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Apple lowers 13" Macbook Pro Retina prices
- Thread starter Garou
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"ridiculous premiums" lol
No, actually, on Retina MBPs, the "1680x1050" setting is actually 3360x2100 scaled to 2560x1600.
Baconsammy
Banned
Their Retina MacBooks aren't worth the price at this point. I am looking forward to the next spec bump they give them though. I hope its considerable. Until then I'll keep rockin' my Air.
That is interesting. I guess that explains why the system is so taxing on the GPU.
I'm still not necessarily convinced that image quality will be better overall with that process versus a 1680x1050 rendered image on a native display.
Sites have mentioned Samsung showing prototypes at trade shows last year, but there has been no official announcement on when or if they will turn into real product.
Outside of Metro, Windows does a pretty poor job of handling DPI scaling, so that may be putting them off. Chromebooks could handle the DPI issues, but they are not targeted at that high-end market segment at present. I think software is a bigger barrier right now than hardware.
Mad Hatter
Member
Hopefully these price drops don't mean that the next Macbook Air update has been pushed back :-[
That's a clueless review, since the scaled mode on retina does not scale the actual desktop, so you're not running a LCD at its non-native resolution.
That being said, I'd still prefer a 1680x1050 native panel and a $200 price cut.
Zaraki_Kenpachi
Member
It's really good as long as you want the regular model and that's it. The upgrades are so fucking absurd now that I can' stomach an air. I want 256GB hard drive but it's $200 MORE than the 128GB version. How is that possible? SSD prices even at retail have dropped so drastically, it's not $200 to upgrade to 256GB from 128GB, that's absurd. If it was more reasonable I'd upgrade my old pro to an air most likely.
Baconsammy
Banned
Apple Tax unfortunately.
Mr. Wonderful
Member
Really nice to see, but still too expensive for me to justify the higher resolution screen. Another $200, plus the Education Discount, and I'd probably be in the market. As others have said, it's a lot to pay for an integrated GPU. Maybe with Sky Lake.
Also, Intel for the last few generations has launched mobile CPUs prior to desktop CPUs. Not saying that the person saying fall for mobile CPUs is wrong, but it would be uncharacteristic of the last couple of years.
Also, Intel for the last few generations has launched mobile CPUs prior to desktop CPUs. Not saying that the person saying fall for mobile CPUs is wrong, but it would be uncharacteristic of the last couple of years.
Why do people look down on 13"? Maybe this might shock you, but smaller laptops are actually dramatically preferable for a lot of people. God knows I'd rather carry around a 13" rMBP laptop all day than my old 17" brick of a Dell.
NathanMcMahon
Banned
This, but the logic is lost on the naysayers. Apple hate is a strong emotion.
Baconsammy
Banned
He's not putting down the size. He's putting down the price of a laptop that size.
Will wait for Haswell before I even consider a 13" retina model. HD4000 is not enough for 2560x1600. I love my 13" Air, but the display leaves much to be desired, since it's not IPS.
If you need additional desktop real estate, Apple provides two scaled resolution modes: 1440 x 900 and 1680 x 1050. At these resolutions, the desktop is rendered at 4x the scaled resolution (1440*2 x 900*2) and then scaled down to fit the 2560 x 1600 panel. Apple wrote its own scaling and filtering algorithms to maintain consistent quality across both Intel processor graphics and NVIDIA discrete graphics (15-inch rMBP). The added scaling and filtering work means there is a performance penalty to enabling these scaled modes, but in practice it's rarely that impactful. Also since you're performing a non-integer mapping of resolution to pixels on the downscale, there is some loss in quality but once again it's not hugely noticeable thanks to Apple's filtering algorithms.
Forgoing the odd point about display size and prices, there aren't many (any?) notebooks that have the 13" Retina's display and chassis. Is there a comparable model from competitors? Genuinely asking.
Apparently it's not that noticeable: http://www.anandtech.com/show/6409/13inch-retina-macbook-pro-review/3
If you need additional desktop real estate, Apple provides two scaled resolution modes: 1440 x 900 and 1680 x 1050. At these resolutions, the desktop is rendered at 4x the scaled resolution (1440*2 x 900*2) and then scaled down to fit the 2560 x 1600 panel. Apple wrote its own scaling and filtering algorithms to maintain consistent quality across both Intel processor graphics and NVIDIA discrete graphics (15-inch rMBP). The added scaling and filtering work means there is a performance penalty to enabling these scaled modes, but in practice it's rarely that impactful. Also since you're performing a non-integer mapping of resolution to pixels on the downscale, there is some loss in quality but once again it's not hugely noticeable thanks to Apple's filtering algorithms.
