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Comment by Cbasedlifeform | Hacker News Reader

I was all set to upgrade my 2011 MBA to the rMBP 13" but on reflection I'll stick with the MBA for now... I do most serious coding on an external monitor anyway. I gather the 2012 MBA is significantly faster than my 2011 version.

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If you're not going to use the screen then it's probably not worth the premium over the MacBook Air for you. However, the rMBP does have other advantages over the Air, namely faster processors and two Thunderbolt ports instead of the Air's one.

Offtopic: Which external monitor do you use?

I'm thinking of getting the 27" Apple one, but waiting to see if they would release a retina-resolution anytime soon.

Not going to happen any time soon - the GPU power needed (esp from a laptop) is a few years off I think.

Dont get the Apple display - just get a Korean knock off with the same panel for a quarter of the price...

The Thunderbolt display is expensive, but it also has a lot more than just the panel - it has a webcam, speakers, USB, firewire, ethernet, and a MagSafe connector to charge a MacBook, not to mention that gorgeous aluminum and glass body. Worth $999? Maybe not, but it's definitely not equivalent to a Korean display off eBay.

I don't really need webcam, speakers, usb, firewire, ethernet or a magsafe connector.

Gorgeous body would be great.

What monitor would you suggest?

The comparable Dell panel was the same price last time I checked (which didn't have all the extra ports/webcam/speakers)

Quarter? really? could you link me?

Just found this - http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2012/07/the-ips-lcd-revolut...

Atwood did a decent write up about them. It's a good place to start. http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2012/07/the-ips-lcd-revolut...

Edit: and you found it.

They could always build a Thunderbolt display with a built-in GPU.

Absolutely—it's effectively a PCIe x2 external interface. There's plenty of bandwidth.

Don't forget to factor in $70 - $100 (and the loss of the a USB port) for the miniDP to dual-link DVI adapter you need to drive one of those panels.

You'll probably need a Mini DisplayPort to Dual-link DVI adapter as well, if you're driving one of the Korean displays from a recent Mac. Apple sells one for a hundred dollars, or monoprice has one for $70: http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&c...

Just something to keep in mind when you're budgeting.

In a store full of big-screen TVs, laptops, tablets and every species of shining rectangle, one device emits a reality-distortion field like no other: the iMac. The display is just.. perfect. After seeing the iMac 2 years ago, I switched to e-IPS (Dell 2209WA, then the Dell U2312HM), but somehow they're not in the same league. Way better than TN LCDs, of course, but not iMac/Cinema display. Is e-IPS that much worse than IPS? Perhaps it's Apple's calibration which does the trick? I don't know.

I would love to find a cheap monitor which used the same panel as the iMac and had similar image quality. Any pointers?

I spoiled myself with the Apple thunderbolt display I confess, and love it. But I did not research all the alternatives and no doubt I paid the Apple premium tax.

No doubt there are better deals but if say the premium is $350 over a 3 year lifetime (at least) it's a few starbucks coffees or meals out per year for something I use hours per day :)

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