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Attention world: the MacBook Pro with Retina display does have optical audio out
Please stop saying it doesn't. Despite it not appearing on Apple's specs page, there is no conspiracy, and Apple hasn't dropped the feature. The MacBook Pro with Retina display has the same combination 3.5mm-analog-and-S/PDIF-digital output port all other Macs have used for several years now. Thanks to TUAW reader Patrick Perini (and his shiny new MacBook Pro, iCarus) for sending us the screenshot above, and to the Guardian's Charles Arthur for also confirming this to be true.
Dear Aunt TUAW: Why can't I get a Retina display on an Air?
Dear Aunt TUAW, I'm in love with the new MacBook Pro Retina but it's way too expensive for my wallet. Why can't I just get a Retina display on an affordable MacBook Air instead? Your loving nephew, Jim J. Dear Jim, Although a lot of consumers would benefit from a consumer Retina display, it's not that simple both for economic and technology reasons. The Retina display provides one of Apple's key selling points for its top-of-the-line models: the iPhone 4S, the new iPad, and the new MacBook Pro. Although the new iPad is a "consumer" machine, it represents the high end of its iOS family. Adding the Retina to a budget Air would degrade the desirability of the new feature, allowing more people to "buy down". That's something Apple would prefer to avoid when the Retina display is so new to its laptop product line. The laptop display is also much bigger. The iPad's 2048-by-1536 display uses just 60% of the pixels of the MacBook's 2880-by-1800 display. There's a price differential right there. Also, as Uncle Rich points out, a smartphone-class GPU is not in the same league as a mobile-computing one, so the hardware to support the larger display is more costly. The iPad uses a fabulous battery but isn't tasked as much as a laptop battery. Its 42.5 Watt hour battery delivers almost twice the battery life as the MacBook Pro does. Adding the 15" Retina display to the MacBook Pro and keeping the battery use-life the same bumped up the 78 Watt hour MBP battery to 95 Watt hours, an 18% increase. Again, the higher battery needs must be taken into the cost equation. If you add the price of the display, even a smaller Air-sized one, the enhanced GPU requirements, and the upgraded battery to the consumer MacBook Air, the costs would start to creep up -- perhaps not to Pro levels, but up. Will we see a Retina Air? Auntie thinks, "yes". Will we see one very soon? Probably not. Hugs, Auntie T.
Google shows off high-res Chrome browser for Retina MacBooks, hitting Canary channel first
As we noted in our review, the downside of the super high DPI displays Apple is shipping in its latest MacBook Pro is that non-retina display friendly apps don't look so good, but Google's already working on changing that for its Chrome browser. In a blog post the team showed off the image above with a comparison on what the high res edition will look like compared to its current counterpart based on "early results." Users on the bleeding-edge Canary channel should see the upgrades first, with more rolling out over the next few weeks and eventually reaching wider audiences as they go along. Of course, if you couldn't wait to pre-order the absolute latest Mac hardware after it hit the stage at WWDC (and aren't diving headlong into the refreshed world of Safari), we're figuring jumping on a somewhat untested version of this popular browser is hardly out of the question.
The contentious case against the MacBook Pro with Retina display
Here's a list of all the proprietary stuff Apple has shoehorned into the "best Mac it has ever made", the MacBook Pro with Retina display (henceforth referred to as "MBPwRD"), taken from the iFixit teardown: Irritating pentalobe screws, which don't stop anyone determined to disassemble their MBPwRD but mean you need to waste time buying special drivers on eBay. RAM soldered to the motherboard, as we all suspected. No ability to upgrade it after purchase. I couldn't find anywhere on apple.com that makes this limitation clear to shoppers, either. That strikes me as disingenuous. Proprietary -- though removable -- SSD. We can hope for third-party upgrades in the future. Impressively, it's not even the same as the other new proprietary SSD in the new MacBook Air, which is also not the same as the one in the old MacBook Air. Standards! Battery glued firmly into the case, making removing it potentially hazardous (lithium ion cells can explode if pierced). Battery glued over the delicate trackpad cable, which you run the risk of breaking if you do get the battery out without killing yourself. Display assembly permanently fused together, with no protective outer glass sheet. If you have to replace any part of it (e.g. a scratch on the outer surface), you have to replace the entire upper lid, at great expense. Overall, iFixit gave the machine a dismal 1/10 for repairability. I don't like this one bit. I didn't care for the MBA's approach to sealed-in no-user-serviceable-parts computing, but I can just about see the justification on a product level when you're talking about a relatively low-cost, low-powered