Review: Apple MacBook Pro with Retina Display

When Apple introduced the MacBook Air in 2008, it shook up the entire PC industry. In just a few years, "the world's thinnest notebook" evolved from a super-slim novelty into a viable computing solution, sending other manufacturers on a mad rush to issue their own supremely portable ultrabooks. We're now surrounded by a bunch of PC notebooks that looks remarkably similar to Apple's Air.

And now we get to watch that same game play out at the top end of the notebook space.

With its newest MacBook Pro, Apple has drafted another set of design standards and build philosophies for PC makers to follow, this time for high-performance machines. The next wave of portable computers will become even slimmer. They will lose their optical drives. Their serviceability will be limited. And the screens will get better – much better.

We've seen phones and tablets with screens this clear and sharp, but this display is the first of its kind in a notebook computer.Whether you're a fan of Apple hardware or not, it's difficult to deny that the new Pro's stunningly crisp, high-resolution Retina display is a significant jump forward in the notebook space. We've seen phones and tablets with screens this clear and sharp, but this display is the first of its kind in a notebook computer. Over the next few years, we'll undoubtedly see the Asuses and Toshibas of the world scrambling to add competitive, high-resolution displays into their own thin, unibody machines.

Of course, frontline tech like this is costly: The base model starts at a whopping $2,200 – $400 more than the 15-inch, entry-level non-Retina MacBook Pro, and $1,000 more than a 13-inch Pro or MacBook Air.

It weighs in at 4.46 pounds, 1.1 pounds less than the previous MacBook Pro, and it's light enough for me to confidently pick up and carry with only one hand. The machine measures 0.71 inches, only 0.03 inches thicker than the MacBook Air. Unlike the Air, which has a patented wedge-shaped design, the Pro is uniformly thick all the way from back to front, save for a small curved taper around the bottom edges of the base. For long-time users of the regular 15-inch MacBook Pro, the shaved frame and 20 percent weight loss on this new machine are pleasant and welcome upgrades. But anyone used to the MacBook Air may still find the larger 15.4-inch display and thicker body a bit unwieldy and, dare I say, chunky.

Still, fence-sitters will be swayed by the device's extremely sharp and detailed display, which is truly jaw-dropping.

Before setting eyes on the new display, I thought, "Considering the distance I sit from my monitor, the current display must be close to Retina level, right?"

Wrong. The MacBook Pro's Retina display has a resolution of 2880x1800 pixels. That's four times as many pixels as its predecessor (5,184,000 total). And thanks to a new manufacturing method that builds the glossy display right into the unibody housing, it ditches the extra layer of cover glass. The pixels thus seem closer to you, like they're sitting just ever-so-slightly beneath the surface instead of buried somewhere within the notebook's lid.

The Retina display provides the same rich colors you're used to, but with a greater contrast ratio (29 percent higher than a standard Pro, according to Apple) and up to 75 percent less glare. Based on my experiences using a previous-generation MacBook Pro alongside the Retina-equipped machine for a week, I'd say these contrast and glare-reduction claims are accurate.

Apple has undoubtedly created the best notebook display on the market. Onscreen text looks impeccably sharp, as do any vector graphics.Apple has undoubtedly created the best notebook display on the market. Onscreen text looks impeccably sharp, as do any vector graphics. High-resolution images are pixel-perfect. Watching 4K video on YouTube is brilliant – it's a testament to the power of this machine that my Wi-Fi connection, and not the MacBook Pro's display or processor, was the bottleneck when watching 4K video. If your job requires you to examine each and every pixel in a frame or photograph, this is the display you want to work on.

Inside the base model is a 2.3GHz quad-core Intel i7 processor with an integrated graphics card, plus a dedicated Nvidia GeForce GT 650M graphics chip that supports up to 2560x1600 resolution on up to two external displays as well as the full 2880x1800 resolution of the built-in display. Memory-wise, the MacBook Pro with Retina Display comes standard with 8GB of solid-state onboard memory (upgradable to 16GB for $200, but only at the time of purchase – more on that later) and 256GB of SSD flash storage.

Compare that with the 2012 13-inch Air's 1.8GHz i5 processor, 4GB of memory, and 128GB SSD, and it's clear: The Retina display Pro is a significantly more powerful machine for only a fraction more of the footprint.

The device's speed is apparent in every resource-intensive task: boot-up time is under 20 seconds from the chime to the login screen, launching apps and switching between them is remarkably swift, and scrolling on webpages is smooth and natural. During very high-intensity operations, like watching 4K video or multitasking between a multitude of open browser tabs and programs, the machine can get warm to the touch, but it doesn't throw off more heat than the current MacBook Pro.

In Geekbench benchmarks, the new Pro scores comparably with the 15-inch 2011 model Macbook Pro and 2012 non-Retina display MacBook Pro, proving that paring down the size has done nothing to diminish performance.

