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waloshin

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Oct 9, 2008
3,339
173
At the end of the keynote apple announced, "Expect more innovations like this in 2012" So i am assuming the 15/17 MBP's first then the Air then the 13 MBP.
 

tim100

macrumors 65816
May 25, 2009
1,368
0
At the end of the keynote apple announced, "Expect more innovations like this in 2012" So i am assuming the 15/17 MBP's first then the Air then the 13 MBP.

it seems like new retina macs are coming this year. how much of an improvement will they be over the already great macbook air? early impressions of the iPad retina display is its amazing. i didn't notice much of a difference between retina and non retina iPhones.

will a retina display mac get you to upgrade?
 

waloshin

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Oct 9, 2008
3,339
173
it seems like new retina macs are coming this year. how much of an improvement will they be over the already great macbook air? early impressions of the iPad retina display is its amazing. i didn't notice much of a difference between retina and non retina iPhones.

will a retina display mac get you to upgrade?

If i have the money.
If the battery life stays the same.
If the power is still there.

Then yes, you?
 

neilpryde23

macrumors regular
Nov 28, 2011
150
0
I agree. I didn't actually think too much about the rumors of Retina Display on macs but that "Expect more innovations like this in 2012" line has got me believing that there will be retina on at least the MBP and maybe the MBA
 

thekev

macrumors 604
Aug 5, 2010
7,005
3,343
At the end of the keynote apple announced, "Expect more innovations like this in 2012" So i am assuming the 15/17 MBP's first then the Air then the 13 MBP.

Note that it's quite difficult in terms of heat dissipation/stability to scale this stuff upward. I'd look for it first on the smaller displays. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see this debut on the Airs first. I don't expect much on the 27" imacs for some time, but desktop displays have been pretty stagnant for years.

I agree. I didn't actually think too much about the rumors of Retina Display on macs but that "Expect more innovations like this in 2012" line has got me believing that there will be retina on at least the MBP and maybe the MBA

I have to tell you, I'd look for it on the Air first unless it requires a panel with greater thickness than the design can accommodate for some reason. Implementing this may be significantly more expensive as its scaled upward meaning that the 15/17" might be less likely early on. Also remember that the macbooks use a cheaper panel technology (TN) than what is currently used in the ipad/iphone. I wouldn't count on this one way or the other. If the panels are ready before a refresh, you are likely to see it.
 

KittyKatta

macrumors 65816
Feb 24, 2011
1,058
1,212
SoCal
Forgive me if this is a stupid question, but I don't understand the whole "retina display" thing. Would this be an essential feature in the next Macbook Air? Why?

For me, I got an 11" Air that I loved at first due to the size but I've noticed myself unintentionaly leaning in more to read or getting eye strain that I've never had before. So would a retina 11" be better next gen or is this just me getting old. :D
 

jmgregory1

macrumors 68030
I'm using the '11 13" air and the higher resolution compared to my '07 15" mbp is both great and problematic at the same time. It's great because it's so sharp, but a problem because it has shrunk everything (fonts in particular), almost to the point where it's getting too hard to read without some straining.

I'd be more interested in improvements to color and saturation before worrying about quadrupling the pixel count (unless color improvements came from that).
 

iWantThat

macrumors member
Oct 15, 2011
62
0
At the end of the keynote apple announced, "Expect more innovations like this in 2012" So i am assuming the 15/17 MBP's first then the Air then the 13 MBP.

I thought the same thing as you when I heard Tim say this at the end of the keynote. After thinking about it for awhile though there's probably a greater chance he meant 4G LTE in the next iPhone. We'll see though. If not this year we will likely see retina like displays in the Mac sometime before 2013 is through.
 

CUsurfer

macrumors member
Aug 29, 2010
84
0
Forgive me if this is a stupid question, but I don't understand the whole "retina display" thing. Would this be an essential feature in the next Macbook Air? Why?

For me, I got an 11" Air that I loved at first due to the size but I've noticed myself unintentionaly leaning in more to read or getting eye strain that I've never had before. So would a retina 11" be better next gen or is this just me getting old. :D

I can tell you one thing. Apple currently charges an additional $100 fee to go from 1440x900 res to 1560x1080, at least on the 15" pro. I'm not a mac-hater by any means, but I'm sorry, in 2012 that is an absolute joke. My 6 year old Dell has 1560x1080. As someone who uses music production software on a daily basis, screen real estate, and thus high resolution, is an absolute must. At least the retina display would provide for an up-to-date resolution. It will be interesting to Apple's pricing structure regarding these new products...
 

za9ra22

macrumors 65816
Sep 25, 2003
1,225
1,284
Considering that the MBA models already have higher pixel density displays than standard laptops, it's debatable that retina display panels would offer a notable improvement. You wouldn't really be able to use a higher resolution than the displays currently offer - imagine 1440x900 on an 11 inch screen for example.... not viable without a microscope - and if retaining existing resolutions, the improvement in sharpness and clarity compared with the present displays would barely be noticeable on an 11 inch screen, and not much more so on 13".
 

