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ABC News on new MacBook Pro: "The one to own"
Reviews of the Retina MacBook Pro are starting to roll out. Earlier this week, Engadget and others released their reviews, and, now, Joanna Stern of ABC News shares her thoughts on Apple's next generation laptop. Not surprisingly, the review emphasizes the display - both the improved clarity of on-screen elements and the better viewing angle which lets you look at the screen from the side without sacrificing quality. The review also points out the impressive battery life, which lasts a little over five hours during a non-stop HD video playback test. If you're in the market for a high-end laptop, ABC News ends by saying "this is the one to buy." You can read the full review on ABC News website. If you haven't read the reviews from other online publications, then check out this post from Philip Elmer-Dewitt of Apple 2.0 which summarizes and links to eight reviews.
Daily Update for June 14, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Side-by-side browsers on MacBook Pro with Retina display
The biggest selling feature of the next generation MacBook Pro is its Retina display. The notebook has an impressive 15.4-inch LED-backlit display with 2880-by-1800 resolution at 220 pixels per inch. The specs look great on paper and according to a display-focused review by The Verge, the display looks amazing in person, too. This improvement is best seen in a side-by-side shot of Chrome on the non-Retina MacBook Pro and a Retina MacBook Pro. Text, which has blurry edges on the MacBook Pro, is crisp and defined on the Retina MacBook Pro. As noted, the Chrome team is already working on a Retina update; you can see the effect already if you want to run the Chrome Canary bleeding-edge nightly builds. You can check out the short review of the display and a full review of the Retina MacBook Pro on The Verge's website.
CIO Journal walks back claim of Retina MacBook Pro's demand on bandwidth
In March, the Wall Street Journal's CIO Journal claimed that the iPad 3 would burden corporate networks because of its high-definition display. This week, the same writer doubled down on the claim for the new MacBook Pro, arguing that "better quality displays require more network bandwidth." He warned CIOs that the new Retina MacBook Pro would "wreak havoc on CIOs' networks and connectivity budgets." After receiving more than 800 comments with almost all of them saying, "you're daft," the author has retracted his claim and modified his post to say that "owners of devices with high-resolution screens will likely consume more video and HD video, which would result in higher bandwidth consumption." Though the author toned down his article, the assumption that Retina MacBook Pro owners are going to consume more HD video at work is still a bit of stretch, especially when many corporate networks block access to video streaming sites.
Forthcoming Chrome browser update to support Retina display on MacBook Pro
It might be a while before most apps are rewritten to take advantage of the new Retina display MacBook Pro, but Google isn't waiting. According to Anandtech, the nightly-build channel of Google's Chrome browser -- Chrome Canary -- already includes basic support for the 2880 x 1800 pixel display, rendering text and images much more sharply. Canary isn't "the next version" of Chrome, as some reports have it; it's the bleeding-edge development version that trades stability for new features. Of course, those lucky few who will be receiving their new MacBook Pros early next week have other options for apps that aren't Retina-happy. Apple's provided a number of scaling options that will allow users to view a variety of apps and sites in the best possible light. The regular build of Chrome will be Retina-happy pretty soon, though. Writing on the Google Chrome Blog, "Chief Apple Polisher" Nico Weber says that "We have further to go over the next few weeks, but we're off to the races to make Chrome as beautiful as it can be." There's a reason for that; despite the escalation in tensions between Apple and Google, a lot of Google employees use MacBooks. [via Electronista]
Customers report new Retina MacBook Pros are shipping
Apple customers who ordered the new Retina models of the MacBook Pro can start doing their happy dance -- shipping notifications are being sent to those who placed their orders from the online Apple Store on the day of the WWDC keynote on June 11. The delivery dates for the new boxes are scheduled for early next week, just in time for the developers who maxed out their credit cards ordering the new equipment to get home and hopefully recover from WWDC. Let's all hope that the first round of the Retina MacBook Pros are well-built and ready to go -- iFixit's teardown of the new model indicated that it was the "least repairable laptop" ever disassembled. If the first Retina MBPs do have issues, we hope that the owners at least shelled out US$349 for an AppleCare Protection Plan.
Engadget reviews MacBook Pro with Retina display
Engadget was at WWDC and had the opportunity to spend some time with the next generation MacBook Pro. After a few days with the machine, Tim Stevens and company shared their thoughts about the Retina MacBook Pro in a recent review. In its review, Engadget wanted to find out if the Retina MacBook Pro is the "best Mac ever" or "a compromised, misguided attempt at demanding too much from one product." After poking, prodding and testing the device, Engadget concludes by saying, The new Pro is good enough to make the old Pro (even the updated version) look and feel obsolete. It pushes and redefines the category, raising the bar higher than even its brethren can jump. If you can afford the premium and aren't set on a 13-inch model there's no reason to buy any Pro other than this Pro. You can read the full review on Engadget's website.
Daily Update for June 13, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
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.
Apple MacBook Pro with Retina display review (mid 2012)
Product categories come and go, grow and wither, revolutionize the world and then slowly fade into a state of cold, quiet, everlasting obsolescence. It happens all the time, sometimes over the course of just a year or two (see: netbooks) and, while companies have made billions by establishing truly new categories, rarely has anybody rocked the world by splitting the difference between two very closely aligned ones. That's exactly what Apple is trying to do here. The company's MacBook Pro line is one of the most respected in the industry for those who need an ostensibly professional laptop. Meanwhile, the MacBook Air is among the best (if not conclusively the best) thin-and-light laptops on the market. Now, a new player enters the fray: the MacBook Pro with Retina display. It cleanly slides in between these two top-shelf products, while trying to be simultaneously serious and fast, yet slim and light. Is this, then, a laptop that's all things to all people, the "best Mac ever" as it was called repeatedly in the keynote? Or, is it more of a compromised, misguided attempt at demanding too much from one product? Let's find out.%Gallery-158164%
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.
Daily Update for June 12, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
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]
