Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

So long, Retina

blog.rinik.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 76 posts

Re: So long, Retina

#61

Post by aeturnum »

abalone wrote: post #44

Trollbait. 3 out of the 4 bullet points are also true for his previous 3 year old MacBook Pro: 1440x900 is the best (actually max) resolution and it's not user-serviceable or upgradable. As for the screen burn-in, the very thread he links to notes that Apple had been replacing defective units. You don't have to "get rid" of it, just bring it in to an Apple store.

I have the previous model macbook. I've upgraded the ram twice, and I have the higher resolution screen option. The setup described by the author would mean I'd lose screen real estate and be stuck at whatever ram I bought, so they don't seem like bad points to me.

Re: So long, Retina

#62

Post by teilo »

X-Istence wrote: post #51
brackin wrote: post #5

I love my Retina. I haven't noticed problems with scrolling, I have my resolution set higher than 'Best for Retina'. I upgraded the SSD with ease, pops in an out once you remove the pentile screws to open it up. It's easy to do and your point about "None of the components can be upgraded" is incorrect. I don't believe anything else can so it is limited but this was enough for me. Source for one way to upgrade: http:/…

Do you have a source for this upgraded SSD? Would love to purchase a higher capacity one.

Aura Pro from http://www.macsales.com

Re: So long, Retina

#64

Post by ollysb »

mkhalil wrote: post #33
rm999 wrote: post #31

The Retina is a fascinating and revolutionary laptop. But it's the first generation, and most companies' (including Apple) almost always mess up their first generation products in substantial ways. Everyone I know with a Retina is mostly happy with theirs, but I am going to hold off until the Retina grows into its high price. Meanwhile, a 13" macbook air and a 27" cinema display costs the same and is more compelling…

How's the MacBook air for dev? Was debating if it was powerful enough or if I should get a pro.

I've just brought my 8 core 27inch imac out of storage having used only my macbook air for the last 6 months. I can tell you, I am struggling! Going back to a hard drive is absolute torture. At this point I think I'm going to just buy a cable to plug my macbook air into my imac screen. My macbook air is quite simply the best machine I could hope for. With a larger screen it really would be perfect.

Re: So long, Retina

#65

Post by ktizo »

jakejake wrote: post #39
whalesalad wrote: post #14

This is precisely why I did not buy one. I know it's a brilliant machine, but it's also the first of its kind. Anyone who's ever been an apple early adopter knows that it doesn't always end pretty. v2.0 of the retina's are going to be solid, I have no doubts.

I have a buddy who's a certified Apple tech who basically has said the same thing. If you don't like being on the bleeding edge and prefer to play it safe with your hardware purchases, wait for the 2nd version where all of the major gripes have been resolved.

Bleeding edge technology, or a cutting edge that slips. I like to get version > 3.0 of things, or buy the best of the last generation of technology, or high quality second hand, if I am using it for actual work.

Re: So long, Retina

#66

Post by kevincennis »

xemoka wrote: post #32
kevincennis wrote: post #19

I've noticed that scrolling in Chrome is pretty bad on my retina Macbook, but in Safari it's super smooth.

I noticed this too, you can make it better by going to chrome://flags and enabling GPU composition on all pages (leave threaded compositing off though, seems like a good idea but it has some implementation problems with back and forward gestures). It's not perfect, but it does make a marked improvement to stock settings.

Wow, it's like night and day. Thanks for the tip.

Re: So long, Retina

#67

Post by dpark »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #49
partymon wrote: post #48

If Samsung makes some of the retina displays, does that mean more laptops will have it soon?

Eventually, but two problems that could slow down the process (meaning, not necessarily "soon"): (1) Apple has made lots of forward looking investments to get long-term lock ups on supplies even if the manufacturer is Samsung. So perhaps they've already bought the next 1 or 2 years of these displays that Samsung can produce. Samsung would then have to build more factories to supply the needs of other OEMs, where the…

Windows 8 is DPI aware. Windows has actually been DPI aware for a very long time, but with Windows 8, it's moving to a model where apps can and will simply provide upres images and Windows will do the magic to ensure that the correct images are used. App creators are being asked to provide raster images at 100%, 140%, and 180% in order to enable scaling for the expected densities.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2012/03/21/scaling-to-dif...

Surface and Surface Pro will presumably have 1366x768 and 1920x1080 screens respectively (no insider knowledge here; just makes sense given the marketing materials released). This will correspond with 100% and 140% scaling.