computer aimed mainly at consumers. I can also understand that most of these elements are necessary to achieve the MBPwRD's svelte lines. Removable RAM or a standard 2.5" SSD or even battery screws would all take up more room inside the case. However, the higher end market feels different to me. My last MacBook Pro saw a little over 2.5 years as my primary computer, and I would expect no less of any computer I was paying in excess of $2200/£1800 for. In that time, I upgraded the memory once, the hard drive three times, and replaced the battery once. None of these options would be available to me with a new MBPwRD. SSDs, batteries, and RAM can degrade or fail in time -- is a $349 AppleCare purchase a hard requirement now? What if I want to keep my MacBook longer than the three years coverage AppleCare offers? This would be a smaller problem if it wasn't for Apple's upfront upgrade costs, which could be reasonably described as daylight robbery. It charges $200 to upgrade the RAM from 8 GB to 16 GB -- that costs around $85 on the open market. Changing the SSD from 256 GB to 512 GB is $600 (including a modest CPU upgrade from 2.3 GHz to 2.6 GHz). Upgrading from 512 GB to 768 GB is a further $500. Meanwhile, in off-the-shelf land, an entire top-of-the-line 512 GB SSD can be had for $415 today, with 256 GB models around $280. If this is the price you pay for a thin laptop, I want no part of it. The MBPwRD is 21% lighter and 25% thinner than the corresponding non-Retina-display model. Those aren't life-changingly better numbers, and to my mind, they aren't enough of an upgrade to justify all the features Apple has removed to make them possible. This new laptop isn't a MacBook Pro at all; it's a MacBook SuperAir. Now the interesting part comes, though: how many people agree with me strongly enough to avoid the MBPwRD? The opposing view: how many will dismiss my concerns and buy the MBPwRD for the (apparently fantastic) display and improved portability? What would have happened if Apple had offered a Retina display on the older, thicker chassis? And worst of all: what do I do in a year or so, if (as seems to be widely expected), the "classic" MacBook Pro disappears and it's soldered RAM all the way down? %Poll-75795% Responses on this topic: Mashable's Christina Warren offers her take on the serviceability issue.
iFixit tears down a MacBook Pro with Retina display
It's the teardown that we've all been waiting for since Monday's WWDC keynote. iFixit got its hands on a new retina MacBook Pro and disassembled the lovely device for all of us to see. As expected, the teardown reveals a device that's extremely well-designed, but also difficult to repair. First, the retina display LCD is firmly attached to the display assembly. iFixit says you if you have any LCD problems, you will likely have to replace the whole display assembly which includes the iSight Camera, WiFi antennas, and Bluetooth antennas. The repair company also confirmed that the RAM is soldered to the logic board and is not upgradeable. The SSD is also proprietary and not upgradeable at this point (though, it might be in the future since it is a separate daughter card). Lastly, the battery is glued to the case and is very difficult to remove. It covers the trackpad cable which may be sheared when you pry the battery out of its slot. Overall, the retina MacBook Pro was given a 1 out of 10 on the repairability scale which means you should proceed very cautiously or leave the job for the experts.
iFixit tears the MacBook Pro with Retina Display to pieces, gets a few shocks on the way
Barely two full days have elapsed since Tim and the gang announced the gawkily-named MacBook Pro with Retina Display, and already the screwdriver-wielding mavens at iFixit have torn one apart. What did they find? The Samsung-made SSD and Hynix RAM are non-upgradeable, forcing you to decide how much of both you'll need now and in the future. Meanwhile, the battery is glued to the housing and that gorgeous display is fused into the assembly, so it'll be expensive to replace should the worst happen. Speaking of its power reserves, this laptop is packing 95 Wh of juice -- capable of seven hours of life and shocking the engineer silly when he tried to disassemble it. If you'd like to see the intermediate stages of this gadget-autopsy, head on via our source link.
Taking a close look at the MacBook Pro's Retina display
Anandtech spent some quality time with the new retina MacBook Pro and, as expected, took a deep dive into the hardware that makes up the device. In a series of posts, the hardware-focused website examined the SSD improvements and explained how Apple handles the DPI scaling in Lion. In a third post, Anandtech examines the Retina display and compares it to both the older high-resolution 15.4-inch matte panel and the standard glossy MacBook Pro display. The post has detailed information on the construction of the LCD and how it both reduces the glare and improves the viewing angle of the Retina display. There's also a lengthy discussion about resolution that addresses high-resolution gaming, high-DPI app support and the smooth resolution switching in OS X that allows you to easily adjust the display to meet your needs.
