Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch Retina (Late 2013) Pro Reviews

With its beautiful Retina display, powerful Haswell processor and excellent integrated graphics, the 13-inch MacBook Pro is simply awesome

In 2008, the $1,299 13-inch MacBook was the de facto Apple laptop. The Air was $1,800 and totally unreasonable for most people, and the 15-inch Pro was big and bulky and designed only for power users. The 13-inch model wasn't the cheapest computer, or the most powerful, or the longest-lasting, but it did everything well. Five years later, we've come back around. The $1,299 13-inch MacBook Pro isn't the cheapest Apple computer (that's now the Air), or the most powerful (that's the 15-inch Pro), or the longest-lasting (the Air again). But it does everything well. The primary question is whether you should spend $100 more than the comparable MacBook Air and get the 13-inch Pro. The calculation is simple: you trade a half-pound and about three hours of battery life for an absolutely stunning display and a handful of extra ports. (The display requirements negate the spec gains in most practical ways.) Personally, my laptop goes everywhere I go, and I'll take smaller and lighter any way I can get it. But for most people, it's going to be a tough call. My guess? More than a few people will take one look at that screen and wind up leaving Best Buy with one less existential crisis and one more MacBook Pro.

All in all, the MacBook Pro 13in RD is fairly decent machine in terms of performance, but I’m not convinced that this form factor is appropriate for the Pro moniker. Pro suggests it’s for folk who know what they’re doing and do pros really want to buy into something that’s about as upgradeable as a mobile phone? Pros might also expect more than two USB ports, especially as there’s no Ethernet port on board either. Three, four USB ports? Come on Apple, just how hard would that be? As for the Retina display, I can see how this works nicely on a tablet, but I’m not so convinced you’re going to be so wowed by it at arm’s length on a laptop. Sure it has great contrast, sharp text and decent viewing angles but how much good is that going to do you when OS X Bohemians or whatever it’ll be called comes out and your key apps start to grumble about the 4GB of RAM? I remember when the first candy coloured clamshell iBooks came out and there were moans that there was no FireWire, around that time the iMac puck mouse wasn’t winning many friends either. During the Paris Expo 2000 keynote Steve Job unveiled FireWire iBooks in response to customers' "Number one requested feature". Evidently, the company was listening to its users back then. Will Time Cook’s Apple be listening to make some crowd pleasing changes? We might be surprised, but in the meantime, don’t hold your breath.

The Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch (2013) uses Intel's Haswell-based Core i5 processor to give power users a system that can last over 11 hours under continuous use and still process graphics and scientific tasks quickly. It's $500 less expensive than last year's model, yet more than earns its title as our latest Editors' Choice for high-end ultraportable laptops.

The question here isn't whether the MacBook Pro is better than the 2012 model or whether it stacks up against the 15-inch version - which has also recently upgraded to include the intel Haswell processor - but whether it makes more sense than a MacBook Air. It's a tough decision. Both devices just work, and effortlessly, which is pretty much a given. Compared to the Air the Pro offers a better screen and the potential for more power. The payoff is that you'll get shorter battery life and a heavier product, and it's still not as graphically astute as its 15-inch brother. The crux really is likely to come down to how much travelling you do. If you are on the road without easy access to power then you should stick with the Air. If this is a laptop for the home and little else, you'll enjoy the power the Pro brings and the screen resolution too, knowing full well that a power socket is never that far away.

The MacBook Pro 13 with Retina Display is an excellent notebook. Compared to the predecessor it is now thinner and lighter with better performance and longer battery runtimes. Case, input devices, emissions and the screen are still the benchmark in many respects. However, there are also some drawbacks. Our test showed the average WLAN performance and especially the maintainability and reparability are a big problem. We also did not like the poor Windows support via Boot Camp. The biggest competitor is obviously Apple's MacBook Air 13. It offers slightly more screen area with 1440x900 pixels compared to the "Best (Retina)" resolution. The resolution scaling of the Retina however works really well, so this is not a serious drawback. This leaves the lower weight against the better performance and the much better display. Asus' Zenbook Infinity UX301LA, with similar hardware equipment, is the biggest competitor when looking at Windows devices. It is slightly lighter, but has shorter battery runtimes in return. Other high-resolution notebooks like Lenovo's Yoga 2 Pro should also arrive soon. As ultrabooks, these devices also offer a touchscreen and can sometimes (in the case of the Yoga) even be used as a tablet. Thanks to the price cut by Apple, the MacBook Pro is surprisingly competitive in comparison. With similar specs, the Core i7 version of the MBP 13, for instance, is currently cheaper than a Zenbook Infinity UX301 and even a Yoga 2 Pro is currently only slightly less expensive because of the weaker processor.

Subtle tweaks make a big impact – with a lightning-fast SSD and improved graphics, Apple has another winner on its hands

With much-improved battery life and graphics performance, the late 2013 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display should have owners of older Mac laptops looking to upgrade. The entry-level model’s 128GB of flash storage may not be spacious enough to accommodate all of your media files, however, and you should seriously consider doubling the 4GB of soldered-down RAM to 8GB at the time of purchase. The high-end model’s higher price seems to be justified by its faster CPU, standard 8GB of RAM, and 512GB of superfast flash.

The 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro is still a story of compromise, but it’s also Apple’s closest thing to a sweet-spot power laptop. And even if it costs a bit more than the Air, it also feels more future-proofed for the next few years because of its extra performance, and its display. Just make sure you leave a few dollars earmarked for a RAM/storage bump-up, because I certainly think I’d need it.

The MacBook Pro 13 banishes any questions about its place as king of the ultraportable market. While there are some ultrabooks which match its display, battery life or performance, there are none that can do all three, and those that try (such as Dell’s XPS 13 with 1080p display) are actually more expensive. In fact, the price drop is the standout feature of the new Pro. $1,299 is still a lot of money, but it’s slightly below the competition’s average MSRP. The Dell XPS 13 with 1080p display starts at $1,349, the Toshiba Kirabook is $1,299, while the Sony VAIO Pro 13 costs $1,499. Remember, the Pro’s processing power is above average and is paired with Intel Iris graphics, while the Windows-based competition typically comes equipped with a mid-range Core i5 and Intel HD 4600. While the previous Pro with Retina was great, it forced users to pay high prices. The new MacBook Pro with Retina display, however, is an outstanding value, and provides mind-blowing battery life on top of that. Ultimately, the late-2013 MacBook Pro 13 with Retina is a notebook that flirts with perfection.