Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
While we like the improved functioning and battery spirit , the 128 GB of storage and the 4 GB of RAM may not meet your day-after-day requirements .
You may not cognize it to appear at them , but the latest 13 - inchMacBook Pro with Retina displaymodels are thin and light than the Retina system they replace . wanton is always better in a portable — but factor in the new MacBook Pro ’s increased battery living and the quicker integrate graphic , and you have a laptop you’re able to get laid .
The raw 13 - inch Retina MacBook Pros look very alike to the late craw ( released in February ) , but they are 2 ounces lighter and 0.04 inch thinner . Even when you compare a new model side - by - side with an early 2013 Retina MacBook Pro , the dispute is n’t obvious .
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The new 13 - inch Retina MacBook Pros have the same connexion and ports as the previous versions : one HDMI port , two USB 3.0 ports , a phone gob , and an SDXC card slot .
The new laptop also has two Thunderbolt 2 ports , which are theorize to deliver quicker throughput than the previous - generation Thunderbolt ports that the older laptop carry . Though some manufacturers have announced Thunderbolt 2 computer peripheral , none of these product have yet arrived in our lab for testing . Thunderbolt 2 uses the same cable television service and connective as Thunderbolt — but to get the increase bandwidth , you need Thunderbolt 2 devices .
Like previous Retina MacBook Pros , the new 13 - in manikin lack ethernet port , FireWire connectors , and optic drives . To get those extras , you ’ll have to devote available adapters to them , and link the ocular driving force outwardly . If you need FireWire and an optical movement more than anything else , you’re able to corrupt Apple’snon - Retina MacBook Prowith built - in SuperDrive and FireWire 800 for $ 1199 .
Apple update the built - in Wi - Fi to fend for the latest 802.11ac spec . As we found in the latestMacBook Airwith 802.11ac Wi - Fi , the new specification permit much fast wireless transfer speeding .
The bright and glossy Retina display stay unchanged , which is ok with me . It packs a resolution of 2560 by 1600 pixels into a 13.3 - in - diagonal screen . When you practice the laptop in the nonpayment 1280 - by-800 - pel double over mode , the individual pixels that make up images and text are not discernable .
All of the new 13 - in MacBook Pros get along with quaternary - generation Intel Core i5 ( Haswell ) processor . The entry - story 13 - column inch Retina MacBook Pro cost $ 1299 and packs a dual - nucleus 2.4GHz Core i5 processor and 128 GB of jiffy storage . Its comparatively low store capacity may restrict the amount of euphony , pic , and photos that you’re able to can keep locally , but you’re able to work around that roof by using external drives and cloud memory board . More debatable is the smallish 4 GB of RAM included with the $ 1299 MacBook Pro , peculiarly since you ca n’t advance storage on these laptop computer after leverage . With that in head , consider ordering your MacBook Pro with the $ 100 optional upgrade tp 8 GB of RAM . Alternatively you may choose the $ 1499 model , which has the same processor as the $ 1299 laptop computer , but with 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of trice repositing .
The high - destruction 13 - in Retina MacBook Pro , price at $ 1799 , has a three-fold - core 2.6GHz Core i5 processor with 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of flash storage .
Speed improvements
The new Retina MacBook Pros apply PCIe - connected flash storage , which can be much faster than the SATA - connected trice that to begin with MacBook Pros used . The little - content flash in the 2.4GHz laptop computer was relatively pokey at pen data , but it was fast at reading ; and matched against last yr ’s incoming - level role model with its 256 GB SATA flashbulb memory , the laptop computer had identical speeds . On the new high - end 2.6GHz Retina MacBook Pro , copy 6 GB of files and folders from one spot on the drive to another was 34 percentage quicker than the same task on the early 2013 2.6GHz mannequin .
Like the 13 - inch model preceding these , the new Retina model rely on integrate graphics . This yr , however , the systems use Intel ’s higher - closing Iris graphics . Our test show the new MacBook Pros getting between 45 and 65 pct gamy systema skeletale rates than the early 2013 models , with their Intel HD 4000 integrated art .
We also ran our benchmarks on a late 13 - in MacBook Air — a $ 1099 example with a 1.3GHz threefold - core Haswell Core i5 CPU , 128 GB of New York minute depot , 4 GB of RAM , and Intel HD 5000 graphics . The new entrance - level $ 1299 13 - inch Retina MacBook Pro was 13 percentage faster than that MacBook Air in both our Handbrake and MathematicaMark 9 tests . Cinebench OpenGL and Heaven graphics test answer were about the same , but the systema skeletale rates we obtained on the Valley benchmark test were 25 pct higher on the Pro than on the Air . The 13 - inch MacBook Air is a pound lighter and a slight thinner than the MacBook Pro , but of course it also lacks the ultra - high - resolution Retina display of the MacBook Pro .
Battery life
Both new 13 - column inch MacBook Pros endure much longer on a single barrage charge than the former 2013 model did . The unexampled entering - level 13 - column inch Retina hold out 10 hr , 51 minutes in our wireless web pasture test , while the high - death 13 lasted 10 hours , 11 minutes . The previous model lasted just 7 hours , 15 minutes . For its part , the MacBook Air hold out 12 60 minutes , 42 min in our Wi - Fi Internet browse battery test .
Bottom line
With much - meliorate battery liveliness and graphics operation , the recent 2013 13 - inch MacBook Pro with Retina display should have owners of older Mac laptops take care to promote . The entree - grade theoretical account ’s 128 GB of news bulletin storage may not be spacious enough to accommodate all of your medium files , however , and you should seriously take doubling the 4 GB of solder - down RAM to 8 GB at the time of purchase . The high - destruction example ’s high cost seems to be justified by its riotous CPU , received 8 GB of RAM , and 512 GB of superfast flash .
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final result are in frame of reference per secondly . recollective bars / higher outcome are better .
