:
Hi

Decided to pull the trigger on a new 13" retina i7/16GB/512GB to replace my mid 2012 13" Air.

My intention is to run at 1440x900 most of the time, to match the outgoing Air's resolution.

Interested in hearing from people who do the same, and any opinions.

G
Click to expand...

I've tried both scaled resolutuions and they are fine not quite as sharp as best for retina but still better than almost any other laptop screen I have seen.
 
Why would you buy a retina pro if you are cranking down the res? Air would have been a cheaper option, no?
 
I have a 15.4″ rMBP that I keep set to 1920×1200 HiDPI. It looks sharper than an actual native 1920×1200 screen, because of the subpixel rendering.

Doesn’t actually answer your question, but it’s a related anecdote at least.
 
go for it!

i usually run mine at 1440x900 or 1680x1050. i can't stand the lack of screen real estate at the 1280x800
 
I also share the opinion that from an aesthetic point of view scaled resolutions aren't bad at all.

From an operational point of view though, some apps may behave a little bit differently. For example, in Lightroom, only in optimal resolution does the 1:1 magnification actually behaves like a 1:1 magnification.
 
MrGimper said:
Hi

Decided to pull the trigger on a new 13" retina i7/16GB/512GB to replace my mid 2012 13" Air.

My intention is to run at 1440x900 most of the time, to match the outgoing Air's resolution.

Interested in hearing from people who do the same, and any opinions.

G
Click to expand...

Since that is 100% personal preference, I don't see you getting very valuable answers to your question.

You're not going to break anything doing so, and if it suits you, go for it.
 
snaky69 said:
Since that is 100% personal preference, I don't see you getting very valuable answers to your question.



You're not going to break anything doing so, and if it suits you, go for it.
Click to expand...


On the contrary, I have got several very useful answers. The lack of "I tried it and had this problem, don't do it you fool" answers is reassuring as well :)
 
If you're doing Web development, Graphics with text, designing mobile apps...etc I would reconsider. Although the extra space is nice, it'll screw you up with font size and getting a realistic design experience for most of your target users
 
Good news is that I received my machine, and running at 1680x1050 is still stunning in my view.

Bad news is I have several specks of dust under the screen so Apple are sending a replacement for delivery tomorrow :mad:
 
retina 13" has even higher PPI than 15", so it should be even better.

I run my 15" constantly in either 1680*1050 or 1920*1200.
 
On my 15", I run it at 1680x1050 (having come from a 2011 15" with a 1680x1050 matter display). 1920x1200 is a tad bit difficult for my own eyes.

On my 13", I run it at 1280x800 or 1440x900, depending on what I'm doing.

At a resolution higher than 'best for retina', the 13" lags a bit, but not all the time. It happens rarely.

On my 15", it doesn't happen at all (it's got a dGPU).
 
In my opinion on 13" Retina 1680x1050 looks crisper, 1440x900 produces too much fuzz/blurring of menus/text in some non-retina optimized programs... then again I used 15" PowerBook G4 & currently on a 15" pre-retina MacBook Pro and remember how scaling down on those(ex: mirror to a projector) required a bit of figuring out what works/doesn't vs 13" cMBP(12" G4).

From a web developer/print work point of view, if you care about designing use an external monitor as retina/high DPI monitors will screw with your font/font size choices and page layouts... several sites such as NBC/MSN(IE for Win8 optimized edition) pulled a touchscreen squares to click on news stories and its a pain to navigate on any normal computer w/18/19" monitor as you end up scrolling left & right due to ad placements/massive photos which the text wraps around it in a very stupid way.
 
On the retinas at work I've set my resolution to 1680x1050. I do a lot of video editing and find the extra real estate useful.

Coming from 1280x800 at home, it is welcome improvement.
 
I must admit that having played for several hours I'm very pleased with the screen at 1680x1050. Shame this one is going back. I hope the replacement has a great screen lighting/colourwise like this one.

As a side note, I called up to change the delivery address of the replacement while it was still "Processing", and the Apple person said I was lucky as she was about to unlock my order because with replacements they lock the order and flag it for additional Quality Control before it's shipped. Not heard that before.
 
Qaanol said:
I have a 15.4″ rMBP that I keep set to 1920×1200 HiDPI. It looks sharper than an actual native 1920×1200 screen, because of the subpixel rendering.

Doesn’t actually answer your question, but it’s a related anecdote at least.
Click to expand...

How's the UI performance? do you experience lag or choppiness?
 
Cardsnk said:
How's the UI performance? do you experience lag or choppiness?
Click to expand...

Most of the time the UI performs great. However there are a few situations where it lags noticeably (this is on a base-model late-2013 15.4″ rMBP, so Iris Pro GPU only).

1. Resizing the App Store window. From what I’ve heard, this is a software issue so it affects everyone with an rMBP including those with dGPU. It’s also not a big deal, because so what if it’s choppy when resizing.

2. Scrolling large PDF documents. For example, the Senate Intelligence Committee’s CIA torture report is very laggy when scrolling. Safari is much better than Chrome, but even after downloading and opening it in Preview there’s noticeable stuttering when I scroll.

3. Editing large images.

However, the important point for this thread is that I see lag in those exact same situations regardless of what resolution I set the display to. As I mentioned, I generally keep it at 1920×1200 and have not had any issues with that resolution. Everything is super crisp.

I second HappyFrappy’s comment that the More Space option looks better than the first step down from there.
 
I go to 1680x1050 when requiring real estate on screen. However, for reading forums and the like - I prefer the 1280x800: the text is much larger and far more easier on tired eyes!
 
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