The all-new MacBook Pro with Retina display is the best Mac ever made with its high-resolution display, fast and dependable all-flash storage, and the latest in quad-core computing technology. Rebuilt from the ground up without the limitations of legacy technology, the new MacBook Pro with Retina display is a mobile powerhouse that packs power and style in a form factor that is sleek, thin, and light. It’s not just the world’s most advanced notebook. It’s the most advanced Mac ever made.
MacBook Pro Retina
Lowest Price:$1,419.98Highest Price:$2,699.99
Average User Rating:5.0 out of 5 based on 94 customer reviews
The MacBook Pro Retina display is available in 15-inch and 13-inch models. It consists of over 5 million pixels and supports screen resolutions of up to 2880x1800 pixels – the highest ever on a notebook. It offers more pixel-for-pixel accuracy and a higher contrast ratio to give you a visual display that is rich and vibrant.
Matching power for power, the new MacBook Pro with Retina display has been rebuilt without the limits of legacy technology. It sports the latest quad-core processor and powerful graphics to handle any visuals-intensive tasks. It packs an all-flash storage of up to 768GB for faster response rate. And, even with all these computing power, it's got a battery life that can last up to 7 hours.
Mac OS X Mountain Lion makes the Mac, iPad, and iPhone work even better together. Available on the Mac App Store for just $19.99.
Customer Reviews
Reviewed By Heath2013-05-14
My first MBP
I've been building and using PCs for years. I fix computers for neighbors and co-workers on the side and have been getting more and more requests involving Apple machines and OS X. Not knowing much about them, I got curious and started doing some research. I had owned an original iPad and had recently upgraded to the fourth generation so I was somewhat familiar with the reliability and ease of use of Apple products. A few weeks ago I was able to finally go out and purchase a real smart phone for business use. I chose the iPhone 5 and was thrilled to see how well it complemented my iPad.
Needing a new laptop for travel, I put the 13 inch MBP on my short list. I had heard (and believed) that Apple computers were good looking but extremely overpriced machines. I started really comparing apples to Apples (sorry) and discovered that equally spec'ed out Windows based laptops were actually just as expensive as a Macbook. You really just have to discover that the 400 dollar blue and yellow store special is not even close in terms of a capabilities of a Macbook.
I took the plunge and have thoroughly enjoyed this machine the past few weeks. The retina screen is wonderful and if you have been spoiled by it on your iPad, I really recommend spending the extra money to have it on your laptop. It makes reading text and photo-editing pleasurable. The battery life and overall snappy-ness are really impressive and this is coming from someone who overclocks and water cools his Windows based desktop. I am having fun learning the ins and outs of OS X (there are some great books on the subject) and have found the multi-touch features of the trackpad revolutionary. After a few months, I have no buyer’s remorse whatsoever. The long battery life, dimensions, weight, and speed of this machine are to die for!!
Reviewed By L. Rivera2013-05-06
Excellent replacement for PC laptop
I've been a PC user for the longest time-- since the early 00s. When my ailing Inspiron finally kicked the bucket earlier this month, I decided to go with this MacBook Pro with Retina Display. I'm very glad to say that I have no regrets whatsoever. Setup was pain-free, so my transition from PC to Mac was seamless, despite the many horror stories from colleagues and friends.
By far, this laptop's best feature is its dual-core processor. It boots up heavy-duty apps with no lag whatsoever, something I can't say for all the PC laptops I've used before. Of course, the Retina Display is stunning. I wish the battery lasted longer off the plug, but I'm probably nitpicking.
Reviewed By Christian2013-05-01
Transition from the 17" to the 15"
As a motion graphic artist & video editor I was convinced I would hate making that transition from my 17" MBP to this 15" MBP. But at this price (spring sale) I decided to try it. When the display is set to "more space" and you put them side by side you can barely tell the difference. I knew I was losing about some space but it just doesn't feel like it. I can see why they cut the 17" line. If you need the space just plug in to a monitor when at home or at work. That being said, I do a lot of traveling and even though I'll be without a monitor, i'm no longer worried about it.
One thing I should mention was I removed my optical drive from my 17" and replaced it with an OWC SSD drive (I believe the 6G extreme). I thought my 17" was fast... But SSD in the 15" retina was faster by at least 25-40%.
