Apple MacBook Pro with Retina Display review

That thickness measures in at 0.71 inches (1.8cm) while the width is 14.13 inches (35.89cm) and the depth is 9.73 inches (24.71cm). Those figures compare quite favorably to the old 15-incher (at 0.95 inches thick) and it's very nearly as thin as the Air, which is 0.68 inches at its thickest. Weight? A healthy 4.46 pounds (2.02kg). That's just over a pound less than the full-sized MacBook Pro and about 1.5 pounds more than the 13-inch Air.

Apple may have already spilled the beans when it comes to what the inside of this MacBook Pro looks like, but we aren't convinced. Join us today as we set out to see what is so significant about this special MacBook Pro.


Apple is not the first to do these things but it is doing them with an elegance and simplicity that many of its competitors struggle to imitate.

The screen on Apple's new flagship laptop, the MacBook Pro with Retina display, has to be seen to be believed. At 2880 x 1800 pixels, it can deliver double the screen resolution of the previous MacBook Pro and the difference is like putting on a pair of glasses for the first time.

Performance and battery life

We tested both the base 2.3GHz and higher-spec 2.6GHz quad-core Ivy Bridge CPUs that are on offer (there's an even faster 2.7GHz build-to-order model for another $250), and neither disappointed. In fact, you'd have to be a seriously jaded desktop user to want more oomph from your on-the-go machine. The new MacBook Pro handled absolutely everything we could throw at it and did so with aplomb. General productivity tools fly and more... intensive things run impressively well.