We continue exploring the MacBook Pro Retina we received. Here are a few remarks and answers to questions we had about this new model:
- Despite its extreme thinness, the display assembly is as stiff as it was on the previous model, maybe even more.
- The thin design makes the laptop very comfortable to use on a table a the wrists are in a better position.
- Regarding the noise, the laptop doesn't make any noise when it is idle even if you put your ear against the topcase while on the previous model, even with an SSD inside, we could still hear the fan spinning slowly. With a full work load it is a different story, it is far from silent. We however agree that the noise, spread on different frequencies rather than on a single high pitch, makes it less disturbing.
- The display is definitely the most important feature on this new model and there is no doubt that Apple will put that kind of display in all its computers and that the entire industry will have to follow.
- The integrated SSD (a 512 GB model) is very fast and makes the computer very reactive every time you need, withstanding without any problem multiple heavy tasks.
- The two Thunderbolt ports are also appreciated, especially if you have to use Ethernet with the special adapter, and in the future when the price of SSDs will allow to have two external drives on Thunderbolt.
- To get back to the display and the non-native resolutions, they provide excellent quality in 1680x1050 and 1920x1200, especially for text, even when it is very small. However, it is less true for webpages with buttons and images that represent text, as these appear a little blurry. It is however not disturbing enough to reduce the overall quality of this display even though you probably need 20/20 to see everything on a 15" display with a 1920x1200 resolution.
- Regarding graphics, we were happy to discover that even for non-native resolutions, the system still uses the Intel HD 4000 solution, it doesn't need to switch to the GeForce solution.
- For Wi-Fi, we haven't noticed any difference with the performances of the 2011 model, we tested both on a 2011 Time Capsule.
We will get back more extensively on the performances of this new model after we run a few benchmarks, but it is quite certain that this new MacBook Pro is powerful enough to be used by all professionals who don't imperatively need a Mac Pro.
