Roundup of Retina MacBook Pro Reviews

[Medic311]

Most likely due to the white balance setting of the camera.

i sure hope so,

or else i can only imagine what this forum will be like in a few weeks...

 

[jcpb]

I hope the new MBP with retina can handle 3 display 1HDMI 2ThunderBolt

Up to two displays can be used at any time, either TB x 2 or TB + HDMI. There is no hardware provision to allow 3 connected monitors.

 

[JohnDoe98]

On one hand, I will say you definitely have a point. The retina display does make things easier to look at. It's smoother, crisper, more vivid, and helps epecially for reading small text and UI elements. On the other hand, I want to call you out for not increasing the size of your font when you had the chance. If you have to squint at your screen, or strain your eyes in any way, your text was set way too small. You could've saved a ton on aspirins over the years.

Again you are probably right, but then you constantly need to scroll on the screen, which is another kind of headache.

I think this is where we differ on opinion, and it's really more a difference of the strength of our opinion, rather than the opinion itself. You see it as recently discovered absolute necessity, I see it as...well...nicer than the alternative. It's more than a simple fashion statement, but it's not quite so extreme as "I was a pilgrim in a fuzzy land, until I discovered the high DPI light". It is preferable, but I can easily get by without it. Hell, I've been doing fine without it for about a decade now.

Agreed, but in my case my old computer is now due for an update. So right now, with at least one Retina screen on the market, I can't see much point in not going Retina. If I had a 2010 or 2011 computer, I wouldn't see the necessity of Retina. Every time I see the screens of my peers though, I'm blown away by how much better they are than mine, and those aren't even Retina quality. I think I'm in for a treat with the rump.

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The only reality check I see you making is that you like to use logical fallacies.

The Retina MBP "selling like hotcakes" is not supportive of the argument that professional users are happy with the Retina MBP, for there is a much wider audience of potential buyers for MBPs than just professional users in markets where Firewire and Ethernet are necessities. Some people may also have rationales which ultimately consider the machine worth the purchase, despite its drawbacks. That does not mean that they endorse the machine's limitations. It just means that customers sometimes put up with a product's faults when the overall product still meets their needs. If Thunderbolt adapters were not available, we might see more backlash from this market segment.

See, the problem is you didn't original say that "professionals don't want..." You made a much more general claim. You asserted that:

People don't want a notebook that is so slimmed-down that half the ports they use turn into adapters they have to constantly lug around, if they even remember to bring them.

So, if the RMBP is a slimmed-down computer with half the ports..., and people are buying it, obviously that implies that people do in fact want those notebooks, contrary to what you said. You can spin about all you want now, after the fact, but my statement did refute your initial one.

 

[steveh]

Fortunately it is easy to install a cheaper SSD yourself into the old MacBook Pro. Will this ever be an option with the retina MacBook Pro?

The SSD is plugged in to the motherboard.

Apple won't supply and upgrade, but someone like Other World Computing almost certainly will; there's no engineering reason stopping them.

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No ethernet?! Apple needs to release an ethernet to Thunderbolt adapter right now and make it come with the computer

1- Just wait a couple weeks (the FW800 adapter is already in stores).

2- No. Not everyone, not even every MPBrd customer needs one, so why should they have to pay for the device?

 

[Gata]

I EXPECT ALOT of "luxury" for alot of money.

And you get A LOT of "luxury" for a lot of money.

Though perhaps a better idea would be: How exactly does it fall short of "luxury"?

This MBP costs far too much of both to be "luxurious" to me

Because MBPs waste a lot of your time, too.

Right.

seemingly ALOT of other people given AAPL has only crapped out since the pitiful WWDC.

Care to clarify why it is that Apple started being bad because they chose to quietly update the Mac Pro, and made no mention of an iPhone that wasn't going to be released until fall?

No 17" and no ethernet port... Just ****** stupid.

