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MacBook Pro gets Retina Display; MacBook Air updated with Ivy Bridge

arstechnica.com

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Re: MacBook Pro gets Retina Display; MacBook Air updated with Ivy Bridge

#391

Post by padraigm »

bermanoid wrote: post #187
steverb wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be frank, Apple makes awesome Windows PCs. Their Windows drivers are quite good also. Still hate the placement of the control key on the keyboard though, but I am slowly becoming acclimated to it.

Remap caps lock to control, and you'll be a lot more comfortable. Unless you use that other text editor, you know, the one that makes you always have to reach for the escape key...in that case, I suppose you should map it to escape instead.

Hear, hear. Remapping capslock to control is one of the first things I do upon setting up a new OS, and I use vim. ctrl+[ is equivalent to esc, and with the Control key easily accessible from the home row I still get to use the window manipulation features (which all use control chords) in Vim without inducing carpal tunnel syndrome.

Re: MacBook Pro gets Retina Display; MacBook Air updated with Ivy Bridge

#392

Post by pflats »

fjorder wrote: post #226
fjorder wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've spent a reasonable amount of time using Windows, Linux, and OSX. All of them suck. All of them are also awesome, at different things. If you want an living room PC for entertainment, Windows is king. Neither Linux or OSX support Bluray properly and Windows still has a huge edge in gaming. Windows also supports the most hardware. That's become unimportant to most people, but if you work in a research lab with var…

One further note on hardware quality: Perceived hardware quality is something Apple is fantastic at. Their laptops look and feel great. They feel like they'll last decades. This is misleading since they're actually built to be disposable. e.g. If you spill coffee on your Macbook Air, it's dead. You can't fix it because you can't remove the battery in a timely fashion and don't have the tools to open it. Apple won't f…

4 years ago, I spilled coffee on my MacBook. It started to act a little funky about detecting the battery, but otherwise worked fine. Since it was under (the extended Apple Care) warranty, and the Apple Store was a 20 minute drive away in Providence, I figured I 'd bring it by. They replaced the damaged logic board for me, gave me a refurbished battery (mine was down to ~70% capacity, unrelated to the spill), and then voided the warranty for any future repairs. I thought that was mighty fine of them, to be honest.

I'm still typing on it today. But man, those new retina MacBooks are tempting.

Re: MacBook Pro gets Retina Display; MacBook Air updated with Ivy Bridge

#393

Post by reitzensteinm »

natural219 wrote: post #8

I have been a Windows user my whole life. As a hacker who has recently moved to San Francisco, I've continuously battled Apple fanboys and Linux fanatics alike on why I love Windows and absolutely do not understand why people want to switch platforms. Then I watched this keynote. I'm buying a Macbook Pro.

I don't think you'll be alone. With the retina MacBook Pros, Apple really is throwing down the gauntlet here.

And not just because of their advantage in hardware; Windows is notoriously hard to program for in a resolution independent way, and the first double resolution laptop displays are going to cause early adopters no end of pain. Even if Windows 8 brings APIs to fix it, the long tail of apps are not going to be updated any time soon.

I expect this to be an unusually large and concrete reason for everyday people to choose a Mac laptop for the next few years. Side by side, Macs will look amazing. Looked at a 3GS recently? Eww.

Of course, this is assuming OS X has resolution independence nailed; though I'd be amazed if they shipped this if that wasn't the case.

(This is a repost of my comment from a rumor thread; not much has changed)

Re: MacBook Pro gets Retina Display; MacBook Air updated with Ivy Bridge

#394

Post by smithian »

natural219 wrote: post #50
marquis wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you be specific about what swayed you? I'm not sure what is so new, announced today, that you couldn't have bought yesterday: Retina? Will you continue to run Windows?

Honestly, it's a culmination of things. Up until this point, a friend of mine have been comparing the top-of-the-line ultrabook offerings to the Mac lineups. I thought the Zenbooks looked really sexy and had the performance and construction that I wanted. The new Zenbook Prime announcement has had me salivating; 1080p IPS displays, new Ivy Bridge processors, etc. After this announcement, though; the Retina display, a…

But won't you get more real-life real-estate out of the 1080p display? I thought that for normal apps and the web etc. the retina display was pixel-doubled for an effective real-estate equivalent to 1440x900? I get that it's better for photography and video, and if those are your primary workflows I would understand. For me, I'm trying to figure out why 1440x900 equivalent is so awesome that it would prompt all the other headaches of switching platforms.

