Samsung Galaxy S III owners to get free Olympics livestream from Eurosport

New owners of the Olympic's official smartphone that missed out on Samsung's initial ticket giveaway still have a chance to catch plenty of the action live. Eurosport has announced that it'll be offering a free month of access to its streaming app for Galaxy S III owners -- as long as you're a resident in one of the participating European countries. (Hint: it's most of 'em, aside from Italy). Free access can be activated from July 14th and will last through August 12th. You can, however, grab the Eurosport app before the Olympics kick off by hitting the source below.

HTC Media Link HD review

More Info

• HTC reveals Media Link HD at MWC 2012
• HTC videos show off Media Link HD
• Media Link HD approved by the FCC

As wireless technology becomes more advanced, the demand for more sophisticated options to stream media from your mobile device to your HDTV steadily increases. It's hard to keep track of the various solutions companies are using to deliver this feature to their customers. DLNA, the most popular standard, is compatible with an army of dozens -- if not hundreds -- of products, while giants like Apple and Samsung have chosen different routes. After an arguably unsuccessful attempt at offering the DLNA standard via the original Media Link, HTC has decided to fly solo with the Media Link HD in the hopes that the accessory will add value to the company's high-end One handsets.
We have little doubt that HTC is trying to keep the Media Link HD small and simple: it's a credit-card-sized dongle that easily fits in the palm of your hand, and only takes a smooth, three-finger gesture to pair it up with your One X or One S. Once connected, it gives you the opportunity to stream movies to your television and perform other tasks on your phone at the same time. A solid concept, to be sure, but is it worth shelling out at least $90 for this little darling? Tune in below to find out.

Hardware

The Media Link HD is a tiny black box that isn't going to win any design awards or beauty contests (sorry, we mean "scholarship pageants"). We don't mean to say it's an eyesore -- far from it, in fact -- it's just not a product that the folks in Taiwan felt the need to put extra thought into, at least in the looks department. Measuring 84 x 52 x 12.2mm (3.31 x 2.05 x 0.48 inches), it's smaller than a credit card and a bit thicker than the One X. It also has a similar body and style as its predecessor, the DLNA-streaming Media Link.

As for cosmetic differences, HTC opted for glossy, black on the top, while the bottom is constructed from a grainy, dark grey plastic. The back even has a cute little dimple smack-dab in the middle; if there's a reason for it to be there (aside from hopes that a chorus of awws will magically ensue) we're not sure what it is. Perhaps it makes the thing easier to grip when your thumb is there. Regardless, much like the rest of the Media Link HD's design, this isn't going to be a factor in your decision to purchase it. The new device keeps things simple on the outside, offering a single reset button on one end and a full HDMI port and Micro-USB charging port on the other.

Features

The concept of pushing media from your mobile device to your home entertainment network or a board room projection screen is certainly nothing new. In fact, it's blossomed into an incredibly crowded market heavily saturated by thousands of DLNA-certified devices (one of which being the original Media Link) and services like Apple's AirPlay. Samsung also announced a similar product in association with the Galaxy S III last month which takes advantage of WiFi Direct. Plenty of companies have even tried to put a unique spin on the idea -- Motorola's Webtop dock comes to mind -- but that didn't stop HTC from introducing the Media Link HD, an accessory embedded with proprietary technology that can, at present, only be supported by the prized One X, One S and EVO 4G LTE (sorry, One V owners).

We're concerned that the proprietary technology may not be a convincing draw for developers.

First and foremost, the new Media Link offers HDMI mirroring, which means everything you see on your mobile device can be displayed on your HDTV, computer monitor or other HD-compatible screen. But there's a twist: when you're watching a movie stored directly on your One X or One S (read: not on a third-party app, at least not yet), it won't actually play on the phone simultaneously. Why? For the dual-screen effect. After all, it's not like you're going to be watching the latest Ryan Gosling flick on your TV and your phone at the same time, so why not use the smaller screen to check emails, post on Facebook or anything else?

