MacBook Pro with Retina display announced

[benthebear]

Not sure why people are complaining about the lack of the ethernet port. If you can afford the cost of the laptop itself and need ethernet, then I'm pretty sure you can afford another $29. I can't say I've ever used that port on my laptop in the 4 years I've had it. And I'm sure most people are the same way.

Not sure why either. I mean, when a company says something along the lines of, "We wanted to make a next generation device without being held back by legacy," what did people think would happen? Puppies and rainbows?

[protocol7]

I don't mind the ethernet being shifted to an adapter if it helps slim down the casing. I haven't been able to plug a VGA or DVI cable into a Mac laptop for years either without an adapter.

As for optical drives, I bought a Zalman VE200 recently so I'm just about out of nails for physical media's coffin.

The only concern I have is for the non-replaceable batteries, but I'm assuming they're good for a fair few years.

[Elliott]

*cough cough* :p

:p Yea yea.

Firewire isn't totally dead yet, but it's clear that Apple is replacing it with Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt has taken over every function that Firewire used to serve for a Mac (including Target Disk Mode).

[.Neo]

Firewire isn't totally dead yet, but it's clear that Apple is replacing it with Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt has taken over every function that Firewire used to serve for a Mac (including Target Disk Mode).

Yeah, except prices are just insanely high. The other day I saw this Thunderbold hub: ?250 + ?45 for a cable. That's almost ?100 more I paid for the LaCie d2 Quadra v3 2 TB. :/

[Elliott]

Yeah, except prices are just insanely high. The other day I saw this Thunderbold hub: ?250 + ?45 for a cable. That's almost ?100 more I paid for the LaCie d2 Quadra v3 2 TB. :/

FireWire was the same way for a while too. It'll level out eventually.

[.Neo]

FireWire was the same way for a while too. It'll level out eventually.

What I meant was until it happens for the vast majority of people Thunderbold just isn't a viable option. It also offers no real advantage for external storage unless you use SSDs or start daisy chaining multiple drives.

[temple_treefrog]

Not sure why either. I mean, when a company says something along the lines of, "We wanted to make a next generation device without being held back by legacy," what did people think would happen? Puppies and rainbows?

I certainly was not expecting puppies and rainbows.

[blachole]

Just got my ship notice from Apple for mine. I had been waiting years for an upgrade like this. I had been putting money aside since last fall when the refresh wasn't what I expected. The one I built was pretty maxed out as I intend to use this one for a long time:

• 2.6GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7
  
• 16GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
  
• 512GB Flash Storage
  

[Elliott]

Just got my ship notice from Apple for mine. I had been waiting years for an upgrade like this. I had been putting money aside since last fall when the refresh wasn't what I expected. The one I built was pretty maxed out as I intend to use this one for a long time:

• 2.6GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7
  
• 16GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
  
• 512GB Flash Storage
  

Nice. :D When did you place your order and what was your expected shipping time? Trying to get a feel for if they're ahead of schedule or not.

[blachole]

Nice. :D When did you place your order and what was your expected shipping time? Trying to get a feel for if they're ahead of schedule or not.

I ordered mine when it said Shipping 5-7 business days on June 11th (this was about an hour after the WWDC conference). It shipped 4 days later (June 15th), so they are a day before their said time right now. I couldn't even tell you how quickly they are shipping now though.

[Quillz]

Had an opportunity today to play with the MBP w/ Retina Display. Wow, it's nice. Really, really nice. Even the build quality is noticeably better from the older unibody models, including the Air. All the curves felt smoother, especially the notch where you lift the lid, it had a nice angled design to it rather than being the fairly sharp metal of before.

Only thing I don't like is the new MagSafe 2 connector, it's reverted back to the original design that stuck straight out as opposed to the superior design that hugged the notebook much closer.

I would get it except I'm probably going to wait on the hopes that Retina Displays eventually come to the 13'' Pro models as well as the 11'' Air. Might be a long time, but I'm okay with waiting.

[CPressland]

I have to wait an eternity. :(

@Mod - Can we fix the title please. OCD...

[Depicus]

On the subject of memory being fixed, yes I appreciate that for repairs you want to be able to swap out the memory but for upgrading how is it different from the 3 Dell laptops before my MBP and indeed my MBP which could only take 2/4/4/4GB of memory respectively anyway - and they were maxed out on ordering.

So for the last 10 years I've never needed to or been able to upgrade my memory in a laptop.

[Arceles]

Surely many people who use macbooks use them for just browsing.... word... and that's all apparently.

I use each and one of my available ports, in fact, I've felt that I need even more ports:

2 USB 3.0 -> One conected to a USB 3.0 hub, another to a USB 3.0 harddrive

USB 3.0 hub (4 ports) -> usb 2.0 HDD, external soundcard, bluetooth, 1 port free for pen drives

2 USB 2.0 -> One always connected to a mouse and the other often connected to a PLC or any other programmable usb device.

