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Performance and multimedia
As mentioned previously, the integrated Intel HD 4000 graphics chip sometimes cannot keep up with the Retina display. There is some noticeable lag when scrolling some web pages, but most work fine. I also experiences some stuttering with a small amount of 1080p video clips, but perhaps the very high bitrate of these clips would make any laptop stutter. Still, it's a shame that that unlike the 15-inch Retina Pro, the 13-inch one doesn't include a discreet graphics chip.
For the most part, the performance on this laptop is great, especially with the 8GB of RAM. However, one would expect the performance to be even better given the price of this laptop. There are some Windows PC laptops that perform better than the MacBook Pro 13-inch Retina and they cost less than $1000.
The MacBook Pro 13-inch Retina also overheats more than the other MacBook Pro laptops. It isn't a deal breaker, but one shouldn't have to deal with this when paying for such a high-end laptop.
Battery life
Apple claims that the MacBook Pro 13-inch Retina can get up to 7 hours of battery life and they aren't lying. With brightness set to 80 percent, I was able to stream several Netflix videos and the battery didn't die down until after almost 6 hours. When using the device to surf the web, watch a few videos, listen to music, and do some FaceTime chatting, I actually received a little more than 7 hours of battery life. I don't know how Apple creates such a powerful device with amazing battery life, but they did.
Conclusion
The MacBook Pro 13-inch Retina is a beautiful and useful device. Despite the Retina display compatibility issue, using this is a much better experience than using the 13-inch MacBook Air. However, given the price is still $1599 or above, the MacBook Air is a much better buy. Do you own a MacBook Pro 13-inch Retina? Tell us what you think about it in the Comments section.
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