To All Those Who Purchased and Use Their Retina MBP: Are You Happy With Your RMBP?

[macNewbie02]

Hey all,

After reading Anandech's review - I would like to ask all of you who are using the Retina MBP - Are you satisfied with your new system?

 

[mattkidd]

Hey all,

After reading Anandech's review - I would like to ask all of you who are using the Retina MBP - Are you satisfied with your new system?

The Retina MacBook Pro is definitely in a class of it's own, with the outstanding retina display, it really is crisp and clear. I have been using mine for around 3 days now. I have to say the design is a great improvement over the previous design and has to be the best feature as of yet. The Speed of Boot-up and general CPU operation is fantastic also, but you would expect this from Ivy Bridge and SSD.

I am however not satisfied with the following, which are significantly letting it down:

- GUI Performance Issues (Hopefully will be improved)
- Battery (Really 7 Hours? Im not getting that!)
- Retina Apps (Although Apple has updated many apps, cant help but feel some things still haven't been done iWorks etc)

The graphics chip in this machine is excellent I can easily achieve good fps in the games I have tested it with. My concern again lies down to the drivers being able to cope which such resolutions and bandwidth effectively. I also seem to have problems with the graphics switching.

A small rattle, creaking noise is also apparent sounds as though something is loose or not firmly in place. Hopefully Apple will resolve this for me with a replacement.

Otherwise it's a good machine, Apple have done well with the design and the quality of the display, just a shame about the teething issues

 

[OSMac]

Hey all,

After reading Anandech's review - I would like to ask all of you who are using the Retina MBP - Are you satisfied with your new system?

The screen even with lag is amazing, the overall size / footprint of the unit is not ideal.

 

[Skjetne]

@mattkidd

Have you tried to hook it up to your 27 tbd? How is the performance, and does the rmbp get noisy with regular use? i.e. film, youtube, gaming, surfing?

 

[mattkidd]

@mattkidd

Have you tried to hook it up to your 27 tbd? How is the performance, and does the rmbp get noisy with regular use? i.e. film, youtube, gaming, surfing?

I have yes, the GUI performance appears to improve in such resolution, I imagine this is the case as the Thunderbolt has around 40% less pixels of the Retina, so it does appear to perform better. The fans didn't seem to kick in especially not under normal load. Games were playable in bootcamp at this resolution also, although some games achieved better fps running on the retina with a 1600x1220 resolution. This would simply look odd on the thunderbolt display. Still waiting for thunderbolt to hit PC's so I can using a gaming rig for games at such resolution.

I have to say however at times it has felt as though my previous iMac 6750m (Sandybridge) performed better when hooked up in regards to some of the GUI animations. This though could simply be small graphical glitches with lion.

 

[Skjetne]

I have yes, the GUI performance appears to improve in such resolution, I imagine this is the case as the Thunderbolt has around 40% less pixels of the Retina, so it does appear to perform better. The fans didn't seem to kick in especially not under normal load. Games were playable in bootcamp at this resolution also, although some games achieved better fps running on the retina with a 1920x1220 resolution. This would simply look odd on the thunderbolt display. Still waiting for thunderbolt to hit PC's so I can using a gaming rig for games at such resolution.

I have to say however at times it has felt as though my previous iMac 6750m (Sandybridge) performed better when hooked up in regards to some of the GUI animations. This though could simply be small graphical glitches with lion.

Are you running Lion or Mountain Lion? Some say that there are major improvements with ML. Yeah, I'm waiting for cheap motherboards to come with TB, so i can make a cheap gaming rig. Yeah, but running native resolution with playable fps is more important to me than having everything on "ultra".

 

[mattkidd]

Are you running Lion or Mountain Lion? Some say that there are major improvements with ML. Yeah, I'm waiting for cheap motherboards to come with TB, so i can make a cheap gaming rig. Yeah, but running native resolution with playable fps is more important to me than having everything on "ultra".

Currently just have lion installed I am tempted however to install the BETA for Mountain Lion, to see if this makes any improvements using the retina display. I have been playing both Dirt 2 and Left 4 Dead 2 through the Thunderbolt in the last hour or so, I am able to achieve settings on high at around 50fps-55ps on Left 4 dead 2.

Dirt 2 doesn't do as well on high settings its playable but more in 30s in terms of fps. These could be effected by the port over to OSX. Ill have to further try some games in Windows.

 

[Skjetne]

Currently just have lion installed I am tempted however to install the BETA for Mountain Lion, to see if this makes any improvements using the retina display. I have been playing both Dirt 2 and Left 4 Dead 2 through the Thunderbolt in the last hour or so, I am able to achieve settings on high at around 50fps-55ps on Left 4 dead 2.

Dirt 2 doesn't do as well on high settings its playable but more in 30s in terms of fps. These could be effected by the port over to OSX. Ill have to further try some games in Windows.

Yeah, i currently have ML dp4 on my mbp, and it's nice and smooth. Yeah, every game I've played runs better on win than OSX.

 

[sireShonBohn]

This poll is useless

See Title

 

[macNewbie02]

See Title

What's wrong with it?

 

[theSeb]

Hey all,

After reading Anandech's review - I would like to ask all of you who are using the Retina MBP - Are you satisfied with your new system?

Despite the lag, which I don't count as a deal breaker, Anand called it the best MacBook he's ever used. That says a lot. Whether its ok for you is a different matter.

