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13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display hands-on

13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display hands-on

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macbook pro 13 hands-on
macbook pro 13 hands-on

It's not quite as thin as the Air, but Apple's new 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display is still quite svelte — and the display is as gorgeous as you'd expect. The resolution settings for the display are just like the larger MacBook Pro — but the maximum allowed resolution is 1680 x 1050, unlike the 1920 x 1080 setting offered on the 15-inch model. Still, 1680 x 1050 is a tremendous option on a display of this size, though at the "best for Retina" setting the screen offers an effective 1280 x 800. If you've been using a 15-inch MacBook Pro for the screen size, the 13-inch just got a ton more attractive.

We only had a limited amount of time to test performance, but the 13 only hit 50 percent CPU utilization when we played the 1080p Iron Man 3 trailer while simultaneously playing back a multitrack GarageBand file and scrolling around a 21-megapixel RAW file in Aperture. That's impressive — and very encouraging considering the relatively weak Intel HD 4000 integrated graphics. We'll see how it handles a more intense (and normal) workload when we get a review unit, but for now it appears Apple's done a fine job of using the available power here.

MacBook Pro 13 with Retina Display hands-on

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