That thinness comes at a price though. There is no optical drive nor Gigabit Ethernet port. You have to use a Thunderbolt adapter (fortunately they said it comes with it)
Native support for optical formats is going away. Windows XP through 7 also lacked native Blu Ray support, and Windows 8 is going a step further and removing native DVD playback entirely. OS X still has a DVD application even with Apple's rapid depreciation of optical drives.
Obviously with both OS X and Windows you can install third party Blu Ray players, but they're all trash anyway. Unless you insist on an HTPC only, why care when the PS3 or numerous standalone players are so much better and more affordable?
Although licensed Blu-ray playback requires boot camp running Windows and Third party application I don't see that as a real problem. A stationary blu-ray player is now $55 dollars which is cheaper then the software for proper blu-ray playback in Windows any way (you will grow tired of none-updated oldish OEM versions). It's dvd support isn't going away. The SuperDrive is a first class peripheral optionally sold along with the computer. Nothing strange there. A external USB Blu-ray player does require Windows for licensed playback, but not to read and rip the discs. It's not going away the support is there if you really want it. You still have optical drives in the MBP 13 and 15 non-retina too.
The Thunderbolt Ethernet adapter is 29 dollars, and remember two Thunderbolt ports here.
Microsoft will never make their own Blu-ray player either, and it's not really Apples fault that the ISV's writing blu-ray software aren't allowed to write one for the Mac. Technically they can, but OS X wouldn't fully comply with licensing rules protecting the video and audio subsystems. If someone would preserver for that non-existing market it might be fine. You still have Blu-ray players for XP so. Licensing isn't straight forward however. They are also, which is important to differentiate here the OEM themselves and chooses not to include it. They deem it's not worth the extra 50 or so. Like most PC machines. Doesn't mean it doesn't work under boot camp. So it works on your mac if you like to do it. You can of course burn BR discs under OS X if you like. Unlicensed playback also works.
I think I've used the optical drive on my laptop about 5 times in the 2 years I've owned it, no big loss there. As long as the gigabit adapter comes with the laptop I've got no qualms there.
Optical drives are on the way out. I have a BR drive on my PC that I never use, I install operating systems from USB drives, and I download all my games and applications.
Ancient technology that is going the way of the floppy. Optical drives add unnecessary size and weight to a laptop.
Hard to believe Optical Drives are on their way out. What other recordable media to you think is coming to replace it? What will they put Movies on for all the millions of Blu-Ray and DVD players there are out there hooked to expensive 1080P TV's? So you spend all that money on the Mac Book Pro with that fabulous Retina display and you are not going to take advantage of it with a Blu-Ray player on your laptop when you are traveling for example? What a shame. I couldn't live without my optical drives on my laptop and computers. And software still comes on optical media which is preferable over downloads which often end up being corrupted or missing files. Nah, I think it will be a long time before optical drives are extinct. The only thing a Retina display or an ISP 1080P display is really needed for is gaming and watching Blu-Ray videos. You don't need it for Micrsoft Office, but it is nice to have for video and photography work but not really necessary. So, I think Apple really missed the mark by not putting a slot load Blu-Ray player/DVD-RW unit in the Mac Book Pro. I am buying a new laptop soon and am leaning toward the ASUS N56VZ-D571 because I can customize it exactly like I want it including an ISP 1080P screen and a Blu-Ray/DVD-RW drive. and it's only 1.5 lbs heavier. But I still like the Mac Book Pro with the Retina display.
Yup, but I bet this means Apple is going to push the "Retina Display" on their Macs as well so 4K Displays can't be that far away... I won't buy the Mac, but if they can deliver 4K at the normal Apple markup I'm getting one.
It's not so bad, getting within 20% of the HD 4870 of four years ago. You wouldn't set the game to full res but gaming in 1080p should be good in many games.
Wow, am I reading this right? The IPS Retina Display (2880x1800!!!) PLUS a 256 GB solid state drive (usually ~$300 by itself) only costs $400 versus the base Macbook Pro?
