Any significant drawbacks to retina upgrade?

[willcapellaro]

Just wondering if people who have "gone retina" have any significant pain points, beside the usual discussion points... image retention, gpu issues, scroll lag, non-retina screens looking bad in comparison.

I'm more wondering about applications looking bad or not working, or having to constantly be tweaking things. Very curious to hear from designers who use Adobe or do some 3D, or who use Windows. Does it have your blessing?

I need multiple monitors, but I'm trying to avoid suffering. Trying to decide if that is Mac Pro + current cMBP or mMBP as my one and only. This has been a long struggle because my cMBP is still kicking butt.

 

[nickandre21]

my work revolves around audio production and fcp sometimes AE. The retina does the job well and im terribly happy i got it after having a huge confusion between being not upgradable. I have seen a few guys doing 3d work on their retina they seem quiet happy and dont seem to like the idea of going back to a non retina i guess i am in that league to.

 

[sonicrobby]

I havent even experienced any of those "discussion points" yet. Either Im lucky or just havent noticed them, and I have a first gen LG screen too!

I guess my only pain is how much I am in love with an inanimate object.

But maybe the lack of upgradability might be the only thing in the future. Im perfectly fine with 8GB, but I feel in a year or 2 I may regret not getting the 16GB. And I do use windows thru bootcamp on my macbook. Takes significantly longer to load, and I face the typical windows problems (errors, updates, drivers, etc) but nothing to complain about really. Just angry at some game developers for not creating mac versions of awesome games :[

 

[kultschar]

Im thinking of going for the 16GB / 2.7ghz Retina model for audio work, looks like it will smash my 2008 Mac Pro and I like the idea of getting away from a fixed workstation.

There is a deal on eBay US for a UK version with the 700GB SDD for $2500, only drawback is that they are UK models which actually suits me.

Think I will wait a day or two to see if the Haswell appears, if not will pull the trigger

 

[willcapellaro]

my work revolves around audio production and fcp sometimes AE. The retina does the job well and im terribly happy i got it after having a huge confusion between being not upgradable. I have seen a few guys doing 3d work on their retina they seem quiet happy and dont seem to like the idea of going back to a non retina i guess i am in that league to.

Single mic/headphone jack working for you?

 

[Ichabod.]

I've heard the major drawback from having a retina screen is that you get accustomed to the phenomenal pixel density.

Going back to non-retina just doesn't look as nice.

It's probably similar to using an SSD. Once you have experienced how quickly you can transfer files and start up, you get used to it and find traditional HDDs unbearable.

 

[mm201]

Running Windows.
Windows itself supports the display just fine but some prominent 3rd-party apps crash and burn horribly on HiDPI and the developers express no interest in fixing them.

 

[Patrick Boyle]

If you go retina, you should expect to be a little disappointed at first. Unfortunately the rest of the world hasn't caught up with the retina display, and a lot of stuff is going to look horrible. Worse, in fact, than if you had a normal display.

Gaming is also a frustrating experience, as most games either don't support the display's native resolution, or if it does, the interface doesn't scale properly. Compromising to a more standard resolution goes back to the issue of non-retina stuff looking bad.

It's not Apple's fault, but don't expect buying a retina Macbook to suddenly make everything eye candy.

 

[FrankB1191]

I watched some YouTube videos on my new rMBP last night, and the non-HD vids looked AWFUL! HD movies look great, and text is incredibly perfect on the retina display. With the SSD, you don't have time to turn on the computer and then make a sandwich while waiting for it to boot. That might be a drawback for some people.

P.S. While I've read complaints of scrolling lag, my rMBP is WAY smoother than my iPad 4's touchscreen. I tried to get it to lag, and have zero problems. I do have the latest 2.6 processor, so lag might have been a problem with the 2.5 models..... I don't know.

 

[willcapellaro]

If you go retina, you should expect to be a little disappointed at first. Unfortunately the rest of the world hasn't caught up with the retina display, and a lot of stuff is going to look horrible. Worse, in fact, than if you had a normal display.

Gaming is also a frustrating experience, as most games either don't support the display's native resolution, or if it does, the interface doesn't scale properly. Compromising to a more standard resolution goes back to the issue of non-retina stuff looking bad.

It's not Apple's fault, but don't expect buying a retina Macbook to suddenly make everything eye candy.

That's exactly what I worry about. Something larger than a hiccup.

On the positive side, it doesn't sound like the end of the world either. Worst case, I am slightly bothered if I keep the display open with my externals.

 

[Astroboy907]

my work revolves around audio production and fcp sometimes AE. The retina does the job well and im terribly happy i got it after having a huge confusion between being not upgradable. I have seen a few guys doing 3d work on their retina they seem quiet happy and dont seem to like the idea of going back to a non retina i guess i am in that league to.

Just a Q, how do you do audio recording and stuff without an audio in jack? Is there a special adapter or do you use a USB plug or a DAC?

 

[gt94]

If you go retina, you should expect to be a little disappointed at first. Unfortunately the rest of the world hasn't caught up with the retina display, and a lot of stuff is going to look horrible. Worse, in fact, than if you had a normal display.

Gaming is also a frustrating experience, as most games either don't support the display's native resolution, or if it does, the interface doesn't scale properly. Compromising to a more standard resolution goes back to the issue of non-retina stuff looking bad.

