New Retina Screen VS. Prior Anti-Glare Screen

Question

New Retina Screen VS. Prior Anti-Glare Screen

Just came from the Apple Store in beautiful West Des Moines, Iowa. Wanted to check this new Retina box out for myself.

Very nice image, for sure. I was expecting, though, less glare. It seems not to have as much glare as the prior incarnation's glossy screen, but more glare than the prior incarnations anti-glare screen.

Also, I ran the trailer for The Avengers on each machine side-by-side. I must say, the prior version's anti-glare screen seemed better. Not just in the anti-glare department, but overall image. And when I froze the same frame, it wasn't even close; the Retina screen was blurry and the anti-glare image (of Hulk) was smooth.

Now, I am curious if anyone else tries this out if they will have the same outcome. Could there be a legit reason why the obviously better image quaity of the Retina screen (look at the desktop) actually looks worse running this trailer?

Posted on Jun 13, 2012 3:46 PM

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Answer 1

tjk

Level 9

51,116 points

Jun 13, 2012 4:56 PM in response to Jason Fredregill

Hi Jason,

Two thoughts:

-someone was playing with the resolution on the retina

-there is more to image quality than resolution

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Answer 2

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Jun 13, 2012 4:58 PM in response to tjk

3, source material not written for retina resolution.

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Answer 3

studUS

Level 1

8 points

Jun 13, 2012 5:58 PM in response to Csound1

yes, please keep this topic alive! I am most interested in knowing everything about the difference between the two screens. I was also inclined to buy the anti-glare MBP before seeing the new retina one. of course the retina version also has all flash storage, on board 8G of system memory and 1G of video memory (both double when compared to the anti-glare version). I guess only these differences are more than worth the $400 price difference (actually only $300 when comparing prices with edu discount). But the real question is how great is the retina display dealing with the glare. I would hate to have a $2k+ machine which is totally useless in the sun.

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Answer 4

Jun 13, 2012 8:11 PM in response to studUS

From what I saw the glare would be annoying in the sun.

As far as the trailer not being produced at 'retina resolution' nothing is, so I guess that means everything will look like crap? That does not make sense.

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Answer 5

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Jun 14, 2012 2:47 PM in response to Jason Fredregill

Jason Fredregill wrote:

From what I saw the glare would be annoying in the sun.

As far as the trailer not being produced at 'retina resolution' nothing is, so I guess that means everything will look like crap? That does not make sense.

Or that as time goes by and the retina display gets to be more than a couple of days old apps will be rewritten, content will be made available, etc etc etc.

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Answer 6

Jun 14, 2012 3:02 PM in response to Csound1

Maybe it was a premature launch, then. If it were me, I'd make sure that if someone did a side-by-side test on my new tech it wouldn't look that poor. Anyone in the store looking at that would not be impressed.

I have an 8-year-old G5 tower. I certainly am ready for a new machine. But when I saw that, it was disheartening.

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Answer 7

steve359

Level 6

17,169 points

Jun 14, 2012 3:08 PM in response to Jason Fredregill

Low-res pictures on hi-res screen sometimes need to be "estimated", and this "estimation" may not be as pretty as if it were running on a older-generation screen.

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Answer 8

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Jun 14, 2012 3:11 PM in response to Jason Fredregill

Jason Fredregill wrote:

Maybe it was a premature launch, then.

Nobody will write for a machine that does not exist yet, who would buy?

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Answer 9

Jun 14, 2012 3:21 PM in response to Csound1

Maybe the WWDC should a place where the tech is announced for developers and no products actually launch then.

Don't get me wrong, I am sure it is a fine box, I'm just saying the 'Geniuses' at the store are going to have a hard time explaining to the average Joe and Josephine that the new screen looks worse because it is better.

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Answer 10

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Jun 14, 2012 4:57 PM in response to Jason Fredregill

I bought a cd player when there was hardly any cd's available, a .75" vcr with hardly any media available etc etc, this is not uncommon, just wait.

There are no geniuses at Apple Stores really.

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Answer 11

Jun 15, 2012 8:54 AM in response to Csound1

Csound - I'm not following you - wait for what?

I, too was an early CD adopter in 1984-85 when some major consumer product magazines said they would 'break too easily' and 'scratch too easily' other garbage. But if you are somehow bringing the ThB question here, let's not get delluded; ThB is not going to be a means of consumer data storage or transfer in the mainstream for, at minimum, a few years. Right now I can't buy a Retina box, much as I'd like to, because my media drive is an external FW800 drive (all my music, video, etc) and all my storage is external FW800.

I think many of the Geniuses try very hard, but it is true that they seem to be 85% enthusiasm and 15% knowledge.

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Answer 12

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Jun 15, 2012 9:58 AM in response to Jason Fredregill

Wait for the FW to Thunderbolt adaptor to be released, or buy something else if you can't wait.

And I am not an Apple 'Genius', not an Apple employee at all (this is a user site)

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Answer 13

Jun 16, 2012 8:46 PM in response to Csound1

None of the ThB drives on the market (few as they are after a whole 18 months in Macs) offer multi ports; in other words, they don't also have FW800 or USB or even eSATA - just ThB. That sounds like a requirement vs. what the manfacturers probably would like to do. Their forcing ThB down our throats - sure, you can buy 'old legacy tech' as they put it, but all ths means is the next versions will be ThB only as well. This, despite few drive options.

By default, you seem to be defending Apple putting out tech a month ahead of an adapter, which makes no sense. All they had to do was change a timeline for release on one or the other. Instead, they push out the 1.0 Retina MBP with no way to connect to the 'legacy' tech they pushed on us for a decade. So - yes - I will wait to buy if I buy at all, no, I won't buy a $2,300 box that cannot read any of my other four drives. Duh.

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Answer 14

studUS

Level 1

8 points

Jun 16, 2012 9:52 PM in response to Jason Fredregill

I was at Best Buy today to do the same screen comparison. Unfortunately they didn't have any anti-glare model over there so I compared the glossy one instead. I zoomed in 3 times and the glossy screen started to show it's limitations: the picture became pixelated and blurry. The retina display though was still cristal clear and crisp even after zooming in 5 times! The writing was also amazingly clear and not pixelated even at this zoom level. I then ran a movie and didn't notice any of the problems Jason mentioned. Both screen were set to 1440 by 900 so maybe the retina screen has issues at higher resolutions. The retina laptop, by the way, was dead cold and about as heavy as my current 13" MBP so I think I'm gonna buy it, especially when the price comes down to $1,999 with educational discount.

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Answer 15

Jun 16, 2012 10:01 PM in response to Jason Fredregill

I didn't look at video, but I see a decent superiority in looking at photographs, even jpgs on line seemed to be crisper. What I need to do is take my older laptop down and look at the same thing in comparison.

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