KittyKatta

macrumors 65816
Feb 24, 2011
1,058
1,212
SoCal
Yup, you can just tell, everything is going to be retina by the end of the year.
I guess statements like this is why Im so confused by the whole "retina" thing. I thought "Retina" was simply apple's buzzword for higher resolution, but then people come around talking about it like its some miracle that will change your life.

So is there an actual definition to "Retina Display" and is there something more to it than the resolution Apple chooses?
 

Saturn1217

macrumors 65816
Apr 28, 2008
1,264
834
Also curious about this...

For one thing on the ipad and iphone the retina display doesn't actually allow you to see more content on the screen. It just makes things look sharper. This is completely different from screen resolution bumps in laptops which make things smaller but allow you to fit more on screen.

I wonder which way a "retina" display would work in laptops. I'm not sure I would really care for either implementation. I certainly don't want things to get any smaller - I look at my computer the majority of my waking hours and I'm already prone to eye strain.

But I also don't feel like having sharper pictures on a macbook would improve things that much. I'm on a 13inch MBP right now with the 'low' 1280x800 resolution and it looks plenty smooth to me. Increasing the sharpness of the picture won't help me read anything easier etc. (like it kind of does on an iphone) and it will require more computational power just to get the same job done.

Hopefully the retina display can be optional if apple decides to pursue this...
 

Moonjumper

macrumors 68030
Jun 20, 2009
2,740
2,908
Lincoln, UK
Also curious about this...

For one thing on the ipad and iphone the retina display doesn't actually allow you to see more content on the screen. It just makes things look sharper. This is completely different from screen resolution bumps in laptops which make things smaller but allow you to fit more on screen.

I wonder which way a "retina" display would work in laptops. I'm not sure I would really care for either implementation. I certainly don't want things to get any smaller - I look at my computer the majority of my waking hours and I'm already prone to eye strain.

But I also don't feel like having sharper pictures on a macbook would improve things that much. I'm on a 13inch MBP right now with the 'low' 1280x800 resolution and it looks plenty smooth to me. Increasing the sharpness of the picture won't help me read anything easier etc. (like it kind of does on an iphone) and it will require more computational power just to get the same job done.

Hopefully the retina display can be optional if apple decides to pursue this...

If they do add retina screens to Macs, then it will be a pixel doubling as in iOS. The HiDPI modes point to this.

The retina screen on my iPhone 4 causes a lot less eyestrain than my previous 3G because everything is so much sharper and clearer. I doubt the difference will be quite as big on a Mac, but it will be a worthwhile improvement.
 

jmgregory1

macrumors 68030
I can tell you one thing. Apple currently charges an additional $100 fee to go from 1440x900 res to 1560x1080, at least on the 15" pro. I'm not a mac-hater by any means, but I'm sorry, in 2012 that is an absolute joke. My 6 year old Dell has 1560x1080. As someone who uses music production software on a daily basis, screen real estate, and thus high resolution, is an absolute must. At least the retina display would provide for an up-to-date resolution. It will be interesting to Apple's pricing structure regarding these new products...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I would guess that your 6 year old Dell is most likely a 15.4" model, correct? With an SXGA+ or WSXGA+ screen? You paid $100, or at least that is what Dell charged to get the upgraded resolution screen. And the same is true today - other than the "top of the line" dell laptops that include the higher res screens, it's a $99 up-charge to get the better screen.

Just saying, Apple isn't exactly falling behind the other "premium" notebook manufacturers. It also goes back to specs - Apple products are not spec driven, but rather user experience driven. I've been using computers since they first hit the market and have had just about every brand. The user experience has always been so significantly better with Apple. The only contender was a Compaq IBM knockoff I had about 10 years ago, but that thing was a frisking brick to carry around.
 

SiG03

macrumors newbie
Jul 15, 2011
9
0
Sunny FL
Retina Display MBAs

will a retina display mac get you to upgrade?

Absolutely! Though, I confess I was planning on upgrading with two new MBAs by the end of the year anyway. Retina displays would only make the planned purchases even sweeter.
 

cpnotebook80

macrumors 65816
Feb 4, 2007
1,204
521
Toronto
Cool! If they can make it look good as butter on new ipad, should be interesting to see on the actual notebook screens.
 
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