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Why is 1440 x 900 "Best" for the Retina Screen per Apple?

Okay, in the System Preferences folder you can set the new MBP-R screen to one of the following settings with the description Apple provides by going to the System Preferences folder, then choosing "Displays", then unselecting the default "Best for Retina display" button by choosing instead the, "scaled" button. When you do that, you get the following choices with warnings on four of the five choices (for a screen shot see the link below):

1024 x 640, Larger Text, "Using a scaled resolution may effect performance."

1280 x 800, "Using a scaled resolution may effect performance."

1440 x 900, Best (Retina)

1680 x 1050 "Using a scaled resolution may effect performance."

1920 x 1200. More space, "Using a scaled resolution may effect performance."

There is no option for native 2880 x 1800 as presumably the text would be so tiny.

My question is, why does Apple call the 1440 x 900, "Best (Retina)"? What is best about it, why do only the other four have the scaled resolution warning since they all five are scaled are they not? Peformance concerns aside, can't I have confidence that all resolutions will be crisp as all are scaled as none are actually native (2880 x 1880)?

Then, Anand Tech has an article on how Apple handles this scaling, and they say,

"Retina MBP ships in a pixel doubled configuration. You get the effective desktop resolution of the standard 15-inch MacBook Pro's 1440 x 900 panel, but with four physical pixels driving every single pixel represented on the screen. This configuration is the best looking, . . ."

And they note the other resolutions have the potential to suffer performance and picture quality loss compared to the "Best" setting in the middle. But they just say this quality drop "can" happen, not that it "will" happen.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5996/how-the-retina-display-macbook-pro-handles-sc aling

Can someone explain why this middle setting is inherently "Best", is it because the native resolution is divisible by this setting (2880 divisible by 1440; and 1800 divisible by 900)? And why does Anand Tech say there might be a quality impact in the other four? When would quality be compromised, when wouldn't it?

Thanks!

MacBook Pro

Posted on Jun 15, 2012 2:00 PM

33 replies

Feb 15, 2014 12:30 PM in response to TM Advertising

What about ipads and iphones? How would one go about desiging a website for them if they claim to have these enormous resolutions that aren't their actual resolutions?

Feb 15, 2014 5:03 PM in response to alanchrishughes

alanchrishughes wrote:

What about ipads and iphones? How would one go about desiging a website for them if they claim to have these enormous resolutions that aren't their actual resolutions?

Google for HiDPI Web Design. You'll find out how to code a site to take advantage of the hi resolution. Basically you'll need two images. One is standard resolution for standard displays, another is double the size, X and Y. The hi resolution image will take the same amount of the page, but it will be much sharper and criper for those devices that support it

Feb 15, 2014 5:22 PM in response to TM Advertising

Thanks TM Advertising

I'm more concerned though with the design of the site itself. I'm new to thist stuff and thought I had a handle of it just assuming any browswer/screen wider than 1000 pixels would mean desktop/laptop and could use a regular website design. But if iPads really do have these enormous resolutions you can't make that assumption and will need to have the mobile version displayed even on 1000px and larger screens.

Why is 1440 x 900 "Best" for the Retina Screen per Apple?