13-inch Retina MacBook Pro Review (Late 2012)
by Anand Lal Shimpi on November 13, 2012 2:53 AM ESTThunderbolt Performance
Similar to its 15-inch brother, the 13-inch rMBP integrates Intel's DSL3510L Cactus Ridge Thunderbolt controller. This is Intel's most capable Thunderbolt SKU as it takes four PCIe 2.0 lanes combined with DisplayPort and muxes them into four Thunderbolt channels (2 up/2 down) with two DP outputs.
As we've seen in the past, a single Thunderbolt channel is usually good for nearly 8Gbps although you'll have a hard time reaching that without a decent array of SSDs. With two Thunderbolt ports on board, it shouldn't be too difficult to go beyond 10Gbps if you've got the right devices.
For a sanity check I dusted off Promise's Pegasus J2 (in AC power mode) and measured peak sequential reads/writes between it and the 13-inch rMBP. Performance, as you'd expect, is near identical to what we've seen on the 15-inch model:
This is a final J2 sample that hasn't been battered as much as my original J2 review sample, so write speed looks a lot better. Either way it's pretty effortless to break 6Gbps over Thunderbolt on the 13-inch rMBP.
Thunderbolt behavior continues to be a point of contention with all new machines that implement the spec unfortunately. Of those involved (Apple, Intel and Microsoft), only Apple appears to be doing a somewhat good job of delivering a consistent experience with all devices available on the market today. Even then however, the experience isn't perfect.
I still encounter issues where plugging a sleeping 13-inch rMBP into Apple's Thunderbolt display won't always wake it up. Wake up latency is also highly inconsistent when using Thunderbolt in this manner as well. A big motivation behind Thunderbolt is its ability to let you quickly transition a notebook into a docked, desktop-mode, which is why this is so important.
Apple appears to be getting better with plug and play Thunderbolt compatibility with each new device however. The 15-inch rMBP was noticeably better in random plug testing than the 2011 MacBook Pro, and the 13-inch rMBP appears to be a bit better than the 15-inch model as well.
There are some software issues that I wish Apple would focus on as well. Right now OS X windows don't maintain their proportional size when you switch between resolutions, which can be a problem if you're frequently switching between using the rMBP in notebook mode and when docked to an external display. The result is that when you switch between displays (or even resolution settings on the same display) you often have to go in and resize all of your windows. Ideally I'd like for all windows to retain their proportional size when switching between displays at least. It's an annoying blemish to the Thunderbolt experience.
WiFi
Like its larger sibling, the 13-inch rMBP features a dual-band 3x3:3 802.11n WiFi powered by Broadcom's BCM4331. Peak link rate is unchanged at 450Mbps (5GHz, 40MHz channels, short guard intervals).
Range and performance seem relatively similar to the 15-inch rMBP, which was also a very good performer.
| 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display WiFi Performance | ||||
| 5.0GHz | 2.4GHz | |||
| Location 1 (Next to AP) | 299.5Mbps | 158.9Mbps | ||
| Location 2 (Down the Hall from AP) | 117.1Mbps | 25.2Mbps | ||
| Location 3 (Across House from AP) | 36.5Mbps | 33.2Mbps | ||
| Location 4 (Edge of Coverage Test) | - | 2.3Mbps | ||
Peak performance was just under 300Mbps right next to the access point.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
79 Comments
View All Comments
TEAMSWITCHER - Tuesday, November 20, 2012 - link
I'm not so sure....If you take a 13" MacBook Air and upgrade the specs with a 2.0GHz processor, 8 GB of ram, and a 256 GB Flash, you''ll spend $1699. You can order the entry level 13" MacBook Pro with Retina display from Mac Mall for $1630. Yes, the MacBook Air would have twice the flash storage, but the 13" Pro would have a Retina Display and slightly faster processor - plus an extra Thunderbolt port and HDMI port . If you consider the trade-offs, the 13" MacBook Pro is actually priced more-or-less the same.
If you're warehousing tons of data on your laptop 256 vs. 128 Gigabytes of flash isn't going to be much of an improvement. But if the Retina Display is more important to you, the 13" Pro is the way to go. It's kind of cool that Apple is offering much more in the way of choices right now than ever before.