This seems like the cheapest/best value upgrade Apple has ever offered in history.
I would have expected this to be ~$2800, not $2100. Anyone who complains about this price isn't in the market for a Macbook anyway, so is posting in the wrong session anyway.
Apple is the company for coffee drinkers, as their new hardware will keep your coffee warm.
What a novel idea. Build in coffee warmers. :->
IMO its widely known that Apple is less concerned with thermal design and more focused on "How it looks". Most noob consumers have no clue and happly listen to the company to "Don't worry about it".
It not really that different from the old MBP. They took out the spinning disks and it gives them more room for cooling and battery. The screen is also thinner than the old one so the whole 0.24" difference doesn't come only from making the fans thinner. Two blower fans can still handle that kind of power, many laptops with GT540M level graphics make do with one small fan, this has two well engineered ones.
Strangely enough, I just ran a test with Diablo III, Normal Act III at full 2880x1800 res with all settings on defaults (High, with one or two Medium's) and was getting 20-24 fps when a couple dozen creatures were onscreen. The interesting thing was I did this with the machine on my lap and it didn't get uncomfortable. My old MBP 17" got uncomfortably hot under lesser conditions.
I really do believe that the new generation of CPUs coupled with the incredible cooling system will actually result in cooler running than previous MBPs.
Based on the recent article (http://www.anandtech.com/show/5865/laptop-graphics... I wouldn't expect a 650M to be able to run over 30 fps at Retina resolution. I'll definitely be interested to see real world benchmarking.
1. The only think I appreciate from the new MacBook generation is the introduction of Retina Display to the notebook space. I hope this will push all other companies to adopt higher resolution laptop screens. I can't believe that we are in 2012 and there are still some companies in the US market selling Windows laptops with junk resolutions like 1366x768.
2. I agree with those commented on optical drives. WE LIVE IN DAWN of the golden age of semiconductor industry. A computer should not have any mechanical component anymore except for cooling purposes. Let this old technology die already.
I think they should remove mechanical cooling as well in favor of that liquid metal stuff some guy named Cameron was advertising back in the 90's. Looked pretty cool.
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35 Comments
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rscoot - Monday, June 11, 2012 - link
Any hard specs on the resolution for the retina displays on the new MBA/Ps?KoolAidMan1 - Monday, June 11, 2012 - link
2800x1800. That is more than the 2560x1440 on my 27" desktop display, crazyquiksilvr - Monday, June 11, 2012 - link
That thinness comes at a price though. There is no optical drive nor Gigabit Ethernet port. You have to use a Thunderbolt adapter (fortunately they said it comes with it)quiksilvr - Monday, June 11, 2012 - link
Adapter for the Ethernet, not DVD or Blu Ray.inplainview - Monday, June 11, 2012 - link
Are you the only person in the world that doesn't know about Blu Ray on a Mac? Never going to have native support. EVER...KoolAidMan1 - Monday, June 11, 2012 - link
Native support for optical formats is going away. Windows XP through 7 also lacked native Blu Ray support, and Windows 8 is going a step further and removing native DVD playback entirely. OS X still has a DVD application even with Apple's rapid depreciation of optical drives.Obviously with both OS X and Windows you can install third party Blu Ray players, but they're all trash anyway. Unless you insist on an HTPC only, why care when the PS3 or numerous standalone players are so much better and more affordable?
Penti - Monday, June 11, 2012 - link
Although licensed Blu-ray playback requires boot camp running Windows and Third party application I don't see that as a real problem. A stationary blu-ray player is now $55 dollars which is cheaper then the software for proper blu-ray playback in Windows any way (you will grow tired of none-updated oldish OEM versions). It's dvd support isn't going away. The SuperDrive is a first class peripheral optionally sold along with the computer. Nothing strange there. A external USB Blu-ray player does require Windows for licensed playback, but not to read and rip the discs. It's not going away the support is there if you really want it. You still have optical drives in the MBP 13 and 15 non-retina too.The Thunderbolt Ethernet adapter is 29 dollars, and remember two Thunderbolt ports here.
