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Retina Screen Impressions

S

safelder

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 9, 2010
78
0
Finally made it over to the Apple Store today to check out the retina screen in person. No question that it is a beautiful display. That said, it did not jump out at me as quite as breathtaking as when the iPhone went retina. I suspect that has to do with viewing distance.

I did try to put it through its paces a little bit to see if I got any of the lag that people have been complaining about. I tested at "best for retina" and the two higher scaled resolutions. All of them looked equally smooth in Safari, when switching between desktops, and when invoking launchpad. All functions were comparable to my early 2011 15" HR MBP.

It will be interesting to see where they take retina next. At this point, I'd like to get away from the 15" form factor. I now dock to a thunderbolt display at home and only move the MBP when traveling, where 15", while still manageable, isn't the ultimate in convenience. That, of course, has to be balanced against my desire for the highest resolution possible -- and the 13" MBP resolution simply isn't acceptable to me. If they release a 13" rMBP later this year as rumors have it, I've probably found my next machine.
 
That's the problem with the retina, once you see it in person, you will spit at your old MBP with disgust.
 
Ever since getting my rMBP, I cringe when I look at my old iMac. I've heard many people say that they are underwhelmed by it, but after you use it for 15 minutes or so then go back to another display, you'll feel your eyes suffer :)
 
I'm not really cringing. To be fair, though, (1) I hardly ever use the internal display; and (2) I have the high-res, anti-glare version.

I'm usually looking at my thunderbolt display. At sufficient distance (about 3 feet) that non-retina-ness doesn't make any difference.
 
safelder said:
Finally made it over to the Apple Store today to check out the retina screen in person. No question that it is a beautiful display. That said, it did not jump out at me as quite as breathtaking as when the iPhone went retina. I suspect that has to do with viewing distance.

I did try to put it through its paces a little bit to see if I got any of the lag that people have been complaining about. I tested at "best for retina" and the two higher scaled resolutions. All of them looked equally smooth in Safari, when switching between desktops, and when invoking launchpad. All functions were comparable to my early 2011 15" HR MBP.

It will be interesting to see where they take retina next. At this point, I'd like to get away from the 15" form factor. I now dock to a thunderbolt display at home and only move the MBP when traveling, where 15", while still manageable, isn't the ultimate in convenience. That, of course, has to be balanced against my desire for the highest resolution possible -- and the 13" MBP resolution simply isn't acceptable to me. If they release a 13" rMBP later this year as rumors have it, I've probably found my next machine.
Click to expand...

viewing distance as well as the fact that the iphone/ipad both have much higher density as well. you sort of have to get pretty close to the RMBP to really appreciate it, which kind of defeats the purpose to be honest.

the whole ridiculous 'cringing' statement that people like to throw around here is stupid. i've been working on my RMBP back and forth along several other normal macbooks and several external displays and its not jarring at all.
 
It only starts to effect you after you start using it consistently, I've messed with them in the stores a few time and have no problem going back to my cMBP
 
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