Question for people using the MacBook Pro 15" with Retina display

[r.e.]

Would appreciate views on colour gamut and rendition when printing.

I am looking at this computer for travel, particularly the 2.6Gh version with 16MB RAM and 256GB storage.

Thanks.

[Bob Salomon]

Why would you only get 256 storage? Get at least the 500GB SSD drive. On the MBP Retina you can not add memory or internal storafe after you buy it.

I have the unit with 8GB of ram and it works great.

[r.e.]

Thanks Bob,

There is indeed a question of whether I need 8GB or 16GB of RAM, given that I don't plan to use this computer for more than a couple of years.

I'm thinking 256GB of storage instead of 512GB because I'm into external storage and will be prepared to pay for external SSD, Thunderbolt and/orUSB3.0, when the price comes down a bit.

But would much appreciate your views.

[Bob Salomon]

I have absolutely no problems matching and printing with either a Epson R3000 or a Canon 900. The PB has long been used by pros for quality photo work so I don't really understand your question.
I also use an external Thunderbolt drive but only as a portable back up unit with Carbon Copy Cloner since everyday back up goes to an Airport. But the external is slower then the internal SSD so I would still choose the 500 or 750 SSD as an internal drive. I can fill a 256 pretty quickly.

[r.e.]

I have absolutely no problems matching and printing with either a Epson R3000 or a Canon 900.

That's what I want to know. Thanks.

[mortensen]

... one thing to beware of: Although, the Retina display is excellent, most software is not written for it. Consequently, CS6 and most other software looks pixelated! The Retina display has the 'size' of the usual 1440x900, but looks supercrisp because it is actually doubled/oversampled (forgive my wrong terms). Most of your software will 'scaled at 200%' to fit the size of the ultra-hires retina display - which makes your interfaces, buttons and - in the case of inDesign - your whole document look pixelated.

Lots of people are waiting for updates to solve this issue!
... apart from that, its great

[r.e.]

Thanks mortensen. Yes, I hope that Adobe addresses this issue sooner rather than later.

I'm used to editing on matte displays, Eizo and matte MacBook, so my main concern is whether the Retina display raises any colour gamut issues or any disconnect between what one sees on the screen and what gets printed. Photographs displayed on my iPad with Retina have a different look from other displays that I've used, and I just wanted to know whether anyone is having issues with the MacBook Retina vis a vis printing.

Anyway, I'm going to go ahead with the purchase this coming week. Will be 2.6GHz processor, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD. The main issue at the moment is external storage, which I want to be portable SSD with a Thunderbolt port. Right now, there are only two options (LaCie Little Big Book and Elgato), both pricey. Promise is coming out with the Pegasus J2 in the next few months, which might be interesting.

[r.e.]

In case others are considering the MacBook with Retina display, thought I'd add that I'm reconsidering the configuration.

The main issue is that external Thunderbolt storage, especially SSD storage, is extremely expensive at the moment. It appears that the most economic solution is to buy Seagate's portable Thunderbolt adaptor and plug a 2.5" SSD drive into it obtained from NewEgg or similar. There is discussion on the internet about doing this, as well as a couple of YouTube videos showing it being done. No enclosure for the drive, but it looks like it works. Meanwhile, it looks to me like we are some months away from Thunderbolt external drives that are reasonably priced, especially ones with two Thunderbolt ports. And if you want more than one port, it looks like you'll have to run these drives, for power consumption reasons, off a separate power supply rather than from the computer. At that point, this is not my idea of portable, which is what I am looking for.

Anyway, I'm going to be in a state later this week where there is no sales tax, and I am beginning think that it might make sense, having looked at, and priced, the few external drive options, and having figured in the hassle factor, to go to the local Apple store and buy the "loaded" off-the-shelf unit, which is 2.7GHz processor, 16GB RAM and 768GB Flash.

I'd avail myself of Apple's programme to have a custom order delivered to the store for pickup, but that programme does not apply yet to the MacBook with Retina. So if you want one that isn't delivered to your address, it has to be off-the-shelf, and if you want 16GB of RAM, it apparently has to be the 2.7GHz with 768GB Flash. No sales tax, and the extraordinary cost, and limitations, at the moment of external Thunderbolt storage, makes the purchase easier to rationalise. Or so I have convinced myself.

My problem is that I bought an 11" MacBook Air a little over a year ago. Useless for editing photographs, partly because the display is not exactly au courant, but otherwise a brilliant little machine. SSD/flash is like crack. Except for archival storage, I can't see myself ever using mechanical disks again.

[Robert Budding]

Who thinks up the goofy marketing names for Apple? I mean, come on, Retina Display, Thunderbolt, Firewire, i-this, i-that, etc. I want to laugh when I hear the names.

[r.e.]

Who thinks up the goofy marketing names for Apple? I mean, come on, Retina Display, Thunderbolt, Firewire, i-this, i-that, etc. I want to laugh when I hear the names.

Actually, Thunderbolt is a name agreed to by Intel and Apple after Intel came up with the name Light Peak, which makes sense if Thunderbolt eventually becomes an optic fiber cable connection, but it isn't there yet.

As for the rest of your observations about names, yes they are about marketing. Interestingly, when Apple announced the iPad, the initial reaction to the name was sarcastic in the extreme, so much so that many people said that the device would self-destruct because of the name alone. As we all know, since then iPad sales have done pretty OK.

More importantly, do you have something substantive to say about the subject of this thread? Or do you just want to turn a discussion about Apple hardware into a discussion about Apple branding?