It’s not quite as thin as the Air, but Apple’s new 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display is still quite svelte — and the display is as gorgeous as you’d expect. The resolution settings for the display are just like the larger MacBook Pro — but the maximum allowed resolution is 1680 x 1050, unlike the 1920 x 1080 setting offered on the 15-inch model. Still, 1680 x 1050 is a tremendous option on a display of this size, though at the “best for Retina” setting the screen offers an effective 1280 x 800. If you’ve been using a 15-inch MacBook Pro for the screen size, the 13-inch just got a ton more attractive.
13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display hands-on
is editor-in-chief of The Verge, host of the Decoder podcast, and co-host of The Vergecast.
We only had a limited amount of time to test performance, but the 13 only hit 50 percent CPU utilization when we played the 1080p Iron Man 3 trailer while simultaneously playing back a multitrack GarageBand file and scrolling around a 21-megapixel RAW file in Aperture. That’s impressive — and very encouraging considering the relatively weak Intel HD 4000 integrated graphics. We’ll see how it handles a more intense (and normal) workload when we get a review unit, but for now it appears Apple’s done a fine job of using the available power here.
1/5
Check out the replay of our live coverage right here:
Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.
