Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Early Hands-On Impression and Overview of Retina MacBook Pro
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
The optical drive is irrelevant, most people don't use it. There's no reason for it to be taking up a larger and larger percentage of the laptop. Most sensible people use networking to transfer files, even very large ones. If not there is always the external drive or SD cards. I have yet to hear a convincing argument why most people need an optical drive.
The ethernet port is somewhat more useful, but on a laptop not so useful that having to add a dongle between the cable and mac a big deal. You only have to think of the alternatives to see why it's a good idea: some sort of port that sticks out of the mac or a thicker case. A slight inconvenience, but again it won't affect most people, which is the point.
This is what I found irritating sometimes in this forum, people talking about pro machines and specs and screen real state and all those goodies and then some "Pro" user gets and Boom just throws Word or some other definitely not Pro application to the conversation, and the worst part is you start thinking and more than half the people in here use non-pro software, I mean, maybe you're a Pro used car salesman but I don't believe the use of office or other software of the like are pro apps (many professionals use them but that doesn't warrant a Professional computer), heck, I even feel that way for many so called pro video editors that just do wedding photography (nothing wrong with that), I really feel pro video editors are doing work at ILM and the like. For me pro software starts at Maya, smoke, shake (RIP) etc.
I'm pretty sure the person you were replying to was referring to something more than word, maybe photoshop or some other more pro software.
Sorry about the long post
Most children who want to play games haven't got the money for a Mac laptop, so it makes sense.
And it's true most people can't afford this machine, which is good, gives people something to aspire to.
agreed.
if I could add cinema 4d, cs6 (after effects, flash, premiere, illustrator, audition etc), zbrush, avid, sdks for osx & ios, autocad and so on and so forth
edit
needless to mention software packages that still haven't made it to mac platform such as nuke, 3d studio max, flint, inferno, argent, bryce blah blah blah, and this is only content creation without gaming software references.
Last edited:
No, there are 11" and 13" Macbook Airs for "light duties", 13" and 15" Macbook Pros for heavier duties and the new 15" retina MacBook Pro at the top of the range.
This is a transition. The "original" MacBook Pros are still there because (a) some people need more than 256GB of storage, and doing that with flash currently costs an arm and a leg and (b) its too soon for some people to give up their optical drives and Ethernet ports. The "new MBP" will probably replace the old ones in time - with one factor being the cost of flash storage, another being the decreasing need for optical drives.
Does anyone know why there's no MacBook Pro branding at the bottom of the screen? It isn't there in the pictures on the Apple website either.
Interesting move from Apple. I noticed this on The Verge's video review... thought it was the reflection but the official photos on Apple's site don't have it either. Looks clean, though.
So instead of having a thunderbolt that can be used for three different things, the 1" thick MBP just has those three different things so you don't need adaptor. I do wish the 1" thick MBP had HDMI--would've saved me having to get an adaptor for my external monitor.
Bart
dammit, I liked that branding, but I guess they are trying to make a trademark statement entirely through its design alone.
The point is that you give up ALOT to get to the thinner wow factor. I'll take the upgradeable components, option for optical drive, and ethernet that comes along with 3/16 of an inch.
Remember, when you buy Apple soldered Ram, when it goes bad, its $1000+ Logic board if you are out of warranty (1YR) or its the option of buying only 3YR warranty for the very very reasonable ripoff of $349.
Same with the drive. Any OEM Drive has whatever warranty Apple gives you. Even if Seagate or Toshiba normally offers 3YR or 5YR, you are limited to Apple providing the warranty.
Greedy
OWC (macsales.com) has been carrying user upgradeable SSD blades for the current MBAs... hopefully this is possible with the new MBP. RAM... prob a no-go.
He told me no. The ssd isnt a regular one you can swap, it is soldered in flash storage. Just going by what they told me though.
But when the large SSDs become cheaper, the "original" MBP can be cheaply and easily upgraded. Not only that, when 16G ram becomes cheap (probably a year), that's an easy upgrade as well (the previous generation 1333 RAM is already only about $100 for 16G).
Worse, those cheaper SSDs will also be faster and use less power and the thin MBP will be stuck with the original flash drive.
Just seems to me that they should put some engineering effort into figuring out how to fit both replaceable RAM and flash drives into that thinner design.
The main downside to the original MBP is, how blurry will the 1440x900 display seem in a few years? The ultimate (and I yet have hope they'll do it) would be an original MBP chassis with a retina display.
Bart
Wow, pro police in the house.
You know, there should really be a licensing body that monitors who gets to use these computers, like a professional association or something.
Gosh forbid these threads get into the wrong amateur-ish hands.
Converter is $39 for Thunderbolt to DVI. Fine by me.
http://www.svideo.com/tb-dvi.html?cmp=googleproducts&kw=tb-dvi
http://www.svideo.com/tb-dvi.html?cmp=googleproducts&kw=tb-dvi
I don't have to carry a whole person in my bag. Now if you talk about a 5.5" GI Joe doll compared to a 4.25" Barbie doll--they both fit in my bag just fine.
Bart
+1000 to all that have mentioned the possible issues and ramifications of the "retina" display basically giving the same "effective" real-estate as 1440x900. I've been gimping on a 2008 mbp (prior to 1680 option) and it has been killing me for development on the go (consulting). Simply not enough real estate for ios, android, photochop, ai and the like. I've been holding out but if the mbp doesn't provide more useable space? Nonstarter.
Also, from the logic board shots I see two upgradeable slots. Looks like the SSD but the second is a mystery, it is to the left of the memory banks. It may be feasible that apple created a new ram interface as well...all speculation at this point.
Also, from the logic board shots I see two upgradeable slots. Looks like the SSD but the second is a mystery, it is to the left of the memory banks. It may be feasible that apple created a new ram interface as well...all speculation at this point.
Funny comment that pro police, but GS17 is right to a certain point. Such specs are taken advantage by either someone who never quits any programs, or an actual pro user on the move (using demanding software other than office/iwork/mail/web/iphotos/imovie/photobooth).
edit
and gamers, pro gamers maybe, I stand partly corrected by myself
Last edited:
This.
Optical drives, especially the slimline ones, are unreliable (probably due to dust). I've had several fail on me. Even if I need an optical drive I'd rather have an external one - and its not something I'd habitually need to carry on the road.
The ethernet port is a bit more of an issue, but the tiny $30 Thunderbolt-to-GB-Ethernet dongle looks like a solution, especially when there are 2 Thunderbolt Ports, 3 USB 3 ports and HDMI, so its not using up your only expansion/monitor port (c.f. the Air where the USB2-to-Ethernet dongle uses up one of only 2 USB ports).
I think the current dealbreaker for me is the cost of getting the 768GB SSD version when anything else would be a downgrade from my current 750GB hard drive - but I think that's more about the price of flash than anything else, although its daft that you have to get the faster processor model to get the 512 and 768 SSD options.
The ones from OWC aren't regular enclosed SSDs... they're in blade form specifically for the MBA... and a customer rep telling you no is the same as an Apple employee denying LTE in the next iPhone.
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Aura_Pro_Express