Apple's 17" has been getting less than 1% of Apple notebook sales. They already have a reason not to continue it. When you consider that the 15", beings supplemented with a Retina display, now has the one thing that would give people a reason to buy the 17" (resolution), you don't really have much of a reason for keeping it around anymore.

Ethernet: So first, you can get an ethernet adapter for a relatively modest price.

Second, the vast majority of people don't use Ethernet, with the need for massive networked file transfers being few and far between, though more than adequately covered by the speed of Thunderbolt and USB 3 ports.

I vote with my WALLET, and I choose not to buy.

Good for you.

Meanwhile, critics are raving and lots of people are buying.

Apple has taken a SERIOUS step in the WRONG direction, and will cost MILLIONS of people alot of Money.

Care to point out what the "right" direction would be?

Because the only cost it seems to be dealing to people is ~the cost of the laptop, for those who choose to buy.

 

[wfolta]

The price argument is simple: the RMBP (henceforth referred to as rump) is the very definition of a boutique computer. It's sleek, powerful, and nice, sure. It's the prime geek badge of awesomeness in computer form. But guess what? You can get something just as powerful, but not quite as thin and pretty for considerably less. You can grab a thick and ugly Sager or Asus high end beast machine laptop. They might be fat as hell, and suck battery power like a wino on a bottle of Night Train, but they'll blow the doors off the rump in raw performance for 2/3rds the price. If you like the thin design, but don't need the power the rump provides, you can grab an air for literally half the price.

But if you want performance in a thin design, no alternative. Your "thick and ugly" machines are twice as thick, twice as heavy, and have about 1/4 the screen resolution and considerably less battery life. In some sense, they harken back to the days of the "luggable" computer rather than laptops.

Heck, why not just bungie a tower and a 27" monitor to a handcart and call it a "laptop" and blow those Sager and Asus laptops away? When you want an unbalanced machine and are willing to throw out half of your requirements it's not difficult to excel in the other half of your requirements.

That's where Apple excels: designing entire systems that work well as a whole. And that's what most people want. Apple's competition reminds me of a famous quote by an Italian sports car designer who had a reputation for designing cars with poor brakes. When asked about it, he said, "I make cars to go fast, not to stop." Useful to a few folks, but not most.

And in this case, they have the competition in a vise:

At the bottom end, they've improved the standard-bearer MacBook Air and also lowered its price by $100, further squeezing ultrabook competitors who are trying to live at a "lower than Apple" price point. In the middle, they've done what they always do: upgrade the parts, keep the prices the same. (In the past, there has been criticism that they haven't used current-generation parts, but this time they have.) And they've managed to open up a new top-end category that's selling faster than they can make it.

This top-end design will flow down the entire product line and competitors can't do anything to avoid looking cheap with their comparatively low-res monitors. Just like using a retina iPhone for a while then looking at another phone: the second one looks "crunchy" or "grainy". Apple probably has the supply chain for retina laptop displays locked up, so competitors -- who have been heading to lower and lower res as they dive down the price chain towards the bottom -- won't have any real alternatives.

 

[BobCollins]

There are two knocks on it. The first is price, which I don't think is a legitimate argument because the market is the market. There is a market for $2100 laptops, it's just that the reviewer may not be in it.

The second knock - which is very legitimate - is that third-party applications that haven't been optimized for retina look atrocious. If you're spending $2100 on a laptop, you shouldn't have to deal with Firefox or Thunderbird or any of hundreds of other programs looking like crap.

Third knock: it's virtually unrepairable and upgradeable. Unlike the standard MacBook Pros, it will basically be disposable after you warrantee runs out. And you better buy the max configuration you will ever need.

Here more on this: http://ifixit.org/2763/the-new-macbook-pro-unfixable-unhackable-untenable/

 

[Limboistik]

And in this case, they have the competition in a vise:

At the bottom end, they've improved the standard-bearer MacBook Air and also lowered its price by $100, further squeezing ultrabook competitors who are trying to live at a "lower than Apple" price point. In the middle, they've done what they always do: upgrade the parts, keep the prices the same. (In the past, there has been criticism that they haven't used current-generation parts, but this time they have.) And they've managed to open up a new top-end category that's selling faster than they can make it.