Retina Display MacBook Pro lacks IR sensor, is Apple offing the remote?
It appears that Apple is ditching the remote control on the latest retina-display MacBook Pro. Our side-by-side comparisons yesterday revealed the new hardware doesn't have an infra-red receiver. The news compelled a reader to contact Apple's support service, which apparently confirmed that the accessory won't work on the new laptop. We'll keep you updated when we know more. [Thanks, Robert]
AnandTech takes a long hard look at the MacBook Pro Retina Display
Not quite fully sated with the latest Apple updates from this year's WWDC? Without doubt, one of the most anticipated goodies to come from the keynote yesterday was the introduction of the MacBook Pro into the Retina Display-fold. We'll, of course, be giving all the new hardware our own thorough shakedown, but in the meantime, AnandTech has given that new display a detailed dissection. In summary: excellent brightness and solid black-levels fend off the glare, apps look amazing, upscaling will cover you in the meantime. For the full nitty-gritty though, number by number, be sure to hit up the source.
Visualized: 100 Retina display iPads sit down at the dinner table...
What if you took 3.1 million pixels, per iPad, and then crammed 100 (or so) of them on a table at WWDC? You'd have a pretty insane, super-connected Retina table. Also, it'd cost at least $50,000 to replicate what you're seeing. You know -- just in case the thought crossed your mind. %Gallery-157979%
Apple intros new iPad Smart Case: clever enough to cover both sides, priced at $50
And we're still not done. A new iPad case has managed to sneak onto the Apple Store's online shelves, and it'll protect your precious slab on both the back and front. The Smart Case appears to augment last year's Smart Cover with an additional (polyurethane hardshell) coating for the back of your iPad. Priced at just under $50, the case fits both second and third-generation iPads and will arrive in six different color options. And yes, you can still get that ever-pressing message engraved onto it too. [Thanks Nikhil] For more coverage of WWDC 2012, please visit our event hub!
The 2012 MacBook Pros vs. the 2011 models: what's changed?
Since the epic rise of the MacBook Air, the MacBook Pro has become something of a dark horse in the Apple notebook family. Sure, it may not be Cupertino's thinnest, sexiest product, but it has the heavy-duty internals to handle intense graphics for artists and gamers alike. Apple just announced its updated 13- and 15-inch MacBook Pros -- not to mention a new 15-inch model with a brilliant Retina display, and these new machines boast some pretty impressive upgrades. There's no shortage of spec changes to keep track of, so check out our comparison charts below to see what the new models bring to the table (hint: highlights include USB 3.0, Ivy Bridge and a thinner design for the new Retina model). 15-inch MacBook Pro (2011) 15-inch MacBook Pro (2012) Retina display MacBook Pro (2012) Dimensions 14.35 x 9.82 x 0.95 inches 14.35 x 9.82 x 0.95 inches 14.13 x 9.73 x 0.71 inches Display Resolution 1440 x 900 1440 x 900 2880 x 1800 CPU Up to 2.4GHz quad-core Core i7 (Sandy Bridge) Up to 2.7GHz quad-core Core i7 (Ivy Bridge) Up to 2.7GHz quad-core Core i7 (Ivy Bridge) Graphics Intel HD Graphics 3000 + AMD Radeon HD 6750M / AMD Radeon HD 6770M Intel HD Graphics 4000 / NVIDIA Kepler GeForce GT 650M with up to 1GB of memory Intel HD Graphics 4000 / NVIDIA Kepler GeForce GT 650M with up to 1GB of memory Memory Up to 8GB Up to 8GB Up to 16GB Storage Up to 750GB Up to 1TB or a 512GB SSD Up to a 768GB SSD Ports Thunderbolt, FireWire 800, two USB 2.0, SD card slot, MagSafe power port, Kensington lock slot, audio line in, audio line out Thunderbolt, USB 3.0, FireWire 800, SD card slot, MagSafe2 power port, Kensington lock slot, audio line in, audio line out Two Thunderbolt, HDMI, two USB 3.0, SD card slot, new MagSafe2 connector, Kensington lock slot, headphone port Battery life 7 hours 7 hours 7 hours Weight 5.6 pounds 5.6 pounds 4.46 pounds Price $1,799 (2GHz Core i7, 500GB hard drive) / $2,199 (2.2GHz Core i7, 750GB hard drive) $1,799 (2.3GHz Core i7, 500GB hard drive / $2,199 (2.6GHz, 750GB hard drive) $2,199 (2.3GHz Core i7, 256GB SSD) / $2,799 (2.6GHz, 512GB SSD)
