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My thoughts of my retina after day 5

M

marddin

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 11, 2009
401
38
So I've seen nothing but negative comments on here regarding the rMBP. Claims of blurryness, laggyness, etc. Just wanted to chime in on my experience with my new retina after about day 5.

I am experiencing no lag what so ever. UI elements are smooth and crisp (mission control, Apple + M, scrolling through webpages, expose between multiple windows). I am also still on Lion. The screen is to die for. I absolutely love it. I am currently running at the highest resolution, 1920 by 1200. The HDMI port has worked flawlessly with my 32" Sony Bravia.

I do understand that most apps are not retina ready, but after testing and using many apps on the 1920 resolution the miniscule "blurryness" is small (and that is an overstatement). Running at the highest resolution really alleviates the issue and I stand by my claim that all these whiners are over reacting and taking it to the extreme with the "blurryness" and "completely unusable" claims.

All in all it as a great machine and I am very happy with it. A great upgrade from my 2010 15" MBP. I am in the process of installing CS6 and will update soon. But after testing at the apple store I am sure the non-retina ready UI elements within CS6 will be a non-issue. :)

Edit: My rMBP specs - 2.3/16GB/256GB
 
Last edited:
marddin said:
So I've seen nothing but negative comments on here regarding the rMBP. Claims of blurryness, laggyness, etc. Just wanted to chime in on my experience with my new retina after about day 5.

I am experiencing no lag what so ever. UI elements are smooth and crisp (mission control, Apple + M, scrolling through webpages, expose between multiple windows). I am also still on Lion. The screen is to die for. I absolutely love it. I am currently running at the highest resolution, 1920 by 1200. The HDMI port has worked flawlessly with my 32" Sony Bravia.

I do understand that most apps are not retina ready, but after testing and using many apps on the 1920 resolution the miniscule "blurryness" is small (and that is an overstatement). Running at the highest resolution really alleviates the issue and I stand by my claim that all these whiners are over reacting and taking it to the extreme with the "blurryness" and "completely unusable" claims.

All in all it as a great machine and I am very happy with it. A great upgrade from my 2010 15" MBP. I am in the process of installing CS6 and will update soon. But after testing at the apple store I am sure the non-retina ready UI elements within CS6 will be a non-issue. :)
Click to expand...

What are ur rMBP specs?
 
I received my rMBP same specs as you yesterday. After following some of the threads here (while waiting impatiently for my macbook to arrive), I began to get really worried and was expecting to find issues as well. Happy to report, like you, I have none of the issues reported! Either it is few and far between and everyone who has issues with their macbook happen to all complain about it on forums or it was possibly just a initial bad batch? Things can go wrong in sometimes in early in production - a few years ago I went through 3 iPhone 3Gs before I got one with no dead pixels for example (perhaps my fault for being an early adopter?).

Also, slightly off topic sorry, my display panel is made by Samsung and I heard its "better" than the LG ones? You can find out which panel you have by pasting this into the terminal if anybody is interested at all:-

ioreg -lw0 | grep \"EDID\" | sed "/[^<]*</s///" | xxd -p -r | strings -6

This is my first macbook and I am really impressed but most of all relieved everything is all good and no issues! (especially no dead pixels!!) :)
 
bagelboy said:
I received my rMBP same specs as you yesterday. After following some of the threads here (while waiting impatiently for my macbook to arrive), I began to get really worried and was expecting to find issues as well. Happy to report, like you, I have none of the issues reported! Either it is few and far between and everyone who has issues with their macbook happen to all complain about it on forums or it was possibly just a initial bad batch? Things can go wrong in sometimes in early in production - a few years ago I went through 3 iPhone 3Gs before I got one with no dead pixels for example (perhaps my fault for being an early adopter?).

Also, slightly off topic sorry, my display panel is made by Samsung and I heard its "better" than the LG ones? You can find out which panel you have by pasting this into the terminal if anybody is interested at all:-

ioreg -lw0 | grep \"EDID\" | sed "/[^<]*</s///" | xxd -p -r | strings -6

This is my first macbook and I am really impressed but most of all relieved everything is all good and no issues! (especially no dead pixels!!) :)
Click to expand...