This top-end design will flow down the entire product line and competitors can't do anything to avoid looking cheap with their comparatively low-res monitors. Just like using a retina iPhone for a while then looking at another phone: the second one looks "crunchy" or "grainy". Apple probably has the supply chain for retina laptop displays locked up, so competitors -- who have been heading to lower and lower res as they dive down the price chain towards the bottom -- won't have any real alternatives.

Good analysis. This trickle down from the top end strategy will play out nicely for Apple methinks.

 

[BobCollins]

HDMI? +1 Apple!

While it's nice that the Retina has HDMI on the side, you can use HDMI on any recent MacBook Pro using a small $3 MiniDisplayPort to HDMI adapter. Hardly a decision maker.

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The first thing the majority of users do :

Buy the machine configured the way they want it, so they don't have to open it and do all kinds of things that may void the warranty.

Let alone, that the majority of users do not have the technical knowledge to tinker around in their machines.

These users will not feel or even think about any Apple limitations!

Your post is -as usual- misguided in that this is obviously not a machine for your target group.

To cite ifixit's evaluation as evidence for negatives is weak at best.

With 3 years of Apple Care consumers can get one fine machine without worrying of having to repair anything.

I could understand your constant Apple bashing if you were from a competitor or had created anything we can use.

Until you do create something that is even remotely close to Apple's products, maybe you should refrain from spewing out criticism without offering a better alternative?

While you are correct about much of Apple's market, you don't speak for me either. Lack of repairability and upgradability is a real issue for some of us and pointing it out is not an attack on your manhood or your children

 

[BobCollins]

Only adding a $200 retina option to a regular 15 inch would illustrate what the market really wants.

And I might have ponied up for that. The negatives (small storage, not upgradeable) were too much for me.

 

[Renzatic]

But if you want performance in a thin design, no alternative. Your "thick and ugly" machines are twice as thick, twice as heavy, and have about 1/4 the screen resolution and considerably less battery life. In some sense, they harken back to the days of the "luggable" computer rather than laptops.

They're fairly thick machines, I'll admit. But 1. that's the price you pay for a pure performance machine, and 2. they're hardly the fat bastards those old laptops used to be. The new 15" Sager is roughly 1.3 inches thick and only two pounds heavier than the retina MBP. Bigger? Yup. By a goodly bit. But Obscenely so? Not really.

And a quarter of the resolution? Seriously? 2880x1400 vs. 1920x1080? That's roughly 2/3rds at least. Lets not go hyperbolistic over here.

So does that mean I think the new MBP is worthless? A gimmicky machine for hipster doofs who think a thin aluminum chasis and a high res screen is all it takes to make TEH BESTEST EVAR! ? Hell no. In my opinion, it's one of the overall nicest laptops I've seen. It's fast, it's sleek, and that retina display is...damn...it's nice. And yeah, the performance is about the best you can get for a laptop its size. It's for these very reasons I'm on the cusp of picking one up myself (I want to wait and see if they blow up and kill any of the early adopters before I make the commitment). What I'm saying here is that it's not the end all be all of portable computers.

Heck, why not just bungie a tower and a 27" monitor to a handcart and call it a "laptop" and blow those Sager and Asus laptops away? When you want an unbalanced machine and are willing to throw out half of your requirements it's not difficult to excel in the other half of your requirements.

Yeah, that's totally an apt comparison. I swur.

 

[NewbieCanada]

that was then and this is now. Money and time is all that matters... I EXPECT ALOT of "luxury" for alot of money. This MBP costs far too much of both to be "luxurious" to me and seemingly ALOT of other people given AAPL has only crapped out since the pitiful WWDC. No 17" and no ethernet port... Just ****** stupid. I vote with my WALLET, and I choose not to buy. As a SHAREHOLDER, I am OUTRAGED. Apple has taken a SERIOUS step in the WRONG direction, and will cost MILLIONS of people alot of Money.