BTW, I have a 13" MacBook Pro with Retina Display and it's easily the best laptop I have ever owned. The scrolling choppiness is noticeable, but far, far from unbearable. The screen really is a vast improvement over anything that has ever been offered in this size of laptop.
geok1ng - Tuesday, November 13, 2012 - link
Apples decision to glue the non-serviciable battery to the chassis has made the retina MBPs the worts case scenario in a long series of impronvingly unrecicleable products by Apple.The batterys are rated for 300 charges. That is about 2 years usage.
Since there is no easy or safe way to replace the abttery, these retina MBPs are destined to remain plugged toa charger for the remaining of their short life.
And it irks me no end that not a single reviewer outside IFixIt has pointed towards this major "it is not a bug, it is a feature".
The retina MBPs are the epithome of planned obsolescence, and shame on the reviewers who miss this crucial information.
tipoo - Wednesday, November 14, 2012 - link
"The batterys are rated for 300 charges"To be fair Apples batteries are rated to 1000 cycles due to some charging circuitry.
whiteonline - Tuesday, November 13, 2012 - link
As noted, the machine is a tradeoff.I originally purchased a 13 MBP in early 2011. Loved the size, but the screen resolution was unusable for me. So I wound up getting the high-res 15". What I really wanted was a high resolution 13" MacBook Pro.
And here it is.
It's not as powerful as the 15", but the portability compensates for that. Price....well, would have loved for it to be less. But I'm not going to find another 13" notebook with a super high 16x10 resolution screen anywhere.
Zodiark1593 - Tuesday, November 13, 2012 - link
Even though this sounds almost blasphemous, I wish both the rMBPs had the option for standard, high capacity HDDs as even a 512 MB SSD is way too small for me. I know there's always the external HDD, but extras like that, in my opinion, defeats the purpose of mobility more so than weight.phexac - Tuesday, November 13, 2012 - link
This actually includes a lot of programs, especially Microsoft office. Text is blurry and boxy at the same time and far inferior to a regular resolution computer. So yes, for the most basic tasks it works great. If you have to use any program not specifically designed for it (really most programs at this point in time) it's quite a poor experience. Go to the Apple store and fire up Office on this or the 15" version. You'll see the difference immediately.Due this shortage or properly optimized software, the retina macbooks remain a gimmick. I would actually like to one, but I do not consider them useable just yet. I will probably take a few years for software to fully catch up.
robco - Tuesday, November 13, 2012 - link
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6318/office-for-mac-...http://retinamacapps.com
The list just keeps growing. I think most app developers understand HiDPI displays are the future and are working on updates.
akdj - Thursday, November 15, 2012 - link
Not sure where you've heard or seen this---I'm using the MS suite; Excel, Word and Power Point. They don't look bad AT ALL!!! In fact, the text in Word/Excel is amazing--the UI isn't 'blurry' or 'boxy' period! I use them all day, everyday. Perhaps one of my latest MS updates fixed an earlier issue...as I've only had my 15" rMBP for about ten weeksAs well--I use the entire creative suite from Adobe: Premier, After Effects, PS, LR, Illustrator and In Design---Acrobat Pro as well. All. Perfectly. Usable...and unbelievably FAST on these computers!!! This pixelization, fuzzy, blocky/boxy embellishment is ridiculous--I've YET to find a professional app to be 'un-usable' or even bad enough to complain.
The WWW is a bit different. Lots of 'low rez' photos that're obviously not ready for the high resolution these monitors bring us---but it's coming, as are 'official' updates to premier software like MS & Adobe. In the mean time--I'm sure most will find them 'just fine'
Jeremy
just4U - Tuesday, November 13, 2012 - link
I was just looking at the cost of the one there and geez.. $1700 /w a dual core cpu and integrated graphics? That's insane... I don't care how good that 13" screen is.. It's simply not worth the price their asking.mike71 - Tuesday, November 13, 2012 - link
You forgot to mention since June 2012 Apple has quietly dropped the audio line-in from all non-15 inch models. So Macbook Air and 13 inch pro's do not feature the same combi audio input/output that existed in previous models. I can only think Apple did this to save a few pennies and increase profits.