Microsoft will never make their own Blu-ray player either, and it's not really Apples fault that the ISV's writing blu-ray software aren't allowed to write one for the Mac. Technically they can, but OS X wouldn't fully comply with licensing rules protecting the video and audio subsystems. If someone would preserver for that non-existing market it might be fine. You still have Blu-ray players for XP so. Licensing isn't straight forward however. They are also, which is important to differentiate here the OEM themselves and chooses not to include it. They deem it's not worth the extra 50 or so. Like most PC machines. Doesn't mean it doesn't work under boot camp. So it works on your mac if you like to do it. You can of course burn BR discs under OS X if you like. Unlicensed playback also works.
rscoot - Monday, June 11, 2012 - link
I think I've used the optical drive on my laptop about 5 times in the 2 years I've owned it, no big loss there. As long as the gigabit adapter comes with the laptop I've got no qualms there.KoolAidMan1 - Monday, June 11, 2012 - link
Optical drives are on the way out. I have a BR drive on my PC that I never use, I install operating systems from USB drives, and I download all my games and applications.Ancient technology that is going the way of the floppy. Optical drives add unnecessary size and weight to a laptop.
taswallow - Sunday, October 14, 2012 - link
Hard to believe Optical Drives are on their way out. What other recordable media to you think is coming to replace it? What will they put Movies on for all the millions of Blu-Ray and DVD players there are out there hooked to expensive 1080P TV's? So you spend all that money on the Mac Book Pro with that fabulous Retina display and you are not going to take advantage of it with a Blu-Ray player on your laptop when you are traveling for example? What a shame. I couldn't live without my optical drives on my laptop and computers. And software still comes on optical media which is preferable over downloads which often end up being corrupted or missing files. Nah, I think it will be a long time before optical drives are extinct. The only thing a Retina display or an ISP 1080P display is really needed for is gaming and watching Blu-Ray videos. You don't need it for Micrsoft Office, but it is nice to have for video and photography work but not really necessary. So, I think Apple really missed the mark by not putting a slot load Blu-Ray player/DVD-RW unit in the Mac Book Pro.I am buying a new laptop soon and am leaning toward the ASUS N56VZ-D571 because I can customize it exactly like I want it including an ISP 1080P screen and a Blu-Ray/DVD-RW drive. and it's only 1.5 lbs heavier. But I still like the Mac Book Pro with the Retina display.
Taft12 - Monday, June 11, 2012 - link
The channel should never ship an optical drive on a laptop or desktop againThis will be the last Blu Ray (or DVD-RW, CD-RW) you should every need to buy. The conversation is over.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...
Kjella - Monday, June 11, 2012 - link
Yup, but I bet this means Apple is going to push the "Retina Display" on their Macs as well so 4K Displays can't be that far away... I won't buy the Mac, but if they can deliver 4K at the normal Apple markup I'm getting one.gevorg - Monday, June 11, 2012 - link
LOL! I'm skipping this year models. Hopefully the prices will be more sane by the time Haswell chips are released.rscoot - Monday, June 11, 2012 - link
$2199 is ridiculously cheap considering how good that screen is and the included storage option/form factor.GotThumbs - Monday, June 11, 2012 - link
Still NOT worth it.Only early adopters anxious to be "first sucker" will pick this up for now.
I run both my 30" screens at 2560x1600 for work, but I don't see any general consumer would buy this other than being the first of the block.
Great for graphic design professionals though.
