Apple launches next-gen MacBook Pro with Retina screen

Sad Professor

Main features:
* Thinner, lighter form factor
* Faster Flash storage
* High-resolution 15-inch Retina display

What's it missing?
* No optical drive
* No Ethernet port

Price starts at €2,349.00.

http://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/

So what do people think?

thecommander

Will be buying one soon, wonder what the prices are like (store is down)

Captain Chaos

Only the 15" and 17" have it. No love for the 13" model.:(

SSD and USB3 good. Still no BluRay drive though, my 18 month old laptop here has one as standard and was only a €700 laptop.

fjon

Captain Chaos wrote: »

Only the 15" and 17" have it. No love for the 13" model.:(

SSD and USB3 good. Still no BluRay drive though, my 18 month old laptop here has one as standard and was only a €700 laptop.

Well there's no DVD drive so it would be hard to have Bluray

Captain Chaos

fjon wrote: »

Well there's no DVD drive so it would be hard to have Bluray

It does, its says on the site it has a DVD drive that can burn dual layer DVD9s.

opinion guy

Sad Professor wrote: »

http://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/

So what do people think?

RAM is not upgradable according to folks on macrumours. Not sure about SSD.
I also would not want to be an early adopter.


I mean don't get me wrong it will be an epic machine......but not for me

Sad Professor

Captain Chaos wrote: »

Only the 15" and 17" have it. No love for the 13" model.:(.

The 17-inch MBP is gone. This new 15-inch Retina model replaces it.

Creamy Goodness

ram and SSD are soldered onto the mainboard, neither will be upgradable easily or without paying through the nose with apple.

either way SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!!!

opinion guy

Captain Chaos wrote: »

It does, its says on the site it has a DVD drive that can burn dual layer DVD9s.

What site would that be ????


It doesn't have a DVD drive

Im_No_Superman

They look beautiful machines but not being able to upgrade ram or ssd is abit of a bummer. Think it could be a great time to pick up a refurb MacBook pro.

fjon

Am seriously considering getting one to replace my 2009 MBP.
Some little features in there that I've been waiting for a long time, e.g. HDMI slot.
I still use CDs/ DVDs from time to time so might miss this initially. I presume it has the same DVD-drive sharing that the MBA has.
Price is pretty steep though!

redman85

Captain Chaos wrote: »

Only the 15" and 17" have it. No love for the 13" model.:(

SSD and USB3 good. Still no BluRay drive though, my 18 month old laptop here has one as standard and was only a €700 laptop.

Also no 17" macbook at all.

opinion guy

Intro video up here:
http://www.apple.com/ie/macbook-pro/

Take my advice - get yourself to your nearest ipad 3 and watch this video.

Holy Jesus

silvine

I'm disappointed with what they have, or should I say haven't done, with the iMac.

Sad Professor

The iMac will probably get a silent update in the next month or so. There's no reason for them to announce it at WWDC if it's only getting a spec bump.

opinion guy

opinion guy wrote: »

Intro video up here:
http://www.apple.com/ie/macbook-pro/

Take my advice - get yourself to your nearest ipad 3 and watch this video.

Holy Jesus

Have to say - the design of the new fan blows my mind. Such a clever way to reduce noise. I wonder does it scale - can planes use it too.
Mind-blowingly clever and yet so simple.

opinion guy

Prices are up

http://store.apple.com/ie/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook_pro/select

My my this ain't cheap

Starts at €2349 :eek:

gorevs

11 air 1.6 processor, 2 gig mem, 64gig flash drive is 995 euros basic
with 4 gig ram and 128 hd, its 1198 euros, can be upgraded to 8gig ram for 100 euros

13 air basic 1.7 4 gig ram, 128 hd 1300 euros
with 256 hd is 1605 euros,

fjon

Just for fun I built myself one with the top spec. Check out that price!

fjon

opinion guy wrote: »

Prices are up

http://store.apple.com/ie/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook_pro/select

My my this ain't cheap

Starts at €2349 :eek:

Yeah, was tempted at the USD price, but not at this!

opinion guy

fjon wrote: »

Just for fun I built myself one with the top spec. Check out that price!

