I am looking at getting a Macbook Pro, largely because I need something more powerful and faster for my amateur photography hobby than my current 2010 white macbook. I am just wondering if the new retina display is worth the money, or would a lesser computer or monitor suit my needs. I would love to hear feedback from any other amateur or pro photographers!!
MacBook Pro with Retina display
I own one of those Retina Macbook Pro - While I'm happy with the way things look in the Retina Screen, i'm not quite thrilled with the way it looks with Photoshop - not a Retina issue - just Adobe being late in releasing an update to support the Retina Screen - I heard that Aperature looks great if that's what you're using.
If you're not in a rush, why not stick it out with your old Macbook until Adobe releases an update for Photoshop.
However, if you're not using Photoshop and Microsoft Office - then it's worth the purchase - the screen looks great - videos are vibrant.
It's quite portable and light - kinda like a Super Macbook Air with a great screen.
If color reproduction is of any concern to you hold off for a while on purchasing a Retina.
The displays are built by LG and Samsung. Significant number of LGs have Image Retention issues. I have had 3 so far and all three suffer from it.
The other notable problem not with Retina per se is Application Support as many vendors have not updated their apps yet and you would experience subpar visuals.
I think your wrong about the color reproduction. Photo sites have been saying that the Retina calibrates quite accurately. There have been IR issues as pointed out, but its hard to tell how wide spread. There's about 1400 posts on it here and that includes several multiple posters. Same people are out on the web. Not to say there's no problem, obviously there is. Also rrahimi is right that application support has no where caught up with the screen yet and there's no word on when Office and Photoshop or other apps will. Aperture looks geat though. I'll find out how widespread the IR issues are next week when mine gets here 🙂 P.S. the thiness and lightness are really nice from what I've seen in the store.
I love my non-retina and also like the fact that the battery, HDD, memory can be easily replaced. The retinas look AWESOME but am very happy with my MBP!
Curt
Short answer is NO. JMHO.
After returning 3 LGs which suffered from Image Retention, I might just look into one of those.
I think your wrong about the color reproduction. Photo sites have been saying that the Retina calibrates quite accurately.
Photo sites that do the testing, do it with standard tests like gamut representation. The IPS display in Retina MBP is a fine display in that regard.
However, I was refering to Image Retention/Persistence. If you have ghosts of last photo on your screen every couple of minutes, then professional work becomes impractical. Think of it this way: You get extra layers, without asking for them. Oh, and you can't hide or move them around.
Thank you all for your input!! I have to say the deciding factor was going to the Apple store today and looking at 2 similarly equiped Macbooks, but one with Retina, side by side. Ironically, it was not the display that made up my mind that the Retina MBP would be the way to go. The display is really nice, but not nice enough to make it worth the $$$ all by itself.
Running iPhoto on them both, starting up at the exact same time, the Retina was unbelievably quicker. This is due to the flash memory as per the store employee. iPhoto is not my photo software of choice, but right now it makes my current macbook unbelievable slow.
The regular 2.3 ghz MBP running iphoto was marginally faster than my current macbook. The Retina model with the identical processor? Lightening fast...no hesitation or lag time at all.
So, i have made up my mind...not it is a matter of coming up with the $ to purchase it!!!
Only you can decide if it's worth the price or not by weighing your needs vs your budget. There's no point in asking us.
You can put a SSD in any MBP and it will be as fast as the Retina and cost less.
is retina display worth price?
