After seeing the news popping up around the web about the 2012 MacBook Pro with Retina display I was immediately excited. Off I went to the Apple website to check out the product video and damn I thought this new thinner macbook pro looks the goods. I love my 2011 i7 Macbook Pro to bits but it was the insanely high resolution display option that grabbed my attention. At 2880-by-1800 resolution at 220 pixels per inch with support for millions of colours, who wouldn’t sit up and pay attention.
Unfortunately the premium notebook also comes with a premium price tag, once again Apple treats the Australian consumers with contempt by being $300 AUD more expensive compared to the US Apple store, currently the 15″ MBP with Retina Display, 256GB SSD and 8GB Ram is $2,499 while the 512GB version is a whopping $3,199 . The last time I checked, the $AUD is still in parity with the $USD. This pricing scheme puts this newly released Macbook Pro out of my reach which is a shame because I think the high resolution display is a massive plus for professional and amateur photographers alike.
I’ll just have to hold on to my 2011 MBP for a bit longer I think, perhaps a RAM upgrade to 16GB and a bigger capacity SSD would be a cheaper option. After reading PCMag’s review I became less excited, the trusty ethernet port was sacrificed due to it’s thinner profile and with the built in flash storage it means the days of user upgradeable part could be over. No SuperDrive either, unlike some users I actually do use it even if it’s only on occasional basis, I also like the fact that I have the option to remove it and install a Data Doubler for extra storage.
There is no doubt that this new Macbook packs a punch in terms of performance, seamless styling and overall user experience but it’s not for everybody. If budget is not a concern then by all means, this should be on your next online shopping list.
