The next-gen MacBook Pro with Retina Display Review
Apple makes the bulk of its revenue from devices that don't look like traditional personal computers. For the past couple of years I've been worried that it would wake up and decide the traditional Mac is a burden …
Context & Ripple Effects
This review closes out a dense two weeks of coverage on Apple's Retina MacBook Pro: AnandTech ran its own panel analysis on June 12, The Verge published its full review the next day, and TechCrunch weighed in on June 18. What this piece adds is the framing question — the reviewer's stated worry, flagged as his own concern rather than fact, that Apple may eventually treat the traditional Mac as a burden given how much of its revenue comes from devices that don't look like PCs.
That worry lands against a confirmed hardware datapoint from the same window: the new 15-inch can drive three external displays plus its built-in screen at native resolutions, positioning it as a pro desktop replacement even as its design points toward the iPad-era playbook.
First-order effects
- Pro buyers choosing between the Retina model and the still-on-sale legacy MacBook Pro face a real fork: resolution and portability versus the older machine's expandability and optical drive.
Second-order effects
- Windows PC makers now have a shipped, reviewed high-DPI laptop to answer, pushing panel suppliers and OS-level scaling work up their roadmaps or leaving the premium tier to Apple by default.
Third-order effects
- If the reviewer's concern proves out and Apple's device mix keeps tilting away from traditional PCs, the Mac line gets redesigned around thinness and integrated displays first — with upgradeable internals as the casualty.
The trend: Retina-class displays are migrating from phones into laptops, and Apple is using them to redefine what a professional portable is expected to be.