I suspect that many if not most apps will ship at least 140% resources just to satisfy displays such as the Surface Pro will have. And realistically, most apps will probably go ahead and ship 180% if they're shipping 140%, which is sufficient to support pixel densities (slightly) higher than iPad 3.

Disclosure: I work a Microsoft; I don't speak for Microsoft; etc.

Re: So long, Retina

#68

Post by seanmcdirmid »

dpark wrote: post #67
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eventually, but two problems that could slow down the process (meaning, not necessarily "soon"): (1) Apple has made lots of forward looking investments to get long-term lock ups on supplies even if the manufacturer is Samsung. So perhaps they've already bought the next 1 or 2 years of these displays that Samsung can produce. Samsung would then have to build more factories to supply the needs of other OEMs, where the…

Windows 8 is DPI aware. Windows has actually been DPI aware for a very long time, but with Windows 8, it's moving to a model where apps can and will simply provide upres images and Windows will do the magic to ensure that the correct images are used. App creators are being asked to provide raster images at 100%, 140%, and 180% in order to enable scaling for the expected densities. http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2…

I'm aware of this post, but as far as I've read, the model is applicable to Metro/WinRt only; I've heard of no plans at all for desktop. I also haven't heard much goodness yet about running Windows 8 on retina macbook pros. Does Visual Studio 2012 ship in a way that can handle 200%? Photoshop for Windows? I've always assumed they would do this for tablet, but what about high-end desktop-only apps? I'm sure it happens eventually, 2X pixel laptops will go on the market, but the transition sounds like it will be a bit painful.

Disclaimer: also work for Microsoft, but all my info about product plans comes from devouring public information.

Re: So long, Retina

#69

Post by dpark »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #68
dpark wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Windows 8 is DPI aware. Windows has actually been DPI aware for a very long time, but with Windows 8, it's moving to a model where apps can and will simply provide upres images and Windows will do the magic to ensure that the correct images are used. App creators are being asked to provide raster images at 100%, 140%, and 180% in order to enable scaling for the expected densities. http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2…

I'm aware of this post, but as far as I've read, the model is applicable to Metro/WinRt only; I've heard of no plans at all for desktop. I also haven't heard much goodness yet about running Windows 8 on retina macbook pros. Does Visual Studio 2012 ship in a way that can handle 200%? Photoshop for Windows? I've always assumed they would do this for tablet, but what about high-end desktop-only apps? I'm sure it happens…

Ah, yes. For desktop, it's fuzzier (perhaps literally?). I haven't played with a Retina display on Windows 8. One of the PMs I work with has one that he purchased, though, and he mentioned that Windows automatically scales up the desktop (i.e. in Control Panel\Appearance and Personalization\Display) on the Retina display. I don't know how well that works, though.

I'm not sure what the plan is for desktop apps on high-res devices. Hopefully the plan isn't "we'll live with tiny text" or "we'll live with fuzzy graphics", but it could be one of the two.

Re: So long, Retina

#70

Post by seanmcdirmid »

dpark wrote: post #69
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm aware of this post, but as far as I've read, the model is applicable to Metro/WinRt only; I've heard of no plans at all for desktop. I also haven't heard much goodness yet about running Windows 8 on retina macbook pros. Does Visual Studio 2012 ship in a way that can handle 200%? Photoshop for Windows? I've always assumed they would do this for tablet, but what about high-end desktop-only apps? I'm sure it happens…

Ah, yes. For desktop, it's fuzzier (perhaps literally?). I haven't played with a Retina display on Windows 8. One of the PMs I work with has one that he purchased, though, and he mentioned that Windows automatically scales up the desktop (i.e. in Control Panel\Appearance and Personalization\Display) on the Retina display. I don't know how well that works, though. I'm not sure what the plan is for desktop apps on high…

Well, it sounds like a hard problem. Reducing the resolution is not a satisfying solution, even if it worked without artifacts, you'd still be wasting your expensive screen. The OS and apps would have to support the higher resolution to sell the hardware, and the hardware needs to exist to drive the software changes; chicken meet egg!

It is nice that this is fixed in WinRT, but we can't do the high-end productivity apps in WinRT (e.g., Visual Studio or Photoshop with plugins). I actually wouldn't mind using high-end productivity apps in WinRT (I maximize most of my apps already in desktop), and I hope in the future that will happen.

Post reply on HN