I have feeling there won't be a 13" pro Retina, at least not anytime soon. Considering the 15" Retina weighs about the same as the current 13" pro and has the screen real estate of the 17", seems like a merger of the 3 lines. The 15" Retina becoming the only Pro machine and the rest Airs, maybe an improved 13" Air to cover that market. If people want a larger screen, then they'll have to go with an ATD, or even iMac/MacPro route. I think those last two are also threatened by the 15" retina/ATD como.
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Waiting for the 13 inch Retina MacBook Pro
- Thread starter samac92
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I also agree with a few fellows in this thread that its hard to believe the new 13 inch rMBP will be release with in a few months.
It does seem like a strategy, to release the 15 inch rMBP first only, very smart move. Although that doesn't change the fact I can not afford the the 15 inch rMBP at this very moment. I will be sticking with my current Asus netbook as I'll be waiting for the 13 inch rMBP.
It does seem like a strategy, to release the 15 inch rMBP first only, very smart move. Although that doesn't change the fact I can not afford the the 15 inch rMBP at this very moment. I will be sticking with my current Asus netbook as I'll be waiting for the 13 inch rMBP.
The problem with 13" MBP retina is the HD4000 bottleneck. It cannot keep up with scaled resolutions well (MBP15" retina users have reported lag with scaled resolutions on HD4000 mode).
A retina display requires a dedicated GPU to function properly, and there's non of that in a MBP 13" or MBA 13"
A retina display requires a dedicated GPU to function properly, and there's non of that in a MBP 13" or MBA 13"
Apple can always put a dedicated GPU into 13" MBP. My old 13" Macbook has NVidia 9400M. If you look at the inside of 15" MBP Retina, a lot of space can be freed up for the GPU if they limit the SSD to 512GB and RAM to 8GB. The new design of the unibody shell has vents at both sides for heat dissipation.
A new MBP 13" Retina allow Apple to set a new price point to cover the cost of GPU and Retina panel and SSD. With the legacy 13" MBP, Apple can only do speed bump with the current price point, which has been going on for years and no longer attractive to us. I also wonder how many of MBP buyers actually upgrade the RAM or SSD. With new MBP 13" Retina, Apple is kind of 'forcing' the bundling with a higher price point, which also mean higher profit margin for them.
Your Nvidia 9400M is *NOT* dedicated. It's still an integrated GPU, and would not be able to handle a retina resolution comfortably.
The problem putting a dedicated GPU into a 13" MBP is not the lack of space. It's heat outputs and battery consumption. I very much doubt Apple will implement a dedicated GPU on any 13" MBP. No MBP 13" has EVER had a dedicated GPU, so I guess there's a good reason for it.
Let's face it: without a dedicated GPU, retina is not feasible.
The 15" version is just too large for my needs, so like many of you I am holding out for the 13" version. I hope Apple do not keep us waiting too long...
Would love a slimmed down 13" Pro with retina display and dedicated graphics. I can't justify the 15" no matter how great it looks. I'll be hanging onto my 2011 13" Pro until we see something like this.
Same reason they realised both a 15" retina MPB and updated previous gen MPBs? That argument doesn't work when you look at what they've done with the 15" MBP. Admittedly, the 13" clouds things - 3x 13" Apple Laptops... One needs to go, at least.
I hope the future 13" retina MBP gets the same resolution as the 15" retina... 2560*1600 in retina mode (real estate 1280*800) just ins't enough working room. 1440x900 on the 13" MBA is much more useless. I know you can scale it differentially with OS X software.
Really? to me that's a clear evidence of the opposite: Apple is phasing out the MBP 13" slowly just like they did with the Macbook White...
This does make a lot of sense, but there is only one issue - the price gap. The MBA 11" starts at $999 versus $2199 for the 15" retina. Currently there is only small gaps between 11" Air, 13" Air, 13" pro, 15" pro, and 15" retina. This makes people go..."well, I can spend $200 more and get the larger screen..."
Pricing a 13" on the lower end will make it harder for people to justify the 15" upgrade. Pricing it on the higher end will lose out on a large share of the notebook market looking for an average sized, decently priced notebook.
So either they keep the 13" Air and have a 13" retina at $1499 or so, or they bring the price down on the 15" retina to close the gap. I feel the first option is more likely.
I have to agree with you on the heat dissipation and battery consumption topic. When we compare the legacy and retina 15" MBP, the retina one has 22% ( 95Whr vs 77.5 Whr ) more battery power than the legacy, yet lasting the same 7 hour. Does this mean the GPU need 22% more power to drive the retina screen?
