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Retina MBP and Retina External Display???

R

renosausage

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 22, 2012
158
0
Hey Everyone,

I have searched the internet all over and I can't seem to find any information about the best external display to buy for my retina MBP.

I love doing video editing so an external display makes it much easier to navigate, but going from the retina resolution on my rMBP to normal resolution on an external display is very unfortunate.

I know the rMBP is still pretty new, but can anyone recommend a good external display to go along with it?
 
There aren't going to be any "Retina" external displays for a while probably, at least without being extremely expensive. With cutting edge pixel density the size of the display really matters as far as cost and ease of production goes.

As for what's currently on the market, I would recommend either Apple's Thunderbolt display or one of the Dell Ultrasharp models.
 
I'm using a older Dell 27" running at 1920x1200 and a Apple Thunderbolt Monitor. I run the Retina display at 1920x1200 so I'm getting at least the same resolution on the externals (More on the Apple) as I get on my laptop display.

The native 2560x1440 resolution on the Thunderbolt monitor looks really crisp.
 
Apple has not offically said what constitues a Retina external display in terms of pixels per inch. The current Thunderbolt display is 27" and does 2550x1440. That is the same resolution as other 27" IPS panels from Dell, HP, Samsung, DoubleSight, NEC, and Eizo. Viewsonic should release their new 27" panel this coming week. Asus should release their on October 8. You can see them all listed in the monitor section at NewEgg if you look for 2550x1440 resolution.

The costs range from $699 to $2000 depending how critical the color management (color gamut coverage and accuracy) is for what you do. Not that with these monitors you do not get any kind of docking station you do not get a Thunderbolt interface from the laptop and no real docking station features. You might get a USB hub.

To me the big advantage of an Apple Thunderbolt display is you get a 27" IPS panel plus a docking station. The monitor give the MBP both a thunderbolt cable for data and a power connect for recharging. The current display also has a USB 2 hub and FW ports. It also is where you connect your ethernet cable.

To try to duplicate that with 3rd party products you would need a 27" IPS panel and you would need something like the Delkin Thunderbolt docking station. The docking station has a list of $399. Assuming you can get it for $300 that would put the cost of both the panel and station at least to $1000 with the cheapest of the IPS panels. And that combo would still not recharge a MBP and may not have integrated camera or speakers.


So if color management is CRITICAL, go with a mega dollar Eizo panel or maybe an NEC one. But if you want a good value in a panel plus the docking station features for your MBP, IMHO you are looking at Apple Thunderbolt Display. Let us hope for a minor refresh in the next few weeks to change from USB 2 to USB 3 ports.
 
MCAsan said:
The current display also has a USB 2 hub and FW ports. It also is where you connect your ethernet cable.
Click to expand...

Just a note, in my experience the Thunderbolt Monitor's USB hub is very, very slow compared to my existing USB 2.0 hub. The ethernet is fast through the monitor and it does reduce the number of things I need to plug into the Mac when "docking."
 
gbit said:
rmbp doesnt support external monitors anyway
Click to expand...

*Does not support external monitors when running on integrated gfx.

There we go, fixed it for you :)


Note: this bugs me, but can't really do anything about it. will it still use nvidia in clamshell mode?
 
br3nt said:
*Does not support external monitors when running on integrated gfx.

There we go, fixed it for you :)


Note: this bugs me, but can't really do anything about it. will it still use nvidia in clamshell mode?
Click to expand...

I think the Thunderbolt/DisplayPort is actually directly connected to the NVIDIA GPU which is why you can't use the Intel.
 
I don't believe there are "retina" level external displays on the market right now.
Click to expand...


Apple has not said what resolution constitutes Retina on an external monitor of any size. All we have from them is iPhones, iPads, and the rMBP that are officially Retina. I doubt we will see a huge increase beyond 2550x1440 soon in a 27" IPS panel. Doubling that pixel level means serious video boards and bandwidth to do fast refreshes of the screen.
 
MCAsan said:
Apple has not said what resolution constitutes Retina on an external monitor of any size. All we have from them is iPhones, iPads, and the rMBP that are officially Retina. I doubt we will see a huge increase beyond 2550x1440 soon in a 27" IPS panel. Doubling that pixel level means serious video boards and bandwidth to do fast refreshes of the screen.
Click to expand...

This. Even if apple did release a retina external 27" monitor, chances are that our current rMbp couldn't drive it anyway.
 
Fully agreed. The rMBP can drive the current Thunderbolt Display. But it could not handle something in the range of 5000x3000. So I doubt if we will see a Thunderbolt Display with higher resolution soon.
 
gbit said:
rmbp doesnt support external monitors anyway
Click to expand...

Huh?

owcmbpwrd3mons456621.jpg
 
MCAsan said:
Apple has not said what resolution constitutes Retina on an external monitor of any size. All we have from them is iPhones, iPads, and the rMBP that are officially Retina. I doubt we will see a huge increase beyond 2550x1440 soon in a 27" IPS panel. Doubling that pixel level means serious video boards and bandwidth to do fast refreshes of the screen.
Click to expand...

It's actually 2560x1440.

And yes, it all depends on the size of the monitor, and average viewing distance. The resolution for the Thunderbolt would probably be 5120x2880, or maybe a bit lower due to farther viewing distance.

As far as externals go, the only HiDPI display I've seen is 10000 USD. Go with the Thunderbolt display, I got a refurb and I love it.
 
The resolution for the Thunderbolt would probably be 5120x2880, or maybe a bit lower due to farther viewing distance.
Click to expand...

Has Apple said that a 27" display would be at least 5120x2880 to be Retina? I think that is guesswork from folks outside Apple about what 27" Retina means. Who has a GPU to push that? Definitely not rMBP.

Go with the Thunderbolt display, I got a refurb and I love it.
Click to expand...

Unless I can get refurbed ones (one for me and wife) at a very good price, I will hold on and see if there is a minor refresh by the end of October from Apple.
 
MCAsan said:
Has Apple said that a 27" display would be at least 5120x2880 to be Retina? I think that is guesswork from folks outside Apple about what 27" Retina means. Who has a GPU to push that? Definitely not rMBP.
Click to expand...

Well of course it is guesswork.

We can get a pretty good idea of what a Retina external display would mean by looking at the typical factors that go into determining "Retina." The critical one being typical viewing distance.

Fortunately, some have done the legwork here: http://www.tuaw.com/2012/03/01/retina-display-macs-ipads-and-hidpi-doing-the-math/

and here:

http://appcubby.com/blog/os-x-at-2x/

The gist is that, no we don't need an exact pixel double to reach "Retina" on a 27". Instead something between 2560x1400 and 3840x2600 could achieve "Retina."

The 650M can drive 3840x2160: http://www.geforce.com/hardware/notebook-gpus/geforce-gt-650m/specifications

Assuming Apple could get the scaling right, we could see a display at a resolution around there meaning more affordable but still "Retina."

Hitting 3840x2160, might allow for "Best for Retina" of 1920x1080, keeping us at 16:9.
 
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