[markkelg]

The 13in non-retina w i7 and 8gb is nearly 2 lbs lighter than my 5 yr old MBP and the internal GPU will far outperform the old discrete card - in short, it will work so much faster and lighter than what I have now, I'll only "notice" the lack of flash if I think about these tests.
In 2 years SSDs will be much cheaper (ANYTHING is cheaper than Apple pricing), so I will then upgrade the drive and see a huge boost. Upgradeability has helped me get a lot more use out of my Macbooks - and you can only recycle the Air.

[dlehman]

I too am in a quandary about the 13" MBA vs. the 13" rMBP.

Is the integrated Intel HD 4000 graphics sufficient to drive the high-res screen? The last thing I want is to buy a brand new laptop and have it feel "laggy".

Really interested to see the battery tests, and if the battery life will be worse (vs. the Air) because of having to drive the big screen.

[fandango]

Quote

Typo: Discreet instead of discrete

Once is a typo. Twice is just poor writing.

This is the latter.

[Martian]

fandango, on 02 November 2012 - 08:15 PM, said:

Quote

Typo: Discreet instead of discrete

Once is a typo. Twice is just poor writing.

This is the latter.

The spelling differentiation communicates zero additional information. Spelling minutia is the obsolete legacy of selections arbitrarily drawn from a collection of random and irregular spellings fabricated by 15th Century printers and typesetters who drew from pronunciations and colloquialisms of countless English towns and regions.

My dream is that texting will lay waist — or is it waste — to the 15th-19th Century concept of spelling.

(I never could have gotten through this post without the mindless, formulaic algorithms of spellcheck)

[icerabbit]

dlehman, on 25 October 2012 - 11:13 AM, said:

I too am in a quandary about the 13" MBA vs. the 13" rMBP.

Is the integrated Intel HD 4000 graphics sufficient to drive the high-res screen? The last thing I want is to buy a brand new laptop and have it feel "laggy".

Really interested to see the battery tests, and if the battery life will be worse (vs. the Air) because of having to drive the big screen.

For regular use I don't see how it would be laggy when it drives two 24" 1920x screens without a problem, and, I had the HD3000 with a 27" 2560 screen (monitor returned due to screen coating) with no apparent issue. Many people have a negative opinion about integrated graphics, but these days integrated graphics probably suffice for 90% of people. IIRC Intel HD chips now have the technical capability to drive three monitors.

[icerabbit]

dlehman, on 25 October 2012 - 11:13 AM, said:

I too am in a quandary about the 13" MBA vs. the 13" rMBP.

Is the integrated Intel HD 4000 graphics sufficient to drive the high-res screen? The last thing I want is to buy a brand new laptop and have it feel "laggy".

Really interested to see the battery tests, and if the battery life will be worse (vs. the Air) because of having to drive the big screen.

From Apple:

http://www.apple.com...o/specs-retina/
Intel HD Graphics 4000 = Dual display and video mirroring: Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to 2560 by 1600 pixels on up to two external displays, at millions of colors

So I wouldn't be concerned about it being laggy with just the retina screen.