New MacBook Pro with retina display

[Michael Wolf]

I don't know about you fellas, but I'm pretty excited about the yesterday-announced MacBook Pro with retina display (2880x1800 on a 15-inch screen). It was my decision quite a while ago not to invest in upgrading/purchasing desktop computers anymore, and ever since I've been searching for the ultimate laptop to suite my needs well. And while following yesterday's Apple Keynote I realized that this is it. Very limited screen size and resolutions of any laptop was the key point that stopped me from going "desktopless"—yes, now it's a word—but Apple solved the issue for me by increasing the resolution twofold.

In the very near future I intend to purchase this monster and use it for all of my photo editing/screening/video editing/other needs.

Anyone else considering this at all?

[PMN]

I'm definitely not considering it! Imagine how small even a 1600 wide image is going to appear on a 15" screen that's 2880 wide, how are you supposed to see the detail you really need to see (noise, sharpness, etc) when the images are displayed at such small sizes? I wouldn't want to edit on one and I certainly wouldn't want to screen on one personally. They're marketing the Retina display as being a great thing for photographers but I think it's the exact opposite and they seem to be doing the screen version of the pixel race that happened with digital cameras a few years ago, sure enough we're now seeing manufacturers reducing pixels in certain models because they realised increasing them was actually a silly move. I suspect a lot of people are going to disagree this is good for photographers who mostly edit their work to 1024-1600 wide for display on the Net. With such high resolution, non-upgradable memory and other spec changes I do wonder exactly who they're aiming this range at.

Another reason I'm not considering it is the fact I bought a 15" MacBook Pro last August and it's doing just fine. Doesn't stop me wanting an 11" MacBook Air though!

[Felipe Garcia]

I agree with Paul, they're marketing it as a great tool for photographers, but in my opinion it's an oversized netbook that can run Photoshop and AutoCAD.

It doesn't have built-in ethernet, built-in FW800, or optical drive. And from what I've heard, it appears to me that the SSD it has is not a standard 2.5" SATA drive, but a proprietary data stick (like the one on the WedgeBook Air). So if I'm traveling abroad and my main data storage gets corrupted or takes a dump, it's not as easy to fix as a normal computer. In my experience, I did a clean upgrade to Snow Leopard, installed extra software and restored the data from my time machine over a day while I was at my parents' house in Mexico with a 1Mbps connection. It wasn't a drive failure, I just didn't have time to do it before traveling. If my current drive fails when traveling, I can just get a replacement disk (probably not cheap, but if I needed my computer for work, I'd pay it).

Everything is on the cloud now, great, prevents me from having excessive DVDs and such, but again, if I'm traveling and I have to restore data in a hotel room, I don't have the bandwidth or decent speeds to download updates and extra software. You can restore data and software from Time Machine, but some software doesn't work properly and has to be reinstalled. My roommate said it can be carried on USB sticks (for example, OS X installation images), but at $12 per 8GB drive, not cheap to carry too many, plus they're quite bulky.

For audio/video folks, I'm unsure how they plan on burning discs without having to carry an external dvd, plus all the adapters and dongles.

They're marketing Thunderbolt as being the next innovation in everything, and it might be, but right now, there's almost no peripherals, other than a $2500 RAID array. I have external Firewire storage (both desktop and portable), and I haven't bought a Firewire card reader just because I currently have an all in one reader with an integrated USB plug, so there's no cables to carry around.

No, I'm not a pro or a paid photojournalist, but I sure have similar requirements for my equipment, as I do travel often, and take plenty of pictures when I travel for airshows and such. And I do carry a set of recovery disks when I travel, just in case.

On the other hand, it looks like it's a great machine for CAD, and AutoCAD now runs natively on OS X, which is great. However, none of the other engineering programs I use on a regular basis run natively on OS X (CATIA, ANSYS, Solidworks), but the retina display and much upgraded graphics memory will probably be great for those applications.

At least they kept the current model, which shows that they are still committed to people who don't demand a fancy screen or an ultra-thin computer but prefer more traditional options.

I have a mid 2010 MBP and it's still working great, I might upgrade the RAM to 8GB, as I only have the original 4GB (back then that was an $800ish option which increased the shipping time by 2-3 weeks, now it's a $50 aftermarket upgrade).
,

[PMN]

Felipe, I agree with everything you've said! 8GB of new memory for my MacBook Pro should arrive today and once installed this machine should last me a while, at least hopefully!

[brianw999]

Originally Posted by PMN

.......Another reason I'm not considering it is the fact I bought a 15" MacBook Pro last August and it's doing just fine. Doesn't stop me wanting an 11" MacBook Air though!

What with a 5DIII on your wish list I think you're going to have to push and pull a few more sound sliders !!!

[PMN]

Originally Posted by brianw999

What with a 5DIII on your wish list I think you're going to have to push and pull a few more sound sliders !!!

Ha! Fortunately my year is already pretty full gig-wise, I don't have another weekend free until the middle of August and the year ends with two big fat arena tours round the UK and northern Europe through November and December so I'm happy! I've decided to go for the 5DII though rather than the III, as much as I'd like the III I'm not going to see a huge benefit for what I shoot so I can't really justify spending almost twice as much.

