Let's talk about the Retina Display on the new MacBook!

[wooz101]

Hey everyone, for all of us fortunate enough to lay our hands on this beast of a laptop, lets discuss the beautiful IPS panel Apple has chosen.

I have a couple of questions. How can we find what display number our screens are? I would like to know if there is a panel lottery.

I was a tiny bit dissapointed with the brightness of the display. Well, actually it's the perfect brightness, but when compared to my 2011 MBP it is less bright. Anyone notice this? Not complaining at all, but was just wondering if I was the only one.

 

[aaronw1986]

Hey everyone, for all of us fortunate enough to lay our hands on this beast of a laptop, lets discuss the beautiful IPS panel Apple has chosen.

I have a couple of questions. How can we find what display number our screens are? I would like to know if there is a panel lottery.

I was a tiny bit dissapointed with the brightness of the display. Well, actually it's the perfect brightness, but when compared to my 2011 MBP it is less bright. Anyone notice this? Not complaining at all, but was just wondering if I was the only one.

From what I understand it should be brighter- that does not sound right.

 

[2Turbo]

Does 1080p video look better or worse? Do websites, graphics, pictures, youtube videos, etc. look zoomed and blurry or is it at least as good as old MBP? What about 1080p desktop wallpapers?

I'm just worried that nothing will look great until it's remade in higher resolution like wallpapers, custom docks & icons, web sites, etc.???

Really lost here...

 

[TheMacBookPro]

From what I understand it should be brighter- that does not sound right.

Actually, according to anandtech, the brightness of the Retina display is 20% lower than the previous gen MBP's. The much improved black levels compensate for that though.

 

[Nebrie]

More pixels means less room for the backlight to shine through. The main reason retina is so power hungry right now is due to Apple having to boost the backlight significantly just to get it close to what it is on a normal display.

 

[2Turbo]

I just don't understand why more people aren't concerned about degraded web experience and expecting every app to update to retina?? Some reviews are saying things look worse than old MBP screen?!?

 

[TheMacBookPro]

I just don't understand why more people aren't concerned about degraded web experience and expecting every app to update to retina?? Some reviews are saying things look worse than old MBP screen?!?

It was the same way with the transition from the 3GS to the 4 and the iPad 2 to 3- apps had to be updated to support the higher resolution and nobody was concerned. Apple is likely going to be moving the rest of their lineup to a Retina display sooner or later and major developers will be updating their applications to support it- they'd be dumb not to.

Degraded web experience? I don't know about you but I find my iPad 3 to function fine on the Internet. Pictures are slightly blurry, yes, but it's not degrading anything.

 

[2Turbo]

It was the same way with the transition from the 3GS to the 4 and the iPad 2 to 3- apps had to be updated to support the higher resolution and nobody was concerned. Apple is likely going to be moving the rest of their lineup to a Retina display sooner or later and major developers will be updating their applications to support it- they'd be dumb not to.

Degraded web experience? I don't know about you but I find my iPad 3 to function fine on the Internet. Pictures are slightly blurry, yes, but it's not degrading anything.

I think moving forward is great, but in the mean time we are left with an alfull lot of blurry apps / sites (entire internet). Seems kinda lame IMO.

 

[infernohellion]

I'm actually more interested in seeing how scaling looks on the screen actually. Has anyone tried displaying the more space options (1920x1200) and use it without any eye strain or issues?

 

[TheMacBookPro]

I think moving forward is great, but in the mean time we are left with an alfull lot of blurry apps / sites (entire internet). Seems kinda lame IMO.

Apple transitioned from 480x320 to 960x640 in one fell swoop and most applications have now been updated. I expect most major developers to up their applications in the near future for the Retina display too.

A large chunk of the internet comprises of text, which is not blurry since the browser renders it. If you feel that the retina display is not yet ready for general usage, well, that's why they still offer the legacy Pro. Sounds like that's the laptop for you.

 

[Revelation78]

This is also another good reason why Apple only updated one Mac with retina. Now when they roll out retina screens throughout the Mac lineup developers would have had the time to make their "apps" ready.


Think back to before the iPhone and iPad came out with Retina displays, there were some developers that had early access to update their apps. Instead, Retina MBP are available to all, you just have to wait a bit for the developers to catch up.

 

[2Turbo]

Apple transitioned from 480x320 to 960x640 in one fell swoop and most applications have now been updated. I expect most major developers to up their applications in the near future for the Retina display too.

A large chunk of the internet comprises of text, which is not blurry since the browser renders it. If you feel that the retina display is not yet ready for general usage, well, that's why they still offer the legacy Pro. Sounds like that's the laptop for you.

While the internet has lots of text, how can we expect the internet to resize all graphics, buttons, images, etc.?

 

[DustinT]

well, I'm not too concerned about the fuzziness. I understand the underlying reason and there's very little Apple could do about it. They are extending the best available technology to their customers. Again, it's time for the rest of the world to catch up.

I wonder if the HTML 5 spec (or some other web spec) has provisions for image scaling, etc... Would be nice to see work on that started soon.

 

[2Turbo]

well, I'm not too concerned about the fuzziness. I understand the underlying reason and there's very little Apple could do about it. They are extending the best available technology to their customers. Again, it's time for the rest of the world to catch up.

I wonder if the HTML 5 spec (or some other web spec) has provisions for image scaling, etc... Would be nice to see work on that started soon.

Well it might look just fine scaled, I just haven't seen it in person. Guess I need to visit the Apple store before I place my order. Some people claim it's worse than old MBP, some people claim it's very sharp even when scaled. I'm just not sure yet.

 

[TheMacBookPro]

While the internet has lots of text, how can we expect the internet to resize all graphics, buttons, images, etc.?

We can't. But I've used the 100dpi Internet on my 250dpi iPad and I've found it to be perfectly fine for my uses. I can still see what the buttons and images show. And anyways- I believe that eventually major websites will be updated to support the higher resolution screens. We have high res screens on iPhones, iPads and now MacBooks. Pretty large user base that could do with some nice high resolution elements.

As long as the applications I use most of the time like Photoshop are updated to fully support the Retina display, I'm perfectly happy with the compromise for now.

Their customers demanded a Retina display and that's what Apple are now offering. They also realize that it's not for everyone. That's why they still offer the legacy Pro.

 

[2Turbo]

Any input from owners yet on how usable the screen *currently* is as far as your normal work/day?