PROS Amazing screen! It's just beautiful. Fast SSD USB3, thunderbolt, SDHC, and HDMI (awesome!) Large screen space option. Lightweight (it's ridiculously light compared to my 17")
CONS No Ethernet or FireWire (but I get why they did it) thunderbolt adapters are useable. Coming from a matte screen, the glossy is a huge improvement on old glossy screens, but it's still not matte
It really is worth the upgrade. If you've been thinking about it for a while now, just try it. You have a period of time to return it if you don't like it, though I doubt you'll need to use it. Between the weight, speed (14% faster than my 17" overall, ~30% faster SSD), and beautiful screen it makes for a worthy upgrade.
Reviewed By Dan S2013-04-15
Best MBP I've ever owned
This is my third Macbook laptop. The first one was the 2008 15" MBP before unibody, then 2010 15" MBP unibody, and now this 13" Retina. With the first two, I've always used Bootcamp to run Window XP / Windows 7 applications I need for work (ERP consultant) since I didn't want to compromise speed and power using VMware and/or Parallels. However, with this Retina and Flash Drive (512GB), I can have the BEST of both worlds in a nice neat little and 2 lbs lighter package with an unbelievable gorgeous retina display!!!
The high resolution Retina makes up for the smaller screen so I'm actually able to pack as much if not more window panes on this screen than my 15" and the print/graphics is crisp and bright. The solid state drive provides the speed I need to run Parallels / Windows 7 and keep this running most of the time, so that I can work, VPN into my client system, run Windows specific applications I need for my business, while still able to enjoy my Mac OS applications and operating system all at the same time. I can have full screen Windows 7 when needed, or have my Windows app co-exist within the Mac OS system (Coherence mode).
Either way, the transitions run smoothly and effortless! The i7 processor helps a great deal. This is without a doubt the way I've always envisioned having and running a Mac. My first two MBP's were awesome machines, but did not have the power, and drive speed to really do what I want it to do. This Retina i7 13" does EVERYTHING I need it to do professionally and personally speaking. The bonus is my computer bag is 2 lbs lighter, and I can actually use my laptop while on long flights. Currently, I run the following in addition to the applications delivered:
Parallels 8, MS Office 2011 for Mac (Excel / Word / Powerpoint), MS Office 2010 for Windows 7 (Excel / Word / Powerpoint), MS Projects 2010, MS Vision 2010, MS Windows 7 Pro, VMware, VPN client, TeamViewer, GotoMeeting, Wunderlist 2, Evernote, TurboTax, Quicken, Spotify
Absolutely in love with this machine!!! Now I'm just waiting for the Macbook Air to go Retina and 16gb RAM and then I'll have an excuse to upgrade yet again! :)
Reviewed by Diana Rackley (2013-04-07)
I love this machine
I love this machine. I wanted this particular machine for a while. As I am a retired person I had to save for it. When this store lowered the price and only had a few left I knew the time was here. I have a 15 inch mac pro but it was too large and heavy to transport anywhere, and after looking at the mac air, even though this was heavier, I bought it. I am replacing an old 13 inch white plastic Apple laptop that I can't update. I have owned a few Macs since I got into the computer world in the 80's and other than "notifications" the new mountain lion seems to work very well. It also was very handy to sit the new 13 inch laptop next to my old 15 inch laptop and have all the information transferred automatically while I watched TV (I should have cleared out all the old email including the trash folder from the 15 inch first--live and learn.) The store was just great. I will finish this the way I started, "I love this machine".
Reviewed By Brad2013-03-28
My first Mac
Had been contemplating getting a Mac for about a year now. My Sony laptop was 4 years old and giving me some problems. I recently got a Network Hard Drive and started moving all my files over to it. Mainly music then with the extra room I started redoing my library in the Apple lossless format. As I got past the G’s the CD drive in my laptop went down so I decided now, 3 weeks ago, was the time to act.
I had a 16.4 inch screen on my laptop and really stopped travelling with it about two years ago after I got my first iPhone. I went back and forth between getting a 13 inch and a 15 inch. I wanted to have a SSD and couldn’t justify the extra $700 for a similar 15 inch. I don’t do gaming, do some minor video editing and use it for Microsoft Office and music.
Ordered from the store, they called pretty quickly to verify I placed the order and it was at my apartment 2 days later.
The computer worked perfectly but I had very little experience with a Mac. Setting it up was simple. Attaching the network drive was simple. It took me some time to figure out how to move all my settings and contact books from the PC to the MAC with the Migration Assistant. Then I finally realized I was moving an account and not individual files and it worked perfectly.
The last issue I had was getting iTunes to work the same exact way it was working on my PC with all my media files on the Network. It kept going back to the default setting every time I restarted. I searched the web for a few days looking for answers. Seems to be a pretty common problem but couldn’t do it.
