This weekend, Best Buy announced they were selling the entry-level MacBook Pro 13-inch Retina for a reduced price of $1614. It is expected to sell for $1599 by the end of the week. Is the laptop really worth the price?
LA Gadgets Examiner rating: B+
Basic specs:
- 12.84 x 8.6 x .75 inches
- 3.6 pounds
- Intel 3rd Generation Core i5, 2.5GHz processor
- 13.3-inch widescreen IPS Retina display with 2560 x 1600 pixel resolution
- 8GB RAM, 128GB flash storage (introductory version)
- Intel® HD Graphics 4000
- MAC OS X Mountain Lion operating system
- Two USB-3 ports
Build and design
Once again, Apple has designed something so slick and eye-catching that you almost want to sleep with this new MacBook Pro under your pillow. (Make sure you don't break it!) When you open it, you will see the black chiclet backlit keyboard and glass multitouch trackpad. There is matte-finish aluminum all around with the gorgeous screen surrounded by a black bezel.
The most noticeable thing about the MacBook Pro 13-inch Retina is how light it is at 3.57 pounds. It's not as light as some ultrabooks that we have tried, but it feels better. In fact, it feels almost as good as the MacBook Air 13-inch.
There is the built-in SDXC card slot for extra storage and a full-size HDMI port, a headset/headphones jack, and a MagSafe 2 charging port. There are no VGA or DVI ports, but you can use a third-party adapter with the Thunderbolt port, or you can use AirPlay on an Apple TV for an easy wireless connection to a HDTV.
Screen
The 13-inch IPS screen on the MacBook Pro 13-inch Retina is the best display we have seen on a portable laptop; it is crisp, clear, and the colors entice your eyes. The contrast and color saturation of the screen is absolutely perfect. In fact, using a MacBook Air screen after this is downright depressing.
The screen has a pixel resolution of 2560 x 1600. The problem is that many programs are not made for this high resolution screen and at times, the cheap Intel Graphics card can't keep up with it. However, this isn't as big of a problem as originally stated and there are many programs (such as Adobe Creative Suite) that have been updated since the release of the Macbook Pro 13-inch Retina in November.
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