Retina-quality graphics being prepped for Apple's online store
New, higher-resolution versions of graphics for Apple's online store have been discovered, indicating the company is preparing to improve the website for devices with Retina-branded displays.
New Retina-quality graphics were found on Apple's servers this week by Callum Strong, developer with Fat Media. As highlighted by Macotakara, the new graphics haven't gone live yet, but are a sign that Apple is in the process of upgrading its online store for Retina displays.
Though some upgraded files were discovered, images at Apple's store still appear blurry when the site is viewed on a third-generation iPad or MacBook Pro with Retina display.
Apple began upgrading other parts of its website in March with high-resolution images ahead of the launch of the third-generation iPad with Retina display. The improved graphics, which are double the resolution of the regular images, were quietly added to the site.
Apple uses a file tag of "2x" to differentiate between normal- and double-resolution files found on its website. The updated Apple Store graphics are identified as "[email protected]."
Apple Store Retina display graphics on the left, traditional images on the right.
Apple currently sells a total of five products with screens that the company believes qualify for its Retina display branding. They are the new 15-inch MacBook Pro, third-generation iPad, iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, and fourth-generation iPod touch.
Apple is expected to continue to add Retina displays to its product lineup over the coming months and years. Specifically, rumors have pegged a 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display to launch this fall, while Apple's next iMacs have also been identified as candidates for a Retina display upgrade.
New Retina-quality graphics were found on Apple's servers this week by Callum Strong, developer with Fat Media. As highlighted by Macotakara, the new graphics haven't gone live yet, but are a sign that Apple is in the process of upgrading its online store for Retina displays.
Though some upgraded files were discovered, images at Apple's store still appear blurry when the site is viewed on a third-generation iPad or MacBook Pro with Retina display.
Apple began upgrading other parts of its website in March with high-resolution images ahead of the launch of the third-generation iPad with Retina display. The improved graphics, which are double the resolution of the regular images, were quietly added to the site.
Apple uses a file tag of "2x" to differentiate between normal- and double-resolution files found on its website. The updated Apple Store graphics are identified as "[email protected]."
Apple Store Retina display graphics on the left, traditional images on the right.
Apple currently sells a total of five products with screens that the company believes qualify for its Retina display branding. They are the new 15-inch MacBook Pro, third-generation iPad, iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, and fourth-generation iPod touch.
Apple is expected to continue to add Retina displays to its product lineup over the coming months and years. Specifically, rumors have pegged a 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display to launch this fall, while Apple's next iMacs have also been identified as candidates for a Retina display upgrade.
Comments
I want a retina MBA.
Quote:
Originally Posted by logandigges
I want a retina MBA.
There was some speculation in the last few days that it's coming in the Fall. My wife wants one too.
That doesn't make sense though. They just made a significant update to the Air a month ago, and the quickest Air update was 9 months, so I don't expect to see it until 2013.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JeffDM
That doesn't make sense though. They just made a significant update to the Air a month ago, and the quickest Air update was 9 months, so I don't expect to see it until 2013.
It was one of the least significant Air updates they've had yet- Ive Bridge (which had the Intel 4000 USB 3 default), slightly faster ram, and a new charging port. Pretty minor. I still sold my 2011 air and upgraded, because I sold my old one for $1,050 and bought the new one for $1130 from MacMall. Cheaper than Apple Care. :-)
I do agree with you; however, that it won't be upgraded until 2013. I just disagree the upgrade was significant.
Edit: I forgot the Base $999 went from 2gb to 4gb- THAT was significant for sure.
Slow news day I see
2) I'm still undecided about a new 13" MBP (w/dGPU) or iMac. I think it really comes down to whichever one has Retina first.
Is that even possible with the 13" display? I can doubling the pixels on the 11" MBA but not so sure about the 13" MBA with that iGPU and still have a machine that runs well. I'm under the impression that Intel's next iGPU will be required for the 13".
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolipsismX
I'm still undecided about a new 13" MBP (w/dGPU) or iMac. I think it really comes down to whichever one has Retina first.
Go with a 27" iMac. There is nothing better IMO- I've had a 15" & 13" pro (2011s), 13" Air (an 11' and still have a 12'), and a 21.5" 2011 iMac. I still have my 2 2010 iMacs- nothing else fits my goal. Depending on your goal- if its a desktop, you shouldn't even question yourself. Wait for an incredible deal- like when I got my 27" 2.93 i7 2010 for $1,499 brand new from a MacMall blow out last July. It was a year old model- but the top-end BTO.
Also- I don't know what a Retina 13" is going to offer than a non-retina 27" 2560x1440 won't.
The bigger issue is, how likely is it for other sites to update to high res retina friendly pages & pics?.
Part of the Apple site has already been retina-fied (yes, I said it, now add it to the dictionary). However, what about the rest of the web? Surely, there won't be a massive overhaul of most major web sites so that the tiny number of Retina MBP owners can enjoy their screens. That's like asking Microsoft to make the entire Windows 7 and 8 for the very few so that we can enjoy the glorious OS in a virtual machine every now and again.