Re: MacBook Pro gets Retina Display; MacBook Air updated with Ivy Bridge

#395

Post by BHSPitMonkey »

Steko wrote: post #112
LaSombra wrote: post #10

I don't want a "Retina display", I want a true 1920x1080 on my 15" MBP. Apple is trying to impose that density is the same thing as resolution, which is not. A "Retina display" of 2880x1800 is just a "better" 1440x900. Give me the option to choose between double pixels and real pixels and I'll buy thee.

"Apple is trying to impose that density is the same thing as resolution" I think you've confused "resolution" with "my preferred resolution". The new MBP has both a higher density and a better resolution then what you're looking for. You may be disappointed but I bet Apple thinks it can make more money by selling 2880x1800 MBPs.

It really depends on how OS X chooses to impose upon how the pixels are used. If the new "retina" desktop is merely a 1440x900 point desktop with much sharper fonts and artwork (much like how the retina iPhones are merely 320x480 point views), then this isn't necessarily desirable to someone who truly wants the higher-resolution workspace.

Re: MacBook Pro gets Retina Display; MacBook Air updated with Ivy Bridge

#396

Post by mgkimsal »

shadesandcolour wrote: post #194
mgkimsal wrote: post #98

Is the line in port gone? Having line in and headphones out has been great for my use cases, and I was sad to see those go from the 13". Are they gone across the board now?

The line in ports may have been combined with the headphone jack. I thought I remembered reading about that somewhere.

On 13" they were about 2 years ago. Still on 15" and 17" models, and from the other response, it sounds like they still are there.

Re: MacBook Pro gets Retina Display; MacBook Air updated with Ivy Bridge

#397

Post by electrograv »

soccerdave wrote: post #388
sliverstorm wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed on the "perceived" quality. Based on my experiences, I'd bet money that if you compared a 3-year-old Thinkpad to a 3-year-old Mac, the Thinkpad would be in far better shape.

I'll have to disagree with you as I own both a 3 year old Thinkpad and a 2 year old Macbook Pro. The keyboard of my Thinkpad has been giving me problems for over a year, and I haven't had any problems with the keyboard on my Macbook.

It's funny that the people who make bets like this (that Macs are unreliable) are the ones who don't actually own them.

My Thinkpad is only a few years old, and the cooling system is acting up, I'm also having keyboard issues (even after replacing it) and just isn't worth bothering with. My old Macbook Pro on the other hand still practically runs like new, and never had to be repaired for anything.

I wish people wouldn't make claims based on speculation.

Re: MacBook Pro gets Retina Display; MacBook Air updated with Ivy Bridge

#398

Post by ericd »

pkamb wrote: post #324
ericd wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it already has? That's why I had to finally bite the bullet and upgrade to Lion. My reluctance wasn't unfounded, it turns out.

The Mac App Store version is dead for Snow Leopard, but you can still download 10.6 compatible builds directly from the developer portal.

I tried pretty hard to find that, since I'd been able to do that for a previous version, but I came up empty. If you're telling me I could have avoided giving up SL, I'm pretty sad about that.

Re: MacBook Pro gets Retina Display; MacBook Air updated with Ivy Bridge

#399

Post by syassami »

trimbo wrote: post #251
listic wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's so great about Ivy bridge specs? I'm underwhelmed because electrical economy failed to materialize.

The new intel graphics are much better for gaming without going to discrete graphics. http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-4000-Benchmar...

besides gaming applications, how do the previous generation of sandy bridges stand up? (i5 2.4ghz) I heard from minimal to significant.

EDIT: found a nice resource for the specific models http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/474/Intel_Core_i5_Mobile_i5...

Re: MacBook Pro gets Retina Display; MacBook Air updated with Ivy Bridge

#400

Post by cgh »

sliverstorm wrote: post #296
fjorder wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One further note on hardware quality: Perceived hardware quality is something Apple is fantastic at. Their laptops look and feel great. They feel like they'll last decades. This is misleading since they're actually built to be disposable. e.g. If you spill coffee on your Macbook Air, it's dead. You can't fix it because you can't remove the battery in a timely fashion and don't have the tools to open it. Apple won't f…

Agreed on the "perceived" quality. Based on my experiences, I'd bet money that if you compared a 3-year-old Thinkpad to a 3-year-old Mac, the Thinkpad would be in far better shape.

More anecdotal evidence, but I have a 5 year old Thinkpad and a 5 year old Macbook. Guess what: both are going strong. Quality isn't exclusive to one manufacturer. I really dislike these either/or strawman arguments.
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