What are pixels? Is the retina worth it? It can't even run at its native resolution!

[MartinAppleGuy]

Sorry I forgot what I had said That's true, thanks a lot man.
Btw I have read horror stories of the coating of the screen of the rmbp comes out easily? Like if you use a cloth and water and rub it, it comes out? And that the keyboard leaves imprints on the screen which do not come out! Is that true!!!? Is the quality that bad! I'm shocked! It's such an expensive computer and the quality of apple can't be so bad! Moreover have you experienced anything as such?

I don't own a MBP (I own a 2014 iMac that uses the same techniques screen-wise as the retain MBP's). From my experience, you are best to clean it with the black cleaning cloth you get with it and don't use water.

I have found the screens to be the best in the industry both in terms of quality and robustness so don't worry about it. I would however ask you to consider changing the way you clean it, what you you cleaning off of it? Dirt? If it is just normal dust that consumes over time, just use the cleaning cloth. Sometime you will have to apply pressure if you have some bit of dirt that are pushed in and thats it. You don't need to use water or anything like that to clean these screens.

About the keyboard imprints, I know people who have had Macbook's for years and I have never heard of this. I have heard of it on other laptops but not on MBP's. Laptops usually come with a thin cloth that sits in-between the screen and the keyboard so for peace of mind you could use the one you got with your MBP when storing it away.

If there was something wrong with your MBP that made if different from everyone else's (which is really the same chance as winning the lottery), the issue would most defiantly show within the first year (so you will be able to take it to Apple to get it replaced and/or replaced).

Don't worry, I understand that this is a large purchase and I'm sure you want everything to be absolutely perfect with your new MacBook, just enjoy it! You have bought one of the best laptops out there, and Apple are well known for their amazingly built products. Even if you were one in a billion that had a defective machine (which I'm sure you don't), Apple are very good at repairing/replacing and trying to keep you happy

To give you an idea of how long Apple products last, here is a 1999 iBook that still runs fine to this day and gets 5 hours of battery life: http://youtu.be/mc6n9cKh5u8. It is 15 years old now.

As for your retina resolution questions, visit here: http://www.apple.com/uk/macbook-pro/features-retina/ . It has a good side by side comparison to show the difference between a non retain and a retina screen. Basically, everything is the same size (text, buttons...) but on the retain screen it is 4X as sharp. This image (http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/1183777/displaymacro.jpg) shows the difference the between the two.

Rather than worrying, tell me think of your purchase. Happy with the amazing performance (your Macbook Pro contains some of the fastest Flash storage out there; PCIe SSD, it has a very fast Dual Core i5 with hyper threading and Turbo-boosting, 8GB of RAM and with RAM compression in OS X you can use 18.5GB before slowing down)? Do you like the amazing screen? Enjoying OS X? All the amazing free software that comes with it (iMovie, iPhoto, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Garageband...)? The 9 hour battery life?

MartinAppleGuy

 

[macfreak101]

I don't own a MBP (I own a 2014 iMac that uses the same techniques screen-wise as the retain MBP's). From my experience, you are best to clean it with the black cleaning cloth you get with it and don't use water.

I have found the screens to be the best in the industry both in terms of quality and robustness so don't worry about it. I would however ask you to consider changing the way you clean it, what you you cleaning off of it? Dirt? If it is just normal dust that consumes over time, just use the cleaning cloth. Sometime you will have to apply pressure if you have some bit of dirt that are pushed in and thats it. You don't need to use water or anything like that to clean these screens.

About the keyboard imprints, I know people who have had Macbook's for years and I have never heard of this. I have heard of it on other laptops but not on MBP's. Laptops usually come with a thin cloth that sits in-between the screen and the keyboard so for peace of mind you could use the one you got with your MBP when storing it away.

If there was something wrong with your MBP that made if different from everyone else's (which is really the same chance as winning the lottery), the issue would most defiantly show within the first year (so you will be able to take it to Apple to get it replaced and/or replaced).

Don't worry, I understand that this is a large purchase and I'm sure you want everything to be absolutely perfect with your new MacBook, just enjoy it! You have bought one of the best laptops out there, and Apple are well known for their amazingly built products. Even if you were one in a billion that had a defective machine (which I'm sure you don't), Apple are very good at repairing/replacing and trying to keep you happy

To give you an idea of how long Apple products last, here is a 1999 iBook that still runs fine to this day and gets 5 hours of battery life: http://youtu.be/mc6n9cKh5u8. It is 15 years old now.

As for your retina resolution questions, visit here: http://www.apple.com/uk/macbook-pro/features-retina/ . It has a good side by side comparison to show the difference between a non retain and a retina screen. Basically, everything is the same size (text, buttons...) but on the retain screen it is 4X as sharp. This image (http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/1183777/displaymacro.jpg) shows the difference the between the two.

