Here is a screenshot of the entire display when using the "retina" resolution. It fits a single post on the screen at a time. So much for all that extra screen real-estate.

So the UI elements are resolution-independent. I can see how that's annoying if you can't change it, but it's completely different from having a lower "maximum desktop resolution." And can't you run Windows/Linux if you don't like what OS X does?

[quote name='tstrimple' timestamp='1341439092' post='4955767']
Here is a screenshot of the entire display when using the "retina" resolution. It fits a single post on the screen at a time. So much for all that extra screen real-estate.

So the UI elements are resolution-independent. I can see how that's annoying if you can't change it, but it's completely different from having a lower "maximum desktop resolution." And can't you run Windows/Linux if you don't like what OS X does?
[/quote]

There are a lot of things I dislike about how OS X works, but I put up with it for the sublime trackpad support. It is probably my favorite feature of apple laptops. The windows and linux drivers are garbage in comparison.

Edit: The other thing to keep in mind here is there is no upgrading your MBP after purchase. Want a bigger hard drive? More ram? Too bad. These are trivial upgrades in most PC laptops and can mean a significant savings up front and allow you to upgrade to things like 512GB SSDs when they become more reasonably priced. I actually always purchase PC laptops without an SSD and buy and install my own to save $. The other interesting thing about the Clevo 9150 is that you can also upgrade the GPU which very few laptops will lets you do. Just some more things to keep in mind.

Just saying, even though discussion was on the RMBP, you CAN upgrade the RAM and hardrive (to even a SSD) on the non Retina Macbook Pros. Pretty easily too. You can also take the optical drive out and put another hardrive there.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I will be looking at all options and taking them all into consideration. I do like the Clevo options. I'll be looking into them.

Just speaking on the RMBP, isn't their an app you can download that allows you to run the RMBP at the true full resolution? Even though it is literally almost impossible to even read anything as it is crazy small.

Performance, performance, performance.
Personally I am totally dissatisfied by what "portable computers" have turned out to be. Atom is slow but I still use my netbook more often than the i5 laptop. I even considered switching to a Nano based laptop, those were incredibly cheap, in the order of 150. Want to take it with you to the beach? No problem! Ultrabooks appears more in line with my physical needs, at a performance level I don't need and a price I cannot afford.

Personally I do not understand how students can consider carrying around a bulky bag acceptable. Hopefully this madness will be a thing of the past soon as tablets eat more and more cake.

[quote name='The_Neverending_Loop' timestamp='1341423314' post='4955674']
The retina has a display of 1800 verticle pixels so theres nothing in the market that can compare with it real estate wise.

This is misleading. The maximum desktop resolution is 1920x1200 and the default is set to 1440x900. There are plenty of 1080p laptops out there at 15.4" or larger.

The battery life upon research is also only a few minutes above 3 hours.[/quote]
I've got a Macbook Pro Retina on my lap as I type this. The 7 hour figure is under optimal circumstances. Right now I have been on here for about an hour, and the battery bar say I have just under two hours left. Sure, if I wanted to drop my backlight to almost nothing, and not run any applications which use the CPU or GPU I could get close to what they claim, but that's hardly real-world usage.

9 Lbs is far to heavy to be carrying on anyones back, and a 17 inch display means he cant just pop it in his book bag, he would have to carry an extra bullky carrying case which would get really annoying after a while (I travel ALOT with my laptop and 5 lbs is honestly taking its toll on me).[/quote]

AGREED! There are some 15.4" laptops with reasonable weight, but I commute daily on my motorcycle and back pressure was one of the reasons I went ahead and paid extra for a MBP. Don't get me wrong, I love my MBP, but if I was on a budget, it would definitely not be my first choice. While it has an insane max resolution, it doesn't come into play that often and to be honest I'm not blown away by the screen like everyone else seems to be. I had a clevo from xoticpc which had a fantastic 1080p screen which is definitely in the same category as the retina as far as impressive screens go.