Apple next-generation MacBook Pro (with Retina display) eyes-on at WWDC 2012
Heh -- rumor didn't have this one! We just wrapped our eyes around Apple's new 15.4-inch "next-generation" MacBook Pro here at WWDC 2012, and while it was under lock and key, it doesn't take a touch to see that this thing is devilishly thin. For all intents and purposes, this is the 15-inch MacBook Air that many have been waiting for. Gone is the optical drive, and in are two USB 3.0 ports, two Thunderbolt sockets (side-by-side, instead of one on each edge), a full-size HDMI socket, a 3.5mm headphone port and an SD card slot. Oh, and a MagSafe 2 power connector. On one hand, it's great to see Apple finally embracing USB 3.0; on the other, it's obvious by the duo of Thunderbolt sockets that it'd prefer use those. Whatever the case, the new Pro is quite the looker, and we're guessing Apple won't have any issues moving too many of these beauts -- even at $2,199 (and up). Unfortunately, there's no new Pro sitting around outside of a case, but you can enjoy a few glass-enclosed glamor shots in the gallery below. %Gallery-157930%
Apple announces next-gen MacBook Pro with Retina display
Apple has just announced a brand new MacBook Pro model at the WWDC Keynote in San Francisco. The new notebook is still extremely small, though it's not quite as tiny as a MacBook Air -- about two times the height of a USB port, according to our friends at Engadget. The device weighs 4.46 pounds and obviously it's very powerful, but here's the kicker: It's a laptop with a Retina Display. Yes, Apple's big innovation on touchscreens has finally made its way back to a traditional computer. The screen runs at 2880x1800, which means there will be over 5 million pixels in the display. All of OS X's native apps, including Mail and Aperture, have been updated to work with the new display, and from all the reports so far, it's going to look gorgeous. The computer also runs USB 3.0 across two ports, as well as a Thunderbolt connection, a new thinner MagSafe power plug, and a place for an SD card. The new MacBook Pro with retina displays start at $2199. That'll get you 2.3GHz quad-core chip, 8GB of RAM and 256GB of flash storage. We'll have more information and full specs later on today. Retina has been a huge innovation on iOS, and Apple has now brought it back to the new MacBook Pro. We can't wait to see it. Update: Here's the official Apple page on the new unit. Can't wait to see that new display!
Final Cut Pro, Photoshop, Aperture, AutoCAD and more score Retina Display support
As we learned pretty quickly when the iPhone 4 introduced the Retina display to the world, all those pixels are pretty useless without apps that can truly take advantage. Thankfully, Apple wasn't about to leave the stage today without delivering the goods for its next gen MacBook Pros. In addition to all the stock apps being updated, Final Cut Pro and Aperture have also gotten the appropriate boost in pixel density, allowing them to be all they can be on that 220ppi display. Which, in the case of Final Cut, means full-res 1080p video docked in a corner of the interface with all the tools exposed to your itchy editing finger. If that isn't good enough for you, Adobe is hard at work on Photoshop and Autodesk will be delivering an update to AutoCAD as well. And, in case you're worried that all work and no play makes Tim Cook a dull boy, Diablo 3 has also been updated, instantly making the Mac our favorite platform to farm low level baddies for gold on. For more coverage of the WWDC 2012 keynote, head over to our liveblog!
