(Photo from Anandtech)
Screen
This is by far the biggest feature on the new Macbook Pro. It has a 15.4" IPS display, with a resolution of 2880x1800 (16:10 aspect ratio). That's 4 times as high as the previous generation of Macbook Pros (1440x900). I have to admit, this is really really nice. Hopefully this will push other manufacturers to use high quality screens as well.
The screen seems to be pretty good as well. The blacks are really black, the whites are kind of meh (lower cd/m2 than for example the MacBook Air and the 2011 Macbook Pros). The contrast ratio is good though.
CPU (i7-3610QM)
It's nice to see a high end Macbook Pro with a quad core CPU. As far as I remember, the highest you could get with the old Macbook Pro was a dual core. Quad core Ivy Bridge with a 2.3GHz clock and up to 3.3GHz with turbo (probably only 1 core active). That's actually really nice and should perform very well.
More info on the processor here: Intel's website
GPU (Nvidia GT 650M 1GB)
It uses a Nvidia GT 650M which is a pretty nice GPU, and it will be needed with such a high resolution display. It is, as far as I know, basically the same as the Nvidia GT 640 (desktop model) with some small differences.
Don't expect gaming on this at the highest possible resolution, but the GPU should be enough for things like accelerating your web browser and video player.
It also has the Intel HD 400 IGP which can be used to save power when discrete GPU is not needed.
Memory 8GB
For memory Apple went with some 1600MHz DDR3L RAM (low voltage). 8GB is the lowest you can get for the "Retina" Macbook Pro but there is something worrying me. Judging by the photos shown (can be found on Anandtech), the RAM is soldered directly onto the motherboard. That means that you can't even upgrade the RAM in a Macbook Pro anymore.
Storage (256GB SSD)
The base model has a 256GB SSD (most likely not a standard 2.5" one) which is manufactured by Samsung, so performance and reliability should be good. Chances are Apple will use Toshiba as a secondary supplier for the SSD if Samsung fails to meet demand during certain periods (have happened in the past with Apple SSDs).
Just like as with the RAM, the storage seems to not be user replaceable.
Design
Size, weight and battery
The new "Retina" Macbook Pro is 1.8cm thick and weighs 2.02kg and has a battery capacity of 95Wh. So the battery life should be pretty good. Apple says 7 hours and with low usage that might very well be true.
(Retina Macbook Pro on the left, Macbook Air on the right)
No optical drive
Apple got rid of the optical drive in order to make it thinner and pack more batteries in it. Some people think this is good and some people think it is bad. I personally use my optical drive on my laptop quite a bit (mostly for movie watching when connected to a projector) but a lot of people never use DVDs and CDs so for them this is definitely a good thing.
Ports
This is another area where I think Apple has improved a lot with this new Macbook Pro. The new one features:
- SDXC card reader
- HDMI port
- headphone port
- MagSafe 2 (incompatible with the MagSafe cable because it is thinner)
- Two Thunderbolt ports (no info about how many channels each port has)
- Two USB 3.0 ports
- Bluetooth 4.0
They combined the audio in and audio out port to a single headphone port, which is in my opinion a bad decision. They also removed the Kensington lock, the Firewire 800 port, as well as the Ethernet port. The lock and Firewire I can deal with, but no Ethernet and no dedicated microphone jack is kind of bad. Anyway, the addition of USB 3.0 and HDMI makes up for it. There will be adapters for Ethernet and Firewire, as well as an external optical drive released so if you really need it, then get that.
Cooling
Apple talked a bit about the new fan design and cooling of the new Macbook Pro which is definitely a step in the right correction (no more laptops hitting over 80 degrees on the outside of the case maybe?).
There is a single heatpipe connecting the heatsinks to the CPU and GPU. However, a single (very thin) heatpipe to transfer not only the heat from the CPU, but also the GPU sounds like a pretty bad idea.
Price
Starting at 2200 USD. If only it was cheaper... It looks like such a fantastic laptop, but only insane people will pay that much for it.
If I could pick whichever laptop I wanted, for free. Then I'd tack this new "Retina" Macbook Pro in a heartbeat. But for that price... No...
Apple talked a bit about the new fan design and cooling of the new Macbook Pro which is definitely a step in the right correction (no more laptops hitting over 80 degrees on the outside of the case maybe?).
There is a single heatpipe connecting the heatsinks to the CPU and GPU. However, a single (very thin) heatpipe to transfer not only the heat from the CPU, but also the GPU sounds like a pretty bad idea.
Starting at 2200 USD. If only it was cheaper... It looks like such a fantastic laptop, but only insane people will pay that much for it.
If I could pick whichever laptop I wanted, for free. Then I'd tack this new "Retina" Macbook Pro in a heartbeat. But for that price... No...
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