 

[Fortimir]

If you're having lag, make sure you've updated your system, even on regular Lion. Several people have said that actually fixes a substantial amount of lag before we even get ML.

 

[iDabble]

very happy with mine so far. only done some light PS work but it handled that no problem.

it's even got some battle scars already from being tossed in a bag

to be honest though there is one tiny, very, very very minor detail that's been driving me crazy. the bezel is thicker at the top than it is at the sides...and the perfectionist OCD freak that i am can't stop staring at it...

 

[biscuitsxluv]

No lag. I did have it once, when I was downloading 900+ photos.

It is a bit bigger than what I'm used to but I love it.

I am a blogger and deal with images, editing here and there as well as working on my website daily.

 

[ladeer]

who cares about LAG when there are BIGGER PROBLEMS!!

I can't stand the fact that I can't take screen capture, or shall I say, screen capture don't work! Also, i can't do desktop sharing. Those are real problems preventing me from working. Not some half second lag.

 

[theoski]

There is lag even in OS X 10.8 (12A256).
- In Safari, FB lags while scrolling even worst than TheVerge site. Actually it is pretty terrible.
- In Safari, lags scrolling through open windows
- System, lags while bring it back from sleep, keyboard is less responsive.
- Scrolling through desktop windows is actually worst than on old MBP under Lion which was not perfect to begin with.

I love the screen and the new format but dont get me wrong I am not spending 2500+ dollars on a substandard soft. For me even lack of retina apps is not that big of a deal. It was this same with the new iPad.

BTW, the new iPad with geekbench score of 756 and resolution 2048 x 1536 renders pages in Safari better than rMBP 11,000+ score and resolution 2880 x 1800. Something does not add up here.

Again half baked software.

 

[Slivortal]

There is lag even in OS X 10.8 (12A256).
- In Safari, FB lags while scrolling even worst than TheVerge site. Actually it is pretty terrible.
- In Safari, lags scrolling through open windows
- System, lags while bring it back from sleep, keyboard is less responsive.
- Scrolling through desktop windows is actually worst than on old MBP under Lion which was not perfect to begin with.

I love the screen and the new format but dont get me wrong I am not spending 2500+ dollars on a substandard soft. For me even lack of retina apps is not that big of a deal. It was this same with the new iPad.

BTW, the new iPad with geekbench score of 756 and resolution 2048 x 1536 renders pages in Safari better than rMBP 11,000+ score and resolution 2880 x 1800. Something does not add up here.

Again half baked software.

How did you purchase and use an RMBP if you saved $2500? Unless you purchased and returned it, this is the place for people to report their actual testing, not for theorycrafting and justification on why you have/haven't bought it.

 

[Skjetne]

How did you purchase and use an RMBP if you saved $2500? Unless you purchased and returned it, this is the place for people to report their actual testing, not for theorycrafting and justification on why you have/haven't bought it.

Signatures should have been verified, so that we could find out if people actually had the stuff they say they have!

 

[Slivortal]

Signatures should have been verified, so that we could find out if people actually had the stuff they say they have!

I'm not blindly doubting this person; had he said the same thing without the "saving $2500" part, I'd probably have believed him. But the chances that he's bought and returned a system that most people have not even received yet, as well as wording that seems to imply that he'd never even bought the thing to begin with (no first-person text, lots of software fix citations) kind of makes me doubt his ownership of an MBPR at any point.

But if he says he actually has bought and used one, I'll gladly believe him.

 

[Skjetne]

I'm not blindly doubting this person; had he said the same thing without the "saving $2500" part, I'd probably have believed him. But the chances that he's bought and returned a system that most people have not even received yet, as well as wording that seems to imply that he'd never even bought the thing to begin with (very little first-person text) kind of makes me doubt his ownership of an MBPR at any point.

But if he says he actually has bought and used one, I'll gladly believe him.

It wasn't directed towards him. (But my timing indicated that )
But it would be easier to get advice from people that actually uses the product on a day to day basis

 

[Slivortal]

It wasn't directed towards him. (But my timing indicated that )
But it would be easier to get advice from people that actually uses the product on a day to day basis

Oh, haha. I thought you were being sarcastic. I somewhat agree.

But actually implementing any sort of plan to prove ownership would be difficult to say the least (albeit helpful).

 

[bamaster]

who cares about LAG when there are BIGGER PROBLEMS!!

I can't stand the fact that I can't take screen capture, or shall I say, screen capture don't work! Also, i can't do desktop sharing. Those are real problems preventing me from working. Not some half second lag.

Command + Shift + 4 doesn't work for screen capture?

Although there is a problem with it on Retina:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1394884/

 

[theoski]

You guys are wasting your breath. I am prepared:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uixeNzzJBXQ

I used QuickTime to capture.

It is still uploading so give it a few minutes. I am uploading 1080p version.

 

[Slivortal]

You guys are wasting your breath. I am prepared:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uixeNzzJBXQ

I used QuickTime to capture.

It is still uploading so give it a few minutes. I am uploading 1080p version.

Sorry for doubting you, then. I was just kind of wary from the way you worded it.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

who cares about LAG when there are BIGGER PROBLEMS!!

I can't stand the fact that I can't take screen capture, or shall I say, screen capture don't work! Also, i can't do desktop sharing. Those are real problems preventing me from working. Not some half second lag.

You mean like this: (did w/ the regular Control-Shift-4. Also, I have no prob w/ desktop sharing. Something is wrong with how you setup your machine. Don't blame the RMBP. It works fine.)

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