retina display
Latest
Wirecutter's best deals: Save $200 on a 27-inch Apple iMac
This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read Wirecutter's continuously updated list of deals here.
WWDC 2019 by the numbers
Apple held its 2019 Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose on Monday and took the opportunity to show off its latest MacOS build, a bunch of new features for the iPad, a bonkers 6K display for its equally overpowered Mac Pro, and even a new way to get into Minecraft. Let's take a look.
iMac with Retina display review: best in class, but not everybody needs one
When Apple held one of its big keynotes last week, it was easy to think of it as "iPad day." Sure enough, the company announced some upgraded tablets, but it was a desktop, of all things, that stole the show. Though the new 27-inch iMac with Retina display has the same overall design as Apple's previous all-in-ones, it ushers in a 14.7-million-pixel 5K display with screen resolution of 5,120 x 2,880. That's seven times as many pixels as 1080p, and 67 percent more than you'll find even on a 4K panel. I'm not exaggerating when I say there's nothing like it. As it is, you'd be hard-pressed to find a 4K all-in-one, and meanwhile, here's this machine from Apple, with enough pixels to view a 4K video at full resolution, and still have room left onscreen for other stuff, like the Final Cut Pro dashboard. Needless to say, it's in a league -- and price class -- of its own. Starting at $2,499, it's more expensive than almost any other all-in-one on the market, even the supposedly high-end ones. As it turns out, though, if it's this kind of screen quality you're after, this might well be your only choice.
TUAW Poll: Would you buy a Retina MacBook Air?
Apple still hasn't released a Retina display MacBook Air. Would you buy one?
Apple reportedly releasing OS X Yosemite in October alongside 4K desktop and 12-inch Retina MacBook
Well, this is a timely rumor: Today is the day Apple opens up OS X Yosemite for public beta-testing, and now we're hearing the final version of the OS will come out in late October. The report comes from Mark Gurman at 9to5Mac, who has a strong track record when it comes to Apple rumors, and he claims that in addition to OS X, Apple will release a 12-inch Retina display MacBook, and either an iMac or a standalone monitor with a 4K screen. Obviously, Apple could do a 180 and release the same old computers with minor spec bumps, but if you ask us, everything Gurman is reporting seems plausible. First of all, Apple already promised it would release a final version of OS X sometime in the fall, and surely it plans to do that before the holiday shopping season starts up in November.
The iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display: what's new?
Apple took care of the cycled iPhone refresh last month at its headquarters in Cupertino, California, and thus it was logical for the company to move on to the iPad lineup next. As such, Tim Cook and Co. today revealed a new generation of tablets, including a redesigned, thinner and lighter iPad Air and the long-rumored, much-awaited iPad mini with Retina display. Of course, there are more changes under the hood, so join us after the jump, where we'll break down the spec sheets of each and see how they stack up against last year's models.
Timed command-line screenshots
A TUAW staffer recently asked if there were a way to snapshot the exact same region of the screen over and over at timed intervals without buying third-party software. There is, but it depends on your comfort with the command line. If you're experienced in Unix scripting, read on. If not, you may want to investigate standalone screen-capture apps instead. I pointed him to /usr/sbin/screencapture. This built-in OS X utility allows you to specify a screen region to capture. For example, to capture a 50x200 rectangle starting at the point 200, 200, you'd say: % /usr/sbin/screencapture -R"200,200,50,200" ~/Desktop/foo.png You can easily apply a Unix shell script to create numbered output files. Unix commands will also enable you to sleep and repeat the capture requests over time. The utility is Retina-ready. Since it captures in points (and not pixels), the results are twice as big in each dimension when run on Retina systems.
Apple's Retina display aids accessibility
Macworld blogger Steven Aquino wrote a fascinating piece today on how Apple's Retina display technology has helped him -- a legally blind individual with extremely low vision -- to be able to enjoy Apple's products as if he had no vision limitations at all. Aquino says that he had used the original iPhone and iPad successfully with their displays set to full brightness, but "seeing my iPhone 4's Retina screen was a total game-changer." The high pixel density -- 326 pixels per inch -- and turning the screen brightness all the way up made it so "even the smallest text was readable, and I was able to spot details in images that were previously indistinguishable." How much of a difference does a Retina display make to Aquino? "Simply put, I will no longer use an iPhone or iPad that doesn't feature a Retina display. Having used a Retina display, I can't go back to something that makes using my devices that much more difficult." Of course, he admits that having the screen brightness turned all the way up does eat up his battery charge quickly, so much so that a Mophie Powerstation Duo is in his favorite device bag at all times.
Twitter updates its OS X client
Twitter has updated its Twitter for Mac client, and you can see all of the new changes on the official company blog. The biggest update is that you now get a camera icon when you're composing a tweet, which makes it easier than ever to share pictures straight from your desktop (other Twitter clients have had this for a while, and you could always drag pictures over, but this is a clearer way to do this anyway). The app has also added Retina display support, which is nice, and there are now 14 more languages: Dutch, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Traditional Chinese and Turkish. As always, the app is available for free directly from the Mac App Store. Twitter says to keep an eye out for more changes as well, so it's working hard on providing even more updates to the OS X app.
