MacBook Pro (Retina) has S/PDIF Mini-TOSLINK? Audio Input? Boot as FireWire Drive?

Very cleverly, Apple is turning these "legacy" ports into separate accessories that can conveniently be purchased for more money. Yes, it is Apple's way of bringing in the new, but they're also a company, and their primary goal is to make money, above all else.

Yes, the computer can be used for line in and out. I believe to use both at the same time, there is a separate accessory.

Despite what the Apple hardcores will tell you, its not the best thing since sliced bread this new retina MacBook Pro. Its mad expensive for what it is. Look it looks nice, so do all macbooks since 2006. but some points to think about:

Its lighter - sure. But its still **** heavy. MacBook Air - thats 1.35Kgs and feels light, this feels like a your helping build a house.

Its faster - but by what exactly?

Well compared to the 2011 oh-so-terrible sandy bridge processor macbook pro, its.. not that much faster at all. Infact, I found the geekbench results.

http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/apple-macbook-pro-with-retina-display.as px

2011 Sandy bridge - 10,875 2012 Ive Bridge - 11,049.

Whats that.. 175 points? Not worth the extra $1000 I hear you say?

I love the technology, and Im up for a new laptop soon and will probably either get a 2.3Ghz with 16GB ram, or a fully loaded 13 air.. but people please, dont try and get one if you dont need one. If you own a laptop after 2010 I wouldnt even glance at one till something crazy comes out. Surely not everyone who owns a mac is a photshop expert. I work in Finance and am studying at university.

Im also not shy to upgrading, I have a 4S, an Apple TV, iPad, iMac 27 etc - im not a tight ***, just a bit dissappointed at the real world performance increase (everyone was acting like Ivy Bridge was a game changer) and the battery wasnt improved. I still remember my sisters white MacBook (I think 2010 or 2011?) gets up to 10 hours!

Now the laptops need new adapters etc.. I dont know it screams give me your $3000 and Ill give last years product with a nicer screen thats half as dense as an iPhones.

well, like Point - counter point (for those old enough to remember it) let me give you my 0.02 cents worth

YES, it is SO worth it. The big expense is the 512G flash SSD. Besides being more shock resistant, not subject to fragmentation, its blankty blankaty FAST! So many programs load twice as fast. (I am running windows in Parallels, a huge diff. in start up speed). Video editing SO much faster. That is a huge part of the cost. The rest is the lovely screen. When I picked mine up yesterday (Tuesday) opened it in the apple store, put it next to the current 15" MBP and there is a noticeable improvement including less glare.

One feature that is not mentioned, while the screen is 2880 x 1800 you get 5 different display resolutions that all are very sharp. For OLD eyes, you can go down to 1024 x 640 (OK, WAY TOO BIG) and when I am writing code, I want a lot of space, so bring it up to 1920 x 1200. The default is in the middle. Most other LCD screens have one "GOOD" resolution. To me, this is a HUGE feature!

The speakers are MUCH better than the ones on my previos MBP. and the fan is MUCH quieter (I play Second Life a lot and that heats up the computer so the fans are always at max!) Oh yea, the video card is noticably faster with Second Life. I am getting twice the FPS.

I am very happy with the jacks. Yes, if you need wired ethernet each day, it would be nice to have that built in, I guess ditto for video out, etc. but I dont mind buying the adapters when I need them (Yo Apple, I am waiting!). Ditto with the external DVD Drive. If I was living on an airplane and wanting to watch movies on each flight, thish would NOT be the laptop for me, but I figure I use a DVD maybe once every other month or so. (and since I have more than one mac, the remote DVD option works fine with me. Worked fine for years with the mac air!)

Bottom line, this very expensive computer seems very polished to me. If I was just not so impatient to wait 2-3 weeks to order one, I would have an extra 256G storage and 16G of ram! But I guess I can settle for this "entry Level" machine

bruce

FireWire target disk mode

ThunderBolt target disk mode.

OS X Lion: Transfer files between two computers using target disk mode

DS1_image_text-500x230.jpg

Belkin (revised)

Does that allow me to record a guitar if plugged in from an amp in to the computer? Or can I directly plug it in to the computer? Sorry I don't really know these tech specs and I need to know this too before purchasing the laptop.

Thx

You can only plug in your guitar (or any input source) through an amplifier that provides an Optical Out from the guitar and uses a compatible plug to the computer.

i confirmed that there is a optical out from the 3.5mm audio port, just plug in a toslink cable and the audio output will automatically change to optical out. i'm using one in my MacBook Pro Retina 15" now : P

Good work Rodrigo for finding an article on it. I'm yet to try it out myself. Would it have made more sense to test the jack first though?