For those who are wondering how well Windows runs on the new Retina MacBook Pro that Apple announced at the WWDC 2012 you will be glad to know Anand Lal Shimpi of AnandTech has done looking into the matter. He was able to get both Windows 7 and Windows 8 functioning on the machine, with some varying results.
Windows 7 on the Retina MacBook Pro starts up at a resolution of 800 x 600, while Windows 8defaults to 1024 x 768. The reason why these default resolutions are so low is because the GeForce GT 650M doesn’t have a compatible driver for the Windows OS, and as such the VGA driver takes over. Keep in mind however, that these resolutions can be turned up to a maximum of 1600 x 1200 on Windows 7 and 2880 x 1800 on Windows 8.
Until an actual NVIDIA driver is released Windows 7 will not be able to be displayed at the Retina MacBook Pro’s native resolution. Windows 8 on the other hand can indeed be ran at 2880 x 1800, but due to scaling issues the text and default UI elements are quite small.
Skyfall trailer is actually a full 1920 x 1080 window
With DPI (dots per inch) scaling enabled it becomes a little more bearable, but the bottom line is NVIDIA will need to release an official driver to properly handle Windows on the Retina MacBook Pro. For those of you who still do not grasp how incredible the Retina MacBook Pro’s panel is, consider that the 27″ iMac has a resolution of 2560 x 1440, meaning the 15.4″ screen of the Retina MacBook Pro has 40% more pixels.
Windows 7 on the Retina MacBook Pro starts up at a resolution of 800 x 600, while Windows 8defaults to 1024 x 768. The reason why these default resolutions are so low is because the GeForce GT 650M doesn’t have a compatible driver for the Windows OS, and as such the VGA driver takes over. Keep in mind however, that these resolutions can be turned up to a maximum of 1600 x 1200 on Windows 7 and 2880 x 1800 on Windows 8.
Until an actual NVIDIA driver is released Windows 7 will not be able to be displayed at the Retina MacBook Pro’s native resolution. Windows 8 on the other hand can indeed be ran at 2880 x 1800, but due to scaling issues the text and default UI elements are quite small.
Skyfall trailer is actually a full 1920 x 1080 window
With DPI (dots per inch) scaling enabled it becomes a little more bearable, but the bottom line is NVIDIA will need to release an official driver to properly handle Windows on the Retina MacBook Pro. For those of you who still do not grasp how incredible the Retina MacBook Pro’s panel is, consider that the 27″ iMac has a resolution of 2560 x 1440, meaning the 15.4″ screen of the Retina MacBook Pro has 40% more pixels.
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