Having said that, I do expect for most, if not all, Mac App Store apps to undergo retina-fication. Especially apps like Twitter as well as other so-called "official" OS X apps and yes, I know, Apple's own software is already there and that's good. As far as third-party software is concerned, I very much appreciate that Google's Chrome will be updated. In fact, Google earned itself a nice amount of brownie points when they announced the aforementioned on Day One. I haven't heard anything from Mozilla, for example, so it looks like I will completely dump Firefox from my installed applications base.
I'm trying to gauge as to how involved and difficult it is for websites to be updated vs. software titles. What do you guys think will or will not happen as far as support for this extreme resolution?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andysol
Go with a 27" iMac. There is nothing better IMO- I've had a 15" & 13" pro (2011s), 13" Air (an 11' and still have a 12'), and a 21.5" 2011 iMac. I still have my 2 2010 iMacs- nothing else fits my goal. Depending on your goal- if its a desktop, you shouldn't even question yourself. Wait for an incredible deal- like when I got my 27" 2.93 i7 2010 for $1,499 brand new from a MacMall blow out last July. It was a year old model- but the top-end BTO.
Also- I don't know what a Retina 13" is going to offer than a non-retina 27" 2560x1440 won't.
A lot of Apple.com was already retina; apparently the store system has taken longer.
Get the iMac! And by “iMac” I mean, an 11” MacBook Air + an external display, keyboard and mouse-or-trackpad. Pick a cheap but good-quality Dell display, or go all the way with a Thunderbolt display. Either way, it will feel just like using an iMac except a) you have a much less powerful 3D gaming board if that matters to you and b) you have a much faster drive! (Unless you upgrade the iMac to SSD as well.) Few people will notice the procerssor difference, but the SSD speed boost is constantly obvious.
I do all my work (and 3D gaming for that matter) on last year’s 11” Air and I never wish for more power except with newer 3D games. Sometimes I wish for a bigger screen, but that’s easily solved. I’d never want to give up being able to grab everything with one hand and easily go to the other room, or a meeting, or a friend’s house. An iMac can’t do that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AppleZilla
There was some speculation in the last few days that it's coming in the Fall. My wife wants one too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolipsismX
1) I'm surprised they didn't have their website converted already. If they want others to follow suit they need to be the example.
2) I'm still undecided about a new 13" MBP (w/dGPU) or iMac. I think it really comes down to whichever one has Retina first.
Is that even possible with the 13" display? I can doubling the pixels on the 11" MBA but not so sure about the 13" MBA with that iGPU and still have a machine that runs well. I'm under the impression that Intel's next iGPU will be required for the 13".
Just received the new retina MBP and spent yesterday configuring it. Installed Windows 7 via VMware Fusion. One word: Stunning.
Apple clearly has another grand-slam out-of-ballpark winner with the new rMBP. Not only is the machine itself a work of art, it is polished to the max in terms of the total package. This machine is going to my business partner that decided to ditch the Wintel platform and go all Apple after seeing me using my MBA in the office. He's as excited as a kid on Christmas morning. He's going to see it today when I go into the office. He went with a dual i7 2.3ghz with the maxed 16GB of RAM.
Retina is the future. I love, love, my 13" 2011 MBA due to its size but after using this dream, I'm excited to see what Apple has in the pipeline for the iMac as well as the MBA. Looks like the wallet is laying on the table waiting for these two future machines to come out.
It's a good time for Apple.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fishstick_kitty
Slow news day I see
Slow news days are the best times to troll forums and post "Slow news day I see"
Quote:
Originally Posted by sflocal
Just received the new retina MBP and spent yesterday configuring it. Installed Windows 7 via VMware Fusion. One word: Stunning.
Apple clearly has another grand-slam out-of-ballpark winner with the new rMBP. Not only is the machine itself a work of art, it is polished to the max in terms of the total package. This machine is going to my business partner that decided to ditch the Wintel platform and go all Apple after seeing me using my MBA in the office. He's as excited as a kid on Christmas morning. He's going to see it today when I go into the office. He went with a dual i7 2.3ghz with the maxed 16GB of RAM.
Retina is the future. I love, love, my 13" 2011 MBA due to its size but after using this dream, I'm excited to see what Apple has in the pipeline for the iMac as well as the MBA. Looks like the wallet is laying on the table waiting for these two future machines to come out.
It's a good time for Apple.
My rMBA 2.3gHZ, 16GB is coming at the end of the month. I can't wait. By the way, I think you meant your i7 2.3gHZ is quad core. The rMBA doesn't come in dual core.
I can't speak for the software, but I'm a web designer and can speak for the websites. It isn't actually very difficult. It took me a little while to get used to it (some design practices need to be changed to support it), but now that I've prepared numerous graphics and sprites for high-DPI displays, has has become pretty second-nature to me. It's extremely easy to do for new designs. Established websites (such as the very large commercial website I maintain for my primary employer) require more work. In those cases there's the time investment involved in preparing the graphics (and sometimes re-creating them), along with design updates where needed to support a change (for example an image may need to be converted to a background; an icon might make better sense if used with a symbol font—custom prepared, even.
But the difficulty in doing so won't be the challenge the web faces. Instead, outside professional designers who know to design for the future and are working on new websites or website redesigns, the real motivation will come as high-DPI screens begin to appear on more computers.
Even the App store is not fully retina:
http://www.123di.com/apple_does_not_understand_retina.php