Ethernet port -> Not only works for internet, many PLCs or programmable devices program themselves using that port, not to mention one also needs to monitor the internal behavior of such devices. Also, transfer speeds are of about 100 Mb/s vs 6mb/s to a wireless N router.

HDMI -> connected to my second screen

VGA -> not used because it's to close to HDMI, I need an slimmer connector...

Audio ports -> this is the only thing not often used, and it's just because I have an external sound card.

So.... macbooks are quite just the decorative PC that can't do pretty much anything. (O yeah, but they have a shiny high-res screen)

[Dysphoria]

So.... macbooks are quite just the decorative PC that can't do pretty much anything. (O yeah, but they have a shiny high-res screen)

No, you are missing the point. It's a laptop - a mobile device.

For everything else you described I have a desktop that would smoke any of these laptops..

[Razorwing]

No, you are missing the point. It's a laptop - a mobile device.

For everything else you described I have a desktop that would smoke any of these laptops..

I agree. Let's see you bring your immobile desktop with you on the bus. LOL.

[Arceles]

No, you are missing the point. It's a laptop - a mobile device. For everything else you described I have a desktop that would smoke any of these laptops..

In any case, I still can call it "mobile device" and at the same time smoke any of these macbooks.

[nub]

For notebook they're not used often (last time I used an ethernet cord with a notebook is in 2005 at my university). If you still need a "legacy" port, they have adapters for that

Using a laptop as a network bridge can be very handy though.

[Depicus]

In any case, I still can call it "mobile device" and at the same time smoke any of these macbooks.

And pray tell what "smoking" tasks are you referring to, because you are aware you can store your porn in the cloud now.

[Arceles]

And pray tell what "smoking" tasks are you referring to, because you are aware you can store your porn in the cloud now.

See my post before.

[Depicus]

I bought an IBM box last year that cost 50K and it doesn't even have USB3, hell it doesn't even have USB, the keyboard is connected via PS2. It has no HDMI and the VGA only outputs to a green screen but I can guarantee you it would "smoke" your PC any day of the week. Perhaps you can now see how silly your argument sounds.

[AltecXP]

Most companies still have 802.11B/G and just a handful of WAPs shared by hundreds of users. In a Professional environment (hint: Pro) ethernet is still much better in about every single case. In my office the VGA/DVI dongles are lost by the dozen every month with my users, I don't even want to think about the added cost of having to constantly replace thunderbolt ethernet adapters. For my company the non-retina pro will stay the standard for a long time, and the retina will probably be asked for by our video teams and presidents.

The problem though is that I have yet to find an fiber adapter for TB since that's how they connect to their xSAN.

[Stetson]

2 USB 2.0 -> One always connected to a mouse and the other often connected to a PLC or any other programmable usb device.

Ethernet port -> Not only works for internet, many PLCs or programmable devices program themselves using that port, not to mention one also needs to monitor the internal behavior of such devices. Also, transfer speeds are of about 100 Mb/s vs 6mb/s to a wireless N router.

Ah, PLCs. I already have a bag full of cables for different brands and generations, including a USB to RS232 converter since only the latest PLCs have native USB support. In some cases I even have to use two converters to get from USB to the manufacturer's port. I don't see what one more adapter for gigabit Ethernet is going change. Since I usually carry my own cable anyway it's just a matter of leaving the adapter snapped onto one end.

Really that doesn't matter so much since I don't use my existing Macbook, which does have an Ethernet port, for field PLC programming anyway. I leave that job to $400 Thinkpads that do the job just fine. It isn't so heart breaking when one gets dropped or is used as a tool shelf.

The problem though is that I have yet to find an fiber adapter for TB since that's how they connect to their xSAN.

Like this? http://www.promise.c...rsn1=40&rsn3=49

[Arceles]

I bought an IBM box last year that cost 50K and it doesn't even have USB3, hell it doesn't even have USB, the keyboard is connected via PS2. It has no HDMI and the VGA only outputs to a green screen but I can guarantee you it would "smoke" your PC any day of the week. Perhaps you can now see how silly your argument sounds.

I think you are misunderstanding the term "smoking" as raw power which clearly is not. Hint: Connectivity.

[Arceles]

Ah, PLCs. I already have a bag full of cables for different brands and generations, including a USB to RS232 converter since only the latest PLCs have native USB support. In some cases I even have to use two converters to get from USB to the manufacturer's port. I don't see what one more adapter for gigabit Ethernet is going change. Since I usually carry my own cable anyway it's just a matter of leaving the adapter snapped onto one end. Really that doesn't matter so much since I don't use my existing Macbook, which does have an Ethernet port, for field PLC programming anyway. I leave that job to $400 Thinkpads that do the job just fine. It isn't so heart breaking when one gets dropped or is used as a tool shelf. Like this? http://www.promise.c...rsn1=40&rsn3=49

OMRON PLCs have that option, it's quite good actually, rs232 always disconnects and I really don't that