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
I'm just waiting for the Haswell refresh of the MBA to get a 13" version. My wife has a Sandy Bridge (2011) model and it's a damn fine computer.
But why? If it was otherwise the same but 17" would it be more worth the money? That's absurd.
THIS IS WHAT PEOPLE PAY? HOLY FUCKING CHRIST.
http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/893...6x768-led-2gb-geforce-gt-650m-6cell-windows-8
Yeah I'll take 720p with these specs at half the price Alex.
http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/893...6x768-led-2gb-geforce-gt-650m-6cell-windows-8
Yeah I'll take 720p with these specs at half the price Alex.
out0v0rder
Member
woah thats a good price for those specs. thats vid card is better than my moms whole computer.
No OSX and no Apple trackpad.
LyleLanley
Banned
We can post links to other cheaper laptops all day, the Retina line of MacBooks aren't designed to compete with those computers. At least not in their first generation.
Not the same category.
So I'll buy a battery and a backpack and still come out way on top.
Yes the specs are different but I'm not doing it to be an ass, I compared them because in several few aspects they're VERY comparable and in other aspects quite different. I imagine it'd be an apt posting to make a point (power vs resolution, same screen size), and I posted because it's half the cost. It's apt. $1700 is out of fucking control, and $1500 is still lunacy.
So not the same category.
A battery? Like to switch out while using it?
Wow, a heavy chunky laptop with a shit 768p TN screen, terrible battery life, and a mechanical HDD. How can you even compare that to the Macbook?
Guess ya'll are rich and always on the go go GO huh?
Congrats guys, because this economy is shit. High five!
boooooo
You don't need to be rich to afford an Mac.
My uni is full of iPads and nexus 7's
Lots of people typing papers on their tablets huh? That sounds beyond awful.
LyleLanley
Banned
In some aspects they're similar, but in the aspects that define a Retina MacBook Pro (Screen, Build, Trackpad, etc) they're not very similar. Again the Retina line of MacBook Pros is not meant to be a mainstream line, just like the first generation MacBook Air wasn't.
The economy may be shit but that doesn't mean all of us have the same budgets. In the grand scheme of things if I plan on keeping a laptop for 4-5 years then the difference between $800 and $1500 really isn't that big of a deal.
Its just BS that you try compare two completely different laptops to each other. Apple laptops cost more but they generally hold better value,last longer, have higher quality parts besides just the CPU and Gfx card. I tried getting a comparable PC laptop to a Macbook 13", a Vaio Z which actually was superior to anything out at the time by Apple. But now my Z has a cracked frame, a black sploch on the screen, hinge issues, and one of the SSDs just died which killed my Raid configuration. While my sisters nearly 5 y/o Macbook still runs fine, just needs a new HD, and my GFs 2 y/o Air still has no issues.
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
Maybe one day you'll understand the value of a premium product. Paying more to get something that's best-in-class. That's really what the MacBook Air is, in my opinion. There's no better laptop experience for my needs.
For something that you're going to constantly be using for years and years, it seems like a better idea to me to get the best no-compromises option rather than settling for "good enough." That is, of course, assuming you have the available resources.
Come on.
LyleLanley
Banned
Well then I guess we're done here.
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
Why? You're not really providing any good reasons. Do you have some arbitrary dollar-per-inch metric or something when it comes to laptops?
Anyway, I don't think anyone's trying to convince YOU to buy it. We're just explaining why we don't particularly mind paying more for something.
H_Prestige
Banned
Still using the 2009 13" MBP and it runs as flawlessly as it did on day one, and I expect it to work for many more years. Build quality on these things is no joke.
I wonder what sort of car/truck you would buy if you wanted one (I am not sure if you own a car or not).
r8 is 120 grand for a 2 door? insane.
Well to be fair, the lecturer puts up the lecture notes online so we can download them, so we don't really need to take many notes in class and its computer science so a lot of the work is practical on the lab computers so we also don't do much writing in general. I use pen and paper. I'm old school like that.
THIS IS WHAT PEOPLE PAY? HOLY FUCKING CHRIST.
http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/cars-trucks/Kia_Sorento/
Yeah I'll take a Kia with these specs at a fraction of the price Alex.
$1700 is too much for me as well, I agree. But you can get the 256GB model for $1400 now, I think that's far more reasonable for a 227ppi IPS display.
The hell do cars have anything to do with laptops? I support Macs at work, I didn't know they cost that fucking much. I would NOT pay that much for those specs. Those specs are far outdone by the cost. Apple tax is still more than $300 too high at $1500.
$1700 is too much for me as well, I agree. But you can get the 256GB model for $1400 now, I think that's far more reasonable for a 227ppi IPS display.
Christ dude, that's a refurb.
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