The battery power hasn't been reduced, either. Apple promises up to seven hours of battery life on the Retina display MacBook Pro, which you can achieve with casual usage with display brightness at half power. In a normal work day spent browsing the web, typing docs in a word processor, playing music, editing photos, and watching the occasional YouTube clip at about 80 percent brightness, I got just over four hours of battery life. Watching the HD download of Star Trek from iTunes at near full-brightness similarly drained the battery to just over 50 percent by the time the two-hour film finished.

Just like when the third-generation iPad was released earlier this year, there's a dearth of Retina-ready apps available from the App Store at the moment. This is unfortunate, but hopefully it's only a temporary issue. For now, Apple has the basics covered: built-in standbys like Mail, Calendar, Safari, iMovie, and iTunes, as well as professional options like Aperture and Final Cut Pro. Titles from Adobe and Autodesk are currently in the works, and we should be seeing Retina-ready Mac app updates trickling in over the next few weeks.

The display, the slimmed-down frame and the updated guts aren't the only hardware tweaks of note. Apple managed to boost the audio performance in the 15-inch Pro's stereo speakers, so playback is fuller and louder. Underneath the left-hand speaker grille are dual microphones that use beamforming to eliminate background noise. Indeed, video recorded on the new Pro had crisp sound with virtually no background noise, even with an oscillating fan droning away close by and a cat meowing outside my door, while an old Pro with a single mic exhibited noticeable noise.

Something that's sure to be a point of debate – a dealbreaker for some, but a welcome change for the rest of us – is the omission of an optical drive. Gone is the slot-loaded DVD player from the right side of the computer.

The lack of an optical disc drive is a notable omission, and a declaration on Apple's part regarding the evolution of our computing needs.The lack of an optical drive is a declaration on Apple's part regarding the evolution of our computing needs. In today's age of digital downloads, streaming video, iCloud, AirDrop, and a raft of personal cloud storage services, the optical drive is no longer a must-have. By giving it up, Apple can better arrange the parts within the machine's case and make a laptop that's thinner, lighter, and has more I/O ports. So this is the trade-off. If portability is tantamount, you won't miss the optical drive. If your work requires access to data stored on DVDs and CDs but you're still hankering for a Retina display, you'll need an external drive. Apple's USB SuperDrive sells for $80, and there are cheaper third-party options.

In the absence of the SuperDrive, all of the ports have been re-arranged. On the right side are a USB port, an HDMI port, and an SDXC card slot. On the left are dual Thunderbolt ports, another USB port, and a headphone jack. Both USB ports are USB 2.0/3.0 compatible.

Also on the left side is a redesigned MagSafe 2 connector. The new connector is slightly slimmer than the old one, and it re-introduces the T-shape of Apple's original MagSafe cords. I think I'm not alone in wiggling a few L-shaped MagSafe cables into dysfunction, so I would imagine the T-shape may help amend that. The two designs don't match, so if you want to connect and charge the new Pro with an LED Cinema Display, you'll need to snag another add-on, a $10 MagSafe to MagSafe 2 adapter. (Yes, this notebook gets pricier by the minute.)

After using the MacBook Pro with Retina Display for a week, I'm loath to go back to my old 15-incher. On my older machine, everything takes a few moments longer. The lag is slight, but noticeable nonetheless. And once your eyes have been opened to the Retina way of life, the raggedy pixel edges on any lesser display will jump out at you, sending you into a depressed state of longing. Like I mentioned in Gadget Lab's hands-on report, fretting over things like sharpness, accuracy and pixel density seems silly when you take stock of the problems out there in the big bad world. But when you consider that we spend at least eight hours a day staring at computer screens, guess what? These things matter. The sharper screen makes a really big difference.

But there's one more thing: Because of the MacBook Pro with Retina Display's tightly packed internal components, the machine is nearly impossible to upgrade or repair yourself. The Air is like this, too, and so are Apple's mobile products like the third-generation iPad. Some believe this is a bad trend in computing. And indeed, it may not be the best for the environment. But let's face it: In this world of fierce competition ruled by Moore's Law, by the time you're ready to upgrade your computer, it's time to buy a new one anyway.

So what we have here is an expensive, factory-sealed machine that's the first of its breed. In later generations, the price will come down. And we may even see Retina displays show up in MacBook Airs by the end of this year if the rumor mill yields anything truthful.

For now, the Retina display-equipped Pro is still a luxury item, and may not be worth the price for average users. But for professional content creators and power users juggling multiple 1080p video streams and doing detailed photo editing, the new Pro offers a level of visual accuracy heretofore unheard of.

WIRED Extremely sharp 2880x1800 resolution display is pure eye candy. Excellent springy keyboard and trackpad. Even the cheapest model, with 8GB of flash memory and an SSD, is super speedy. Never thought I'd be comfortable holding a 15-inch notebook in one hand.

TIRED Price is hard to swallow – upgrades, add-ons and accessories can bump the cost up nearly $1,000 more. Sealed unibody design is impossible to upgrade yourself once you've purchased the device – but come now, you knew that going in.