Equivalent euro price in .ie store is €3928.99






It really annoys me how we get screwed like this in Ireland

silvine

fjon wrote: »

Yeah, was tempted at the USD price, but not at this!

That's unreal, no retina for me so.

Sad Professor

It's called sales tax or VAT, folks, and it's not included in the US price.

thecommander

Sad Professor wrote: »

It's called sales tax or VAT, folks, and it's not included in the US price.

Much of a muchness when you add in sales tax in USA, or if you're VAT registered here. 90 euro in the difference.

fjon

Sad Professor wrote: »

It's called sales tax or VAT, folks, and it's not included in the US price.

Not all states have that. If I bought in Oregon (no sales tax) I assume I'd get that price? Or does it go by the state the product ships from?

opinion guy

fjon wrote: »

Not all states have that. If I bought in Oregon (no sales tax) I assume I'd get that price? Or does it go by the state the product ships from?

Aren't online purchases over there (i.e. in the US) immune from sales tax ????

displaced dub

Had a semi when I saw the video with retina and the beautiful fan and look how slim it is. Then I saw the price and I lost the semi in a nano second and tightened my arse like ya do when you go, oh that's gonna hurt!

This one is really for pros.

silvine

This one is really for pros.

QFT


I shudder to think how much a retina iMac would cost. I thought they might change the form factor of the iMac too. It's long overdue.

The 13inch Macbook Air looks good (and affordable).

redman85

would love to see that display in person. Does anyone know if web pages will be scaled for it? otherwise the images will be tiny on that screen.

displaced dub is right this is for the pros. not for searching the net, emails or Facebook. you need your head checked if your looking at this machine for only those reasons.

sorry for being ignorant but most of the people here complaining about the price don't even need this machine they just want it

taylorconor95

Did anyone see the silent airport express upgrade?

It is just like a white apple TV now!

Andy!!

As a predominantly windows user I'd like to say...

... this machine looks feckin amazing. A marvel of engineering. Such good specs. And, IMO, the first fairly priced Apple device ever. I bought a second hand i5 air recently and I love it, the screen is no nice and it's so portable. I'm definitely buying one of these new Macbooks and dual booting windows on it for my windows only apps.

Crann na Beatha

This post has been deleted.

taylorconor95

Aquila wrote: »

Yes before anyone says it im a noob,but whats so good about retina?

You can't differentiate between pixels on the screen. Once you have it you'ss understand

opinion guy

Aquila wrote: »

Yes before anyone says it im a noob,but whats so good about retina?

Go into HMV or Apple store and look at an ipad 3 screen compared to an ipad 2 screen or any android screen and you will see the difference.

No point talking about it or trying to describe it in words - its the kind of thing you have to experience for yourself

jenno86

Have the upgraded the 13" Pro at all at all?

Bar from ivy bridge

Sad Professor

jenno86 wrote: »

Have the upgraded the 13" Pro at all at all?

Bar from ivy bridge

USB 3 and 720p webcam.

jester77

hmm, I don't see a kensington lock slot. Have they really left that out? No way I would trust leaving this on my desk while gone for lunch. I think I might be holding off for rev. 2

eeloe

taylorconor95 wrote: »

Did anyone see the silent airport express upgrade?

It is just like a white apple TV now!

Still just looks like a router to me to be honest. no HDMI port or anything that would make it similar to an apple TV!

conor.hogan.2

Apple are making very little sense to me lately.

Why no 17" at all?
Why no retina 13"?
Why split it into 2 lines again?
Why no Ethernet in a 1200+ euro laptop?
Why make it harder to upgrade ram and ssd again?
Why still no hdmi?

But that 2979 euro 15" retina with ssd 512 is tasty looking though. Expensive and I would have to not use Ethernet and never have to use a disc and spend around 50 getting 2 cables so it has hdmi.

Must check to see if you could install a ssd in the 13" and upgrade the ram yourself..

Not ready to upgrade for a while anyway, luckily.

eeloe

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

Apple are making very little sense to me lately.

