Retina MacBook Pro Graphics: OS X Is Okay, But Linux Breaks

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08-08-2012, 05:26 PM
genstorm

@stefantalpalaru: To be fair, MacBooks seem to be quite popular in the Linux community, so it is safe to assume that a lot of people are curious about running their favourite distro on it. What's mostly holding me back as a ThinkPad guy is the lack of proper keyboard, trackpoint, docking station, non-glossy option, and maintainability. Now that's quite a lot, but I'm still interested in that beautifully crafted piece of hardware.

Now, what's basically written in this 'pre-ad' news item are well-known facts - Intel still hasn't got its latest platform support - including Lightpeak - right, hybrid GPUs are the proprietary mess they've always been. Any laptop manufacturer's creation based on those technologies is going to suffer from the same on Linux for the time being, nothing special to see here, thanks.

That leaves the display, which, apart from the glossy mess, sports an amazing DPI. It is a bit disappointing to see the 'Linux desktop' getting dismissed - when there isn't one. So please tell us at least which of the plethora of DEs and WMs you have already tested to come to the conclusion. My own experience with high pixel density has been a very positive one.
08-08-2012, 05:31 PM
ChrisXY

Quote:

Originally Posted by AdamW

"The Linux desktop isn't properly ready for this high pixel density"

How do you figure?

You know, "the" linux desktop. Which means all desktops from twm to kde in all configurations or something like that.

@Michael
Your Apple Mac OS X 10.8 seems to lack an OpenGL version.
Is "Macbook Pro 2012 Retina" vs. "Apple OS X 10.8" really a good name for the graphs?

Do you want to know why I have adblock enabled on phoronix?
1. Because they are extremely invasive in the forums
2. Because you DO have flash ads and I am on a notebook which has a very convenient sounding fan when not using the cpu too much.
08-08-2012, 05:34 PM
Michael

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChrisXY

You know, "the" linux desktop. Which means all desktops from twm to kde in all configurations or something like that.

@Michael
Your Apple Mac OS X 10.8 seems to lack an OpenGL version.
Is "Macbook Pro 2012 Retina" vs. "Apple OS X 10.8" really a good name for the graphs?

Do you want to know why I have adblock enabled on phoronix?
1. Because they are extremely invasive in the forums
2. Because you DO have flash ads and I am on a notebook which has a very convenient sounding fan when not using the cpu too much.

- I mean all major ones.

- I meant to rename the identifier for the 10.7 run but didn't bother when I ended up just doing this into a quick preview article...

- You could always just block the flash ads and load the non-Flash ads with flashblock or whatever it is these days...
08-09-2012, 10:25 AM
kraftman

Quote:

Originally Posted by genstorm

@stefantalpalaru: To be fair, MacBooks seem to be quite popular in the Linux community, so it is safe to assume that a lot of people are curious about running their favourite distro on it.

And you're basing on what? Every person I know doesn't care about their hardware. There are much better hardware vendors and I'd love to see how Linux and OS X performs on non apple hardware.
08-09-2012, 10:37 AM
89c51

Quote:

Originally Posted by kraftman

And you're basing on what? Every person I know doesn't care about their hardware. There are much better hardware vendors and I'd love to see how Linux and OS X performs on non apple hardware.

Tell me one that makes a computer that comes close to MBPr ??
08-09-2012, 01:09 PM
ChrisXY

Quote:

Originally Posted by 89c51

Tell me one that makes a computer that comes close to MBPr ??

Clevo Barebone P170EM?
Does have: DVI, HDMI and Displayport, 17" (does apple still have no modern 17" notebook?), easily up to 32 GB RAM, HD 7970M, maybe a 3920XM, if you don't want to go the very expensive road with Xeons in a notebook
Does not have: Very high DPI, very high quality case.

Does it "come close" to the Geforce 650M, 16 GB RAM, 3820QM (I assume, apples configurator is not even telling that)?

By the way: the Clevo configuration costs about € 2.500,00 while the non-retina macbook (which has only 8 GB RAM) costs 2.549,00 €.

If you really think it is worth paying more for a notebook that will barely fit your needs if you work with any substantial amount of data because it has a better case, then you may buy it.
08-09-2012, 01:33 PM
AdamW

Quote:

Originally Posted by 89c51

Tell me one that makes a computer that comes close to MBPr ??

Any model of the Sony Vaio Z from 2010 onwards is easily superior to any non-Retina MBP in every respect; the Retina has somewhat better display density, but is otherwise still inferior to the Z. The Z costs rather more, but it's a lot better. The Samsung Series 9 is very competitive with the MBP, and similarly priced. Some people are very partial to the Thinkpad X220/X230; it doesn't match the Z or S9 in some areas - its display resolution is inferior, for instance - but the construction and keyboard are excellent.

I keep an eye on high-end laptops; nothing that's better than my 2010 model Z has come out from any manufacturer in the last two years, which is pretty impressive.
08-09-2012, 01:37 PM
AdamW

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChrisXY

Clevo Barebone P170EM?

It weighs 8.6lb, which is way above the MBP class, let alone Series 9 / X230 / Vaio Z. The MBP Retina weighs 4.46lb. That's such a huge difference they're barely worth comparing; the Clevo is a luggable/desktop replacement, the Retina is a true portable. There are reasons someone would want to buy a luggable, for sure, but you can't really directly compare the two, they're just in different classes.
08-09-2012, 01:57 PM
89c51

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChrisXY

Clevo Barebone P170EM?
Does have: DVI, HDMI and Displayport, 17" (does apple still have no modern 17" notebook?), easily up to 32 GB RAM, HD 7970M, maybe a 3920XM, if you don't want to go the very expensive road with Xeons in a notebook
Does not have: Very high DPI, very high quality case.

Does it "come close" to the Geforce 650M, 16 GB RAM, 3820QM (I assume, apples configurator is not even telling that)?

By the way: the Clevo configuration costs about € 2.500,00 while the non-retina macbook (which has only 8 GB RAM) costs 2.549,00 €.

If you really think it is worth paying more for a notebook that will barely fit your needs if you work with any substantial amount of data because it has a better case, then you may buy it.

That thing makes my eyes hurt. And its huge.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AdamW

Any model of the Sony Vaio Z from 2010 onwards is easily superior to any non-Retina MBP in every respect; the Retina has somewhat better display density, but is otherwise still inferior to the Z. The Z costs rather more, but it's a lot better. The Samsung Series 9 is very competitive with the MBP, and similarly priced. Some people are very partial to the Thinkpad X220/X230; it doesn't match the Z or S9 in some areas - its display resolution is inferior, for instance - but the construction and keyboard are excellent.

I keep an eye on high-end laptops; nothing that's better than my 2010 model Z has come out from any manufacturer in the last two years, which is pretty impressive.

The latest Z is an interesting piece of kit but i don't think it is near the MBPr. Leaving the retina aside Lenovo makes some interesting stuff (the X1 carbon is nice), Sony also (Z and the S are ok) but they don't have the poise of apples designs.
08-09-2012, 02:12 PM
ChrisXY

Quote:

Originally Posted by 89c51

That thing makes my eyes hurt.

So what?

Quote:

Originally Posted by 89c51

And its huge.

Good for me. :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by AdamW

they're just in different classes.

Yes. Apple doesn't sell notebooks from that class at all.

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