rMBP display setting - please explain!

[bronksy]

I just bought myself a 15" rMBP - I was tossing up between this and the high end utimate Air - but went for this because it's the same cash for a much more powerful machine.. I'm not sure if I'll keep it though because I love the Air's form factor. I edit video and photos..

So.. I'm playing with the display settings and actually like using the laptop with the 'more screen' setting - it's small but it works so much better for Final Cut and Aperture.

I don't know though if I've totally negated the point of getting the rMBP over the standard one - or even the Air (power aside) So to get the best out of this machine should I be always running in 'best for retina' or change around depending on the applications I'm using?

I have looked around the forums - didn't see a concise answer to this - so please dont flame me and tell me to 'search'

Cheers!

 

[Krevnik]

I don't know though if I've totally negated the point of getting the rMBP over the standard one - or even the Air (power aside) So to get the best out of this machine should I be always running in 'best for retina' or change around depending on the applications I'm using?

When using any of the "More Space" options, you will lose a bit of performance from the higher resolution, but you aren't losing sharpness. It's one of the things I love about these machines.

The display itself will always use the native resolution. If you pick 1680x1050 for example, the canvas for the screen is set to 3360x2100 and the GPU scales that down to the native screen resolution: 2880x1400. It mostly gets confusing because we tend to think of pixel count as being the same as screen size.

 

[bronksy]

When using any of the "More Space" options, you will lose a bit of performance from the higher resolution, but you aren't losing sharpness. It's one of the things I love about these machines.

The display itself will always use the native resolution. If you pick 1680x1050 for example, the canvas for the screen is set to 3360x2100 and the GPU scales that down to the native screen resolution: 2880x1400. It mostly gets confusing because we tend to think of pixel count as being the same as screen size.

Ah- that makes sense - but it seems to be much nicer to have the real estate - than it does the 'retina' setting. I guess I can flick there and back depending on what I'm doing..I downloaded a little app to do this..

I have noticed some artifacting in safari (white lines randomly appearing) but I guess this is usual behaviour.

I was just wondering whether Im gaining by using the more expensive retina display at 1920x1200- and if that has any side effects for my video editing/playback.

I'm guessing not! (apart from making the text etc smaller )

 

[Krevnik]

Ah- that makes sense - but it seems to be much nicer to have the real estate - than it does the 'retina' setting. I guess I can flick there and back depending on what I'm doing..I downloaded a little app to do this..

Hopefully the app is using the 1920x1200 HiDPI mode.

I have noticed some artifacting in safari (white lines randomly appearing) but I guess this is usual behaviour.

That's a bug in Safari and its rendering. I've seen it myself, although I can't remember if it is fixed in the WebKit nightlies or not.

I was just wondering whether Im gaining by using the more expensive retina display at 1920x1200- and if that has any side effects for my video editing/playback.

The UI should still be sharper than otherwise, and you can't buy a 15" MBP at that resolution other than the rMBP. That seems like an advantage to me.