As it currently stands, all third-party apps are simply mirrored to the TV, which means you see the same thing on both displays, with one image just being much larger than the other. That should change soon enough, however, because HTC has already pledged to soon release an API for the Media Link HD. Once released, it will allow developers to take advantage of the dual-screen functionality in much the same way as we just described when watching natively stored videos. Think of the possibilities: you could watch streaming Netflix movies on the big screen while performing other tasks on the phone, or show off your presentation on the TV while glancing at your notes at the same time. The API will also allow devs to control the streaming on / off switch -- for instance, apps could completely replace the three-finger swipe gesture with a button that says "Stream to TV."

These are great features, but we're concerned that the proprietary nature of the Media Link HD may not be a convincing draw for developers. We expect HTC will release a handful of devices that are compatible, but ultimately, the success of the accessory largely depends on how well the One series sells in the next few months. If few customers are buying these phones, even fewer will shell out the dollars for something that can't be used in concert with other devices. And if nobody's buying it, no developer will want to waste their time coding for it.

Setup

HTC wanted to make the Media Link HD as portable (and simple to use) as possible, so it's kept the setup process limited to just a few steps that, in all, shouldn't take you more than a few minutes. After all, tethering the device to a computer or adding other complications just to get the thing to work would turn into a disastrous and incredibly frustrating experience for most.

Your phone can connect wirelessly to the Media Link HD in two ways: they can latch onto the same WiFi hotspot, or you can establish your own peer-to-peer network if there's too much WiFi interference or there simply isn't an access point available. The setup process remains essentially the same for both methods of connection, though you'll need to tell your phone to disconnect from and forget your current WiFi connection if you choose the P2P method.

When you turn the Media Link on, you'll be greeted with a message on your TV to slide three fingers up on your phone. Doing so for the first time will prompt the two devices to connect, and after roughly 30 seconds or so, you're ready to go. In a quick moment, your phone will automatically convert to landscape mode and your TV will be showing the same screen.

Now that you've configured one phone to the dongle, how does it work if you have a house full of Ones? No sweat -- just slide three fingers down to disconnect yours, allowing your EVO-toting roommate to hook theirs up. No extra setup is necessary: the only time you'd need to reconfigure is if you choose to switch from WiFi to P2P within the same area. Doing so causes the dongle to forget the earlier connection. Since it's quick and easy enough to pair up your devices again, this isn't really that serious an issue.

In case things don't work out so smoothly, there's another method you can attempt before throwing the Media Link at the wall in frustration. Within the Wireless & Networks section of the settings menu, you'll see an option for the Media Link HD. This is where you'll find a list of available devices; click on the one you're currently trying to connect to and a setup screen will pop up. Three choices are available: Connect, Start Device Setup and Advanced Settings. The Connect option essentially performs the same function as your usual three-finger gesture. Start Device Setup prompts you to press the single button on the Media Link to restart the pairing process. The Advanced Settings option allows you to check for firmware updates, change language settings and change the P2P name and password. We found that Start Device Setup came in handy when we were attempting to switch from one WiFi network to another, but ideally you'll rarely -- if ever -- need to give this a shot. You can also perform a hard reset by holding down the Media Link button for 10 seconds or so until a steady red light starts to glow.

Performance

Your mileage may vary when it comes to latency.

Now that we've teased you by discussing hardware and setup first, let's tackle the important question: how well does it actually work? We had the opportunity to test a bug-riddled pre-production unit last month, and received a final production-grade model more recently. It's still not perfect by any stretch, but the improvement we saw in the latest hardware and firmware was significant. We won't go into many details on how the pre-production unit performed, since it's not the final product and doesn't reflect the changes made during that time -- let's just say that we could have chucked it out the window on several occasions. Instead, we'll discuss the version that consumers would receive if they were to buy one today.
As mentioned earlier, the configuration process took 20 to 30 seconds to complete. Once we were hooked into the unit, the mirroring was smooth. We were able to flip through menus, screens and apps with ease. We observed some slight lag from time to time, but the few delays we encountered typically lasted just a second or two. All told, it had little effect on our overall enjoyment of the product.

