Retina display screen resolution for future iMacs

[Kunal_R.One]

I just used iPhone 4s which my friend has and was really impressed with the quality of display that Apple has provided in it. It is called ‘Retina Display’ which has a great resolution. Magnifying the display doesn’t reveal the pixels in the image. It was really awesome and I loved it. Now that Apple has introduced Retina Display with such a high resolution in iPhone, will it be provided in future iMacs it makes? It would be great to have this big resolution in iMac and will provide a good clarity level for the display. What do other iMac users think about this?

[Dixie-R]

Current iMacs have display of resolution 2048x1536 on its IP screen. Apple has announced to upgrade the display to MBP screens which will have resolution of 2880x1800. I think this resolution is enough for a desktop iMac as it will provide enough pixels to maintain the quality of the displayed content. Moreover, a Retina Display looks good in a gadget with small display, like iPhone. If the same display is designed to fit and work in large screen of iMac, then Apple will need to make it of resolution of 3840x2400 for 22” monitors. Such a high resolution monitor will be difficult to manufacture and might have less practical use. Less practical use means fewer customers for it. So right now, Retina Display is not much needed in iMacs.

[Emeryjon]

The Retina Display is developed considering the distance between the user’s eye and the display screen. When an iPhone, iPad or laptop is used, the user generally holds it to a height lower than his eyes. An iMac is a desktop device, so the height of its display is same as that of user’s eye. Also the display size of iPhone is small than iMac. Considering all this factors, Retina Displays work best in devices with small display. As the iMac is mostly placed at height of one’s eye, no need for magnification or extra pixels is needed. So I think that Retina Display in iMacs is an impractical idea.

[singham2011]

I don’t find anything great about retina Display. It is just a marketing term used for magnifier that is available in Windows OS. It just maximizes the high resolution images and shows no pixels. As per my knowledge, a high resolution image needs more zooms than the Retina Display to reach its pixel level. Retina Display does not allow the maximum zooming of high resolution images which is why we don’t see pixel and get an illusion of the display being of high resolution. It is just a marketing term developed by Apple to get their products sold.

[AnbuP]

Retina Display not just zooms in an image but it also optimizes low resolution content for high resolution display. In previous versions of iPhone which had high resolution screen, textual content online used to be pixilated. But in iPhone 4s, the low resolution textual content will be optimized for high resolution screen using Retina Display so that it is not pixilated.

[BonnieT]

I agree that the Retina Display is just a catchy name generated by Apple for their usual display which has more than usual number of pixels fitted in place of one pixel. If ever any monitor with such display comes out, then it will be expensive enough that many people won’t be able to afford it.

[Girr]

I use my iMac for editing of photos and videos. The resolution of videos and images that I work on are of big resolution. But they aren’t of that high quality that I will need to use a display of resolution as high as 3840x2400. The videos I use for work on, do not give any problem related to resolution on my existing iMac with resolution of 2048x1536. So I don’t think that there is any practical use of iMac with Retina Display for video editing purpose. Videos of resolution 1080p work smoothly on my iMac without any jerks or loss of quality.

[Dorkfoot]

I find the size of text that is displayed in Retina Display way too small. This optimization of pixels in this kind of display has just reduced the size of text. I think Apple should work on maintaining the standard size of text in Retina Display. Even if Apple provides such high quality of details on iMacs, the details will go unnoticed due to distance between eyes and the screen.

[GoutamB]

Android OS too provides same clarity in its display. But they have worked on the sharpness of the content that is to be displayed and not the pixels. I find this increase of sharpness to attend the level of high quality more sensible than increasing pixels. iPhone 4s claimed to have long lasting battery life, but due to this large amount of pixels, the battery is consumed at such a high rate that it contradicts the concept of long battery life. High pixel density doesn’t allow light to pass through it easily. To overcome this limitation, Apple has increased the power of the backlight in iPhone 4s. This results in consumption of battery more than needed.