[shuttertalk]

Wow, there has certainly been a raft of announcements from Apple's WWDC, with new products coming hard and fast. If I'm not mistaken, all the Mac models have been upgraded to Ivy Bridge processors. Here's a summary of what's new:

- Updated Macbook Airs with faster processors, 13" now supports up to 8GB RAM
- Mac Pro gets a faster processor
- IOS 6 beta available, release coming in fall (new Maps, Facebook integration)
- OSX Mountain Lion coming next month
- Final Cut Pro, Photoshop, Aperture, AutoCAD and more score Retina Display support
- New Macbook Pro 15" with Retina display (there are also 13" and 15" models with normal displays). 17" gets the axe.

This last one is certainly the highlight of the show - the top of the line 15" Macbook pro model gets a thinner, lighter chassis, plus a retina display featuring a whopping 2880 x 1800 pixel display. That's more pixels that most 24" external monitors have. It also features a new NVIDIA Kepler GeForce GT 650M graphics card to drive the display.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/11/new-m...s-changed/

If that link has you confused, The Verge has a good comparison guide for new buyers and upgraders.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/11/307888...comparison

So what does everyone think of the new Macbook Pro with retina display? High resolution is not to OSX new - the 27" iMac has 2560 x 1440 pixels but we're talking about 27" vs 15".

I think it will definitely come down to how Apple integrates the increased resolution with the OS, and also how apps take advantage of it. Once challenge is that everything now will be twice as small. I'm sure they will implement scaling of their menus and fonts and such so they are still readable for everyone, but how will third party apps handle it? Also, not every app is going to take advantage of the increased resolution if they haven't been designed for it. Apparently Photoshop and Final Cut have been updated to support it, but what else?

Anyway, food for thought...

[NT73]

You have to have the eyesight to start with, to get the benefit of small print etc.
It deteriorates with age, so we need the 48" folding (oled) roll up screen.

[Kombisaurus]

It's certainly an impressive feat to squeeze all those specs into such a small and sexy package, but it comes at a cost.
Not just the cost on the price-tag, but the Retina Macbook Pros also must sacrifice flexibility, upgradability and repairability in order to get everything to fit. That will be fine for some people, but for people like me (who needs a large internal HDD instead of a small SSD) that is a big flaw.

Here's an interesting article that does a tear-down of one:
http://ifixit.org/2753/macbook-pro-with-...-teardown/

Don't get me wrong, I think they are a lovely piece of kit and I'm actually in the market for a new Macbook Pro... but I will be sticking to the "classic" design. I just wish the classic 15" MBPs had the option of a 2880x1800 resolution.

[shuttertalk]

Well I specced one up with a 768GB solid state drive and it came up to $4300... ouch!

[Kombisaurus]

Ouch! Would you like some computer to go with that SSD?
...or you could buy a 1Tb HDD for around $100 and fit it to any "classic" macbook pro.

I like speed, but I'm not going to pay >$2k just to save 10 seconds on a reboot. How often do you reboot these days anyway?

[shuttertalk]

Well you don't get a choice with the Macbook Pro Retina... it's SSD only. So the question is... how big?

[Wedding Shooter]

I bought the low end retina Pro yesterday. Apple are quoting two to three weeks for delivery.

[shuttertalk]

Fantastic! Let us know your thoughts when it arrives.

I think it will be great for the extra resolution, especially if you're using it for photos.

[NT73]

I bought the low end retina Pro yesterday. Apple are quoting two to three weeks for delivery.

You know I am old school. You didn't buy it yesterday. You paid for it yesterday, and you won't get the interest you would have saved, while waiting for it.

I want a deal where I get the goods, and have a month or two to pay for it. Interest free.

[Wedding Shooter]

Picked it up today - heard there was stock at a local store and so cancelled the order with Apple and went and grabbed it.

What can I say - the screen is amazing. You have to really see it to believe it. It is like you can dive right into it.

It really is quite slim too. I was expecting it to be fatter and am happily surprised.

Still uploading my stuff on to it so will update later on performance, etc...

[Kombisaurus]

Fantastic Chris! I'm glad you like it, and no doubt that screen would be amazing.

I placed my order on Friday (base-model 15" MBP but with a 1680x1050 non-glare screen). It should arrive this week.
I wish the retina screen was an option on the "classic" MBPs. Still, my new machine will spend most of its time being viewed through a 30" 2560x1600 monitor so it's only when I'm on the road that I'll miss that amazing resolution.

[Wedding Shooter]

Good stuff Adrian. The thing flies. Boots in around 9 seconds and handles tasks as if it was as natural as breathing all the while taking your breath away looking at the amazing screen.

[shuttertalk]

Congrats on your purchase! How does the increased resolution work for you day to day? Have you noticed any apps not adjusting well? I read one review where in the web browser you really notice which images are not high resolution as they appear really jaggy when scaled up.

Any other things to note?

[Wedding Shooter]

I just love it - sorry that is not very helpful - but it is simply the best laptop on the market. Of course some programmes are still to be adjusted for the retina display, but I can deal with that for the moment. It is fast, bright, and sharp.

[shuttertalk]

Good feedback Chris...

Here's an interesting take on what Apple has done with the Retina display - lots of praise for their marketing, basically for creating a feature ahead of a curve:
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/app...isplay.php

[Wedding Shooter]

The display is amazing. But not for everyone. Viewing photos and video on the screen is wonderful. If you just used you laptop for general stuff of course you wouldn't buy it. My friend who is a PC guy used the laptop for about 20 minutes to view some of his HD video files and was sold straight away.

[Pavel]

I am also sold on the display and if I was in the market for a laptop, I would give it a great deal of thought. My laptop has a display totally unsuited for photography. The color, contrast and brightness changes with viewing angle. It is useful for storing images on a trip and for internet access. It is useless for viewing/editing photos. Retina display is great, but so is the cost of the package, which also includes SSD. It costs about 4 times what i paid for mine. I will wait till my laptop dies and than I will decide.

[shuttertalk]

Yeah now that the "technology" is out there, hopefully they will roll it out their other models and it will become cheaper. I can't wait for a macbook air with a retina display.

I'm actually looking for a replacement work laptop (currently using a MacBook Pro 13) but was leaning more towards the smaller end of the size spectrum, possibly a MacBook Air 11.

[matthew]

I have the 11" Air – the last model without the backlit keyboard – and like it very much. It's so easy to carry that I'll bring it to work with me even if I'm not sure if I'll get a chance to use it; my wife's 13" MBP is a brick by comparison. As a photographer I wouldn't want an Air as an only computer, but I do use it for editing jpegs from my P&S and D800, as well as the raw files from my Canon S100.

I've liked the Air so much that I didn't feel jealous of other laptops – until this new one, at least.

[Trichstir]

I'm worried about the SSD only limitation here. Has the SSD technology got that much better in the last couple of years to the point that it can be used over and over again with any reliability?

I haven't heard great things about the Retina display either, but that is just coming from some older relatives who may just have trouble with anything new.

[Pavel]

Just plug in external drive for your data. If you do not have a lot of big programs and if they are not memory hogs, you should be fine.