But mirroring is only one small part of the equation, Rather, the company's main selling point is in the split-screen functionality -- your ability to watch movies and home videos on the TV while simultaneously checking emails on your phone, for instance. We picked out a full-length motion picture in the Sense gallery and in no less than 10 seconds, the content had been pushed to the TV and all buffering was complete. Very seldom, if ever, did the movie have to pause for additional buffering. Latency was never an issue on the final product. Likewise, viewing photos was a snap, with each image only taking a second or so to be pushed over to the bigger screen.
As a disclaimer, your mileage may vary when it comes to latency: slow internet speeds won't adversely affect your experience, but since the Media Link relies on your router as a proxy, having a clean WiFi environment may be a make-or-break scenario. If you live in an area with a heavy concentration of wireless access points, interference can potentially slow down your dongle's performance (if you're using it in middle of the city, you'll probably be better off using the Media Link's P2P option). The same thing can happen if you have multiple devices using the same network -- each one stealing a chunk of your precious bandwidth -- or if your WiFi signal is weak.

Plenty of multimedia formats are supported on the Media Link. For video, these include H.264, MPEG-4, .MOV, .3GP, .MKV, XVID and .AVI; for audio, MP3, WMA, AAC, HE-AAC v1 / v2, AAC-LC, WAV, AC3, Dolby Digital EX and DTS pass-through. If you want to play slideshows or simply look at individual pictures through the Media Link, JPEGs are the only files supported at the moment (a step down from the original, sadly). However, a firmware update coming in the near future will add OGG and FLAC to the list of compatible formats.
We did notice a few quirks worth discussing. Even though all of our home videos and most of our movies ran smoothly, and even though we didn't experience any loss in audio or video quality (on a 1080p HDTV at least), we encountered a few issues with movies that we'd ripped from a DVD and converted into MP4 format. While they looked and sounded perfect on a PC, they didn't translate as well to the Media Link. There were a few instances in which video came through just fine, but the audio track was four-tenths of a second behind. Other times, the audio track was interrupted by an audible thump every second or so. After trying several different file types and sourcing methods (i.e., DVD ripping software, downloading, digital copies and video recorded directly on the One X), the only ones we had problems with were movies ripped from DVDs.

After discussing the matter with HTC engineers, the company concluded there are some lingering issues with how the software encodes these movies, and the Media Link hardware has a difficult time properly decoding the audio. They're looking into the matter and hopefully we'll see this scenario resolved in a future update, but we bring this up in the meantime because many consumers may experience similar problems depending on where their files were sourced. If it's happening to you, we recommend trying out different videos that originated using various methods to see if you can find a correlation with the issues you're experiencing.

Gaming is also a hit-and-miss experience: it all depends on which titles you're trying to play. As much as we'd like our smartphones to become the next-gen gaming consoles, we haven't arrived at that point just yet. The Media Link's mirroring functionality isn't going to give you reason to toss that Xbox or PlayStation in the garbage. Casual games -- you know, anything in the Angry Birds / Temple Run echelon -- will appear fine on the bigger screen, but graphics-intensive titles aren't going to fare as well.

The biggest limitation is the amount of storage you have on your phone.

Aside from gaming the biggest limitation here is the amount of storage you have on your phone -- not to mention the time and effort it takes to sideload movies onto your device. This may be a deal-breaker for DLNA fans. As we mentioned earlier, Netflix and other similar apps can still be mirrored onto your television, but no split-screen capability is available for them yet. Hopefully developers will find a way to get around this little niggle once the API is released; we'd love to see compatible apps remotely access and stream movies from our PCs.

