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New MacBook Pro’s Retina display reviewed and benchmarked

After posting initial benchmark data yesterday for the new Retina MacBook Pro’s SSD and USB 3.0, AnandTech published a longer analysis today about the notebook’s display. The report first took a closer look at the new resolution preferences for Retina MBP users and described the advantages of the different scaling options displayed in the gallery above:

Retina Display MBP owners now get a slider under OS X’s Display Preferences that allow you to specify desktop resolutions other than 1440 x 900. At 1440 x 900 you don’t get any increase in usable desktop resolution compared to a standard 15-inch MacBook Pro, but everything is ridiculously crisp… Even at the non-integer scaled 1680 x 1050 setting, the Retina Display looks a lot better than last year’s high-res panel. It looks like Apple actually renders the screen at twice the selected resolution before scaling it to fit the 2880 x 1800 panel (in other words, at 1920 x 1200 Apple is rendering everything at 3840 x 2400 (!) before scaling… Everything just looks better.

As illustrated in the images above showing benchmark data, the review found greatly improved viewing angles, black levels, and contrast when compared to the previous generation high-res MacBook Pro model. AnandTech then looked at Apple’s claims that the new MacBook Pro display reduces glare by 75 percent from previous generations:

By removing the cover glass Apple reduces the number of reflections and thus glare, however it’s important to point out that this still isn’t a matte display… Compared to my matte MacBook Pro, the Retina Display is obviously more glossy but at the same time remarkably close. I’ll reserve my final judgement until I’ve used the display in more varied conditions however.

The last part of AnandTech’s analysis takes a look at Diablo III running in Retina resolution. Diablo III is game that Apple noted would be updated to support the new MBP during its unveiling. As noted in the report, apps will clearly have add Retina support, but certain games are already recognizing the 2,880-by-1,800 resolution. The screenshot of the game in the gallery above shows Diablo III running at full resolution. AnandTech explained:

Diablo III is actually quite playable at 2880 x 1800, at least in the earlier levels (I haven’t had time to make it far enough in the game to tell how bad it can get). I managed to average 20 fps at 2880 x 1800 in the most stressful scene I have presently unlocked. Obviously things are smoother at lower resolutions. Diablo III exhibited some graphical anomalies at 1920 x 1200, but was fine at other 16:10 resolutions…Not all games will let you do this however. The Unigine Heaven benchmark for example wouldn’t expose any resolutions higher than 1920 x 1200.

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Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jordan Kahn

Jordan writes about all things Apple as Senior Editor of 9to5Mac, & contributes to 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, & Electrek.co. He also co-authors 9to5Mac’s Logic Pros series.