It's not Apple's fault, but don't expect buying a retina Macbook to suddenly make everything eye candy.

Why would some content look worse on the retina display than a normal display? I've heard this a few times and never understood that.

 

[Zeov]

The ugradeability is almost impossible.. you can maybe add som SSD in there, but it is really expensive.. and definitely not as easy as swapping the harddrive on the older versions.

Same goes with RAM.

No Ethernet Port

No CD Drive (nobody cares)

other than that it is a great product, though there is the usual Lag every now and then, and people still claim it to be a software issue, but aparantly it is a VERY difficult software issue since it hasn't been fixed yet.

 

[PDFierro]

Why would some content look worse on the retina display than a normal display? I've heard this a few times and never understood that.

Because content that is optimized for the Retina looks awesome. And content that isn't, well it stands out and is blurry/pixelated. It doesn't necessarily look worse, but you do notice it more. But on a normal display, like on the Air, everything would look the same.

It's not really a drawback to the Retina, but something to be aware of.

 

[lbhskier37]

The only thing that has bothered me so far is the lack of Ethernet. I didn't think I'd miss it, but I am still doing my initial setup after switching to Mac and moving a lot of files over my network. After being able to hook my pc up to my nas with gigabit Ethernet to move files, the 8MB/s I am getting over wifi is like watching paint dry. Every day I keep telling myself to just drop by Best Buy and get the thunderbolt Ethernet adapter, but then I think oh no it's gonna be the last big transfer.

 

[PDFierro]

The only thing that has bothered me so far is the lack of Ethernet. I didn't think I'd miss it, but I am still doing my initial setup after switching to Mac and moving a lot of files over my network. After being able to hook my pc up to my nas with gigabit Ethernet to move files, the 8MB/s I am getting over wifi is like watching paint dry. Every day I keep telling myself to just drop by Best Buy and get the thunderbolt Ethernet adapter, but then I think oh no it's gonna be the last big transfer.

Well the rMBP would never have been able to got that thin if Apple just kept the Ethernet.

Would 802.11ac help with this?

 

[KevinC867]

The only thing that has bothered me so far is the lack of Ethernet. I didn't think I'd miss it, but I am still doing my initial setup after switching to Mac and moving a lot of files over my network. After being able to hook my pc up to my nas with gigabit Ethernet to move files, the 8MB/s I am getting over wifi is like watching paint dry. Every day I keep telling myself to just drop by Best Buy and get the thunderbolt Ethernet adapter, but then I think oh no it's gonna be the last big transfer.

My rMBP is usually plugged into a USB 3.0 hub which serves as my desktop "dock". I simply connected a USB3.0 to gigabit Ethernet adapter to the hub and I'm happy. You can get them for $20 from Amazon. (www.amazon.com/Plugable-Gigabit-Ethernet-Network-Adapter/dp/B00AQM8586/)

 

[locoboi187]

This man said a drawback?! To a retina?!

 

[nickandre21]

Just a Q, how do you do audio recording and stuff without an audio in jack? Is there a special adapter or do you use a USB plug or a DAC?

i use firewire to connect to my digi design 3. You also get usb interfaces to handle recording and output to monitors some offering more.
The retinas have an input/output jack form the same head phone port but its not all that good as an external sound card/interface even a basic one would be.

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Single mic/headphone jack working for you?

I have never used the inbuilt sound card for recording. Maybe if i needed to record a scratch voice over. But if you prefer the recordings to be clear as in no cracks etc you'd prefer an external sound card. In the broadcast industry Tech check can be your worst enemy, do a proper job and that's the last you see of your file if not work on it again correcting glitches.

 

[ValSalva]

Because content that is optimized for the Retina looks awesome. And content that isn't, well it stands out and is blurry/pixelated. It doesn't necessarily look worse, but you do notice it more. But on a normal display, like on the Air, everything would look the same.

It's not really a drawback to the Retina, but something to be aware of.

This is true in my experience too. It's not horrible and IMO is offset by the vast improvement in text rendering.

It's great incentive to retinize your web site or app if you have one too

 

[leman]

If you go retina, you should expect to be a little disappointed at first. Unfortunately the rest of the world hasn't caught up with the retina display, and a lot of stuff is going to look horrible. Worse, in fact, than if you had a normal display.

Gaming is also a frustrating experience, as most games either don't support the display's native resolution, or if it does, the interface doesn't scale properly. Compromising to a more standard resolution goes back to the issue of non-retina stuff looking bad.

Hm, I for once can't confirm it. Running the rMBP@1440x900 non HiDPI (e.g. in Bootcamp) still looks better to me than the cMBP with the same native resolution. You do notice the difference between HiDPI and non-HiDPI content while using a HiDPI resolution (but that because the contrast is so apparent). For games, the same applies. Not to mention that you shouldn't expect to be able to play games at retina resolutions anyway...

 

[swerve147]

Gaming at non-native resolutions is fine on the 15 in retina. Hypothetically if you haven't actually tried it one might assume that it's just like traditional panels, so it won't look good. But in fact the IQ is very good.

One of the main reasons decent gaming is possible on the 15 in. Retina. The 650M is a beast at 1440x900 and 1680x1050.