Color LCD
LP154WT1-SJA1
DCN22412R7UDMJ0AQ

I think I have an LG display. But I've had no issues whatsoever. I'm absolutely loving this thing.
 
resize

Try resizing your windows and tell me that its perfect. In Mail, try sliding your tabs over to make them bigger. Thats the graphical issues which concern me and I have the same spec you have.
 
bagelboy said:
Also, slightly off topic sorry, my display panel is made by Samsung and I heard its "better" than the LG ones?
Click to expand...

When the Late 2011 Air was launched there was literally frenzy over the display, due to there being two venders LG & Samsung. Some even were even posting here on MacRumors how they could return their Air with a LG display, before the machine had even arrived. Ironically when AnandTech reviewed the display`s they recommended the LG by a hair surprise, surprise the hysteria evaporated.

If by any means LG display`s are inferior to Samsung`s Apple would never use them in the first place. Some panels are simply better than others regardless of origin. Every display is different both venders will equally provide good and bad units, the only difference being the bad ones will generate noise on forums such as this, with many jumping to conclusions.

Andandtech
"The credit Apple deserves for the display extends beyond simply pushing LG to get a panel out on time and in large enough quantities."

"In practice however Apple has delivered tightly integrated IPS panels with wonderful performance characteristics as a part of the Retina brand. I do hope that for the years to come Apple does not compromise on these fronts."

As the individual you must filter the content of the internet very carefully, everyone is a "Pro", everyone is an "expert", for the most part they are not, some are well informed, most are not. If you need help to make a significant purchase, or qualification on hardware, wait for a recognised source, not the kid with 10 minutes hands on in Best Buy ;)
 
lulla01 said:
Try resizing your windows and tell me that its perfect. In Mail, try sliding your tabs over to make them bigger. Thats the graphical issues which concern me and I have the same spec you have.
Click to expand...

Opened up a few safari windows and re-sized them. Rapidly. Fine. Sync'd my yahoo email to Mail and re-sized tabs there. Fine. Not sure what the issue is here.
 
As a casual ISF calibrator [ hobby ], I prefer LG screens over Samsung :)

Oh, and getting back on topic, my 2.6/768/16 LG Screen rMBP has nearly zero lag issues. I won't say none because I do see some randomly.

All in all, great product!! :apple:
 
Day 2 for me

Im on day 2 of my rmbp. Its a 2.7 16gb ram 512 ssd. It warms up more than I would like . Also the charger got very hot last night. I could not keep my bare foot on it for too long because it was so hot. Those are my only concerns at the moment. Ive used switch resx to change the resolution to 2880x21800 and it looks awesome , but the text is too small. When I have the display setting on best for retina, I cant really notice a difference compared to my early 2012 mbp. The keyboard is letting off the very noticeable warmth as Im tryping this now,and all I have open is firefox and bittorent.
 
marddin said:
So I've seen nothing but negative comments on here regarding the rMBP. Claims of blurryness, laggyness, etc. Just wanted to chime in on my experience with my new retina after about day 5.

Running at the highest resolution really alleviates the issue and I stand by my claim that all these whiners are over reacting and taking it to the extreme with the "blurryness" and "completely unusable" claims.
Click to expand...

Depends on the app. MS Office is unusable for me. Adobe Lightroom is barely usable but I've resorted to running my pictures through Review to see whether they're really sharp before I give them to my customers.

As for lag: there was lots of it. Until ML was released. Now the rMBP is CRAZY fast.
 
I'll rephrase. I have nearly zero lag while using my computer.

1920 res is just fine for me. I'm a little sketched out on using switchres to go native as I've seen a lot of display issues/errors/threads on graphics acting up after installing and using that third party app.
 
I'm on my 3rd rMBP... and this one is finally good, although it cost me nearly $4000.

First one - LG panel, very bad image retention, could still read emails after minimizing Mail.

Second one - Samsung panel, bad backlight bleed on top left and bottom right. Bad enough to be visible in afternoon light.

Third one - Samsung panel, a bit of backlight bleed but nothing I can't live with.


