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MacBook Pro with Retina: not impressed

Carl Sagan

Carl Sagan

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 31, 2011
603
17
The Universe
Had a go on a mates today and have to say wasn't impressed. While it was a nice machine power wise the screen just didn't wow me as much as hyped. When I first saw the iPhone 4 my 3GS instantly looked dated and fuzzy, I was blown away with the iPhone 4 screen. Was expecting this from the new MPB and it just didn't. Despite being showing some amazing photos he'd taken the screen just wasn't that awe inspiring.

Anyone underwhelmed by it?
 
Nope. Not me.

I was overwhelmed by the rMBP's display when I went to an Apple store to check it out. Overwhelmed enough to pay big bucks for one and to wait a month for it to be assembled and delivered.

Now that I have been using it for a couple of weeks...am I now underwhelmed? Not in the least. It just keeps looking better and better.

YMMV as always. ;)

:apple:
 
I had one for about 3 weeks before having to return it to Best Buy because I felt awful purchasing from them when they were trying to scam me. I will be getting another as soon as my local Apple Store has them.

The screen is definitely not as mindblowing as the iPhone 4, but this is because there is a very big difference in the normal viewing distance of the rMBP compared to the iPhone. It's still a gorgeous screen, but definitely not as mindblowing as the iPhone 4 due to that distance.

However, I would have gladly paid the premium price even without the display for the flash storage, thinness, cooling system, and factory overclocked GPU.
 
The machine is a leap in far more than just the display, nothing impressed you about it? Not even the engineering behind the cooling system? (I've been waiting for that patent to see the light of day for a few years now) :confused:
 
Lol even if you disregarded the screen, you're not going to find a better laptop out there. If it doesn't impress you, then no performance laptop will.
 
Carl Sagan said:
Had a go on a mates today and have to say wasn't impressed. While it was a nice machine power wise the screen just didn't wow me as much as hyped. When I first saw the iPhone 4 my 3GS instantly looked dated and fuzzy, I was blown away with the iPhone 4 screen. Was expecting this from the new MPB and it just didn't. Despite being showing some amazing photos he'd taken the screen just wasn't that awe inspiring.

Anyone underwhelmed by it?
Click to expand...

The only thing im underwhelmed with is how they omit cool features of older laptops such as IR and battery LED. An OLED trackpad would be cool too :p. I think the overall look of the laptop hasnt changed much but they still have better build quality than any notebook ive played with. This includes high ends like the Vaio Z and the Samsung series.
 
lulla01 said:
The only thing im underwhelmed with is how they omit cool features of older laptops such as IR and battery LED. An OLED trackpad would be cool too :p. I think the overall look of the laptop hasnt changed much but they still have better build quality than any notebook ive played with. This includes high ends like the Vaio Z and the Samsung series.
Click to expand...

The LED battery indicator is gone? :(

Also, IR has been replaced by bluetooth/wifi (soon to be wifi direct ;)) for remote control needs. This computer is all about abandoning the past technologies that have seen their day.
 
Let's all bear in mind that we are all entitled to our own opinion. It's not really fair to brand the OP a troll etc just because he has his own opinion.
Personally I've not had time to check out the retina screen yet, but will report back once I've had a look!
 
Carl Sagan said:
Had a go on a mates today and have to say wasn't impressed. While it was a nice machine power wise the screen just didn't wow me as much as hyped. When I first saw the iPhone 4 my 3GS instantly looked dated and fuzzy, I was blown away with the iPhone 4 screen. Was expecting this from the new MPB and it just didn't. Despite being showing some amazing photos he'd taken the screen just wasn't that awe inspiring.

Anyone underwhelmed by it?
Click to expand...

You have your opinion, but I have to disagree as well..

I went to an Apple reseller in Denmark, and I found the retina display to be absolutely mind-blowing. You can barely, if not, see any pixels.
If this display doesn't impress, well, then there isn't any display out there yet, that are able to impress you, just saying.
With such a display, such a form factor and such a powerhouse, it's the perfect laptop. I don't know what a laptop needs then.
But time will only tell. :)
 
Carl Sagan said:
Had a go on a mates today and have to say wasn't impressed. While it was a nice machine power wise the screen just didn't wow me as much as hyped. When I first saw the iPhone 4 my 3GS instantly looked dated and fuzzy, I was blown away with the iPhone 4 screen. Was expecting this from the new MPB and it just didn't. Despite being showing some amazing photos he'd taken the screen just wasn't that awe inspiring.

Anyone underwhelmed by it?
Click to expand...

The screen reveals so much in photos that unless those photos are taken in perfect light with latest Canon L glass or equivalent you're just going to see the limitations of the camera, lens, and photographer. Canon has redesigned several of their L lenses to accommodate the increased resolution of digital sensors. The 70-200L, and 24-70L both got updated for the digital age and both were considered among Canon's very best yet still weren't sharp enough. So that should be a clue as to the level of quality you should start with to see the best the rMBP can offer.
 
I wasn't too impressed either.
Like the OP, I was hoping for the difference I saw between my iPhone 3G and my iPhone 4.

I went to the store and put the 15" retina next to a 15" non-retina and it wasn't a huge difference (other than screen real estate).

Was it cool? Yes.
Would I prefer it over my 30" Apple Cinema Display? No way, Jose!

It's nice that it's thin, but it's thin because they removed all of the bulky stuff (HDD, ODD, Cat-5 connection, etc). Which is great unless you needed one of those things.

Personally, I love the high-resolution but would have preferred it on a 17" screen.
 
minifridge1138 said:
I wasn't too impressed either.
Like the OP, I was hoping for the difference I saw between my iPhone 3G and my iPhone 4.

I went to the store and put the 15" retina next to a 15" non-retina and it wasn't a huge difference (other than screen real estate).

Was it cool? Yes.
Would I prefer it over my 30" Apple Cinema Display? No way, Jose!

It's nice that it's thin, but it's thin because they removed all of the bulky stuff (HDD, ODD, Cat-5 connection, etc). Which is great unless you needed one of those things.

Personally, I love the high-resolution but would have preferred it on a 17" screen.
Click to expand...

A 17" laptop is kind of pointless IMO. It's not very portable, it's easier to damage as a result, and yeah it's just freaking huge. The current rMBP is in the "goldilocks zone" so to speak. Apple could make a 17" and then there'd be a subset that would wonder why they don't make a 19" laptop... There's no end to the progressively smaller niche markets that they could serve. Being a rational person I'd just keep using a desktop computer if I really wanted more screen that what the rMBP offers. All IMO of course. :)
 
rockyroad55 said:
It's really only thinner because of the removal of the optical drive and restructured battery/SSD.
Click to expand...

True, to some extent, but far more went into making a machine this complicated work right. Just look at the tear downs and what they did with the speakers & configuration in regards to airflow, meaning thermal management. It's truly a feat of engineering.
 
rockyroad55 said:
It's really only thinner because of the removal of the optical drive and restructured battery/SSD.
Click to expand...

Yes, Apple only designed a custom SSD and memory implementation and they only restructured the battery to be the thinnest and most powerful in existence, and yes, they've made it so thin that a CD's worth of thickness is too much to spare. How absolutely terrible of them! :rolleyes:
 
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