Purported 13" Retina MacBook Pro benchmarks appear, launch rumored before Oct.

Purported 13" Retina MacBook Pro benchmarks appear, launch rumored before Oct.

As benchmarks for an unreleased MacBook Pro running a previously unknown build of Mountain Lion have appeared, a new rumor suggests Apple could launch its 13-inch Retina display MacBook Pro before October of this year.

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Goodbye nice upgradable MBP's!!

Depending on the price, I could actually be interested in this one.

Razormac said:

Depending on the price, I could actually be interested in this one.

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Just add $400 to the current price of the two different 13" MBP models and that should give us an approximation of the cost. Probably also need to add $50 to the cost of Apple care.

Pretty much a "no-brainer" idea. We already have a 15" retina MBP...a 13" model was bound to follow.

- Nick

That would be depressing unless they are actually going to put a real GPU in there. That would be a lot of pixels for the HD4000 to deal with and I have doubts on whether it can provide a quality experience.

Nethfel said:

That would be depressing unless they are actually going to put a real GPU in there. That would be a lot of pixels for the HD4000 to deal with and I have doubts on whether it can provide a quality experience.

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Very true...unless there was some sort of massive advancement with integrated graphics. It would certainly be the first time a 13" MBP came with a dedicated gpu.

- Nick

Very true...unless there was some sort of massive advancement with integrated graphics. It would certainly be the first time a 13" MBP came with a dedicated gpu.

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Adding a dedicated GPU to a Retina 13" MBP will jack the price up even more....

chscag said:

Adding a dedicated GPU to a Retina 13" MBP will jack the price up even more....

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If they put a dedicated GPU in it I'm sold. I would love to have something that combined the best of the 15in MBP and the MBA in the smaller format.

I'm with you. When I compare the Retina display on my 3rd generation iPad with my 2011 iMac, it's no contest. Don't know if I can sell my "treasurer" on spending more bucks on another computer though.

Razormac said:

If they put a dedicated GPU in it I'm sold. I would love to have something that combined the best of the 15in MBP and the MBA in the smaller format.

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Im with you. I would happily upgrade my 13" 2010 model to a new Retina Display. Prices here in Aust are actually online with what you have over there now.

There's probably a fair number of buyers who purposely buy the 15" MBP's because of the dedicated gpu. If a retina 13" MBP comes with a dedicated gpu (because it may need it)...then there may be a lot less reasons (at least for a segment of 15" MBP buyers) to buy 15" MBP's.

On the other hand...maybe there's some sort of "slick" integrated graphics hardware out there that can handle it...or some sort of "slick" software that will allow a 13" MBP to run a retina display.

I'm not really sure...but how does "horsepower" of the graphics hardware in the iPad 3/new iPad (which is driving a 9.7" retina display)...compare to the integrated graphics of a 13" MBP. Anyone know?

- Nick

Anyone know what resolution this 13" might have? The new 15" is already incredibly taxing on the GPU. I don't even want to know what the experience might be like with integrated graphics.

iggibar said:

Anyone know what resolution this 13" might have? The new 15" is already incredibly taxing on the GPU. I don't even want to know what the experience might be like with integrated graphics.

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That right there is part of the problem even with the 15" - by default it's using the HD4000, and reading Anandtechs discussion on performance for general use of the retina (see: AnandTech - The next-gen MacBook Pro with Retina Display Review ) we don't know how much the GT650m is being used but I'd have to guess that for just general viewing it's primarily using the HD4000 which seems to struggle to even maintain 30fps for many common (mundane) actions.

Granted, the 13" screen would be slightly lower resolution then the 15", but still the amount of pixels to push I feel IMHO is just too much for an integrated GPU like the HD4000 (yes, the HD4000 is a SIGNIFICANT improvement over the HD3000, but still...)

I wonder who writes the drivers for the GPU for OSX - if it's Apple or Intel when it comes to the HD4000 - if it's Intel that might even be part of the problem since they've never been the best at creating high quality GPU drivers.

I wonder who writes the drivers for the GPU for OSX - if it's Apple or Intel when it comes to the HD4000 - if it's Intel that might even be part of the problem since they've never been the best at creating high quality GPU drivers.

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My understanding is it's a joint effort but primarily driven by Intel. Which makes sense since they're pushing their new on board GPU chipsets to the limit.

INCOMING:

$1,799 baseline 13" MacBook Pro.

Anyone have any stats to see if these things are actually selling? Honestly, for the price, I would rather have a 1080p screen and a much better GPU. It's also disappointing that they don't allow matte screens. I mean, only photographers and video editors/whatnot are going to really need the crazy resolution...and there is no matte screen option.

Pretty disappointing of Apple, but they'll learn once their sales drop.

alexsd123 said:

INCOMING:

$1,799 baseline 13" MacBook Pro.

Anyone have any stats to see if these things are actually selling? Honestly, for the price, I would rather have a 1080p screen and a much better GPU. It's also disappointing that they don't allow matte screens. I mean, only photographers and video editors/whatnot are going to really need the crazy resolution...and there is no matte screen option.

Pretty disappointing of Apple, but they'll learn once their sales drop.

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Are you talking Non Retnia MBP? If so your price is way high. 13" starts at $1,199.00.

chscag said:

My understanding is it's a joint effort but primarily driven by Intel. Which makes sense since they're pushing their new on board GPU chipsets to the limit.

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The question tho becomes - are they pushing it to the limit? I know quality driver updates from NVidia or AMD/ATI can significantly improve performance on even older hardware but it seems that Intel just doesn't have the toolset in terms of graphics coders to develop drivers that can not only push the gpu to 100% usage but also really use the 100% of the gpu cycles that are ticking by in the most effective fashion. Certain things Intel does incredibly well, GPU's or at least the drivers running them, hasn't ever seemed to be their strongest area no matter how much they want to break into the GPU market.

Now, don't get me wrong - they're getting better (the HD4000 is a good improvement over the 3000 series and lightyears ahead of the GMA series) - I just don't think they're up to what would be needed for consistent quality Retina performance. JMHO

dtravis7 said:

Are you talking Non Retnia MBP? If so your price is way high. 13" starts at $1,199.00.

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No, no. The retina 13" MBP.

But we do not even have a price or specs on a 13" Retina. It's all speculation at this point.