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Aditya_S

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 25, 2016
500
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I'm thinking of getting a retina MacBook Pro after they refresh them this Spring but I have some questions about the Retina display. I know they scale the displays but when you do so it says it will look like a lower resolution like 1440x900. My question is if they scale it to look like a lower resolution, if I watch a video that is 1440p on YouTube, will it also look like a lower resolution?
 
I'm thinking of getting a retina MacBook Pro after they refresh them this Spring but I have some questions about the Retina display. I know they scale the displays but when you do so it says it will look like a lower resolution like 1440x900. My question is if they scale it to look like a lower resolution, if I watch a video that is 1440p on YouTube, will it also look like a lower resolution?
I think you don't quite understand how retina works. Have you seen an iPhone's screen, especially when they switched from non-retina to retina? There was no visible loss in quality. The same applies here.

The retina screen on the MBP is pixel doubled in both directions, meaning that instead of 1440x900 like the old days, it is 2880x1800.

What that means is that each individual pixel is 4 times smaller than the old display. It also means that in scaled resolution, 4 pixels are playing the role that a single pixel used to.

This in turn makes everything seem sharper, more defined. In short, you will not see a loss of quality for youtube videos, they should even look better with all other settings left the same.

Go in a store and play around on one, it's free and you'll see for yourself.

I hope you're not buying a 15" strictly for watching youtube though, that'd be grossly overpaying for something an iPad can do ;)
 
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I think you don't quite understand how retina works. Have you seen an iPhone's screen, especially when they switched from non-retina to retina? There was no visible loss in quality. The same applies here.

The retina screen on the MBP is pixel doubled in both directions, meaning that instead of 1440x900 like the old days, it is 2880x1800.

What that means is that each individual pixel is 4 times smaller than the old display. It also means that in scaled resolution, 4 pixels are playing the role that a single pixel used to.

This in turn makes everything seem sharper, more defined. In short, you will not see a loss of quality for youtube videos, they should even look better with all other settings left the same.

Go in a store and play around on one, it's free and you'll see for yourself.

I hope you're not buying a 15" strictly for watching youtube though, that'd be grossly overpaying for something an iPad can do ;)
No, I'm just buying it so I can develop iOS apps and maybe some school work. I like to watch gameplay videos in my free time and wanted to make sure the quality will not look sub 1080p
 
No, I'm just buying it so I can develop iOS apps and maybe some school work. I like to watch gameplay videos in my free time and wanted to make sure the quality will not look sub 1080p

It will look great even in scaled for more space, although leaving at best for retina will give the best results even the worst results are better than a 1080p panel.
 
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