Devs say Retina-optimized Macs will take time

Written by

Joel Mathis for Macworld:

Go ahead and grab the new MacBook Pro with Retina display, but be warned: It might be a little while before most of your apps look as sharp as the screen showing them.

While Apple is already updating its own apps for Retina display, officials with third-party developers Adobe and Autodesk said they’ll need time to ship Retina-optimized apps to the public. Their Photoshop and AutoCAD applications, respectively, were shown in Retina form during Apple’s Monday keynote at WWDC, along with Diablo III from Blizzard Entertainment.

I expect that we’ll see a similar buildout as we did with iPad Retina Display-optimized apps last year. It shouldn’t be too long, but if you bought a spiffy new Retina Display-equipped MacBook Pro at an Apple Store this week or have one on order, you might experience just a wee bit of frustration as developers struggle to catch up.



  • http://www.ifans.com/ Joe Rossignol

    Then Peter, should I spend the $2,199 on the 15-inch 2.6 GHz quad-core model instead? I’m so impatient waiting to get the Retina MacBook Pro in stores. It’s driving me insane.

    • gjgustav

      If you want the Retina, I would spend the extra and get the model with 512GB of SSD, especially if you use graphics-intensive apps.

    • Peter Cohen

      If the Retina Display model is the one you want, wait for it. Apple shouldn’t take too long to start getting stock in stores. But if you spend all that money on a machine that isn’t what you were expecting (albeit a fantastic one regardless), I think you’re setting yourself up for a bad case of buyer’s regret.

      • http://www.ifans.com/ Joe Rossignol

        Thanks for the feedback. You’re right, I have my heart set on the Retina model and I suppose I will just have to wait. It’s just such an agonizing wait for such an awesome product.

        One of the six Apple Stores I have been calling over the past three days is hoping for stock tomorrow, so I am very hopeful that proves to be true.

      • http://www.ifans.com/ Joe Rossignol

        Peter, I just wanted to let you know that I managed to find a MacBook Pro with Retina display at a Future Shop (a division of Best Buy here in Canada). They had one in stock. I snatched it. Lucky me!

  • Chuck

    It makes sense for apps like AutoCAD and Photoshop and the likes to take some time, but I suspect that most apps are many times easier to update to support retina, just a matter of updating the images.

  • No

    what land is March 2012 last year.

    Devs have know about retina pixel doubling for many years. last year wwdc gave precise instructions. Adobe just wants more money squeezed for higher resolution icons.

  • http://twitter.com/jmswtsn James Watson

    Some apps (like Coda2) are already retina optimized. Not that difficult to guess what was coming.