Yesterday. Its been one day since i purchased a Retina MacBook Pro. The 13". I've been using a 13" MacBook Air for the past year or so and it was one of my favorite laptops i've ever owned. I've owned many laptops.
The Air was technically slower then my previous laptop (an older genration MacBook Pro 13"). But what made the Air so amazing, besides its lighter then air reputation, was this little piece of magic inside of it called an SSD. That SSD made it faster then any laptop i've ever owned. My day to day tasks require more read / write to the hard drive then anything. Most of my tasks do not require heavy processing or graphics crunching.
When i got the MacBook Air i was trying to decide between the MacBook Pro of last years generation. Oddly the Air, even with the same size screen, had a higher resolution screen then the Pro. That, along with the SSD made it an easy choice for me. The extra resolution, even if minor, meant i could see more on my screen at one time. It meant that when programming or designing i could see more and still be on the same physical size display.
This all leads up to yesterday. I was in the 14th St Apple Store picking up a couple of iPad mini's for a client of mine (to use for home control). I stopped to look at the 13" Retina MBP as they had them on display. I've seen the 15" Retina before, but that was more out of my price range and bigger then i wanted to lug around.
I spent a few minutes with the 13" Retina, playing with the different available screen resolutions and i was blown away. You could fit a tremendous amount on that same 13" screen. You could fit so much that you would need a magnifying glass just to read what you were seeing. In other words, this screen goes further then what my eyes can make sense of. It is the best i can possibly get out of a 13" screen. Between the recent (awesome) commercials for this MacBook, and the realization that i could now fit even more code and design on one screen at a time (with amazing sharpness), i was now sold.
I walked out of the store holding two iPad mini's and a new 13" MacBook Pro. I rationalized that i have a 14 day return period, with out any restocking fee, so if i didn't like it, or if i couldn't sell my old Air for enough to recoup most of the purchase, then i could return it.
There is no going back. As i type the text you are reading, i am still amazed at the sharpness of everything. It sounds gimmicky but not a pixel can be seen. I stare and i stare, and everything just looks amazing to the point that it looks fake. Its been said before. It happens to be a great way to describe it. Everything looks fake. So real that its fake. Like it was made for a huge print ad.
I am very happy with the decision I made. This screen is so enjoyable, and truly helps me be more productive. Yesterday was a good day.
Screenshots can not do the sharpness justice, but they can show just how much i can fit on a screen.
Shown at full capable resolution. Remember ... a 13" screen. 3360x2100.
A few side by sides of windows in use:
Notice the number of lines available in simpl, and how many symbols fit on the left side. Remember, this is the Retina scaled down, it is capable of showing much much more then this.