Best wishes
inplainview - Monday, June 11, 2012 - link
Then don't buy one. Is someone holding a gun to your head forcing to purchase one?gorash - Monday, June 11, 2012 - link
lol @ "ridiculously cheap". No, it's not, no matter how good of a display it is.Pneumothorax - Monday, June 11, 2012 - link
Yeah save up for next years as the GT650 with a paltry 1gb VRAM is woefully INADEQUATE for this resolution.Zink - Monday, June 11, 2012 - link
It's not so bad, getting within 20% of the HD 4870 of four years ago. You wouldn't set the game to full res but gaming in 1080p should be good in many games.seapeople - Monday, June 11, 2012 - link
Wow, am I reading this right? The IPS Retina Display (2880x1800!!!) PLUS a 256 GB solid state drive (usually ~$300 by itself) only costs $400 versus the base Macbook Pro?This seems like the cheapest/best value upgrade Apple has ever offered in history.
I would have expected this to be ~$2800, not $2100. Anyone who complains about this price isn't in the market for a Macbook anyway, so is posting in the wrong session anyway.
Drag0nFire - Monday, June 11, 2012 - link
They put a quad core and dedicated graphics in a .71" chassis?! It will overheat before the OS has even loaded!inplainview - Monday, June 11, 2012 - link
This isn't Samsung we are talking about here.GotThumbs - Monday, June 11, 2012 - link
Just in line with IPAD3.Apple is the company for coffee drinkers, as their new hardware will keep your coffee warm.
What a novel idea. Build in coffee warmers. :->
IMO its widely known that Apple is less concerned with thermal design and more focused on "How it looks". Most noob consumers have no clue and happly listen to the company to "Don't worry about it".
inplainview - Monday, June 11, 2012 - link
Then don't buy a Mac. It is really that simple. You sound like a serial whiner. Spend your money elsewhere. Dear God. It must really suck being you...gorash - Monday, June 11, 2012 - link
You sound like a whiner yourself.inplainview - Tuesday, June 12, 2012 - link
Ah the old: "I know you are but what am I come back"...seapeople - Monday, June 11, 2012 - link
Compare the thermals of Macbooks versus recent offerings by Dell and HP. I think you'll be surprised.Zink - Monday, June 11, 2012 - link
It not really that different from the old MBP. They took out the spinning disks and it gives them more room for cooling and battery. The screen is also thinner than the old one so the whole 0.24" difference doesn't come only from making the fans thinner. Two blower fans can still handle that kind of power, many laptops with GT540M level graphics make do with one small fan, this has two well engineered ones.wfolta - Saturday, June 16, 2012 - link
Strangely enough, I just ran a test with Diablo III, Normal Act III at full 2880x1800 res with all settings on defaults (High, with one or two Medium's) and was getting 20-24 fps when a couple dozen creatures were onscreen. The interesting thing was I did this with the machine on my lap and it didn't get uncomfortable. My old MBP 17" got uncomfortably hot under lesser conditions.I really do believe that the new generation of CPUs coupled with the incredible cooling system will actually result in cooler running than previous MBPs.
geniekid - Monday, June 11, 2012 - link
Based on the recent article (http://www.anandtech.com/show/5865/laptop-graphics... I wouldn't expect a 650M to be able to run over 30 fps at Retina resolution. I'll definitely be interested to see real world benchmarking.rscoot - Monday, June 11, 2012 - link
Half resolution is going to still be 1440x900, which is going to look just fine on a 15.4" screen for gaming.tipoo - Monday, June 11, 2012 - link
I expect games will run in scaling mode just like apps, that's the point of 2x scaling in each dimension, easy scaling.texasti89 - Monday, June 11, 2012 - link
1. The only think I appreciate from the new MacBook generation is the introduction of Retina Display to the notebook space. I hope this will push all other companies to adopt higher resolution laptop screens. I can't believe that we are in 2012 and there are still some companies in the US market selling Windows laptops with junk resolutions like 1366x768.
2. I agree with those commented on optical drives. WE LIVE IN DAWN of the golden age of semiconductor industry. A computer should not have any mechanical component anymore except for cooling purposes. Let this old technology die already.
texasti89 - Monday, June 11, 2012 - link
- thing*seapeople - Monday, June 11, 2012 - link
I think they should remove mechanical cooling as well in favor of that liquid metal stuff some guy named Cameron was advertising back in the 90's. Looked pretty cool.