Rather than worrying, tell me think of your perchance. Happy with the amazing performance (your Macbook Pro contains some of the fastest Flash storage out there; PCIe SSD, it has a very fast Dual Core i5 with hyper threading and Turbo-boosting, 8GB of RAM and with RAM compression in OS X you can use 18.5GB before slowing down)? Do you like the amazing screen? Enjoying OS X? All the amazing free software that comes with it (iMovie, iPhoto, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Garageband...)? The 9 hour battery life?

MartinAppleGuy

Hey thank you so much for your time and effort I really appreciate it
I would definitely like to point out that you're one of the nicest people that I have met here on macrumors and it's because of people like you that we new commers come here with a query and go back with nothing but comfort. Thanks once again for the effort


Coming back, I love the screen haven't really tested the battery life as such, have only used the computer for a day or so and kinda was scared to use it as didn't want anything to go wrong, I know it's weird it's just a computer but I treat it like a pot of gold
That video is amazing can't believe it that it's 15 years old!

I just got really horrified after reading this post https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1624907/[

And didn't want the same to happen with me. Thank you for understanding
And I wanted a little advice, is it worth purchasing the apple care plan? Even though it doesn't cover accidental damages and the battery itself!
Secondly any tips to minimize the cycles of your battery, like shall I always leave it plugged in on ac or otherwise?

Again I was just scared as the glass has no protective layer and just to replace it costs a good 500 bucks but you truly helped me, I'm truly grateful for all your help

 

[MartinAppleGuy]

Hey thank you so much for your time and effort I really appreciate it
I would definitely like to point out that you're one of the nicest people that I have met here on macrumors and it's because of people like you that we new commers come here with a query and go back with nothing but comfort. Thanks once again for the effort

Your very welcome I always like to make sure new comers feel right at home and enjoy their new experience with Mac

Coming back, I love the screen haven't really tested the battery life as such, have only used the computer for a day or so and kinda was scared to use it as didn't want anything to go wrong, I know it's weird it's just a computer but I treat it like a pot of gold
That video is amazing can't believe it that it's 15 years old!

I totally agree, we all treat our new purchase like gods It is perfectly normal to do this and everyone is always wary if there is something wrong (even though the chance is slim to none).

I just got really horrified after reading this post https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1624907/[

And didn't want the same to happen with me. Thank you for understanding.

You have to remember that all of what you read online is a tiny, tiny number of complains over the massive amount of users out their that don't have the issue. People don't post online that their machine is fine, but most do if it is not. For this issue, the problem appears to be from using water. I highly recommend using the cleaning cloth the majority of the time if not all of the time. This should 100% stop this issue from even remotely happening. That issue still seems very limited but I still would recommend not using water.

And I wanted a little advice, is it worth purchasing the apple care plan? Even though it doesn't cover accidental damages and the battery itself!
Secondly any tips to minimize the cycles of your battery, like shall I always leave it plugged in on ac or otherwise?

Again I was just scared as the glass has no protective layer and just to replace it costs a good 500 bucks but you truly helped me, I'm truly grateful for all your help

This is a tricky one. There is people that have spent their money on Apple Care and then had expensive repairs done that made them a massive saving then their is people that haven't bought Apple Care and not had any issues. This is very much personal preference but it can offer you peace of mind if you can justify it. If you find yourself running into problems a few weeks before your one year warranty with Apple runs out, you should defiantly buy Apple Care. If you can justify the money, I think that it would at least give you peace of mind that if anything were to go wrong, your covered.

As for the battery, I can't really comment on maximising potential but I would recommend never using it when plugged in (or at least do any high performance tasks while changing). You will want to run the battery almost all the way down most of the time. I think the number of charge cycles on the MBPr is around 1000 (and that is full cycles, not partial). Apple have always been known for having batteries that have larger life cycles over others. There are apps that can track your battery cycle as well as tell you the capacity of the battery (and I think you can also find out in OS X without the 3rd party apps). If you notice that the battery capacity get's lower quickly (like within the first few months drops to 90% or less, then Apple will replace the battery as it would be faulty). Otherwise, the large cycle count of the battery as well as the 9 hour battery life should mean that you will replace this MBP well before the battery becomes a problem. If you use it an hour a day, it would last 24 and a half years before no longer working and you should still be able to run off the mains after that so I wouldn't worry too much about the battery

 

[lotzosushi]

Yes... you can game on a Mac. I use Boot Camp/Windows and I play games like Skyrim and Watch Dogs on medium/high graphics just fine with no stuttering.

And you can use a free app like SwitchResX on OS X to enable full native resolution. I've been using 2880x1800 on my 15" rMBP for a while now. Though it does decrease battery life so I only use it when I'm plugged in.

 

[iKrivetko]

>I don't know jack **** about pixels
>Will be using this laptop for intense video and photo editing

Oh dear.

 

[apunkrockmonk]

OP,

If you're looking for a menubar application that allows you to switch resolutions quickly or try out the actual native resolution of the display give RDM a try.

It's free, here is a direct download link.

I included a screenshot of RDM as well as my 13" RMBP running at 2560x1600.