Tag Archives: RetinaMacbookPro

Apple 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro hands-on!

Posted on by

Apple 13inch Retina MacBook Pro handson!

Apple just introduced its second Retina display MacBook: the 13-inch MacBook Pro, which starts at $1,699 and is shipping today. Just months after the 15-incher was gifted with a display that packs more pixels than your existing HDTV, the 13-inch sibling is receiving similar treatment. Unveiled today in San Jose alongside the iPad mini, the intensely dense 13-inch MBP is true to the rumors -- there's a 2,560 x 1,600 panel, a pair of Thunderbolt ports, a full-size HDMI socket and a MagSafe 2 power connector. Unfortunately, those yearning for a Retina-equipped MacBook Air won't find their dreams fulfilled just yet, but you can bet that holdouts will most certainly give this guy a look.

For starters, it's wildly thin. No, not manilla envelope thin, but thin enough to slip into most briefcases and backpacks without the consumer even noticing. Outside of that, it's mostly a shrunken version of the 15-incher let loose over the summer. The unibody design is as tight as ever, with the fit and finish continuing to impress. In my estimation, this is Apple's most deliberate move yet to differentiate the 13-inch MacBook Pro from the 13-inch MacBook Air. On one hand, power users longing for a highly portable laptop can rejoice; on the other, this could be seen as reason for Apple to restrict the use of Retina displays to its Pro range for the foreseeable future.

Compared to the 1,280 x 800 resolution of the non-Retina 13-inch MBP, the new display is particularly stunning. Text has never looked more crisp, and colors are stupendously vibrant. Of course, apps, websites and graphics that haven't been optimized for Retina still look like utter rubbish, and as more Apple machines transition to these panels, the outcry is going to get even louder. But, hopefully, it'll light a fire under developers to get with the program.

Gallery: 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display hands-on!

Continue reading Apple 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro hands-on!

Filed under: ,

Apple 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro hands-on! originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Oct 2012 14:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 now fully supports Retina MacBook Pro: both HiDPI and GPU compute

Posted on by

Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 now fully supports Retina MacBook Pro: both HiDPI and GPU compute

Adobe's video editing application is already a lovely thing on the Retina MacBook Pro, but not visually -- only in terms of its raw performance on that Core i7 CPU. Until today's update -- 6.0.2 -- the software hasn't actually been able to make use of HiDPI itself, and neither has it been able to exploit the performance-boosting potential of GPU compute on the laptop's NVIDIA GTX 650M graphics card. If you're lucky enough to own this combo of hardware and software, Adobe's official blog suggests that you go ahead and check for the update or apply it manually following the instructions at the source link below (it's actually within Bridge that you should check for the update, with other Adobe titles closed). We're hopefully about to apply it ourselves and will report back on its impact.

Update on the update: As expected, video thumbnails look sumptuous in the absence of pixelation, making this a worthy revision. That said, software encoding of a short timeline was still faster with the Mercury Engine set to software mode rather than GPU compute. A 2:30 clip took 2:02 to encode with OpenCL, 2:00 to encode with CUDA, but just 1:42 to encode in Software mode. No doubt people who do multi-cam editing or need to render complex effects in real-time may see a benefit -- please, let us know if you do!

Update: Just had word from NVIDIA that may explain what's happening with our encoding times. We're told it's only if we enable "Maximum Render Quality" that GPU compute will shine through in terms of performance, because enabling max quality in software mode would slow it down. So far we've only tried with default settings, so clearly there's room here for more experimentation.

Filed under:

Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 now fully supports Retina MacBook Pro: both HiDPI and GPU compute originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Sep 2012 05:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceAdobe  | Email this | Comments

OWC offers 480GB SSD upgrade for Retina MacBook Pro, requires screwdriver and careful math

Posted on by

OWC offers 480GB SSD upgrade for Retina Macbook Pro, requires screwdriver and careful math

Order up a Retina MacBook Pro and you'll likely be confronted with a gravelly message about how the SSD is "built into the computer" and not user-upgradeable. As it turns out, that's not quite true -- so long as you're prepared to ignore a whole bunch of other warnings written inside the chassis itself, iFixit has shown how to remove the factory drive and now OWC has a new SSD to replace it with. The only downside is the cost: at $580, OWC's 480GB Mercury Aura Pro is actually more expensive than Apple's official 512GB upgrade. In an effort to sweeten the deal, OWC is offering those who buy before September 30th a compact USB 3.0 enclosure to make use of the freed-up drive. Alternatively, you may want to wait for prices to drop or for OWC to offer an even bigger capacity with better cost / benefits.

Filed under: ,

OWC offers 480GB SSD upgrade for Retina MacBook Pro, requires screwdriver and careful math originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Aug 2012 06:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Macrumors  |  sourceOWC  | Email this | Comments

Google Chrome 21 stable release adds Retina MacBook Pro support, webcam use without plugins

Posted on by

Google Chrome Retina Display

Some Retina MacBook Pro owners have been waiting for this day for six weeks: that promised Retina support in Google Chrome is now part of a finished, stable release. Chrome 21 is now crisp and clear for those who took the plunge on Apple's new laptop but would rather not cling to Safari for the web. No matter what hardware you're using, Google has rolled in its promised WebRTC support to let webcams and microphones have their way without Flash or other plugins. Other notable tweaks like wider support for Cloud Print and gamepads tag along in the update as well. If you're at all intrigued by the expanded hardware support in Chrome, Google has an abundance of details (and downloads) at the links below.

Filed under: ,

Google Chrome 21 stable release adds Retina MacBook Pro support, webcam use without plugins originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Jul 2012 17:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Google Chrome Blog  |  sourceGoogle  | Email this | Comments

Thunderbolt 1.2.1 update adds Ethernet adapter support, reportedly squashes boot issues

Posted on by

Apple serves up Thunderbolt update, adds Ethernet adapter support, reportedly squashes boot issues

Got your fancy new Retina MacBook Pro? Eying up one of those Thunderbolt to Ethernet adapters? Well, Apple's just released a software update that adds support for the nifty peripheral. That's the main purpose of this latest version -- 1.2.1 -- according to the company's website. However, there are reports suggesting it also resolves a boot-related issue that was affecting certain users, caused by a previous update. If this was affecting you, or you're running OS X 10.7.4, then make a dash for that source link.

Thunderbolt 1.2.1 update adds Ethernet adapter support, reportedly squashes boot issues originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Jun 2012 05:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Ubergizmo  |  sourceApple  | Email this | Comments