Twitter for Mac update brings photo sharing improvements, Retina Display support
Twitter's showing off an updated version of its Mac app today, featuring a number of key fixes, including a slew of new languages and improvements to photo sharing. On the imaging side of things, you can now share a photo by clicking on the camera icon in the tweet composing module, or just do it the old fashioned way by dragging pictures from your desktop. Also new in this version is support for Macs with Retina Displays and 14 new languages, including Dutch, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Traditional Chinese and Turkish. Interested parties can download the update via the source link below.
Pupil for Retina display Macs makes it easy to switch screen resolutions
Pupil (US$5.00) is an app specifically designed for Macs with Retina displays, specifically Apple's Retina-equipped MacBook Pro range (rMBP). Although Mac OS X gives users five screen resolution options, they are cumbersome to access and change, with users having to enter System Preferences any time they want to change the screen's resolution. Most users of a rMBP will be happy with the native Retina display resolution of 2,880 x 1,800, but more demanding (or adventurous) users may wish to regularly change their Mac's screen resolution to take advantage of the greater screen real estate rMBPs have to offer. Pupil is a simple utility app that gives you access to varying screen resolutions (including 1:1 native pixel resolution for Retina displays) directly from the Mac OS X menu bar. Two clicks will change your screen's resolution, instead of forcing you to dig into System Preferences. Pupil also lets you customize your favorite six resolutions and label them. %Gallery-186236% Some of the resolutions are extreme and impractical, like 3,840 x 2,400 or 720 x 450, and it's no wonder Apple doesn't give direct access to them -- though you may be an advanced user who might use them for testing purposes. Resolutions like 1,920 x 1,200 or 1,680 x 1,050 (which appear as Mac OS X's More Space and second from More Space options in System Preferences) can be really beneficial, so it's very convenient to have on-the-fly, two-click access to them through Pupil. Pupil is available through the Pupil website. It's not available on the Mac App Store, but it's fully compatible with Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. An alternative to Pupil is SwitchRes 4, which you can check out here.
Apple dumps 'highest-resolution notebook ever' tagline thanks to Chromebook Pixel
Apple's 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro was advertised as the world's second-highest resolution notebook, sitting right behind the company's 15-inch Retina model. That coveted position changed hands when Google introduced its Chromebook Pixel and grabbed that number two spot. As noted by 9to5Mac, Apple has modified the advertising taglines for its MacBook Pro to reflect this change. The hallmark feature of the 12.85-inch Chromebook Pixel is its high-resolution display that checks in with 2,560 x 1,700 pixels. Though this screen doesn't beat the 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro and its 2,880 x 1,800 display, the Pixel does edge out the 13-inch Retina model, which has a 2,560 x 1,600 display. On Apple's website, the Retina MacBook Pro models are no longer advertised as being "The highest-resolution notebook ever. And the second highest." Now, the tagline for the Retina MacBook Pro claims, "High performance has never been so well defined." A similar re-wording is also present on the webpage that describes the major features of the Retina MacBooks. On this Features page, Apple now claims the 13-inch model is "just as impressive" as the 15-inch model. The pair are no longer "in a class of their own," which is how Apple previously described its Retina notebook models.
Survey: Interest in iPad mini is growing
TechBargains.com is a deals site that I follow, and it recently shared the results of a survey that demonstrate that Apple's iPad mini is a winner, and suggest that its popularity will continue to grow. TechBargains polled its readers, and found that interest in the smaller iPad has nearly doubled since the tablet was announced last October, with 33 percent of respondents saying that they plan to buy the next iteration of the iPad mini, compared to 18 percent last year. Despite the increased demand, consumers want more out of the next version, according to the survey. First on the list is longer battery life and a faster processor, as requested by 87 percent and 85 percent of respondents, respectively. About 77 percent of those surveyed requested a Retina display on the iPad mini, which is not surprising. But it is clear, both from this survey data and just from what I've seen in the community anecdotally, that people are taking to the iPad mini more and more. I don't think it was ever really unpopular -- the iPad is an excellent tablet no matter what -- but I do think that when it was first announced, many consumers failed to see its appeal. Now that it's been available for a while, however, and it's been in Apple Stores and seen on trains and airplanes, I think more people are warming up to the idea of a smaller and very impressive little iOS tablet. If and when Apple does announce a model with a Retina display, the public's interest will grow even further.
