New Photos of 13-Inch Retina MacBook Pro Show Battery Layout, Ports, and More [Updated]

[krzyglue]

I can agree with you until I see two Thunderbolt ports and an HDMI port. How does an Intel HD4000 drive the native Retina and three external displays? It will take a 650M to drive them, will it not?

I was convinced Apple would only include the Intel HD4000 until I saw that port configuration. I don't get what else it could mean? Apple only allows one TB port to work for display? Or either a TB or HDMI port can work, but not both simultaneously with displays connected?

I just don't see the same concept of two 27" ACDs, a Retina native display, and a 1080P HDMI display all driven by an Intel HD4000.

Please explain what the port configuration means. I completely agree that there isn't much room for a dGPU, but I am not an computer science engineer. Less the optical drive, and the same thickness as the 15" rMBP, and there is no way for a dGPU?

Thanks in advance for your reply.

There will not be a discrete GPU unfortunately.

If you look carefully at the photo of the cooling assembly inside

you'll see only one heat sink. Compare this with the 15 retina

Notice the heat sink marked "GPU" on the 15 is not on the 13.

 

[whiteonline]

Haven't been able to read all the posts but I'm looking at the photo with the HDMI port and the return key has enter at the top of it. I don't remember every seeing a MAC anything with a return key like that. I've seen ultra books with that same key text however. Not to mention why would they include a HDMI port when that would definitely cut into sales of the thunderbolt adapter to HDMI, there is an adapter right?

The keyboards I'm looking at right now have enter/return (2011 MacbookPro and an Apple Bluetooth keyboard).

 

[SchneiderMan]

What's going on with the blue magsafe 2?

It's a protective film so when they keep it charged in the production line it won't get scuffed.

 

[krzyglue]

Haven't been able to read all the posts but I'm looking at the photo with the HDMI port and the return key has enter at the top of it. I don't remember every seeing a MAC anything with a return key like that. I've seen ultra books with that same key text however. Not to mention why would they include a HDMI port when that would definitely cut into sales of the thunderbolt adapter to HDMI, there is an adapter right?

What's wrong with the return key? Looks like the one I have on my MBP

 

[swagi]

Well I havent ever used ny optical drive on my 2007 macbook. Im still suprised ppl compain that there wont be one. Usb is a much better option. My tv tskes it directly. Home stereo and car takes it. Can store and erase files. What on earth do u do with a cd these days????????

Simple. Buy the best quality music available. As you buy the best quality movies un BluRay.

Well, if you got into music after the LoudnessWars or listen to HipHop and R&B you will be perfectly fine with Apple's dumbed down AACs or Amazon's MP3. Wake me up when Apple kills ALAC and FLAC is not only offered on iTunes but also deployed on several media playing devices.

 

[krzyglue]

Simple. Buy the best quality music available. As you buy the best quality movies un BluRay.

Well, if you got into music after the LoudnessWars or listen to HipHop and R&B you will be perfectly fine with Apple's dumbed down AACs or Amazon's MP3. Wake me up when Apple kills ALAC and FLAC is not only offered on iTunes but also deployed on several media playing devices.

I agree that lossless on the iTunes store would be a great step forwards, but I must say there is nothing wrong with ALAC. Lossless means mathematically lossless.

 

[Mackan]

That is certainly not true of the 15" rMBP line. If you go onto the store, start with each of the two stock models they offer, and max out the configurations, they come out with exactly the same specs for exactly the same price. And in fact there is not even a single option available on the higher end model that isn't also available on the lower end model.

Correct. But in the very beginning, that was not the case. Apple "suddenly" added all those configuration options for the lower end retina model. Since the retina models pushed the price so high, there was finally some critique about why you have to always pick the high end model for some basic things like 512 GB SSD or whatever it was.

In the past, and currently continuing with their normal MacBook lines, you still cannot configure the low end model to get some of the specs the higher end model has. You simply have to buy the higher end model, and pay a higher price.

I wouldn't be surprised if Apple will try the same now with 13'' Retina MacBook. I know them too well by now. They care about every dollar out of your wallet. Yet, they have so much they don't know what to do with it anymore.

I am very fond of their products. I just dispise their extreme focus on emptying your wallet, when it's not needed. Their product differentiation is going to the extreme, simply because they want you to never own the perfect device. You just have to buy them all to get all features. How sub-optimal.

 

[macs4nw]

Also will be getting Hawsell along with iMac and Mac mini

Your comment must be tongue-in-cheek because HASWELL is not slated to be released until April 2013.

Why does Apple even bother to hold a Media Event.By the time it starts we will know what they are going to tell us anyway. Yes, I know I am on a rumors site, bla, bla, whatever, I just want some surprises to be left over for the actual event. Is that really so much to ask for?

Sorry to break it to you, but the only remedy for 'the spoiler factor' is to join the millions of people who do not visit rumor sites.

 

[Paddy1979]

Nice carpet!