Anyway it looks to me like its a technical issue not launching 13" MBP Retina now, rather than a business one.
Pretty sure due to the batteries required it'll look closer to the 15" RMBP. The air doesn't have enough room to accomodate the batteries necessary.
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Actually the HD 4000 in the Ivy Bridge processors can do retina
another reason for a 13" for those of us that don't want to spend $2200 on a laptop. The integrated graphics in the 15" laptop is the same as it would be in a 13" RMBP. Moreover, if there were to be a 13" retina it wouldn't have quite the resolution the 15" has. So the HD4000 might be able to handle it better than it currently is in the 15".
I hope you are right. I won't think twice about purchasing the 13" version, unless Apple gimp it with a 128GB SSD drive and make the 256GB version the upgrade/high-end model. Surely they should spec the 13" version the same as the 15"...
I hadn't thought about that, but that does seem like something Apple would do. Base model retina for the price of the old high end 13", but you have to buy the high end new model to get a decent SSD size.
Apple if you're reading, please don't do that
I also presume the 13" would run a little bit hotter than the 15" version unless they use the exact same fans and cooling solution in the 13" model? But surely downsizing the 15" system in less space will mean the 13" will naturally run hotter? I don't know, I'm no engineer.
I hope you're right. I won't be in the position to buy one for at least a couple of months anyway.
Well it will be less powerful (no quad core, less powerful graphics etc) so shouldn't need all the space the 15 inch has. Same situation with the old MBPs
my 2 cents
If I was to take a jab at it i'd say we'll see 13" retina next summer w/ Haswell because of the large jump in IGP that's "suppose" to take place. I'd think line up would look like this, Airs (11" $999, 13" $1099) MBP (13" $1499, 15" $1999). What I don't get though is the gap in between 13" air and mbp, especially w/ the air's price drop. If the 13" air was at $1199 I'd be more comfortable w/ this prediction.
What I'd wish for, although I don't think they'd do it, is 11" @ $1099, 13" @ $1399, 15" @ $1799. All becoming just Macbook, all retina, all SSD, etc. I think it's possible, but for sure I think there would be an issue w/ the lower end 13" that is perfect for most consumers, say $1199.
Edit: Apple might be willing to cut some margin on the 11" to get it to that magical $999 price point.
If I was to take a jab at it i'd say we'll see 13" retina next summer w/ Haswell because of the large jump in IGP that's "suppose" to take place. I'd think line up would look like this, Airs (11" $999, 13" $1099) MBP (13" $1499, 15" $1999). What I don't get though is the gap in between 13" air and mbp, especially w/ the air's price drop. If the 13" air was at $1199 I'd be more comfortable w/ this prediction.
What I'd wish for, although I don't think they'd do it, is 11" @ $1099, 13" @ $1399, 15" @ $1799. All becoming just Macbook, all retina, all SSD, etc. I think it's possible, but for sure I think there would be an issue w/ the lower end 13" that is perfect for most consumers, say $1199.
Edit: Apple might be willing to cut some margin on the 11" to get it to that magical $999 price point.
I think in an ideal world Apple would like to do that, but at least for the time being we're going to see some overlap in sizes.
True dat. But by the time you beef up the 13" Macbook to 1440 by 900 display (not retina), 8GB memory, and SSD standard... the price will surely go up distancing it from the 11" Air. Just like the 15" just took a $400 base price hike.
This leaves you with:
11" Air: $999
New beefed up 13" MacBook: $1499 (+ $300
)15" MBP: $2099 (- $100
)Sounds entirely plausible but one way to nudge buyers "up" is to simply price the middle offering higher. Perhaps taking the 13" MacBook up $300 (as I suggest) might incite global riots but it also makes the 15" more attractive. I also know that iOS is Apple's serious bread and butter so I'm not convinced they'll keep a 4th laptop offering just to appease the waffling tire-kickers.
Also, look at the ship times now for the new 15". The extra price sure hasn't deterred demand.
Keep in mind I've never been right about anything Apple has done.
But again, all these unique unibody designs must be driving Ive bonkers.Edit: I forgot to mention one of the clues that first led me to all this talk about streamlining laptop offerings. The word "MacBook Pro" has been removed from the new 15Retina. Very telling as somebody is thinking ahead to the time when the 3 remaining models will simply be MacBooks.
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