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A Closer Look at the New MacBook Pro's Retina Display

pgiguere1 said:
Scaled at 1680x1050:
[url=http://images.anandtech.com/galleries/2078/Screen%20Shot%202012-06-11%20at%204.35.55%20PM_thumb.png]Image[/URL]
(Click to enlarge)
Click to expand...

Look at the size of the image. It's a 3,360px × 2,100px image. Basically, it's a pixel perfect rendition of a retina 1680x1050 image. That's no good to evaluate the downscaling algorithm used to display it in full screen on a 2880x1800 screen.

Sure we can use Photoshop or Gimp to downscale it, but then we have Photoshop or Gimp's downscaling algorithm coming into play. What we need to know and see is a 2880x1800 shot of the 3360x2100 shot downscaled using the same code OS X uses.

That's why I say Anand's comparison is bunk, it's not possible to see what it actually looks like on the screen.

I'll wait to see it in store. Feel free to downrank me for not "believing" blindly.
 
Definitely a sick upgrade... I always wanted 1920x1200 resolution on the 15" MacBook Pros, now we have it and it's even better.

Hopefully in a few years the battery life increases and SSDs in the 512 - 1 TB range are more reasonable by the time I want to purchase a new machine.
 
jclardy said:
My question: How does it work when plugging in to an external display? If you drag a window from the retina to non-retina does it scale correctly? (The non-retina would be 1x size versus 2x on the retina, meaning the non-retina would have to be scaled to 50% on the fly unless the system loads both graphics simultaneously.)
Click to expand...
The window displayed alone on an external display will be displayed exactly as it is displayed with other computers. The physical size of the window may change when you drag depending on what the actual display dpi is, as it currently does as well. These different modes only apply to a given display, ie, the internal one, you still set the resolution for the external display separately, the same way you do it now.
 
I think it's a nice touch that they have written " Here's to the crazy ones..." in the system pref. panel preview.

Always reminds me of Steve.
 
This looks great!!! Would love the 1920x1200 option. I'm just worried about Boot Camp though.
 
I wanted to see the machine in person to find out a) if I can adjust to 1920x1200, b) if the glare was sufficiently mitigated and c) just how good/bad apps look in 2x mode. This answers 2/3 questions, which is enough for me to decide I'm buying. Not that I was exactly on the fence to begin with :p
 
KnightWRX said:
Look at the size of the image. It's a 3,360px × 2,100px image. Basically, it's a pixel perfect rendition of a retina 1680x1050 image. That's no good to evaluate the downscaling algorithm used to display it in full screen on a 2880x1800 screen.

Sure we can use Photoshop or Gimp to downscale it, but then we have Photoshop or Gimp's downscaling algorithm coming into play. What we need to know and see is a 2880x1800 shot of the 3360x2100 shot downscaled using the same code OS X uses.

That's why I say Anand's comparison is bunk, it's not possible to see what it actually looks like on the screen.

I'll wait to see it in store. Feel free to downrank me for not "believing" blindly.
Click to expand...

And, because the scaling is done in the GPU, you're not getting a screenshot.

Closeup photo of the machine's actual screen is the only way to do it 100%. (I did go ahead and scale stuff, though, to get an idea.)
 
kazmac said:
I was glad I didn't pull the trigger yesterday. I appreciated the mention of the discrepancies between the clarity and the actual resolution in many threads here at Macrumors. Folks have been amazing here, but it's helpeful to read a real world field test.

My vision isn't great, but it's been pretty steady over the past six years despite all the web design and writing/classes I slogged through. I don't see much of a difference between the Retina in the new iPad and iPad 2, but then again, I'm not reading much beyond comicbooks and I limit myself to about an hour or two a week at most.

For something as important as a computer where I will be using it day-to-day, I'll keep my eyes peeled for more field reports and test when I actually need a machine.
Click to expand...

I think one can always find justification for buying or not buying hardware in these forums ;) It just depends on which 'facts' you want to focus on and which you want to ignore.

I'm certainly guilty of doing both :rolleyes:
 
KnightWRX said:
Look at the size of the image. It's a 3,360px × 2,100px image. Basically, it's a pixel perfect rendition of a retina 1680x1050 image. That's no good to evaluate the downscaling algorithm used to display it in full screen on a 2880x1800 screen.