How did you teach the spell check to stop flagging "alot" as a misspelling?

And why would you do such a foolish thing anyway?

 

[rikscha]

No, the retina MBP is expensive (dictionary definition: costing a lot of money). Most houses are expensive, too, otherwise most people wouldn't need loans to be able to buy one. Not everyone can afford the retina MBP, and most people can't afford to buy a house outright (let alone get approved for a loan these days). Most people have to spend years saving up just to be able to make a down payment on a house. I have enough money to buy a retina MBP, but $3500 for the configuration that would satisfy my needs is a lot of money.

You are confusing "expensive" with "overpriced". When people talk about Macs being expensive I usually say "they are expensive but not overpriced, at least if you buy right after release." You get what you pay for...

Disagree.

 

[randomhkkid]

While it's nice that the Retina has HDMI on the side, you can use HDMI on any recent MacBook Pro using a small $3 MiniDisplayPort to HDMI adapter. Hardly a decision maker.

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While you are correct about much of Apple's market, you don't speak for me either. Lack of repairability and upgradability is a real issue for some of us and pointing it out is not an attack on your manhood or your children

The HDMI is good because it means video and audio can be carried over the same cable saving audio + mini displayport. Unless you have one of the very expensive display port monitors

 

[Gata]

Third knock: it's virtually unrepairable and upgradeable. Unlike the standard MacBook Pros, it will basically be disposable after you warrantee runs out. And you better buy the max configuration you will ever need.

Here more on this: http://ifixit.org/2763/the-new-macbook-pro-unfixable-unhackable-untenable/

Applecare.

With regards to upgrades, I imagine third-party SSDs will begin showing up on OWC for those who don't go for the bigger SSD configurations from the get-go.

And I might have ponied up for that. The negatives (small storage, not upgradeable) were too much for me.

That would have been nice.

The main thing that bugs me about the new MBP configurations is the fact that they aren't incredibly flexible in terms of price; you can get the 2199 model with the 256 GB SSD, but the next tier in terms of price is $500 more, which seems a bit excessive to me.

They're fairly thick machines, I'll admit. But 1. that's the price you pay for a pure performance machine, and 2. they're hardly the fat bastards those old laptops used to be. The new 15" Sager is roughly 1.3 inches thick and only two pounds heavier than the retina MBP. Bigger? Yup. By a goodly bit. But Obscenely so? Not really.

It's somewhat hard to deny the fact that the extra 1.3" thick and the additional two pounds of weight don't make it noticeably less portable. I have a hard time imagining that it would get particularly good battery life, either.

Therein lies the MBP's biggest positive aspect; it can deliver really good performance without sacrificing other things like thinness or being lightweight.

And a quarter of the resolution? Seriously? 2880x1400 vs. 1920x1080? That's roughly 2/3rds at least. Lets not go hyperbolistic over here.

It's 51.4%

(1920*1080)/(2880*1400)=0.5142 = 51.42%

So does that mean I think the new MBP is worthless? A gimmicky machine for hipster doofs who think a thin aluminum chasis and a high res screen is all it takes to make TEH BESTEST EVAR! ? Hell no. In my opinion, it's one of the overall nicest laptops I've seen. It's fast, it's sleek, and that retina display is...damn...it's nice. And yeah, the performance is about the best you can get for a laptop its size. It's for these very reasons I'm on the cusp of picking one up myself (I want to wait and see if they blow up and kill any of the early adopters before I make the commitment). What I'm saying here is that it's not the end all be all of portable computers.

It does come pretty close.

Disagree.

Care to elaborate on your challenge of the value of Apple products?

 

[gnasher729]

Third knock: it's virtually unrepairable and upgradeable. Unlike the standard MacBook Pros, it will basically be disposable after you warrantee runs out. And you better buy the max configuration you will ever need.

