Non-native resolution of retina MBP-- downsides?

[cmm]

What's the downside of using a retina MBP at a higher resolution than the best for retina display setting? I tried it out this weekend and didn't notice a difference-- what am I missing?

Sme background: I have a 17 MBP that I love for the screen resolution but its huge and too heavy. I want something more portable but screen resolution matters a lot to me. I'd love to get the 13 rMBP but I'd run it at a higher res and want to know the downsides/if I'm making a mistake before I buy. Thanks.

 

[B...]

Theoretically worse performance and not-as-sharp text. In reality, though, the performance drop is insignificant usually, and it looks fine if you nose is not an inch away from the display due to how high the physical pixel count is (in HiDPI mode, the computer renders 3840x2160 (for HD on the 15") and downscales to 2880x1800)

 

[cmm]

Thanks! So it doesn't matter what you're doing on the computer, in practice, you won't notice the blurriness? I just tested it in Safari and in Word and couldn't notice-- didn't know if it were different elsewhere...

Thanks!

 

[jesaja]

It matters when you try to work pixel-perfect, like for web graphics, apart from that it doesn't. And for pixel perfect graphics you don't want a retina display anyways.

 

[cmm]

It matters when you try to work pixel-perfect, like for web graphics, apart from that it doesn't. And for pixel perfect graphics you don't want a retina display anyways.

Why's that? Is the CSS issue fixed with retina yet? That affects only safari, right? What about Word- is it still blurry?

 

[Macman45]

If I'm photo editing, I leave my 13" in native "Best For Retina" settings....If I'm just browsing the web etc. I do change it up a gear though....purely for the extra real-estate.

 

[jesaja]

Why's that? Is the CSS issue fixed with retina yet? That affects only safari, right? What about Word- is it still blurry?

Why's what? Why it's bad for pixel-perfect work? Simple: you'll need a magnifying glass to see a 1:1 pixel mapping, and when you scale it (even at 2:1), you won't see the same as in a perfect pixel mapping any longer. Even when pixel doubling is used, it just looks differently than on a screen w/ native res.

For anything where the individual pixel doesn't count as much (e.g. photography, digital painting, print design), but much rather the overall content, it's awesome to have such a high resolution screen, but when your target is lower resolution screens, it just doesn't work.
So GUI/icon design, web design, etc. only work well with an external display.