Apple announces first Retina display in a MacBook, 220ppi with 2880 x 1800 resolution
Apple just announced its next-generation MacBook Pro, and it comes equipped with a gorgeous 220 pixel-per-inch 2880 x 1800 display. That's quite a bit shy of the 326 ppi LCD on the iPhone 4S and the 264 ppi density of the new iPad's display, but it's still a massive improvement over the 1680 x 1050 pixels found on Apple's previous-generation clamshell. The new Retina is, as Apple marketing head Phil Shiller not-so-modestly pointed out during this morning's WWDC keynote, the "world's highest-resolution notebook display." It's also soon to be the highest-res LCD in any household, offering three million more pixels than your 1080p HDTV. It's a bit hard to determine just how impressive this next-gen tech is from where we're seated at the keynote, but we'll be back with more impressions just as soon as the presentation wraps. Or, if you have $2,199 to spare for a 2.3GHz model with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, you can pick up your very own today. For more coverage of WWDC 2012, please visit our event hub.%Gallery-157896%
Apple announces next-generation MacBook Pro: Retina display, 0.71-inches thin, shipping today for $2,199
Apple announced some new MacBook Airs and MacBook Pros early in its WWDC keynote today, but it had another surprise in store for its big hardware announcement: the next-generation MacBook Pro. It packs a Retina display with a 2880 x 1800 resolution (or 220ppi), and a casing that measures just 0.71-inch thin and weighs 4.46 pounds. In addition to that high resolution, Apple is also promising higher contrast ratios, better viewing angles and reduced glare compared to other laptop displays, and it's updated all of its stock apps to take advantage of those extra pixels, not to mention Aperture and Final Cut Pro -- "reading your mail is like reading fine print," according to Apple's Phil Schiller. As for the other specs, you'll get up to 16GB of RAM, NVIDIA Kepler GT 650M graphics, up to a quad-core 2.7GHz Core i7 processor, a maximum 768GB of storage (SSD, naturally), and a promised seven hours of battery life with 30 days standby. One spec nowhere to be seen: an optical drive. Also on the outs are Ethernet and FireWire 800 ports, which you'll now need an optional Thunderbolt adapter to use, but you do now get two USB 3.0 ports in addition to a pair of Thunderbolt inputs (plus one HDMI). Making its debut on the laptop is a new, thinner MagSafe 2 connector, as well as a new fan that's said to be "nearly imperceptible" to the user. Pricing starts at $2,199 for a 2.3GHz unit with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, and it's shipping today. Just how big a deal is it for Apple? "It's without doubt the very best computer that we've ever built," says Schiller. Update: Check out our hands-on look at the laptop right here. For more coverage of WWDC 2012, please visit our event hub.%Gallery-157896%%Gallery-157957%
Apple WWDC 2012 liveblog!
Back in March, at the tail end of the new iPad's launch, Apple CEO Tim Cook did something atypical. He encouraged us to expect even more from his company in 2012. From an outfit that rarely sets lofty expectations, that's saying something. Here at WWDC 2012, we're on hand to find out what exactly Apple has in the hopper. A deep dive into iOS 6 is guaranteed, but beyond that, all we have are rumors, smoke signals and few underground whispers. New MacBook Air / Pro laptops with Retina graphics? New iMacs with more pixels that are calculable by mere mortals? A new iPhone? Join us here at 10AM PT (that's 1PM on the right coast; pre-breakfast over in Kauai) for the blow-by-blow coverage you've come to expect! June 11, 2012 1:00 PM EDT
Approved Mac OS app boasts 'Retina graphics'
As if there wasn't enough speculation already, what with WWDC just around the corner, bets are already being placed on the possibility of "Retina Display" Macs. So, when an app turns up in Mac App store mentioning "Retina graphics" under the new features list, eyebrows are understandably going to rise. Of course, this isn't the first such tease we've seen, but it's not the least convincing either. So, we're still not ready to put our money down on a retina-reveal next week just yet, but those odds do seem to be getting ever shorter.
Possible new Mac Pro part numbers tip up, WWDC attendees raise eyebrows (Update: 15-inch MBP specs too?)
We're still unsure as to whether or not Apple's rumored Mac update smorgasbord will come to pass at WWDC, but if any of it pans out, it looks to be the almost mythological Mac Pro update. A trio of model numbers for a "K5BPLUS" have popped up that 9to5 Mac claims are the base, mid-range and high-end configurations for the long-sought workstations. The part numbers don't include details, though talk of similar pricing to what we know today would point to Intel's Xeon E5-2600 (itself a long story) taking the reins as the processor. If there's any truth to the talk, the new Mac Pro could be ready to sell just as WWDC kicks off next week -- a mention supported by rumors of Apple recalling what little Mac Pro stock it keeps at retail stores. Not that a few extra days would matter, knowing how long prospective buyers have had to wait. Update: Just when we thought we were clear, another Apple laptop spec sheet of unknown provenance has appeared. Posted by 9to5 Mac (2), it suggests a 15-inch MacBook Pro with a 2560x1600 Retina display, 16GB of 1,600MHz DDR3 SDRAM plus an AMD Radeon HD 7770M graphics core with 2GB of RAM and auto switching to integrated Intel video. Droolworthy bullet points to be sure, but until we have more concrete evidence prospective upgraders should keep their credit cards set to stun.