Every one of these has suffered the same UI lag - I'm quite sure that if people are not seeing it, it is because they are using their computers differently. Using the rMBP in virtual 1920x1200 makes it much worse, but that is what I like to use.

The first two were 2.6G/512/16. The last one is 2.7/768/16 - and I have been running Mountain Lion on all of them. (DP4 initially, and GM once it was released.)

All things considered, I am mostly happy with the rMBP.

Edit - I should add, I see most of the lag when switching spaces - I usually have 6 of them running with various applications, and switch between them often.
 
really? because ive been reading that the new retina macbook pro is causing a surge in seeing eye dog sales, news stories of volcanic holes being burned in peoples legs, lag causing people to travel back in time, gnashing of the teeth and weeping over soldered ram, and a social uprising over a days wait for mountain lion. Its a tragedy of biblical proportions and locust swarms, earthquakes and blood from the heavens will soon follow..

the mayans were right, i just never thought apple would be the alpha..
 
To reduce heat to almost nothing, I force my intel GPU to stay on full time in osx. Then use my dedicated for gaming in windows.

In a web browser, something as simple as a Flash banner ad will turn on your dedicated gpu.
 
I've had my rMBP for a few days now as well, and I'm happy to report that I have none of the issues others seem to be afflicted by. I've never had light bleed issues on any of my Apple products, and I have yet to be afflicted by dead pixels. I've previously had 'banding' (a kind of discolouration) on previous MBP screens, which I had to have replaced, but the rMBP is looking really nice. It's also operating well. I'm on Mountain Lion, but I don't have any of the UI lag others have been experiencing. It wasn't present under Lion either, though I think ML does seem to be a bit smoother - that might just be my imagination. Safari in ML is super fast. It's entirely possible that each individual machine exhibits its own idiosyncracies, which is why some may notice issues, while others legitimately do not. I don't necessarily think it's because people don't know what to look for. Believe me, I know lag when I see it. My C2D 2009 MBP lagged a lot with Lion, especially when expanding folders on the dock or going into launchpad.
 
I think people don't realize that the UI scrolling lag is more pronounced when the laptop is unplugged. This is probably the reason why they don't experience animation choppiness in the Apple Store (the charger is always attached to it).

In my experience with my Retina, the scrolling is most horrible in the Mail app when I try to scroll an email thread. The scrolling is tolerable when the laptop is plugged, but once you unplug it you will see the scrolling become much worse. This happens for Safari, iTunes, maximizing windows etc. And I've tested both Lion and ML. And switching to discrete/integrated gpu makes little difference.

I'm hoping for a software fix, but I'm not that optimistic.
 
Day 7...

I too kept seeing a lot of negative reviews... and it was starting to make me a little worried. I sold my 2008 2.8 Mac Pro (16gb ram, 2.5 tb, ATI 5970 1gb ddr5) tower for $2,200 ... and then redeemed the credit from my damaged 2009 MacBook Pro that had Best Buys ADH plan (I put the ADH on my rMBP too... highly highly recommend it, especially if you do a lot of weddings or field work... I payed 1500 for the MBP, Best Buy gave me $1500 back for it 2.5 years later when it was deemed unrepairable).

The MBP was a meh for me, as I barely touched it for heavy lifting -- however, I was starting to get bummed about selling my Mac Pro, as that thing was a power house. Reluctant to say though, I have NO REGRETS with purchasing the 15" 2.6 rMBP with 8 gb ram and 512 ssd.

I have seen no lag, unplugged or plugged... even when powering 2 additional monitors and editing in FCP X and Photoshop CS6. This thing is a beast, and runs crazy fast. CS6 as a whole is running much faster then my Mac Pro was, and the display is a great touch.

Will this set up and change be beneficial for everyone? No, I'm sure some people will want more power, etc. But for me, I have no complaints... and as a "pro" owning a photography and videography company... I'm rather pleased.
 
I bought the base rMBP with no upgrades and I am not experiencing any lag either. I also don't have any of the problems that a lot of people have been complaining about (bought the rMBP on 20th July in Australia).
 