Wrap-up

The Media Link HD is a tremendous improvement over its predecessor, and in most scenarios it works as advertised. The ability to push video content to your HDTV and perform routine tasks on your phone at the same time is a glorious feature. It's a glimpse at the direction wireless media streaming is going -- think seamless mobile gaming on your TV with the phone as the controller. Still, HTC needs to attract more developer interest to make the venture worthwhile. This is one of our biggest qualms about the company's proprietary technology: the success of this tiny dongle is highly reliant upon how well the One X and One S are received. (Remember the Kyocera Echo, which offered an API for its dual-screen functionality? Yeah, we barely do either.)
The inability to use the Media Link as a vehicle to connect your PC to your TV may disappoint anyone with a huge library of flicks to choose from -- especially anyone that already has DLNA functionality. The $90 price point won't attract impulse buyers casually wandering through the store either. With all that in mind, it does exactly what we've seen it do in the professionally-made videos and trade show demonstrations -- and with some minor exceptions, it's seamless. It isn't the perfect solution for everyone, but One owners are left with few other media streaming options to choose from. With HTC's homegrown selection, at least, you likely won't find yourself desperately searching for alternatives.

iPhone 5

This morning several renders (read: 3D illustrations) have been released showing an iPhone 5 concept that take us closer to the rumored Apple device than we’ve ever visually gotten before. What we’re looking at here are several views of what one 3D illustrator by the name of Martin Urecht presents as “Could it be? Based on leaked videos/photos”, the set of images you’re about to view modeled in the rendering application Rhinoceros 3D.


This device shows the device to have a massive display, a couple of different docking solutions at the bottom – wireless pins as well as a new microUSB or 30-pin solution, and a lovely black exterior. This device has a bit of a matte black back with two reflective glass bits on top and bottom, a metal ring around the border, and a glass front. The display appears to be relatively bright, the buttons appear to be pretty much in the same place they’ve been in the past, and the whole device looks rather legitimate.

Again, though, these are indeed rendered images – they aren’t real. They may as well be real though, as the fellow who created them is one heck of an illustrator if we do say so ourselves. Well done, sir! Keep them coming!

Sony Xperia tipo dual shares SIMs, still fits in tiny pockets

It looks like Sony's not quite finished today, with two more phones sneaking out on its YouTube channel ahead of any official fanfare. The Xperia tipo dual (and its single-SIM version, the tipo) keep things small and simple, with a 3.2-inch 480 x 320 TFT screen and 800MHz Snapdragon processor. Both, however, will be running Ice Cream Sandwich out of the gate -- embarrassing Sony's bigger (presumably pricier) smartphones. The sub-100g (3.5-ounce) frame houses 3.2-megapixel camera and 2.5GB of user-accessible memory, expandable by microSD. A dedicated hardware key will switch the tipo dual between those SIMs, while you can also automate the phone to swap between them at different times of the day. There's no launch date or pricing yet, but you can take a video tour of both phones below.

Sony Xperia tipo dual

Sony outs Xperia Ion HSPA for poor 4G-lacking

Sony Mobile casually dropped onto its website that in addition to the expected Xperia Ion flagship, it's also releasing an Xperia Ion HSPA. The handset's only readily apparent feature is its reduced modem, and in every other way looks to match its 4G-enabled brother, with a 1.5GHz dual-core CPU, 12-megapixel camera and Gingerbread. Whilst its designed to consume the same AT&T friendly frequencies, this one's destined for a rest-of-the-world arrival to sate the lust of global Sony fans in countries where they do everything a little slower.


http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/13/sony-xperia-tipo-dual/

Iconia Tab A700: 1920 x 1200 display and Tegra 3

With new laptop announcements coming practically every other day as of late, a tablet unveiling is a nice change of pace. We have Acer to thank for that, as it's lifting the curtain on the 10-inch Iconia Tab A700. As you might recall, we first saw this slate at CES, where we got some quality hands-on time. Like the earlier Iconia Tab A510, this slate has an NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor and runs Android 4.0, but it's the first Acer tablet with a 1920 x 1200 resolution. The A700 also features Dolby Mobile 3+ technology and 5.1-channel surround sound, and there's an HDMI port for watching locally stored video on a bigger screen. The 32GB version of the Iconia Tab A700 will cost $450, and it's up for pre-sale starting today.

