Bought a Macbook Pro Retina and...

[entraik]

although I love this thing, a few questions and concerns. I'm running it scaled for 'more space' and I love the amount of space I get. Knowing that I can get 1920x1200 on the Retina, what's the highest resolution I can get on the Non-Retina version (15 inch)?

Resolution is important for me because I work in audio production and need the screen space (within Ableton Live, FL Studio on bootcamp...don't plan on using an external monitor) and what's turning me away from the macbook pro retina is the screen lag i get when browsing the internet.. many pages seem to lag when scrolling through. Even the Mac App store runs slow..and i'm pretty much on maxed out specs here.


So my questions..
1.) Any fixes/tweaks to cure this scroll lag (Mac app store, internet)?
2.) Which has better battery life overall? Retina or Nonretina? Does the resolution take away from the battery life? I plan on using this laptop alone for audio production and was wondering if the Nonretina would be a better decision? I notice that in bootcamp, my battery level drops fast 2-3 hours with a usb plugged in while working in FL Studio. Would it be any different in the nonretina version?
3.) Is it normal for my macbook pro retina to get warm as it does with the charger plugged in?
4.) Can the 15 inch Non Retina do 1920x1200 resolution or is that just the retina version?



Thanks!

 

[eagandale4114]

although I love this thing, a few questions and concerns. I'm running it scaled for 'more space' and I love the amount of space I get. Knowing that I can get 1920x1200 on the Retina, what's the highest resolution I can get on the Non-Retina version (15 inch)?

Resolution is important for me because I work in audio production and need the screen space (within Ableton Live, FL Studio on bootcamp...don't plan on using an external monitor) and what's turning me away from the macbook pro retina is the screen lag i get when browsing the internet.. many pages seem to lag when scrolling through. Even the Mac App store runs slow..and i'm pretty much on maxed out specs here.


So my questions..
1.) Any fixes/tweaks to cure this scroll lag (Mac app store, internet)?
2.) Which has better battery life overall? Retina or Nonretina? Does the resolution take away from the battery life? I plan on using this laptop alone for audio production and was wondering if the Nonretina would be a better decision? I notice that in bootcamp, my battery level drops fast 2-3 hours with a usb plugged in while working in FL Studio. Would it be any different in the nonretina version?
3.) Is it normal for my macbook pro retina to get warm as it does with the charger plugged in?
4.) Can the 15 inch Non Retina do 1920x1200 resolution or is that just the retina version?



Thanks!

4) You can run the MBP at 2880X1800. Instructions.
The non-retina is limited to 1680-X1050. You will need to purchase the high res upgrade at time of manufacture from apple for that.
1920X1200 was only available for the now discontinued 17 inch MBPs. You can find them in the refurb store.

3) Yes.

2) Under bootcamp it ONLY uses the more graphically intensive nvida card. (true for all MBPs with dual graphics). Thus the reduced battery life.

 

[monkeybagel]

I bought a maxed out 15" non-retina for the reasons you mention plus I need the legacy ports and SuperDrive. It is silky smooth and gets what I would estimate around 8 hours doing light work on battery with wifi. Performance wise it seems faster as the GPU doesn't have to work as hard. It is indeed 1680x1050.

 

[egraphixstudios]

with SwitchResX installed you can set to 3840x2400. but its pretty much unreadable for text/web browsing. maybe its ok for some apps...

 

[entraik]

I bought a maxed out 15" non-retina for the reasons you mention plus I need the legacy ports and SuperDrive. It is silky smooth and gets what I would estimate around 8 hours doing light work on battery with wifi. Performance wise it seems faster as the GPU doesn't have to work as hard. It is indeed 1680x1050.

the only thing holding me back is the resolution. I love that I can have 1980x1200 or 2880 res on a 15 inch screen... I don't really have a need for a superdrive or legacy ports, but battery life on bootcamp / osx seems to drain a bit quickly.

 

[73CortinaV8]

I'm experiencing severe scroll lag even in the default screen setting. I have a 2.6Gz/16Gb model.

It's pretty disappointing. I'm tempted to return this thing and wait until the next gen retina comes out with hardware that can meet these resolution demands.

If Jobs were still alive, I doubt he would let this thing out the door.

 

[brentsg]

Crazy, but I've yet to experience any scroll lag that people mention.

 

[astrorider]

Running Mountain Lion to help with lag? I'm assuming they're shipping them that way now but I'm not sure.

Have your tried running it at 1680x1050? Is the lag better? If that's the max resolution you'll get by swapping to a non-retina you might as well test the retina version at that resolution first.

 

[gentlefury]

Facebook is the only site I've seen that has scroll lag so far.

 

[entraik]

Anyone else getting scroll lag at 1980x1200 resolution on the mac app store? Facebook here too.. most sites work fine though.

 

[monkeybagel]

I don't own one, but can just tell you my experience from the store. The retina model had poor frame rates when I selected any higher virtual resolution other than the default. I assume it has to do more work to scale. I have not really researched them very much to be honest. I was just disappointed with the performance of the display/graphics so I didn't look at them anymore. I love the idea of the high resolution on it, but I prefer native real estate. That would be a massive resolution even for a desktop machine. I would love to have that resolution on a 27" monitor for a desktop, but with the scaling that is going on it is a little over the top for a notebook IMO. I wish Apple offered a 1920x1200 on their 15" model (that's what my ThinkPad W520 has) but they do not.

With that said - I think you would love the standard 15" MacBook Pro. I was very impressed with it's OEM SSD performance as well - seems to be in line with the retina model-

 

[retinarob]

Crazy, but I've yet to experience any scroll lag that people mention.

Me either.. I run at 1980x1200 most of the time too.

I bought my retina and I use it for Ableton 80% of the time I'm on it.

Good luck using windows.. I don't know anyone who runs windows smoothly on their Mac, and it seems like a pain on the rMBP which truly needs an OS optimized for it to have decent battery life etc.

Why do you use both DAWs?

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Anyone else getting scroll lag at 1980x1200 resolution on the mac app store? Facebook here too.. most sites work fine though.

It says right on the control panel that "Using a scaled resolution may affect performance."

So that's to be expected.