Why no 17" at all?
It probably accounted for 1% of all their sales..no one really bought them due to the size
Why no retina 13"?
They'd sell absolutely no 15", most people would just get the 13" and live with it to save a grand
Why split it into 2 lines again?
Veteran and New Users, lets face it, someone who's moving from a 500euro Windows PC isn't going to drop nearly 3k on a laptop straight away
Why no Ethernet in a 1200+ euro laptop?
I haven't used an ethernet cable in a couple of years wireless N is pretty damn fast, and in a couple of years, wireless speeds will be greater than a wired connection
Why make it harder to upgrade ram and ssd again?
Having the RAM and SSD souldered to the board, takes away the need for cumbersom clamps and locking mechanics, which allowed for the thinner design
Why still no hdmi?
It does have HDMI, have you actually read the specs?

But that 2979 euro 15" retina with ssd 512 is tasty looking though.

see bold

Sad Professor

Eventually we'll probably see the 13-inch and 15-inch MBP discontinued, leaving just the 11 and 13-inch MBA and 15-inch Retina MBP. It's kind of like when they first introduced the aluminium unibody MBP, but it was too expensive for them to discontinue the Plasticbook, which they ended up keeping around for quite a while.

But I agree that the Retina MBP lacks certain Pro features. The lack of upgradable RAM and limited storage being the biggest issues. This is why the old models are still around. The Retina display is probably the main reason the new model is so expensive, so I kind of wish they'd offered a slimmed down 13-inch and 15-inch without it. Who knows, maybe they still will.

Re: the lack of Ethernet, Apple said they have plans for an Ethernet Thunderbolt adapter.

conor.hogan.2

This is a pro machine why not keep it as thin as it was and add a proper hdmi port (for all the lines, except the air) and an ethernet port and have 1 line where you can update the ram and ssd/hdd?

Sad Professor wrote: »

Re: the lack of Ethernet, Apple said they have plans for an Ethernet Thunderbolt adapter.

Yay the amount of adapters will be bigger than the laptop.

Sad Professor

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

So money/greed and fair enough the Ethernet was not a deal breaker.

It has hdmi through an additional adapter…

No, it has a HDMI port. You can clearly see it in the pictures and in the specs. No need for an adapter.

conor.hogan.2

Sad Professor wrote: »

No, it has a HDMI port. You can clearly see it in the pictures and in the specs. No need for an adapter.

Ah yes for the retina one, cheers.

Nevermind jesus what have the done to the simple 2 line model? Takes a while to see what has what and what doesn't.

Can you upgrade the ram and ssd/hdd for any of the line? Crucial and your own ssd would be way way cheaper.

eeloe

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

Ah yes for the retina one, cheers.

2 usb but at least hdmi finally.

Can you upgrade the ram and ssd/hdd for any of the line? Crucial and your own ssd would be way way cheaper.

It clearly has 2 USB ports, 2 Thunderbolt Ports and a HDMI port...

conor.hogan.2

eeloe wrote: »

It clearly has 2 USB ports, 2 Thunderbolt Ports and a HDMI port...

Yes, the upper line does (hence saying retina when SP corrected me). I said 2 usb and never mentioned TB.

Sad Professor

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

Can you upgrade the ram and ssd/hdd for any of the line? Crucial and your own ssd would be way way cheaper.

The RAM is certainly soldered to the board. But it might be possible to unofficially replace the SSD like you can with the Air.

conor.hogan.2

So the Ram has to be gotten from Apple? (unless your are insane and wish to solder a 2000+ euro machine)

Sad Professor

Yes. It's soldered to the board, so if the machine has 8GB when you buy it, then that's what you are stuck with. It costs an extra €200 to get 16GB.

This will be a big turn-off for many people, especially those Pro users who use a lot of RAM and might want the option of being able to upgrade to more than 16GB in the future. But for everyone else it shouldn't be too hard to figure out whether 8 or 16GB is enough to get them through the next 3 or 4 years. The 16GB upgrade is expensive, but you're spending a fortune on the machine anyway.

Being able to (hopefully) upgrade the SSD is a much bigger issue IMO.

conor.hogan.2

Considering how fast the 4 to 8 jump happened the 8 to 16 jump won't be too long, very off-putting.

Hopefully sorted out before this machine dies (only a year or so old)

Now Apple is grossly overpriced, pushing their ssd and ram on you. That said very few or no competitors match it, sadly even if you ignore OSX (which is a major selling point)

jenno86

Is the non retina pro fully upgradable?