Acer Iconia Tab A700 hands-on

Show full PR text

Apple MacBook Pro with Retina display review

Product categories come and go, grow and wither, revolutionize the world and then slowly fade into a state of cold, quiet, everlasting obsolescence. It happens all the time, sometimes over the course of just a year or two (see: netbooks) and, while companies have made billions by establishing truly new categories, rarely has anybody rocked the world by splitting the difference between two very closely aligned ones.
That's exactly what Apple is trying to do here. The company's MacBook Pro line is one of the most respected in the industry for those who need an ostensibly professional laptop. Meanwhile, the MacBook Air is among the best (if not conclusively the best) thin-and-light laptops on the market. Now, a new player enters the fray: the MacBook Pro with Retina display. It cleanly slides in between these two top-shelf products, while trying to be simultaneously serious and fast, yet slim and light. Is this, then, a laptop that's all things to all people, the "best Mac ever" as it was called repeatedly in the keynote? Or, is it more of a compromised, misguided attempt at demanding too much from one product? Let's find out.

Apple MacBook Pro with Retina display review (mid 2012)

Hardware

When physically placed between the 13-inch MacBook Air and the 15-inch Pro, it's clear that this new guy (who, for now, is simply called "MacBook Pro with Retina display") leans far toward the latter when it comes to design. With both closed, at a quick glance you would almost not notice there's anything different between this new Pro and the also-new-but-yet-old one. Still, it doesn't take long to spot the thinness -- or the lack of the slot-loading optical drive on the right.

That thickness measures in at 0.71 inches (1.8cm) while the width is 14.13 inches (35.89cm) and the depth is 9.73 inches (24.71cm). Those figures compare quite favorably to the old 15-incher (at 0.95 inches thick) and it's very nearly as thin as the Air, which is 0.68 inches at its thickest. Weight? A healthy 4.46 pounds (2.02kg). That's just over a pound less than the full-sized MacBook Pro and about 1.5 pounds more than the 13-inch Air.

The new Pro feels considerably heavier than the Air and not that much lighter than the old Pro.

That may sound like an even split between the two sister models, but in reality the new Pro feels considerably heavier than the Air and not that much lighter than the old Pro. That said, much of this depends on where you're coming from. If you're an Air user, carrying this around is going to feel burdensome. However, if your regular daily driver is a current 15-inch Pro (or, heaven forbid, a 17-incher), the new Pro could feel like a refreshing reduction in curb weight. And, with even more resolution and performance than the outgoing 17 inch model, we think this new model makes for a more than compelling alternative.
In exchange for your pack getting a little lighter, you're not being asked to give up all that much. Yes, the optical drive is the most obvious omission, the only physical media you'll be supporting here is the SD slot located conveniently on the right. The lack of ROM support helps this new model to be as thin as it is -- and provides room for the extra batteries needed to keep that Retina display brightly and brilliantly backlit.

Also gone is the Ethernet port, replaced by a Thunderbolt adapter that is not included with the laptop. (It'll cost you $29.99.) Likewise, the FireWire 800 port has been removed, replaced by a separate Thunderbolt adapter. Leaving all those things behind will be difficult, but stay strong, road warrior, because the new Pro is there to help, supporting your love of modern standards with two USB 3.0 ports and two Thunderbolt ports. (Interestingly, Apple chose not to make the USB ports blue, as they're both 3.0 and, therefore, there was no need to differentiate.) Inside is an 802.11n radio providing some of the fastest wireless connectivity available, but there's no option for 3G/LTE broadband. Those who want to roam past the confines of a hotspot will have to bring their own modems.
There's the now-standard single headphone jack on the left side and the soon-to-be-standard MagSafe 2 connector. This new connector is a few millimeters shorter than the old one and a few millimeters wider. Apple says this is needed because of the laptop's thinner profile and, indeed, the new Airs also make the change to MagSafe 2. But, since the old Airs got by just fine with the slightly chubbier connector, and since there's still plenty of room for the relatively massive USB ports, we're just not seeing the need for a redesign right now.

Where the last design will grab and hold the end of whatever USB cable you pointed its way, the new MagSafe wants nothing to do with them.

