Help! Questions about the rMBP 13"!

[Briax]

Hey guys, I need your expertise!

I just ordered a MacBook Pro Retina 13" (16, 512 2.6 i5).
I am planning on using this machine for at least 3 years (hence the upgraded specs). I will be using this computer mainly for University, as I am studying computer science I will need to run VMs and so on.
To the questions!

1. Can this Mac handle 1920 x 1200 scaled? If, how does it perform under this resolution? I know it doesn't handle this resolution officially, but I've heard of a few programs that can help with this, right?
2. How does Windows 8.1 perform on this machine?
3. Anyone tried Linux on this machine? If, how does it perform? (Mint, Opensuse, Arch or any other distro)
4. As I will do some gaming from time to time, is the Iris able to handle this? (All gaming is done in W8.1, and it'll be SC2, D3 and WoW)
5. Do you have any comments on this machine in general?

Thank you very much for your help!

 

[NocturnalJazz]

Hey guys, I need your expertise!

I just ordered a MacBook Pro Retina 13" (16, 512 2.6 i5).
I am planning on using this machine for at least 3 years (hence the upgraded specs). I will be using this computer mainly for University, as I am studying computer science I will need to run VMs and so on.
To the questions!

1. Can this Mac handle 1920 x 1200 scaled? If, how does it perform under this resolution? I know it doesn't handle this resolution officially, but I've heard of a few programs that can help with this, right?
2. How does Windows 8.1 perform on this machine?
3. Anyone tried Linux on this machine? If, how does it perform? (Mint, Opensuse, Arch or any other distro)
4. As I will do some gaming from time to time, is the Iris able to handle this? (All gaming is done in W8.1, and it'll be SC2, D3 and WoW)
5. Do you have any comments on this machine in general?

Thank you very much for your help!

1. Yes by using another application. I used RDM and it worked just fine. Very tiny though.
2. N/A
3. N/A
4. N/A
5. Light, portable, SOLID BUILD, great screen. Get's warmer than the 15" models ... probably due to how tight everything is in side. But feels extremely solid. I returned for a 15" model only because of screen size. You'll love the machine though. Very snappy.

 

[Briax]

1. Yes by using another application. I used RDM and it worked just fine. Very tiny though.
2. N/A
3. N/A
4. N/A
5. Light, portable, SOLID BUILD, great screen. Get's warmer than the 15" models ... probably due to how tight everything is in side. But feels extremely solid. I returned for a 15" model only because of screen size. You'll love the machine though. Very snappy.

Thank you very much for the fast reply!

How was performance when you scaled to 1920 x 1200? Websites? Applications?

 

[commac]

Thank you very much for the fast reply!

How was performance when you scaled to 1920 x 1200? Websites? Applications?

I also had a 13" and returned for a 15". The screen resize apps I tried QuickRes and Display Menus didnt have 1920x1200 as options for some reason. The 15" has that res built in. My 2.4GHZ 13" jittered at 1680x1050 as does 1920x1200 on the 15" albeit doesnt feel as noticeable.

You'll feel if its right for you when you try to get some work done on it.

 

[Quinoky]

As far as gaming goes - SimCity runs fine in my experience with medium settings @ 1280 x 800. Should be able to handle the games you mentioned just as well. Don't expect high graphics settings, though, but you'll probably had figured that already.