[Simpleboy]

I cant wait till 6 months time when i hopefully have a job and can afford a new computer. However, i wouldnt touch this for photo editing at all. My 23" 1920x1080 monitor seems like it has a pretty good pixel density and i certainly wouldnt want any smaller pixels in it for the reasons Pauls mentioned.

[Michael Wolf]

You make a good point, guys, but I'm still not willing to give up without a fight. I'm at least going to see for myself how much of an issue is presented with such a high pixel density when it comes to screening/editing. So, Apple Store, here I come.

[Simpleboy]

Originally Posted by Michael Wolf

You make a good point, guys, but I'm still not willing to give up without a fight. I'm at least going to see for myself how much of an issue is presented with such a high pixel density when it comes to screening/editing. So, Apple Store, here I come.

It does look like a bit of beast processing wise. And i do believe it will be very good for editing for printing. But for editing for web use and such, I don't think it's gonna be as good as a lower resolution screen as being able to see all the details would be far more useful.

[seahawk]

Well there is a very simple way to get a feeling for the resolution at that size. Activate Downsampling on your current machine and see if you like it. I tired that and seriously the user interface in PS becomes really tiny, when it comes to clicking on the tool you wish to use.

[Taliesin]

[Kevin]

Messed around with one yesterday at the Apple store and oh boy...was it fantastic! The display is truly amazing. I am using my Macbook Pro 13" right now and wow, I thought I wouldn't be able to tell much of a difference but I was wrong...what an improvement.

But the price...

Think I will wait. lol.

[chris78cpr]

It looks to be a very nice bit of kit!

I am however the total opposite of Michael and plan on going to a full desktop/tablet set up in the future. For me, i use my MBP for email, browsing and that's about it. I don't edit on it really unless i have to, i rarely do much more than what i can do on my iPad now.

For me i am waiting for an updated iMac range with Retina display in a larger 27" size. That for me will be the ultimate editing machine. Spec it up with 16/32GB Ram, 2TB and a 512GB SSD and your looking at something that will edit beautifully.

Once this MacBookPro dies i won't be replacing it with another, i will likely just stick with my iPad. If i find that it doesn't suffice then i will get a MacBook Air rather than a specced MBP.

Chris

[brianw999]

Whatever happened to the days when telephones just made and received phone calls and to use a tablet all you needed was a piece of chalk and a damp cloth ??????

[chris78cpr]

Originally Posted by brianw999

Whatever happened to the days when telephones just made and received phone calls and to use a tablet all you needed was a piece of chalk and a damp cloth ??????

When my mum told my grandma i'd bought a tablet (iPad) she exclaimed, "oh no, whats wrong with him, why is he getting tablets" LOL

[gonzalu]

Originally Posted by Felipe Garcia

It doesn't have built-in ethernet, built-in FW800, or optical drive. And from what I've heard, it appears to me that the SSD it has is not a standard 2.5" SATA drive, but a proprietary data stick (like the one on the WedgeBook Air).

I am sure you know this already...


It may not float your boat... but it is an option. I had hoped for both in a single dongle with two leads, but that's just me

As for the main storage frying, do create a bootable USB drive so you can boot from it in a pinch. I have mine loaded with Photoshop and Lightroom and a few utilities one being Data Rescue 3 for Mac... just in case :P

[Felipe Garcia]

Originally Posted by gonzalu

It may not float your boat... but it is an option. I had hoped for both in a single dongle with two leads, but that's just me

As for the main storage frying, do create a bootable USB drive so you can boot from it in a pinch. I have mine loaded with Photoshop and Lightroom and a few utilities one being Data Rescue 3 for Mac... just in case :P

Yeah I saw that when it just came out, it's definitely better than nothing, and a dongle with two leads would allow people to have a non-HDMI display, FW and ethernet, but I guess that they didn't think about that. I imagine that not a lot of people use ethernet at home with their laptops (gamers being the big exception).

I'm going to try that USB drive thing. And my opinion of the computer might shift in some time, but in general I'm known to be a late adopter of the newest Apple tech.

[gonzalu]

Felipe I am only an early adopter because I get them for free as a fringe benefit of my job. I mostly need the Ivy Bridge and the 16GB RAM ...

I like GigE for transferring files from the NAS and copying between drives over the net ... Wi-Fi is convenient but until they get 1Gb/s over it, it is not going to be the only choice I like.

[Felipe Garcia]

Originally Posted by gonzalu

Felipe I am only an early adopter because I get them for free as a fringe benefit of my job. I mostly need the Ivy Bridge and the 16GB RAM ...

I like GigE for transferring files from the NAS and copying between drives over the net ... Wi-Fi is convenient but until they get 1Gb/s over it, it is not going to be the only choice I like.

A free top of the line Apple notebook? can't beat that

Mine is overdue for a RAM upgrade since I only got 4GB (but back when I bought it, 8GB of RAM was a $400ish option that increased delivery time, I didn't want to spend the extra money, since back in the day I didn't need the 8GB, and most important, I didn't have a week to wait).

WiFi is very convenient, but we've found out that for gaming it's not the best, I don't have a NAS, so I can't comment on that.