On Saturday morning I was able to walk over the Apple Store on 68th and Broadway explained the issue I was having. The employee looked it up on his iPad and took me over to a laptop on display and went through it with me. There some hidden user files in Apple by design. I moved one from the file to the Desktop made the changes I had done numerous times but this time it created a new Plist for iTunes. Then I set up my Macbook to connect to the network drive on login and it’s working beautifully.
It took a little time to get used to the smaller screen but once I put away my old 16 inch laptop it’s not really noticeable.
I probably could have saved a little more money going with a 128 GB SSD but someday I might want that extra room.
Very happy now and I’m sure the more I use it the happier I’ll be.
Reviewed by Keith G 2013-03-12
MacBook Pro with Retina Display: Amazing retina screen, and i7 to boot
I've had MBPro laptops for the last 7 years, and this one is by far my favorite. Yes, it lacks the optical drive and hard disk, but it is fast and slim and the screen is a dream come true for my aging eyes.
The one complaint I have is that it is not possible to upgrade the RAM on this model. I have 8GB RAM, and that's all it ever gets since it is soldered into the internals of the computer. I think that is pretty ridiculous for a top-class laptop.
Aside from that "design flaw" I have had this system for about two weeks and am very pleased with the construction, dimensions weight, speed and especially the screen. One note on my Parallels running XP, it no longer seems to affect the rest of my other running OSX apps. Not sure if it is a combination of the i7 plus the SSD drive, but I like that I can run Windows in tandem with no performance hits.
Reviewed by Donna (2013-01-28)
Awesome!
When I went to the Apple store, I wasn't thrilled about the new keyboards on the MacBook Pros - as I have an old one and the keyboard is STILL phenomenal! Product Development has to learn that when something is awesome you don't have to change it! Anyway, the newer keyboard works just fine, but it's not as easy to glide your fingers over as the older style with beveled edges on the keys. I just can't over the amazing picture quality that this new little MacBook (little compared to the 17" that I usually look at from work) has! Mac technology is far superior than any PC, too. It's a perfect size to use for everything because it's easy to take with you, yet not so small that you can't fit anything on the screen. Just love it.
Reviewed by Jimmie Turner (2013-01-11)
Awesome Laptop!
Thankfully my old Dell Laptop bit the dust and I had a good excuse to get a new Apple! My son is a diehard Apple fan and probably owns one of everything they make! He has been telling me to get an Apple to replace my long dead laptop so I now own the Macbook Pro and love it. I am still learning all the things you can do with it but already I find it an amazing laptop. I love the speed, the lightweight design, the portability, the backlighting on the keyboard and the security that comes with owning an Apple laptop. I am really enjoying FaceTime, now I can see my new grandson who lives 7 hrs away and it looks like I am there! I have no cons, looking forward to getting the iPad mini now!
Reviewed by William Morgans (2012-12-05)
MacBook Pro with Retina Display: Perfection
This MacBook Pro (with Retina display) replaces my faithful white MacBook of 2007 vintage running Mac OS 10.5.8. The local Apple Store completed the data transfer. The new OS (Mountain Lion) does not support my old version of Office for Mac 2004, nor my old Lexmark X75 all-in-one inkjet printer. This is not all bad, as it forced me to update Office software to 2011 and to an HP all-in-one that had been part of my 2007 purchase, but remained unused. However, the old white MacBook coped with the older software and printer well. As to the new MacBook Pro (with Retina display), this reflects the progress made over the years from 2007, both in hardware and software. The result in my estimation is, as the review title indicates, the perfect laptop; and a work of art.
Reviewed by Mike (2012-08-17)
Mac Book Pro 15 inch
Wow. This is my first MacBook Lap top. Finally moved from a Windows PC laptop to the Mac. Not my first Mac, but my first laptop. Just great in so many ways. Much of this wow factor is due to the way Apple put together a hardware and software component that just works well. No delay, no issues, no bugs, no reboots and just peace of mind. I have high expectations, but I know that any computer will need its share of maintenance in order to work over the long term. I ordered full memory, full CPU speed and of course there largest screen. You pay for these benefits, but they are worth every penny, sorry dollar. Yes Macs are more expensive but I get what I paid for. Hope you all feel the same way.
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The new MacBook Pro with Retina display The most advanced Mac ever made.
The new MacBook Pro with Retina display is the most advanced Mac ever made. It has been rebuilt from the ground up without the limitations of any legacy technology. The result is a mobile powerhouse that offers a stunning display, the latest in quad-core computing, fast and reliable all-flash architecture, life-like graphics, and a battery life that can last up to seven hours on a single charge.