Whatever the reason, all those scratched-up, white, plastic power bricks you've accumulated over the years won't work here -- at least, not without a $10 adapter. That's a bummer, but there is some good news: the new MagSafe is no longer the same size as a USB port. Where the last design would grab and hold the end of whatever USB cable you pointed its way, the new MagSafe wants nothing to do with them. That, at least, is some true progress.
Settled between all these ports and interconnects is the keyboard, which hasn't really changed from the current Pro. That's a good thing. Apple has shown itself extremely proficient in crafting fine, island-style keyboards on its portable machines, and neither that layout nor feel has changed with the new Pro. Well-weighted and nicely spaced keys make for a great typing experience -- even in the dark, thanks to the backlighting.

On either side of the keyboard are the speakers, said to be louder and more effective than those in the previous Pro. We didn't notice a huge change here, but they're certainly more than capable of turning your hotel room into an impromptu dance party -- albeit one without too much bass. Beneath it all lies the glass trackpad, which feels just like it always has: really good. MacBooks have the best touch experience in the business, hands down, and this latest one is no different.

Display

Sure, it's a quarter thinner and lighter than before, but the real story with this new laptop has nothing to do with external dimensions and everything to do with internal density. Pixel density, to be specific, a figure measured at 220 ppi. That's far lower than the 326 ppi the iPhone 4S delivered when it introduced the world to Retina and, indeed, the 264 ppi rating on the new iPad.

The new display is gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous.

But, held at the appropriate distance, this new panel is said to meet the mystical requirement to be labeled "Retina" and, while that threshold for pixel-invisibility seems to be slinking lower, we're not here to be cynics. We just know one thing: the new display is gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. Text is incredibly sharp and clear, 1080p video is amazing and images, of course, look great -- when they're of a high enough resolution to do this 2880 x 1800 panel justice.
Curiously, you can't actually select that resolution in the OS any longer. Where on other Macs you can explicitly select what display resolution you'd like to use (optionally going lower than the native resolution of the panel), here we have a slider with five positions ranging from "larger text" to "more space." In the middle sits "best" which presents apps, icons and text in roughly the same size as you'd find them on a non-Retina display -- rendered in a higher resolution. It's perhaps more friendly for novice users, but remember: this is a laptop with the word "Pro" in the name.

Let's not ignore the fact that this new display has much more to offer than just additional pixels. Viewing angles are expanded compared to Apple's other high-end displays, so the annoying drop in contrast that happens from odd vantage points is all but abolished. Contrast, too, is boosted and, interestingly, glare reduced. Yes, this is still a glossy display and no, there still isn't an option for matte glass. But, Apple promises a reduction in glare here from previous Pros.
Indeed, this laptop does have less glare than the thicker Pros, but it's no better than the current Air, which already takes advantage of the new, reflection-reducing construction. You might, then, want to turn off that lamp behind you.

Performance and battery life

We tested both the base 2.3GHz and higher-spec 2.6GHz quad-core Ivy Bridge CPUs that are on offer (there's an even faster 2.7GHz build-to-order model for another $250), and neither disappointed. In fact, you'd have to be a seriously jaded desktop user to want more oomph from your on-the-go machine. The new MacBook Pro handled absolutely everything we could throw at it and did so with aplomb. General productivity tools fly and more... intensive things run impressively well.

The SSD delivered write speeds hovering around 390MB/s and read speeds topping out at 440MB/s. That's properly fast.

We ran all the major benchmarks and saw some big, big numbers. For the 2.6GHz model, Geekbench gave us an average of 11,591 -- that crushes the 9,647 we scored with the last MacBook Pro, which is itself far from sluggish. The new 2.3GHz model wasn't far behind with a score of 11,082. Xbench was similarly close: 486 for the higher-spec'd model, and 457 for the lower. Finally, the SSD delivered write speeds hovering around 390MB/s and reads topping out at 440MB/s. That's properly fast.

