Graphics/Web Designers - rMBP or cMBP?

[saytheenay]

I am currently taking a graphics/web design certificate program where we are working with Adobe CS6 InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, and Dreamweaver.

I am specifically looking to hear from graphics/web design professionals about their experiences with the retina MBP:
1) How does the retina MBP handle CS6--any performance issues? Is all of CS6 retina-ready? I know Photoshop is, but not what else is retina-ready.
2) When it comes to print, media, and/or web output, have you run across any consistency issues and/or "gotchas"? Did the output look as intended or did you have to rework anything because you switched to retina?
3) Compared to a classic MBP (or any other system you use), how does the retina MBP compare in regards to color accuracy/correction?

I tried a rMBP previously, but that was before this certificate program and before I had any Adobe products (I returned it due to a mura and yellow tinting in the bottom-left corner on it's Samsung display).

Also, I use laptop exclusively with no peripherals--no monitor, no keyboard or mouse, etc.

I searched for previous posts, but didn't see much in regards to how output compares to what was initially created on a retina, hence this post.

 

[pgiguere1]

I am currently taking a graphics/web design certificate program where we are working with Adobe CS6 InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, and Dreamweaver.

I am specifically looking to hear from graphics/web design professionals about their experiences with the retina MBP:
1) How does the retina MBP handle CS6--any performance issues? Is all of CS6 retina-ready? I know Photoshop is, but not what else is retina-ready.
2) When it comes to print, media, and/or web output, have you run across any consistency issues and/or "gotchas"? Did the output look as intended or did you have to rework anything because you switched to retina?
3) Compared to a classic MBP (or any other system you use), how does the retina MBP compare in regards to color accuracy/correction?

I tried a rMBP previously, but that was before this certificate program and before I had any Adobe products (I returned it due to a mura and yellow tinting in the bottom-left corner on it's Samsung display).

Also, I use laptop exclusively with no peripherals--no monitor, no keyboard or mouse, etc.

I searched for previous posts, but didn't see much in regards to how output compares to what was initially created on a retina, hence this post.

1) Very good performance. No hiccups at all. Pretty much everything is instant. Illustrator is optimized for Retina as well, not sure about the two others.
2) No surprise. If you want to know how an image looks in non-HiDPI setting in Photoshop, just set the zoom level to 200%. For Illustrator, you can disable HiDPI for your whole screen using SwitchResX.
3) Much better accuracy than cMBP/MBA. It's an IPS display with 99% sRGB gamut, so it should be on par with a Retina iPad/ iPhone 5 and beat pretty much any other consumer display on the market.

 

[jesaja]

To quote myself from another thread:

Actually, for web design I would rather recommend a cmbp instead of a rmbp. While the rmbp is great for print, it's far from ideal for screen graphic development. You see, 99% of the people visiting your websites won't have a retina display. Thus, you should optimize your graphics to look good, pixel for pixel, on a regular display - which you can't do/check very well on the retina... I'd recommend not going that route for that kind of use.

Apart from that, 15" all the way, I'd even suggest the 1680x1050 or what it was for that. Adobe apps need as much screen real estate as you can give them!

I'm not working as a graphic designer any longer (moved to a game industry DevOps position some time ago), but I still use several of the CS apps regularly (at work and at home).
I only have CS5 on the rMBP though (it's my private machine, so I don't get to enjoy the CS6 goodness from work on it ), but for that it's sufficiently fast. I put it in native res while working with CS apps, using QuickRes, so that I get no interpolation artifacts. It's awesome for print work that way, the detail you see is just amazing.
As I wrote above, though, I wouldn't want to use it for screen design (at least not without an extra screen) – in native res it's to small to judge the design, and in any of the HiRes modes it's interpolated. So a no-go for that.

Colour is okay for a notebook screen as far as I can tell, I haven't calibrated it yet, though. So take this with a grain of salt. Mine has a slight hue shift from left to right, yellowish to magentaish – it's not bad, but noticeable. I'd still check on a hardware calibrate-able screen before sending anything off for printing, the display isn't good enough for a final (digital) colour proof. By far. Again, it's quite good for a notebook screen, though.

All in all I'd say it depends a little on what you're gonna do with it.
But I don't think you'll find any notebook with a good enough screen that you can live without an external calibrated monitor, MacBook Pro or not, retina or not.

 

[NutsNGum]

All in all I'd say it depends a little on what you're gonna do with it.
But I don't think you'll find any notebook with a good enough screen that you can live without an external calibrated monitor, MacBook Pro or not, retina or not.

I'd second this.