The "Dude";15324540 said:
Color LCD
LP154WT1-SJA1
DCN22412R7UDMJ0AQ

I think I have an LG display. But I've had no issues whatsoever. I'm absolutely loving this thing.
Click to expand...

LP=Samsung, LG=LG :)
 
Cranka said:
I too kept seeing a lot of negative reviews... and it was starting to make me a little worried. I sold my 2008 2.8 Mac Pro (16gb ram, 2.5 tb, ATI 5970 1gb ddr5) tower for $2,200 ... and then redeemed the credit from my damaged 2009 MacBook Pro that had Best Buys ADH plan (I put the ADH on my rMBP too... highly highly recommend it, especially if you do a lot of weddings or field work... I payed 1500 for the MBP, Best Buy gave me $1500 back for it 2.5 years later when it was deemed unrepairable).

The MBP was a meh for me, as I barely touched it for heavy lifting -- however, I was starting to get bummed about selling my Mac Pro, as that thing was a power house. Reluctant to say though, I have NO REGRETS with purchasing the 15" 2.6 rMBP with 8 gb ram and 512 ssd.

I have seen no lag, unplugged or plugged... even when powering 2 additional monitors and editing in FCP X and Photoshop CS6. This thing is a beast, and runs crazy fast. CS6 as a whole is running much faster then my Mac Pro was, and the display is a great touch.

Will this set up and change be beneficial for everyone? No, I'm sure some people will want more power, etc. But for me, I have no complaints... and as a "pro" owning a photography and videography company... I'm rather pleased.
Click to expand...

great to read these sort of comments. I am coming from a 2008 Mac Pro 8-core 2.8, 10GB RAM, HD8570, with an SSD as the OS drive...and I wanted something that would be as powerful and portable. It's great to hear people saying this is doing just that. My rMBP is preparing to ship...its almost here!!!
 
gentlefury said:
great to read these sort of comments. I am coming from a 2008 Mac Pro 8-core 2.8, 10GB RAM, HD8570, with an SSD as the OS drive...and I wanted something that would be as powerful and portable. It's great to hear people saying this is doing just that. My rMBP is preparing to ship...its almost here!!!
Click to expand...

Yeah it was sort of the same with mine. I ordered the 256/16GB model and then I started to read lots and lots of really bad comments. UI lag, scroll lag, screen ghosting, long boot times, and whatnot. I received mine a week ago and I was hoping for the worst. Surprise, no lag, no issues, this is actually by far the very best computer I've ever owned, or used for that matter. I am pretty objective when it comes to computers. I study Computer Science here in Mexico and I've been obsessed with UNIX systems for a while, that's why I made the change to Mac I hated Windows. I have ML as the main OS with Ubuntu running on Oracle's Virtual Box and I partitioned the drive and run Backtrack natively. My computer runs perfectly. Very fast system, flawless screen. I am really happy with my purchase and Mountain Lion is a really neat OS. The retina MBP is just as good as it gets right now.
 
ACiB708 said:
Yeah it was sort of the same with mine. I ordered the 256/16GB model and then I started to read lots and lots of really bad comments. UI lag, scroll lag, screen ghosting, long boot times, and whatnot. I received mine a week ago and I was hoping for the worst. Surprise, no lag, no issues, this is actually by far the very best computer I've ever owned, or used for that matter. I am pretty objective when it comes to computers. I study Computer Science here in Mexico and I've been obsessed with UNIX systems for a while, that's why I made the change to Mac I hated Windows. I have ML as the main OS with Ubuntu running on Oracle's Virtual Box and I partitioned the drive and run Backtrack natively. My computer runs perfectly. Very fast system, flawless screen. I am really happy with my purchase and Mountain Lion is a really neat OS. The retina MBP is just as good as it gets right now.
Click to expand...

I too was weary while waiting for my retina to ship after reading all the negative comments. I actually just stopped reading the forums a few days before it came in because as you stated above, I was expecting the worst haha. I'm glad I'm not the only one seeing minimal to no lag on their retina.

To the above reply about it being plugged in or not. All the tests I preformed were unplugged from any power source.
 
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