Highest screen resolution on any notebook The breakthrough Retina display of the new MacBook Pro offers over 5 million pixels on a 15.4 inch screen. It packs more pixels than an HDTV and a higher pixel-for-pixel accuracy to render needle-sharp text and lifelike images. And, with the next-generation NVIDIA graphics, the new MacBook Pro with Retina display supports up to 2880x1800 resolution.
With its all-flash architecture, everything is fast It’s called flash for a reason. With the all-flash architecture of the MacBook Pro, every computing task is fast. It takes mere seconds to start the computer. Apps launch quickly. The computer responds more fluidly. All thanks to the flash technology in the new MacBook Pro that offers four times the performance of a traditional hard drive.
Battery life that matches power for power The new MacBook Pro with Retina display isn't all about processing power and stunning graphics. It has a long-lasting battery as well that is aptly built for a high-performance notebook. A single charge of the new MacBook Pro can last up to seven hours and offers up to 30 days of instant-on stand-by time.
What’s in the Box? MacBook Pro with Retina display MagSafe 2 Power Adapter, AC wall plug, and power cord Printed and electronic documentation
Included Software Mac OS X Mountain Lion (Includes Mac App Store, Safari, Mail, Messages, Calendar, Contacts, Reminders, Notes, Time Machine, FaceTime, Photo Booth, Game Center, iTUnes, iLife, Mission Control, Launchpad, AirDrop, Resume, Auto Save, Versions, Quick Look, Spotlight, QuickTime, and more)
Configurations (13-inch) model 2560-by-1600 native resolution high-resolution at 227 pixels per inch Up to 3.0GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i7 8GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM 128GB, 256GB, 512GB or 768GB solid-state drive Configurations (15-inch) model 2880-by-1800 native resolution high-resolution at 220 pixels per inch 16GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM Up to 768GB flash storage
Size and Weight Height: 0.75 inch (1.90 cm) Width: 12.35 inches (31.4 cm) Depth: 8.62 inches (21.9 cm) Weight: 3.57 pounds (1.62 kg)
Display Retina display: 13.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit display with IPS technology; 2560-by-1600 resolution at 227 pixels per inch
Battery Built-in 74-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery up to 7 hours of wireless web
Connections and Expansion Magsafe 2power port Two Thunderbolt ports (up to 10 Gbps) Two USB 3 ports (up to 5 Gbps HDMI port Headphone port SDXC card slot Apple Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (sold separately) Apple Thunderbolt to FireWire Adapter (sold separately)
15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display
Size and Weight Height: 0.71 inch (1.80 cm) Width: 14.13 inches (35.89 cm) Depth: 9.73 inches (24.71 cm) Weight: 4.46 pounds (2.02 kg)
Display Retina display: 15.4-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit display with IPS technology; 2880-by-1800 resolution at 220 pixels per inch
Battery Built-in 95-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery up to 7 hours of wireless web
Connections and Expansion Magsafe 2power port Two Thunderbolt ports (up to 10 Gbps) Two USB 3 ports (up to 5 Gbps HDMI port Headphone port SDXC card slot Apple Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (sold separately) Apple Thunderbolt to FireWire Adapter (sold separately)
Any issues with software that has not been updated to take advantage of the retina display?
Asked by Mark Sugarberg from MA | Jun 12, 2012
Best Answer Not that I have heard of. The computer ships with a special version of the current operating system, OS X Lion, which offers you the ability to choose from several different resolutions. Applications that have not been updated will look the same as they would on the non-retina MacBook Pros, except maybe the text will look better automatically! I suspect your best bet is to visit an Apple Store in person.
Will the Mac Book Air Super Drive work on this machine?
Asked by Patrick Uza from HI | Jun 12, 2012
Best Answer Apple has updated the product listing for the USB SuperDrive and it now lists the MacBook Pro with Retina Display along with the MacBook Air and Mac Mini under the system requirements.
Does the 15" MacBook Pro come with a built in DVD/CD Hard Drive
Asked by Joseph Traino, III from MD | Jul 11, 2012
Best Answer No, it does not. The DVD/CD drive was removed from this iteration of the MacBook Pro. Like the MacBook Air, the 2012 MacBook Pro with Retina Display benefits with a thinner and lighter form factor in return for the non-inclusion of a DVD/CD slot. Apple made the new MacBook Pro compatible with a SuperDrive, on the other hand. It is one option for people who still need a DVD/CD drive.