An iPad mini with Retina display could cost $12 more to build
Hardware market research firm iSuppli has released a new report that claims the cost-per-device of an iPad mini sporting a Retina display screen could be fairly high: as much as $12 or more. Even if all of the other parts stay the same price, just adding a Retina display in the iPad mini's size, iSuppli's report suggests, would bring Apple's cost above $200, which would likely mean higher costs for consumers as well. Which doesn't seem all that impossible -- the current iPad mini is selling quite well at $329, and you have to think that potential purchasers would be happy to spend a bit more for a full Retina display. Plus, if Apple really needed to shave some of that margin off just to boost sales, it probably could (though that would be a very un-Apple move, and it seems like it'll be a while before the iPad mini needs any extra help). For any other company, $12 per device might be a real problem, but Apple has still has quite a few options to deal with such a high increase in cost. Not to mention that Apple is always working on its supply costs, so while that may be the price now, the company may be working hard on figuring out a new way to supply and develop smaller Retina displays, or to work out a deal to make them cheaper in general. It's true, putting the Retina display in the iPad mini won't be cheap at the moment, but if anyone can figure out a way to do so without attacking their very high margin, it'll be Apple. [via App Advice]
Apple settles Retina artwork lawsuit with Swiss artist
Apple has settled a lawsuit with Swiss photographer Sabine Liewald over the illegal use of his piece titled "Eye Closeup," according to CNET. The company and Liewald originally had an agreement in place to use the image, but Liewald maintained in a court filing that the only permission she gave Apple regarding the photograph was to use it for "layout purposes only." Liewald said Apple misused the rights to the image when it appeared on stage at the MacBook Pro's unveiling and in marketing material -- both of which fall under commercial use. The suit was filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York in October 2012 and as of last Wednesday was dismissed, according to recently released court documents. The reason for dismissal was because of a settlement between the parties. Terms of the settlement were not released.
Firefox 18 brings improvements, Retina support to Macs
Those of you who prefer Firefox for your desktop web browser will be happy to know that Mozilla has just pushed out Firefox 18 for OS X. The latest version of the browser includes a variety of fixes and updates. However, the most immediately noticable (for those of you with the latest MacBook Pros, anyway) will be the new, full Retina display support. The latest update also might appeal to web gamers, as the browser now supports faster JavaScript performance via the IonMonkey compiler. Another little bonus is preliminary support for WebRTC. You can read the full release notes here. Then hit up this link for the direct download.
Apple offering refurbished 15-inch Retina MacBook Pros for $1869
If you've wanted a 15-inch MacBook Pro but have felt put off the steep price, now is the time to scoop one up for a little less cheddar. Apple is currently offering Apple Certified Refurbished MacBook Pros with Retina Display for US$1869 online. It's the entry-level model with 8GB of RAM and a 256 GB flash storage. If you're willing to go refurb, you'll save $330 (or 15 percent) off the "new" purchase price. The online store is also currently offering the high-end 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display (8 GB RAM, 512 GB flash storage) for $2379, or $420 (15 percent) off the the "new" purchase price. Refurbs aren't always available, so get them while they're hot!
Apple now selling refurbished 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display beginning at $1,869
We can't say we're exactly surprised to see Apple's next-generation MacBook Pro show up on the company's "Certified Refurbished" online store -- still, it's good news for folks looking to save a little cash while getting a taste of Retina MBP straight from the source. Currently, Apple is only offering the 15-inch model (with a 2.3GHz, quad-core i7 CPU, 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD) for $1,869, making it about $330 less than its non-refurbished counterpart -- of course, that premium price tag also includes the accustomed one-year manufacturer's warranty, which is a good security blanket to have when shelling out this much capital. As is usually the case with Cupertino's rejuvenated goods, though, supplies may be somewhat limited, so now could be a great time to jump on the MacBook Pro with Retina display bandwagon.
How would you change the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display?
Many will bristle at the implication, but as the MacBook Air inspired the Ultrabook, mainstream laptops will likely seek to ape the Retina Display MacBook Pro, sorry, MacBook Pro with Retina Display. The clunky name aside, it seems that the next generation of devices will ditch disc drives and Ethernet ports in favor of pixel-dense displays and reduced weight. But did Jonathan Ive's trash can get too full? If you've been using one, do you still ache for those phantom limbs, or is it peaceful on that side of the river? Folks, for the last time this year, we're inviting you to share your thoughts and feelings on how you'd change the MacBook Pro with Retina Display, and from all of us, have a Happy New Year.
Adobe Lightroom 4.3 now available, brings support for Retina displays and more
It's been but a mere few days since Adobe added some much-welcomed Retina support to its Photoshop and Illustrator CS6 apps, but that's not stopping the outfit from coming back with more updates today. This time out, however, it's the creative software giant's Lightroom, which leaves its 4.3 beta stages behind and is now available in full, bringing with it compatibility with high-res screens while developing / viewing pics, RAW image support for about 20 new cameras and a number of bug fixes that should solve issues with the application being unfriendly with some lenses. The new version of Lightroom is up for download now, and you can grab it by checking for updates from within the app or via Adobe's own site.
