So the good news is that Apple is starting to offer laptops with “retina” displays, meaning there are so many pixels on the screen that you won’t be able to see them when the computer is an arm’s length away from your eyes.

The bad news is that retina displays don’t come cheap. The first laptop from Apple with 220 pixels per inch will be the next-generation MacBook Pro, a 15 inch laptop with a starting price of $2199.

MacBook Pro

That high price isn’t just for the display. The new MacBook Pro also has a 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7 quad-core processor, NVIDIA GeForce GT650M graphics, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB solid state disk, and a case that measures just 0.71 inches thick and weighs under 4.5 pounds. The laptop also gets about 7 hours of battery life.

Apple also unveiled new MacBook Air models today, with prices starting at $999. But the company isn’t offering high-resolution displays on those models… yet.

The only other “laptop” I’m aware of that’s had a pixel density as high as the new MacBook Pro is the Sony Vaio P — which had an 8 inch, 1600 x 768 pixel (221ppi) widescreen display. But that little computer was more of a palmtop than a laptop and it had a sluggish Intel Atom processor.

Intel Pixel Density
Credit: Intel

But if Intel is right, the MacBook Pro is just the beginning. The chip-maker recently predicted that we’ll see tablet, phone, notebook, and desktop displays with higher pixel densities in the next year or so.

thanks to Boing Boing for reminding me about the Vaio P

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7 replies on “Next-gen MacBook Pro has 2880 x 1800px screen, $2199 price tag”

  1. The new MacBook pro is actually FOURTH on the list in terms of pixel density:

    #1 Fujitsu U820 – 5.6″ 1280×800 @ 270dpi
    #2 Sony Vaio UX – 4.5″ 1024×600 @ 264dpi
    #3 Sony Vaio P – 8″ 1600×768 @ 222dpi
    #4 Apple MacBook Pro 2012 – 2880×1800 @ 220dpi

    So there you have it, it is the FOURTH laptop with Retina display of 220dpi or higher, not the first. I would say it is the FOURTH laptop from major manufacturers, as Sony and Fujitsu are certainly no slouch.

    Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_displays_by_pixel_density

  2. If the Macbook Air had been released with the retina display, I’d have considered buying it. Now my plan is to get the Asus Infinity when it comes out later this month.

  3. I thought Liliputing covers inexpensive liliputing devices? Well, at least based on some comments a few months ago. Was that not the case?

    1. Yep, but given all the talk about high resolution displays recently, the announcement of the first major laptop with a “retina” display seemed noteworthy… as does the fact that it don’t exactly come cheap.

    2. There’s also keeping on eye on market trends and there’s a definite push towards increasing resolution for all devices. The pricier devices will just get them first and give us a idea of how it’ll be like once all devices get a resolution bump.

      Mind with the upcoming release of Windows 8 that it requires a minimal resolution to fully enable Metro functionality. So we’re going to see that devices at least meet that minimum, which is higher than say netbooks traditional 1024×600 screens.

      While there is also a push for handling ever increasing higher resolution media and gaming capabilities in mobile devices.

      Like the rumor that the next gen 22nm ATOMs coming next year may get a new GMA based on the Ivy Bridge GMA 4000. So these higher end devices are basically giving us a glimpse of what’s to come.

      While also showing how the traditional markets are handling the increasing influence of the mobile market.

      Though the lack of much news on liliputing devices right now is another factor 😛

  4. So how fast until the CPU gets so hot that it gets throttled down? That seems to be Apple’s cooling design of choice. Well, it is for my MBP.

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