Sure we can use Photoshop or Gimp to downscale it, but then we have Photoshop or Gimp's downscaling algorithm coming into play. What we need to know and see is a 2880x1800 shot of the 3360x2100 shot downscaled using the same code OS X uses.

That's why I say Anand's comparison is bunk, it's not possible to see what it actually looks like on the screen.

I'll wait to see it in store. Feel free to downrank me for not "believing" blindly.
Click to expand...

You're right. I did say we'd have to see how it actually looks once upscaled on the actual Retina Display, but I didn't notice that it would actually be downscaled since it's rendered at 3360×2100 and not 1680x1050. Either way, with a PPI that high the fuzziness can't be as noticeable as on the average ~115ppi laptop.
 
pgiguere1 said:
You're right. I did say we'd have to see how it actually looks once upscaled on the actual Retina Display, but I didn't notice that it would actually be downscaled since it's rendered at 3360×2100 and not 1680x1050. Either way, with a PPI that high the fuzziness can't be as noticeable as on the average ~115ppi laptop.
Click to expand...

It's not the fuzzyness that I'm afraid of. You can downscale images with 0 fuzzyness (see nearest neighbor scaling), it's the loss of detail of such algorithms. I wish I had some examples handy, I actually implemented nearest neighbor recently in an iOS app I'm making.
 
I wonder why they chose to omit 2560x1600 as an option? It seems it would be a nice option if you wanted to mirror a 30" 16:10 display for example.
 
satchow said:
If anybody's wondering, if you're a student or parent of a student you can get the new MacBook Pros for $200 off and a $100 back to school gift card. Even though school just ended for most students last week.
Click to expand...

That's my exact game plan for this puppy. Anyone smart should enroll in a CC at least for hundred bucks and then get the new MBP. Cheap education and a discount.
 
KnightWRX said:
Look at the size of the image. It's a 3,360px × 2,100px image. Basically, it's a pixel perfect rendition of a retina 1680x1050 image. That's no good to evaluate the downscaling algorithm used to display it in full screen on a 2880x1800 screen.

Sure we can use Photoshop or Gimp to downscale it, but then we have Photoshop or Gimp's downscaling algorithm coming into play. What we need to know and see is a 2880x1800 shot of the 3360x2100 shot downscaled using the same code OS X uses.

That's why I say Anand's comparison is bunk, it's not possible to see what it actually looks like on the screen.

I'll wait to see it in store. Feel free to downrank me for not "believing" blindly.
Click to expand...

For once, on this you and I agree.
 
mkoesel said:
I wonder why they chose to omit 2560x1600 as an option? It seems it would be a nice option if you wanted to mirror a 30" 16:10 display for example.
Click to expand...

Maybe because text and menu items would be teeny tiny. It seems like there is certainly no software limitation for Apple to scale it to this size.
 
I can't wait to see the ifixit folks tear the new mbp down. I'd love to see what else they discover.
 
Options are good, and I think this looks really well thought-out. This new MacBook Pro was easily the high-point of the keynote for me (I was fairly bored by most of the software announcements really), and if I had the cash spare I'd have ordered one already, it looks like it's a stunning machine all-round.
 
Wow! This article answered absolutely all my questions and concerns about the new display related to scaling/quality etc... my next laptop is gonna have a "retina" display =)
 
skywalkerr69 said:
It does and its less than 1/2 the cost retina.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't mind switching back to a PC at all if someone could just fix 2 issues:

1. A decent trackpad. Why can't ANY windows machine have a decent trackpad?

2. A magsafe equivalent. I've broken DC jacks on 3 separate laptops, and don't want to deal with that headache in the future. This patent shouldn't be TOO expensive, as cooking equipment used a similar attachment in the past. It's not exactly an apple invention.
 
understanding "useable space" vs "crisp"

I always thought that a boost in resolution would mean being able to fit more on the screen. That is apparently not the case. How do you determine what resolutions give you "crispness" vs "useable space"?
 
Piggie said:
Can someone, who knows there stuff sensibly and not just a fan boy of course Its better mode, please do the maths on how close the human eye has to be, with normal vision to see the difference in the old MacBook and the new MacBook's screen.
Click to expand...

I think you should get to an Apple Store and see it for yourself. If reading the article linked to in this post didn't satisfy you, then you have a clear bias and no one else's opinion will satisfy you.

That's my totally unbiased, objective opinion.:D
 
The Zenbook isn't Retina display. Not even in the same league, people.

It's just contrast ratio.
 
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