13″ MacBook Pro with Retina Display (Mid 2014)

The Mid 2014 Retina MacBooks is essentially a speed bumped version of the Late 2013 model with the base model also boosted from 4 GB of system memory to 8 GB.

13" Late 2013 Retina MacBook Pro

As with all Retina MacBook Pros, this one is built around SSD technology for enhanced speed and ruggedness, not to mention allowing for a slimmer, cooler running design.

As with the previous model, it has USB 3.0. The USB 3.0 specification is over 10x as fast as USB 2.0 and has half the bandwidth of Thunderbolt. There are a lot of USB 3.0 drives on the market, and they are far more affordable than Thunderbolt drives. Best of all, Apple uses the same port for USB 2.0 and 3, while the standard in the PC world is separate ports for each protocol.

Battery life is claimed to be 9 hours of wireless productivity.

This model shipped with OS X 10.9 Mavericks and supports all later versions, which are free updates.

Closed Lid Mode: All Intel ‘Books support “lid closed” (or clamshell) mode, which leaves the built-in display off and dedicates all video RAM to an external display. To used closed lid mode, your ‘Book must be plugged into the AC adapter and connected to an external display and a USB or Bluetooth mouse and keyboard (you might also want to consider external speakers). Power up your ‘Book until the desktop appears on the external display and then close the lid. Your ‘Book will go to sleep, but you can wake it by moving the mouse or using the keyboard. The built-in display will remain off, and the external monitor will become your only display.

To resume use of the internal display, you need to disconnect the external display, put the computer to sleep, and then open the lid. This will wake up your ‘Book and restore use of the built-in display.

Details

  • introduced 2014.07.29 at US$1,299 (2.6 GHz dual-core i5, 128 GB SSD, 8 GB RAM) and US$1,799 (2.8 GHz, 512 GB SSD, 8 GB RAM). 3.0 GHz dual-core i7 build-to-order option
  • Part no.: MGX72, MGX82, MGX92
  • Model no.: A1502
  • Identifier: MacBookPro11,1

Mac OS

Core System

  • CPU: 2.6 or 2.8 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5, 3.0 GHz dual-core i7 build-to-order option
  • Level 3 cache: 3 MB shared cache in i5, 4 MB in i7
  • Bus: 1600 MHz
  • RAM: 8 or 16 GB from factory, no future upgrades
  • Performance
    • 64-bit Geekbench 2:
    • Speedmark 7:

Video

  • GPU: Intel Iris 5100
  • VRAM: uses up to 1.5 GB of system memory
  • Video out: HDMI or Thunderbolt digital video port, which is backward compatible with Mini DisplayPort (VGA, DVI, HDMI, and DisplayPort supported with optional adapters)
  • display: 13.3″ glossy 2560 x 1600 227 ppi color active matrix
    • supports 2560 x 1600, 1680 x 1050, 1440 x 900, and 1024 x 640
    • allows mirroring to external display or extended desktop mode

Drives

  • Hard drive: 128 GB to 1 TB SSD
  • optical drive: external only
  • drive bus: PCIe 2.0 x2 (over 700 MBps real world read and write speeds – 200-300 MBps faster than SATA Rev. 3)

Expansion

  • Thunderbolt 2: 2 ports
  • USB: 2 USB 3.0 ports
  • FireWire 400: via Thunderbolt adapter
  • FireWire 800: via Thunderbolt adapter
  • Ethernet: via Thunderbolt adapter
  • WiFi: 802.11ac
  • Modem: no longer offered by Apple
  • Bluetooth: BT 4.0 built in
  • ExpressCard/34: none
  • SD Card Slot: 1 SDXC slot
  • expansion bays: none

Power

  • battery: 71.8 Watt-hour
  • AC adapter: 60W MagSafe 2

Physical

  • size: 8.62 x 12.35 x 0.71″ (219 x 314 x 18 mm)
  • Weight: 3.46 pounds (1.57 kg)

Online Resources

keyword: retina13mid2014