My first MacBook is now a bit over six years old, and still working just fine. There have been no repairs ever. So calling the MBPR "disposable after your warranty runs out" is just ridiculous. AppleCare might be a good idea; and Apple will be able to repair it. And in the end, there's no reason why that MBPR wouldn't be working just fine in six years time. And probably will still be beating the **** out of many contemporary laptops. RAM may not be upgradeable on the MBPR, but RAM isn't upgradeable on any MBP with 16 GB either. The SSD isn't upgradeable today, but it will be upgradeable when you want an upgrade. Just like everyone who was interested in doing so replaced the batteries on their iPods with non-replaceable batteries.

Care to point out what the "right" direction would be?

I suppose you can take Dell, Acer, HP and so on for the "right" direction. These seem to be companies that are highly successful compared to Apple

Reminds me: I did a Google search on "Dell Quad core laptop". The cheapest Dell with an equivalent CPU (2.4 GHz), upgraded to 8 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD was one of their "Alienware" desktop replacements for something over £2050 instead of the MBPR's £1799. 18.4" 1920x1080 screen, I did not manage to find the weight anywhere, and I didn't find the battery life anywhere, and I really looked for it, but it does have a 200 Watt power supply, where the MBPR only has 95.

 

[Fraaaa]

that was then and this is now. Money and time is all that matters... I EXPECT ALOT of "luxury" for alot of money. This MBP costs far too much of both to be "luxurious" to me and seemingly ALOT of other people given AAPL has only crapped out since the pitiful WWDC. No 17" and no ethernet port... Just ****** stupid. I vote with my WALLET, and I choose not to buy. As a SHAREHOLDER, I am OUTRAGED. Apple has taken a SERIOUS step in the WRONG direction, and will cost MILLIONS of people alot of Money.

Same old argument. People always bash Apple and the stock always go higher and higher. Sorry, but you as many other people have no realistic view, and don't want to understand choices of design. The design has an intent. I cannot believe people after 5 years that Apple adopt the same model, after biography and keynote, interviews of Steve, still fail to understand how Apple works. If you invested in Apple and you are outraged, you should not invest AT ALL.

Breathe. Listen. Think.

Third knock: it's virtually unrepairable and upgradeable. Unlike the standard MacBook Pros, it will basically be disposable after you warrantee runs out. And you better buy the max configuration you will ever need.

Here more on this: http://ifixit.org/2763/the-new-macbook-pro-unfixable-unhackable-untenable/

Still disagree on these views of "unrepairable" and "upgradeable" concepts, because Macs are not that disposable. In case of faults Apple usually intervene at no cost with replacements. Upgradability is moot considering that it extends mostly to RAM, and you can easily choose 8 or 16 on MBP. Having third-party RAM won't boost performances to any relevant point. Storage is cheap, and can be used over USB3. Within 2-3 years all the upgrades that you would consider will lead to a new Mac anyways.

my 2p

 

[ericmooreart]

Oh Apple Apple Apple. No Ethernet in the Retina? Really? So after paying 3,000 for a laptop, Your supposed to BUY an adapter (for a port that is an industry standard)?

My companies IT guys got a good laugh out of that

 

[rays09]

Oh Apple Apple Apple. No Ethernet in the Retina? Really? So after paying 3,000 for a laptop, Your supposed to BUY an adapter (for a port that is an industry standard)?

My companies IT guys got a good laugh out of that

word up!! lol "after paying 3,000 for a laptop, Your supposed to BUY an adapter"
"after paying 3,000 for a laptop, Your supposed to BUY an adapter"
"after paying 3,000 for a laptop, Your supposed to BUY an adapter"

i think high model non retina 15" with high res and max out ram is the best deal for notebook so far in the market! please don't compare it with windows notebook!! it's different night and day..
rMBP will the best until they solved everything of issue out there like resolution problem and c'mon apple i buy your 3K notebook and i still have to give you money for just a high end price piece of adaptor!!