	MacBook Pro with Retina display (mid 2012, 2.6GHz Core i7)	MacBook Pro with Retina display (mid 2012, 2.3GHz Core i7)	MacBook Pro (early 2011, 2.2GHz Core i7)	MacBook Pro (early 2010, 2.66GHz Core i7)
Geekbench	11,591	11,082	9,647	5,395
Xbench	486	457	340	228
Battery Life	7:49	Test in progress	7:27	5:18

Paired with those quad-core chips is 8GB of 1,600MHz DDR3 RAM and an NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M Kepler unit with 1GB of GDDR5 memory. Also on tap is integrated Intel HD 4000 graphics, the hotter of the two GPUs toggle on when the situation demands. To create such a scenario, we installed one of the hottest games of the moment, Diablo III, and cranked it up to full resolution and full graphical details. We did, however, make one exception: anti-aliasing. When you're running at 2880 x 1800, there's no real need.
We were quite happily surprised to see the frame rate hovering between 25 and 30 fps as we explored a few towns and crawled a few dungeons -- perfectly playable at an obscene resolution. Turning it down to something a little more reasonable, 2048 x 1280, netted 40 to 45 fps and running at a relatively mundane 1280 x 800 delivered frame rates over 70. This, then, is a quite passable gaming machine.

Still, it only took a few minutes of hacking and slashing to get the bottom of this unit warm, and then noticeably hot. That, of course, caused the redesigned fan system to pop on, which draws in air from a pair of vents on the left and right sides of the bottom of the chassis and blows it out through the hinge. It's been optimized to create a less obnoxious sort of whirring noise. Indeed it's a subtle and unobtrusive white kind of sound, but it's definitely not silent. In fact, the fan doesn't sound particularly different than that on the current MacBook Air, though a few decibels less obtrusive. Still, you'll always know when your system is really cranking.

Despite all that performance, we were still impressed by the battery life. In our standard rundown test, which involves looping a video with WiFi on and the display set at a fixed brightness, we netted an impressive seven hours and 49 minutes on the 2.6GHz model. We're still testing the 2.3GHz model, and plan to update this review with final results once we have them.

Software

Right now, the new MacBook Pro is running Lion, but buy yours now, and you'll find a free upgrade to Mountain Lion in your inbox. We already know quite a bit about Mountain Lion, which is, as of this writing, about a month away from launch. But what we didn't know was the high-resolution support needed for these Retina displays. As of now, that support is sadly far from pervasive.

Right now, seemingly every third-party app on the Mac looks terrible.

The primary Apple apps -- Safari, Mail, the address book, etc. -- have all been tweaked to make use of all these wonderful pixels. Sadly, little else has. While we got assurances that third-party apps like Adobe Photoshop and AutoCAD are in the process of being refined, right now, seemingly every third-party app on the Mac looks terrible.
Yes, terrible. Unlike a PC, where getting a higher-res display just means tinier buttons to click on, here OS X is actively scaling things up so that they maintain their size. This means that non-optimized apps, which would otherwise be displayed as tiny things, instead are displayed in their normal physical dimensions with blurry, muddy edges. You do have some control over this scaling, with five separate grades to choose from, but none will make these classic apps look truly good. At least, not until their developers release the updates they're no doubt frantically working on at this very moment.
Take Google Chrome, for example. You might forgive the buttons and UI elements for being ugly, but even the text rendered on webpages is blurry and distorted. It's bad enough that you won't want to use Google's browser until it's updated, which will surely leave some cynics wondering if indeed this isn't a ploy to get folks to spend a little more quality time with Safari. Good thing Safari's about ready for its own update.

Configuration options

The Retina display MBP starts at a lofty $2,199. For the money, you'll get a 2.3GHz quad-core Core i7 processor, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB solid-state drive, seven-hour battery and dual graphics -- Intel's integrated HD 4000 and NVIDIA's Kepler-based GeForce GT650M, paired with 1GB of video memory. Of course, the three-year Apple Care Warranty is sold separately, for $349.
If money is no object, you can select the highest-tier model for $2,799. Though this has the same battery, graphics and 8GB of RAM, it steps up to a 2.6GHz quad-core Core i7 processor, and doubles the storage capacity to 512GB. Not impressed? You can upgrade further to a 2.7GHz CPU for $250 or select 16GB of RAM, to the tune of $200. You can also max out with a 768GB SSD, provided you're willing to part with an additional $500. For those keeping track at home, that brings the outside cost to $4,098, the extended warranty included.
Disappointingly, you can't add the higher-capacity SSD to the lower-spec CPU. And, since the storage is proprietary, swapping in your own will not be a particularly easy task. If you want more than 256GB of storage, you'll just have to step up to the 2.6GHz model.