For a budget of $1,500, there is no bang for your buck like a Clevo. Take a look at the 9150 or 9130 which you can configure to have the same CPU, same hard drive and 16GB of ram for just over $1,300. If you just want the same power as the MBP, you can have them for over $1000 less and still have a top-notch screen. Plus you still get a dvd drive ;)

http://www.xoticpc.c...em1-p-4340.html

Edit: The other thing to keep in mind here is there is no upgrading your MBP after purchase. Want a bigger hard drive? More ram? Too bad. These are trivial upgrades in most PC laptops and can mean a significant savings up front and allow you to upgrade to things like 512GB SSDs when they become more reasonably priced. I actually always purchase PC laptops without an SSD and buy and install my own to save $. The other interesting thing about the Clevo 9150 is that you can also upgrade the GPU which very few laptops will lets you do. Just some more things to keep in mind.
[/quote]

Wow that seems like some real shady business Ill probably look into one of these clevo's myself then. Im used to laptops not hitting the actual estimated battery life mark but honestly they have never been off by 50%!. Thanks for the heads up.

[Edit] Actually the Bulkyness vs Battery life doesnt work for me. But Im seeing some good deals on that website for other non-clevo laptops like the Zenbook I mentioned earlier http://www.xoticpc.com/asus-ux31adb51-preorder-p-4680.html. Only thing is Im a little weary about "to good to be true" specs now.

Wow that seems like some real shady business Ill probably look into one of these clevo's myself then. Im used to laptops not hitting the actual estimated battery life mark but honestly they have never been off by 50%!. Thanks for the heads up.

It really depends on what you're doing. I almost always have parallels running for instance which would definitely have an impact on battery life. I just unplugged, and I have chrome and a text editor open and it's giving me an estimate of five hours at full brightness, six hours at half brightness and eight hours at minimum brightness. If you try, you can definitely get good battery life out of the MBP. I was just commenting on what I consider to be "normal" usage.

It's definitely better than the Vaio SZ I purchased last year. They claimed a seven hour battery life as well, and even under very light usage I was getting between two and three. When I called to complain, they claimed the seven hour battery life was only for standby mode. I will never order another Sony laptop, regardless of what the specs say.

Here is a screenshot of the entire display when using the "retina" resolution. It fits a single post on the screen at a time. So much for all that extra screen real-estate.

Come on, put in a little effort. If you drop into the System Preferences (probably under Display), you can adjust the 'effective' resolution to a bunch of intermediate DPI values that then get scaled.

[quote name='tstrimple' timestamp='1341439092' post='4955767']
Here is a screenshot of the entire display when using the "retina" resolution. It fits a single post on the screen at a time. So much for all that extra screen real-estate.

Come on, put in a little effort. If you drop into the System Preferences (probably under Display), you can adjust the 'effective' resolution to a bunch of intermediate DPI values that then get scaled.
[/quote]

I said as much in the previous post. The effective resolution caps out at 1920x1200 which is great for a 15.4" laptop, but it's hardly revolutionary.

I don't want to turn this into a Mac topic or a topic where we just debate the RMBP. Though I must say I remember the MacRumors article about the RMBP and I honestly thought just about everyone agreed it was HORRIBLY written and did not explain it very well at all.

This is what "Retina" has basically always meant at all times. It is the same thing on the iPad and iPhones Retina display.

For a professional I believe the RMBP is absolutely great. I've heard numerous of photographers, video editors and photo editors absolutely love the RMBP. Video editors love it and will love it even more when more and more apps come out to support and take advantage of the display. It's not like Apple lied. The display is running at the FULL resolution. If you don't think it is then I just think something is being misunderstood or something. There is a way for you to see it without any of the scaling going on. Download SwitchResX (I believe that is what it is called. Now try to use that beast of a resolution on a 15" screen without any scaling.

I even believe Apples bootcamp drivers for Windows by default changes Windows UI scaling so everything is usable and can be seen.

The Retina display will come in handy when editing movies. To be able to have that like full preview window at 1080p while you're working is awesome IMO.

I said as much in the previous post. The effective resolution caps out at 1920x1200 which is great for a 15.4" laptop, but it's hardly revolutionary.

I think saying the "effective resolution" is anything other than the real resolution is not really appropriate. You're complaining that the text and UI elements take up space/are too large, and that's a valid complaint, but it has nothing to do with resolution, "effective" or otherwise. I guess it's slightly better than just saying the "maximum desktop resolution is 1920x1200" but it's still vastly misleading.