Shiftlocked

Hi All,

With all the rumors coming out about the new macbooks potentially having a retina display and how good the screen looks, this got me thinking.

What sort of graphic card based hardware is going to be needed to power all those extra pixels. Traditionally I'd say it's been one of Apple's weakest points but then that got me thinking as well. They seem to be able to crank out some decent looking Mac Apps / iPhone apps with pretty modest gfx card specs.

So back to my original point, can anyone shed some light on what GFX horsepower would be needed for a rumored retina display?

broad

If it happens it'll probaboy be the hd4000 on the 13"/air/Mac minis and then ???? on the 15s and 17s (if they exist)

fyrefly

There's also the aspect of "powering"... aka electrical for the screen. The iPad 3's battery is double that of the iPad 2, all going to electrically power the iPad's new screen. There's been talk on MacRumors that Apple's working hard to get the 13" Air to maintain it's thin physique while still packing enough battery to power the new screen without any loss of battery life from the previous version. That may prove a challenge.

Notably, other "Ultrabook" (read: Air knockoff PCs) manufacturers like Asus are putting the Nvidia 620m in the high end of their 13" Air-like models, but only going with 1920x1200 screens (not the 2880x1800 the "retina" Air would reportedly have).

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dona83

Retina or not, I want Apple to begin using IPS displays on their notebooks.

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Chimpur

Presumably the spaces saved by not having the Superdrive in the MBP's would just go to more battery to power the high energy needs of the display and graphics card required to power it.

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broad

^^ most likely right. you'll probably see a big, long wide battery a la macbook air.

fyrefly

I agree. But how does that help the MacBook Air, which is already 3/4 battery:



Hopefully Apple is coming up with a solution that allows the 13" MBA to have the retina display and still retain decent battery life.

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broad

maybe the macbook air doesn't get the retina display? maybe thats a tradeoff you have to be willing to make if you want a thin & light computer?

Shiftlocked

What about a if apple were to release their own GFX card although Im not sure of the differneces between making your own cpu and makinging your own gfx chipset.

Hardware wise would HD4000 cut it? Sure for displaying a desktop it would be ok but once you start grabbing windows or (errk) having flash banners would it struggle somewhat?

satchmo

Good point. Plus, a retina display would be justify a MacBook Pro's designation and greater differentiate it from the MacBook Air.