9 reasons why the new Retina display MacBook Pro sucks

Apple’s new MacBook Pro: a shining light in the murky world of high-end laptops or a US$2200 pile of unrepairable tosh? The Gear goes for the latter. The new MacBook Pro sucks because:

The RAM cannot be upgraded, chiefly because it’s soldered onto the logic board. Sure, 16GB RAM is fine for now, but when 32GB becomes the standard, are we expected to chuck everything out and start again?
The proprietary solid-state drive memory was supplied by Samsung. Not so much a problem, more of a slap in the face. Samsung is one of Apple’s direct competitors who is more than willing to seed hardware to the Cupertino giant. We think there was a mix-up at Foxconn.
The web can never keep up with Apple. All web resolutions now need to be upgraded so that it looks decent on the Retina display. This is a knockdown effect. Higher res website equals more bandwidth requirements. In developing countries with shitty internet, this will be a heavy bandwidth blow. This isn’t good news for websites either — higher res images cost more to buy and to host. Again, this is progression, but Apple is forcing us to adapt and most of us can’t keep up.
The battery is not screwed but instead is glued into place. So here’s the rub: replacing the battery means possibly damaging the motherboard when it’s yanked out.
The trackpad’s cable goes under the battery, making it very difficult to fix. There was also an issue of the trackpad not detecting input. Thankfully, it’s been repaired.
The display assembly is completely fused: it’s a one piece unit with no glass protecting it. Any failure in the Retina display would probably need a full replacement.
Because the battery covers the trackpad cable, it increases the chances of shearing the cable if the battery is removed.
The display assembly hosts the iSight camera, WiFi and Bluetooth antenna. If one goes, they all go.
Legendary tear-down site iFixit gave it 1 out of 10 for repairability. iFixit said, “This is, to date, the least repairable laptop we’ve taken apart.”

Granted, it’s one of the best looking laptops Apple’s ever made. But woe betide the user who wants to fiddle in its delicate innards.

[Image credit]

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Brattstar

16GB of RAM should be fine for 99% of people until way past 2015 – if you need more than that buy a bloody desktop PC so you can post-prod large video data (not many other reasons to have 32GB of RAM unless you launching a nuke)
http://twitter.com/gearburn gearburn

yes, 16GB is fine for now, but it’ll never be enough. As software requirements rapidly increase, 16GB is going to look like 512MB pretty soon. Also, Apple shouldn’t be forcing users into a permanent memory solution.
Simon

Shitty article. The same point is repeated multiple times, just with a different coating, trying to increase the number of negative bullet points you could and promote.

Seriously.
Black Beard

Salient points, great article. My Dell laptop has a removable battery and HDD, as well as swappable RAM. If I use my Bluetooth keyboard and mouse and sit 6 feet away from my laptop I also can’t distinguish individual pixels. Boom. DIY Retina display #winning
Reechard

maybe YOU are so rich you can afford to buy a new computer every three years, but 99% of the rest of us just can’t afford to, and would like to fix/repair what we’ve already invested $3k in!

not to mention, the serious environmental waste this will cause… every one of these laptops will be in a landfill spitting more chemicals into the ground within five years.
http://adinwalls.co.za Adin Walls

You’re thinking with Windows PC mindset. Macs don’t break. Kla
Rickvr

Ha ha, it’s the old BMW and Merc story. When my Beemer mates came up with, “BMW now has Roadside Assistance”, I just smiled and said, “I rest my case”.
http://twitter.com/FeelHood FeelHoodHusseinObama

I’m ordering two of these.
wade klinetobe

WOW. I hope you joking. I was just replacing a hard drive on a Mac today. Which by the way is also not user replaceable in the new Mac’s. Hard drives fail constantly, even SSD’s. I would like someone to post what is replaceable on these units. I would be pretty pissed off to buy a 3k paper weight. They are basically Windows PC’s, does anyone get that! Intel Procs, ATI and now Nvidia graphics cards, Intel chipsets, atheros wireless…we are basically just talking about design and software now, and btw OSX is way behind Windows in so many areas’s I’m not even going to bother to list them, because it will just be a was of time…..some no nothing fanboy will post something about it being more secure or or user friendly or just down right pretty. People can buy what they want, but I’m not going to be the sucker that buy’s one of these. I appreciate my money and my technology.
Joe

I run an old 2007 mbp with 2 gig or ram. Why would I need more than 16 all of a sudden.
Moss

“MacBook Pro is designed with the following features to reduce environmental impact:

Highly recyclable aluminium enclosureMercury-free LED backlit displayArsenic-free display glassBFR-freePVC-free5Reduced packaging volumeMeets ENERGY STAR Version 5.2 requirements” Seriously, how many people are going to need more than 16GBs of RAM in the very near future? If you think you will and can afford a 2.4k laptop, this simply isn’t the choice for you.
Mick

A laptop that ships today with 8GB of RAM in it, doesn’t automatically mean that the motherboard configuration can support 32GB down the track. I agree that it’s nice to be able to upgrade your RAM as you please, but there are always constraints on how much you can upgrade by anyway.
James

Battery is replaceable. Not user replaceable though, which is annoying. The replacement of the battery is a standard service being offered by Apple. The SSD is also replaceable. Again, you need Apple to do it, but it doesn’t reduce your machine to a paperweight if the SSD fails.
The rest of your post is just a rant. I’ve always been a PC user, but I don’t have any of this completely irrational hatred for another system… If someone uses a Mac, good for them. They make nice systems.
Ni

This article is stupid… Classic example of whoring internet traffic IMO.
Yes, the non upgradeable RAM sucks. It’s really not that big a deal to just accept it and purchase the RAM upfront though. Your point about 32GB is silly. There is no guarantee that a laptop currently on the market with user serviceable RAM can take up to 32GB anyway. My current laptop maxes out at 16GB.
Content has been getting richer and resolutions have been forever increasing. This is a new one. Deal with it. Non retina optimised content doesn’t look bad anyway, it’s just not as good.
Yes, the battery is glued in. Apple offer a battery replacement service as standard (yes, for Retina MacBooks). It’s annoying that it isn’t user serviceable, but talking about breaking motherboards etc it hyperbole. If Apple ‘shear the trackpad cable’ while they are fixing it, I doubt the end user will ever know it happened.
Samsung have been producing hardware for Apple for ages. In fact, considering they are both a hardware manufacturer and manufacturer of their own products, you’ll see their technology in lots of the competitions product lineups. Likewise with NEC etc. This is nothing new. NEC, Samsung and so on have been making screens, microchips etc for years (decades in the case of NEC). It’s good business. As if Samsung would turn down an offer to produce the SSD. They wouldn’t pass up that business deal purely because end users see the two companies as imaginary football teams engaged in some kind of rivalry… This is business and you’ll see it in all industries. Ford use a 6 speed auto gearbox designed by BMW….
Anyway. I am done. Garbage article is garbage.
Lord Semtex

Author can’t afford the Retina Macbook, like 99.99% of haters.
M G

I love apple, but even I have to call “Macfanboy” I purchased a macbook pro two weeks ago. Guess what? It wasn’t retina. Ya, the price was a factor, but the limited disk size and ports was the real reason.
M G

Adobe products are both a blessing and a curse…
Switzerland

Dude why fix something that works grate… If they come out with a new Processer you’re the first dude to stand in line to switch your Mac Book Pro for a new one.
Swiss Dude

Dude why fix something that works grate in a a 0.7inch casing… If they come out with a new CPU you’re the first dude to stand in line to switch your six month old Mac Book Pro for a new one. That’s like if you’d complain that the new Mac Book Pro is missing 3.5 floppy drive. No one is forcing you to buy an Apple. Go buy Bananas.
Swiss Opinnion

I guess Steven is still pissed because his Apple Calmshell won’t accept the 32GB of RAM he just upgraded his Apple Clamshell with. =D
pearly44

You hackers don’t really have a clue do you? The case for more memory can be made today. More is always better – period. The real slap in the face is that the cpu in these retina mbps already supports up to 32GB in the processor architecture. Why does Apple limit configuration to 16 GB? I don”t need the retina display. I’d like the non-retina mbp, but guess what? I can only order it with 8GB of memory. That just won’t cut it when I’m trying to run Office, Final Cut, and CS5, all at once. If I have to run Fusion at the same time….forget about it. Add to that the price of these things is almost 40% higher than comparably equipped Windows mobile workstations, and I just can’t make the case for buying one. For my money, a maxed out Lenovo W530 running a 3920XM processor and 32GB of memory is a much better deal. Yeah, its not OSX, and as much as I love OSX, I’m going to miss it.
#Joesucks

@Joe Well, lets see. You run a 2007 with 2gb of ram. That says a lot. Do you do more than browse and email and post stupid comments? Some of us actually use our computers to write software and run multiple VMs (virtual machines) so we can experience different OSs. Each VM means a need for more resources, specifically ram.

So… get out of your AMC Pacer for some air sometime and try to understand the bare minimum (and especially your needs) is not always the best choice for others that do more than just troll sites finding was to defend frapple.

This article bring up some good points buyers should be aware of regarding construction and repair issues.

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9 reasons why the new Retina display MacBook Pro sucks

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