That was my exact same first thought about the article. Nice carpet! Where do you even buy purple carpet from?

 

[435713]

Just a thought but if they left it the same thickness as the normal MBP 13" then they could have fit a dedicated GPU in there easily if they took out the optical drive. What's the mm difference between the normal MBP and the rMBP again?

Those mm make such a difference.

 

[sleazy]

I just want to say your all wrong the gpu will be an option it will be the 650m, there is no way that they would release there most popular selling notebook without one since majority of students who buy them enjoy games with the recent anoucmnets of steam and all the games that are coming to Mac consumers will want to take advantage of that gorgeous display you may not be able to see it in the photo becase of a build to order option or it has been moved, regardless there will be at a minimum a 650m 1 gig

 

[blackhand1001]

...yet Thunderbolt is still faster than eSATA, and combines the PCIe and DisplayPort protocols. It was important to maintain backward compatibility with mini DisplayPort since that's the main video output on Macs.

What would have been your solution? Adding 2 eSATA slots in addition of the existing mini DisplayPort? No way Apple could find room for one of those in the rMBP, let alone two of them. They couldn't fit one in the 15" cMBP that was thicker so...

I don't understand your hate on Thunderbolt. It's smaller and faster than eSATA and uses the same connector as the video output which would have been needed anyway. eSATA is obviously too big for Apple's standards and it's not like you find that much consumer-level eSATA accessories in stores either. Yes there are some external hard-drives but 95%+ of people just use USB drives.

Like I said Thunderbolt drives will catch on when SSD prices will go down and it'll be viable for average prosumers to buy external SSDs. Until then you can still benefit from triple external display support, which you couldn't do with eSATA.

No it won't. Also a thunderbolt ssd still has to go through the sata layer inside the enclosure so your limited to the max bandwidth of sata 3 which is 6gbps. Sata also has less latency than thunderbolt. Thunderbolt had its chance. It failed. It won't catch on. Esata would fit absolutely fine as well. Almost every pc laptop has a combo usb/esata port like this.

http://www.mypay-computers-credit.com/wp-content/uploads/esata-usb-combo-port.jpg

 

[krzyglue]

I just want to say your all wrong the gpu will be an option it will be the 650m, there is no way that they would release there most popular selling notebook without one since majority of students who buy them enjoy games with the recent anoucmnets of steam and all the games that are coming to Mac consumers will want to take advantage of that gorgeous display you may not be able to see it in the photo becase of a build to order option or it has been moved, regardless there will be at a minimum a 650m 1 gig

Uh I think you're overstating the number of games coming to OSX. So far it's still pretty much only Valve that's carrying the banner.

Besides, as I illustrated above, these leaked photos (should they be real) all but rule out the possibility of a dedicated GPU. The nature of manufacturing suggests they do not and will not use radically different PCBs within the same model. The GPU cannot be in any other location either (the bottom half of the computer is just the battery cells).

 

[sleazy]

Uh I think you're overstating the number of games coming to OSX. So far it's still pretty much only Valve that's carrying the banner.

Besides, as I illustrated above, these leaked photos (should they be real) all but rule out the possibility of a dedicated GPU. The nature of manufacturing suggests they do not and will not use radically different PCBs within the same model. The GPU cannot be in any other location either (the bottom half of the computer is just the battery cells).

Oh man keep telling yourself that I would bet anything there will be a gpu in it.

 

[WatchTheThrone]

Your comment must be tongue-in-cheek because HASWELL is not slated to be released until April 2013

Apple has gotten intel chips before anybody else so you never know

Plus maybe they pushed back the 13 retina MacBook pro because ivy integrated graphics couldn't handle the screen without getting too hot for the smaller 13 body.
iMac was also pushed back because maybe the thinner profile was also too hot for ivy and now they have Hawsell which runs much cooler and faster at the same clock speed.

But Ive been waiting for an iMac refresh so maybe I'm dreaming lol

 

[Yebubbleman]

Apple has gotten intel chips before anybody else so you never know

Plus maybe they pushed back the 13 retina MacBook pro because ivy integrated graphics couldn't handle the screen without getting too hot for the smaller 13 body.
iMac was also pushed back because maybe the thinner profile was also too hot for ivy and now they have Hawsell which runs much cooler and faster at the same clock speed.

But Ive been waiting for an iMac refresh so maybe I'm dreaming lol

Apple has only gotten Intel chips early on a couple of occasions. Apple would not get Haswell THIS early. You're definitely dreaming.

 

[magbarn]

I can agree with you until I see two Thunderbolt ports and an HDMI port. How does an Intel HD4000 drive the native Retina and three external displays? It will take a 650M to drive them, will it not?

I was convinced Apple would only include the Intel HD4000 until I saw that port configuration. I don't get what else it could mean? Apple only allows one TB port to work for display? Or either a TB or HDMI port can work, but not both simultaneously with displays connected?