The competition

You say you're looking for a laptop with a 15-inch screen, top-notch build quality and a pinch-thin frame? Fortunately for those of you who feel paralyzed by choice, that criteria whittles down your options to two notebooks, tops. The only other contender we can think of is the 15-inch Samsung Series 9, which starts at a more palatable $1,500. At 3.5 pounds and 0.58 inches deep, it's barely thicker than the 13-inch version, which is saying a lot, since that's one of the thinnest Ultrabooks in its own right.
The 15-inch Series 9 is far skinnier and lighter than the MacBook Pro, then, but it matches the MBP in build quality, thanks to a rock-solid unibody aluminum chassis and some funky aquamarine keyboard backlights. Ultimately, too, both deserve to be handled with kid gloves: whichever machine you choose, you'll find the smooth metal finish is quite vulnerable to scratches and greasy fingerprint smudges.

It's with the display that the MacBook Pro starts to justify its higher starting price. On its own, the Series 9's matte, 400-nit 1600 x 900 panel is still worlds better than what you'll find on most laptops. Certainly, it's a triumph for Ultrabooks, which tend to get saddled with subpar displays, even on higher-end machines. Still, the Series 9's SuperBright Plus screen can't compete with the MBP's tightly woven pixels and wide, wide viewing angles. On the inside, too, the new MacBook Pro offers potentially better specs, with options for twice the RAM and a more spacious 768GB solid-state drive. It's also offered with multiple Core i7 processor options, whereas the Series 9 is only available with Core i5, and with integrated graphics only.
These unflattering comparisons aside, the 15-inch Series 9 is still one of our favorite Windows machines -- heck, one of our favorite laptops, even. It remains a sterling choice for Windows fans, or anyone who's willing to spend $1,500 on a notebook, but not $2,200-plus. The two are also well matched when it comes to battery life: the difference in runtime is only about 20 minutes. Even so, if the Retina display MBP is aimed at people who demand the very best, it sweeps at least two key categories: specs and display quality.
If it's discrete graphics you're really after, we also recommend checking out the HP Envy 15, which starts at $1,350 (not counting promotions) and can be configured with Ivy Bridge Core i5 and i7 CPUs, a 1GB Radeon HD 7750 GPU, up to 16GB of RAM and either an SSD or spinning hard drive (storage options max out at 300GB and 1TB, respectively). Here, too, you'll find a better display than most laptops have to offer, though the IPS-quality Radiance panel has noted color calibration issues, and the 1080p resolution is still no match for the Retina display.

Wrap-up

Apple announces next-generation MacBook Pro: Retina display, 0.71-inches thin, shipping today for $2,199

Apple announces first Retina display in a MacBook, 220ppi with 2880 x 1800 resolution

Apple next-generation MacBook Pro (with Retina display) hands-on at WWDC 2012

Is this the best Mac ever? You can't ignore the Air as an amazing piece of machinery, especially with the new, higher-powered Ivy Bridge processors and faster SSDs tucked inside its wedge profile. But, this new Pro is on another level of performance. With a quad-core processor and up to 16GB of RAM it's a proper beast -- a proper beast that you can throw in your messenger bag and carry around all day without spending all night complaining about an aching back.
That said, this is not exactly a small machine, heavy enough that those happy Air users who've been feeling tempted might want to take a swing by their closest Apple Store and lift one themselves. It's expensive, too. If you want a machine with enough storage to keep up with all that processing and gaming power you'll be looking at a price of $2,800 -- and that assumes you can resist all the upgrades.
So, then, is this a laptop that's creating its own new product category? Not exactly. This is a laptop that stands poised to kill an existing one, one that Apple has dominated. The new Pro is good enough to make the old Pro (even the updated version) look and feel obsolete. It pushes and redefines the category, raising the bar higher than even its brethren can jump. If you can afford the premium and aren't set on a 13-inch model there's no reason to buy any Pro other than this Pro.