 

[jnpy!$4g3cwk]

i think high model non retina 15" with high res and max out ram is the best deal for notebook so far in the market! please don't compare it with windows notebook!! it's different night and day..
rMBP will the best until they solved everything of issue out there like resolution problem and c'mon apple i buy your 3K notebook and i still have to give you money for just a high end price piece of adaptor!!

The RMBP is really another model in the Air product line - light, thin, and disposable after three years (you would be crazy to buy an RMBP without AppleCare).

My largest annoyance is that you can't get the retina screen on the regular MBP, and they canceled the 17", so anyone wanting minimum 1920 x 1080 or better is stuck.

 

[hipnetic]

Sigh. Let's see if we can try a different approach to this...

They *did* include built-in network access. There's built-in WiFi, which has been around for several years now and has become the *new* industry standard for intranet/internet access. Please provide me with a list of Fortune 500 companies that don't yet allow their employees to connect via WiFi so that I can make sure that I don't own any of their stock.

And for anyone who desires faster ethernet access, good news: they gave you that, too. It's in the form of an ultra-small next-gen ethernet port they call Thunderbolt. Just plug the low-cost dongle to your ethernet cable and leave that at your desk. Plug in the tiny Thunderbolt end of the dongle into your Mac.

 

[Irock619]

Everybody wants a thinner product but they don't want to loose hardware features, such as an ethernet port or optical drive. Choose your evils everybody, choose your evils....

 

[Nostromo]

I have a few FireWire drives. I can either access them at 2.0 snail speed or at FW 800 speed through an adapter.

Not a problem.

 

[ZipZap]

In 1981 I paid $2400 for an IBM PC with specs 0.0047GHz 8/16-bit CPU, 0.000016GB RAM, audio tape storage (no floppy drive, hard drive unheard of, flash storage unimaginable), 320x200 graphics, and no monitor.

QUOTE]

Thanks for the specs.

I bought one as well way back when. Might say we were the pioneers of this industry, risking that kind of money of a piece of equipment that did almost nothing.

The Heathkit H8 on the other hand was something you could at least build.

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that was then and this is now. Money and time is all that matters... I EXPECT ALOT of "luxury" for alot of money. This MBP costs far too much of both to be "luxurious" to me and seemingly ALOT of other people given AAPL has only crapped out since the pitiful WWDC. No 17" and no ethernet port... Just ****** stupid. I vote with my WALLET, and I choose not to buy. As a SHAREHOLDER, I am OUTRAGED. Apple has taken a SERIOUS step in the WRONG direction, and will cost MILLIONS of people alot of Money.

Thanks for joining just to express a nonsense point. From what you posted, I'd say you're no shareholder.

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Thunderbolt schmunderbolt. MANY avg consumers will shy away, and for what. It will cost alot of sales and lost revenue, which is unacceptable as a shareholder. Do you really think some newbie will have any clue about an adapter while browsing the site??? No... They need a comp now, won't see what they need, and will buy a $700 17" DELL and be happy about it. Perhaps rightly so. Apple seems to have gotten a litke too up in their heads on this, and the stock is suffering for it.

Lets see, the TB has been on some computers for the last year.....does not seem to have hurt Apple's share price.

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Screw you. I love Apple products and happy to be entirely entangled in the Apple ecosystem. I don't love design that harms the PUBLICLY OFFERED AND TRADED company shares. AAPL stock is suffering for this failure and that is what I take issue with.

And you base this assessment on what? Something you heard a grownup say?

You offer no facts, and nothing to show that Apple's approach (which is not new) is hurting share price. What will hurt their share prices is a lact of products to release. When that happens, then it might be time to bail.

 

[HowEver]

Dude, it wouldn't be a "regular MBP" if it had a RETINA screen!

The RMBP is really another model in the Air product line - light, thin, and disposable after three years (you would be crazy to buy an RMBP without AppleCare).

My largest annoyance is that you can't get the retina screen on the regular MBP, and they canceled the 17", so anyone wanting minimum 1920 x 1080 or better is stuck.