I just don't see the same concept of two 27" ACDs, a Retina native display, and a 1080P HDMI display all driven by an Intel HD4000.

Please explain what the port configuration means. I completely agree that there isn't much room for a dGPU, but I am not an computer science engineer. Less the optical drive, and the same thickness as the 15" rMBP, and there is no way for a dGPU?

Thanks in advance for your reply.

The way the iGPU/dGPU is implemented on the rMBP 15 is why the dGPU has to be enabled in order for external displays to work. OTOH, the HD4000 is capable of driving 3 different displays simultaneously. It's one of the upgrades from the sandy bridge HD3000. Given how sluggish my rMBP 15 feels on scaling the non-standard (other than the standard 1400x900 upscaled resolution) when forced to use the iGPU, this rMBP 13 isn't going to be great performer until haswell.

----------

Just a thought but if they left it the same thickness as the normal MBP 13" then they could have fit a dedicated GPU in there easily if they took out the optical drive. What's the mm difference between the normal MBP and the rMBP again?

Those mm make such a difference.

You're also forgetting the power hungry nature of Retina displays' current level of development. Once they implement power saving tech like IGZIO, it may open up room for a discrete GPU. Then again, this is Apple we're talking about so, they're just going to shrink the laptop instead and come out with a rMBA instead.

 

[0x000000]

Uh I think you're overstating the number of games coming to OSX. So far it's still pretty much only Valve that's carrying the banner.

Besides, as I illustrated above, these leaked photos (should they be real) all but rule out the possibility of a dedicated GPU. The nature of manufacturing suggests they do not and will not use radically different PCBs within the same model. The GPU cannot be in any other location either (the bottom half of the computer is just the battery cells).

Don't forget Blizzard! You can play fun stuff like World of Warcraft and Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2!!! And Diablo 2 and Diablo 1 and Starcraft 1 and... stuff.

When the MacBook Air came out, everyone complained that it has no optical drive, a weak cpu, a weak gpu and that they disregard the gamer market and will fail because no one will buy that. Now it's the most successful Mac, maybe even the most successful computer overall, and that's after the switch to an integrated GPU.

The only lesson learned from that can be that the majority of customers (everyone, feel free to count yourself out) doesn't really care about games on a mac.

 

[sully54]

I hate to dip into the "what would Steve have done?" territory, but it seems obvious to me that HDMI never existed on a Mac until after Steve Jobs was out of the picture. Perhaps it was something that the engineering team always wanted to include, but was held back by Jobs?

the Mac mini has had an HDMI port since 2010, back when Steve Jobs was very much alive.

http://support.apple.com/kb/SP585?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

 

[435713]

You're also forgetting the power hungry nature of Retina displays' current level of development. Once they implement power saving tech like IGZIO, it may open up room for a discrete GPU. Then again, this is Apple we're talking about so, they're just going to shrink the laptop instead and come out with a rMBA instead.

I forgot about retina taking up more power. Seems like having it normal MBP thickness would have been better all around, they could use a larger battery that way, it seems the thinner they go they more space is needed for the multiple battery layout they have in those since I am guessing the batteries obviously get thinner. I am no engineer though.

 

[olowott]

wow, they did put all the ports

hope they same graphics card as the 15"

 

[everything-i]

Looks like it'll be supporting 3x external displays like the 15" model - deffo a contender for a replacement for the iMac and Mac Pro (for those that are happy using Thunderbolt or USB3 drives or who dont need multiple expansion options)

Maybe an iMac replacement but not Mac Pro. The pro is about more than just adding extra storage. With any luck Apple is planning some modular TB based system as the new Pro, we will have to wait till next year to find out. This does look like a very nice machine though.

----------

wow, they did put all the ports

hope they same graphics card as the 15"

I doubt it will have a discreet graphics processor, not enough room to dissipate the extra heat and battery life would really suffer. if it does and Apple have manages to solve thermal and battery issues then that would be a truly fantastic machine.

 

[Maven1975]

"I doubt it will have a discreet graphics processor, not enough room to dissipate the extra heat and battery life would really suffer."

It wouldn't matter if it was 4" thick and 10 feet wide! Apple has always given this weak sauce excuse.

This is really kind of a big deal/reveal for me and others. This revision will be completely telling if Apple will ever return to dGPU in their 12/13" line.

It does not even need to be a 650m. Just something to take the load off the CPU and power through cuda/coding/gaming processes.

 

[needfx]

the carpet is giving away the leaker

he should expect an apple committee soon at his door anytime soon

 

[uncertain.nomad]

I hate to dip into the "what would Steve have done?" territory, but it seems obvious to me that HDMI never existed on a Mac until after Steve Jobs was out of the picture. Perhaps it was something that the engineering team always wanted to include, but was held back by Jobs?

So true - no way Steve would have allowed that. What? Mac mini? That thing got HDMI since the middle 2010. But. Seve. No. Can't be true.

Get your facts straight before posting nonsense

edit:
Got beaten by sully54