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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

#361

Post by rorrr »

alexobenauer wrote: post #235
zyb09 wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a real flaw, a old 15" MBP with 1680x1050 would practically be a better choice. This is just dumb, that a 2880x1800 display is worse than a 1680x1050 display because of the way the software handles these resolutions. Unless I'm missing something...

That's interesting... I didn't realize this until you said it. I currently have the 15" MBP at 1680x1050. Buying the new retina display would be a downgrade in screen real estate, since it would show an equivalent 1440x900. Sure it would be crisper, but when I'm developing on my laptop, it's all about screen real estate. This is odd.

How the fuck is it a "downgrade"? You get higher resolution.

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

#362

Post by mahyarm »

rdl wrote: post #28
sciurus wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The option of 8GB of RAM is nice, since the RAM isn't upgradable.

2010 Air did t have AES-NI either, which made FileVault slow. 2011 MBA just lacks 8gb; I think I will be sticking with mine since I do my heavy VM work on another machine. Lack of gigabit Ethernet on the big pro air makes me sad, though.

They sell a thunderbolt->gigbit ethernet adaptor for $30 with the air pro.

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

#363

Post by rdl »

catch23 wrote: post #352
rdl wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except it isn't. The real problem is that the RJ-45 connector is huge and antiquated, so it can't fit on the MBA form factor. I work in a lot of places where GE makes a lot more sense (inside a datacenter, in places which prohibit wireless, or places where you want to be connected to multiple different networks). I guarantee the $99 (?) thunderbolt to gig-e dongle gets left on a cable somewhere several times, which w…

Their docking solution is their thunderbolt display. When I go home, I plug in 2 cables (thunderbolt & power) and I've got everything connected. Their thunderbolt ethernet adapter is $30: http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD463ZM/A

TB display is 1) glossy, meh 2) only has the Apple connectors, so it's not usable by non-Apple equipment at all. Even when you use exclusively Apple laptops, it's a pain to not be able to plug servers/etc. into them temporarily. It's also too big to carry -- one use case for this kind of thing is to set up somewhere for a couple days (hotel room, consultant at a desk, etc.), where bringing a laptop and small dock is reasonable, but a 27" display, not as much. There's also the somewhat-longer replacement cycle on monitors; I'm fine with Dell 3011s or even 3008s from...2008, but all my laptops are 2011+.

Even when setting up hotdesks for guests, it's unclear if you could put just a TB display in them -- enough people will have non-TB macs, or non-macs, to require something else. Maybe you could have some percentage TB display, but a good third-party dock + a display which can take multiple inputs (DVI, HDMI, MDP via adapter, TB to adapter to monitor) seems like a better choice. Uglier, yes.

For personal/home use in a dark room with only 2011+ macs, and if you have a spare 15" for other temporary use, then sure, it's a good option.

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

#364

Post by DennisP »

Terretta wrote: post #85
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.

I'm having the same concern. I use all 1920 x 1200 in my standard workflow. I'm concerned about the lack of a 17" model, as this screen's physical width is just about the minimum that can support two side by side pages at comfortable reading font sizes. Pixel density is high enough already that I'm not persuaded more pixels will make smaller fonts any more comfortable, and 15" simply doesn't approximate two 8.5" x 11…

17" models seem to be disappearing all over. Lenovo has dropped them from all product lines except the "Essential G." System76 has dropped their 17" model. Since I've been thinking about getting a 17" Linux laptop this is getting a bit annoying.

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

#365

Post by generalcalm »

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…

The actual quality is damn good, to me at least... I am still using a macbook pro as my daily that must be at least 6 or 7 years old now. (Intel core 2 duo) Maybe I am lucky, but it has been around the world with me many times, dropped and had 3 full glass spills into the keyboard. (2 were milk) BP size spills, as in, liquid was flowing out the back and the felt of the cd drive and also somehow the inside of the screen has stains. It still runs with no problems. I bumped up the ram and hard drive, and have been through 3 batteries. I have replaced the keyboard after one of the milk spills. The more we go through together, the harder it is to part... Retina screen sounds good tho.

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

#366

Post by X-Istence »

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…

I have two MacBook Pro's from 2007 which are still running strong. These are the 2.4 Ghz Core 2 Duo machines with 4 GB's of ram. They have been through a lot and I've had Apple fix various issues over the years on both of them, but disposable they are not.

I've replaced the batteries for them, actually, I've had Apple give me new batteries due to them failing early... but I've never had issues with Apple not servicing my laptop. They have dents in them, they have scratches from wear and tear, they have stickers all over them, but they still work extremely well. Still run the latest version of OS X, still run all of the software I use on a daily basis.

I used to own an iBook that I had purchased in 2004, an iBook G4, when I purchased my new MBP in 2007 I sold my iBook to my dad and he used it till 2010. The iBook is still up and running, it is simply too slow for my dads needs so he bought a new MacBook Pro and absolutely loves it.

This is basically a longwinded way of saying that I disagree with your assessment that they are disposable machines. The amount of life and longevity in a Mac are to be envied, and the way they hold their value even after a couple of years is simply awesome.

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

#367

Post by alecbenzer »

staunch wrote: post #283

Holy crap 2880x1800. I've been buying 15" 1920x1200 laptops for last 10 years because I love resolution, but this is just absurdly awesome. I only use Linux, but if no one else competes with this LCD I'll buy a Macbook Pro for sure.

Can't you throw linux on a mbp?

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

#368

Post by neilc »

grecy wrote: post #344
pbrumm wrote: post #68

Hopefully the macbook pro with retina display supports 16gb of ram. Everything else sounds amazing, but being limited to 8gb of ram for another few years is going to hold me back.

The question right now is if the RAM is upgradable or soldered to the board a la the Air...

Per http://www.macrumors.com/2012/06/11/apple-introduces-next-ge... , "up to 16GB of MacBook Air-like non-upgradable 1600MHz RAM."

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

#369

Post by lparry »

gmurphy wrote: post #332
bermanoid wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Except there's a 200ms delay on the Capslock key to prevent accidental activations. Because this is built into the hardware, it means that even if you remap, if you press the second key really quickly after the first, the character ends up getting inserted into your document. It's ridiculously annoying.

Source? My capslock is a control key and I use it heavily so I feel like I'd notice a 200ms delay, which makes me doubt it's done in hardware
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