Apple Announces iOS6, and MacBooks with Retina Display

Post by trog @ 09:19am 12/06/12 | 24 Comments

Apple's annual World Wide Developer Conference was held a few hours ago, and the big news from the event is that they're bringing their famous Retina display screen technology to their lineup of MacBook Pro laptops.

The new screens are driven by NVIDIA's Kepler architecture, in the form of GeForce GT 650M GPUs.

While it's easy to dismiss this as nothing more than an upgraded monitor, it's worth pointing out that this actually represents a big step in consumer monitors - there is basically nothing on the market at the moment that is affordable for the average user that offers the same sort of quality in a desktop display. Hopefully this will be the start of another generation of squabbling to catch up with Apple as once again they drive competition with their latest creation.

Also unveiled at the conference was iOS 6, which you can read about on the Apple site. CEO Tim Cook's keynote speech will be available to watch online soon, so keep an eye out.

apple geforce macbook pro ios

Latest Comments

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trog
Posted 09:30am 12/6/12

Here's an existing product of a screen with a high DPI (not sure if it is better or worse than the Retina display, but it's 4096 x 2160 on a 36.4-inch screen). Apparently they go for about $30k. EIZO DuraVision FDH3601

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parabol
Posted 09:49am 12/6/12

Here's an existing product of a screen with a high DPI (not sure if it is better or worse than the Retina display, but it's 4096 x 2160 on a 36.4-inch screen).

The Eizo one is slightly higher PPI than is common (just below 130 vs around 95 for my Dell U2410), but Retina displays are significantly higher in the 220-330 PPI range.

( Can calculate PPI via: sqrt(4096^2 + 2160^2)/36.4 for reference)

Good news anyway, provided it causes changes in the industry.

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trog
Posted 09:53am 12/6/12

The Eizo one is slightly higher PPI than is common (just below 130 vs around 95 for my Dell U2410), but Retina displays are significantly higher in the 220-330 PPI range.

Oh wow, that is awesome then.

Good news anyway, provided it causes changes in the industry.

Yep. I can't really see any future where it won't - everyone is just too desperate to keep up with Apple and the Retina display is one area where I think it is instantly, stunningly obvious to the layperson about the quality of the display.

I assume they still have a near-complete monopoly on the panels so it'll be a while before everyone catches up though.

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blahnana
Posted 10:01am 12/6/12

I support any and all factors that lead to re-introducing high-res displays on consumer laptops.

Of course I also support any trend toward 4:3 aspect ratio, but I think that ship has sailed for me, sadly.

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3dee
Posted 10:00am 12/6/12

About time! This would be awesome for photography.

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Raven
Posted 10:15am 12/6/12

The most important question that needs to be answered is how does Windows 7 handle the retina display? :)

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Raven
Posted 10:23am 12/6/12

Also, Al Yankovic's tweets on the keynote were best:

alyankovic Keynote about to start. Apple CEO Tim Cook is being carried out on stage Cleopatra-style by 6 shirtless muscle men. Provocative! #WWDC

Just announced: Apple’s new powerhouse workstation will be a Mac Pro Nano – so small you can clip it onto your shirt pocket! Wow! #WWDC

New Facebook interactivity! All new Apple iOS devices will emit a “sad slide whistle” sound every time their stock dives! #WWDC

New Apple Maps feature to one-up Google by revealing the exact location of D*** Cheney’s secret underground bunker! Controversial! #WWDC

Instead of designing new hardware, next year Apple’s entire R&D budget will be used to figure out why nobody’s using Ping! #WWDC

Just one more thing… every new MacBook Pro will come with a FREE grilled panini sandwich! Yum! #WWDC

last edited by Raven at 10:23:05 12/Jun/12

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HerbalLizard
Posted 10:27am 12/6/12

I am wondering how many displays can be daisy chained off this, here is hoping for at least 3 cinema displays

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TufNuT
Posted 12:25pm 12/6/12

Good news anyway, provided it causes changes in the industry.

what you mean before or after Apple patent it..

that said i wouldn't mind seeing these things IRL

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Nathan
Posted 12:29pm 12/6/12

Yes, the display resolution thing is good news. Given Apple dont manufacture their own displays it probably wont take too long to filter through to the rest of us.

Good luck using XP at such a high DPI though.

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andrewus
Posted 12:31pm 12/6/12

thank god for Do Not Disturb.

One feature I have been waiting ages for.

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Khel
Posted 12:37pm 12/6/12

what you mean before or after Apple patent it

Yeah, that was my first thought too, as soon as someone who isn't Apple releases a monitor like this, they're going to get sued into the ground. So much for pushing the industry forward!

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tspec
Posted 12:38pm 12/6/12

I'm surprised there was no mention of a refreshed line of 27" iMac's, at least updated to Ivy Bridge and USB3 but having a retina display on one of those would be pretty funky.

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mission
Posted 12:40pm 12/6/12

Pretty amazing having 5 million+ pixels in a screen that size.

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maRtz
Posted 12:41pm 12/6/12

what are the refresh rates of these screens? I want some silky smooth gameplay at 120hz :P

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parabol
Posted 12:56pm 12/6/12

what are the refresh rates of these screens? I want some silky smooth gameplay at 120hz :P

I think you'll be stretched find a graphics card that can push 3-4x the number of pixels of what's considered a regular to high-end resolution these days, much less at 120fps, much less on High detail.

So unless you're going to SLI 3x $1500 cards, you'll be scaling back the res which would defeat the purpose ...

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orbitor
Posted 01:39pm 12/6/12

yeah all 3d graphics is going to have to be run at non-native res as far as I can see. hopefully that doesn't look bad, like it does with most monitors.

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simul
Posted 03:25pm 12/6/12

I was looking at a few of them today, they are very nice, but at the same time for a lot of things (that aren't built for @2x) it deosn't make a huge difference. Will be great in the long run, but definitely early adopter territory at the moment.

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parabol
Posted 06:41pm 12/6/12

heeehee ...

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deadlyf
Posted 07:31pm 12/6/12

I think you'll be stretched find a graphics card that can push 3-4x the number of pixels of what's considered a regular to high-end resolution these days, much less at 120fps, much less on High detail.

You'd probably also be hard pressed to find any games that actually support resolutions that high in the first place.

I'd love to see a return to larger monitors having better graphics if only for the 2D advantages but I doubt the next gen consoles will target beyond 1080p and so few games bother giving proper support beyond that for their PC ports that it's still probably be pointless from a gaming point of view.

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kos
Posted 08:54pm 12/6/12

You'd probably also be hard pressed to find any games that actually support resolutions that high in the first place.

Wat? This isn't the 90s, games should be able to run at any custom resolution you can set in your 3D graphics drivers control panel, including all the default system ones.

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jmr
Posted 04:01pm 13/6/12

Downloading now, will report back when I've tested it out

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hardware
Posted 04:12pm 13/6/12

Of course I also support any trend toward 4:3 aspect ratio, but I think that ship has sailed for me, sadly.

hear hear
i'm friggin sick of widescreen - scroll scroll scroll

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scuzzy
Posted 04:26pm 13/6/12

Apple one ups google by redirecting to google?

http://maps.apple.com

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