Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2013-10
Specifications

Price comparison
Average of 19 scores (from 28 reviews)
Reviews for the Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch 2013-10
All quiet on the western front. Apple introduced its reworked 15-inch MacBook Pro Retina last autumn. Although the entry-level price dropped a bit, we still expect a maximum amount of quality and performance for more than 2,000 Euros (~$2722).
Source: Digital Versus

Last week we reviewed the 13-inch MacBook Pro, and now we're looking at the 15-inch. This year's MacBook Pro 15" is one of the best laptops we've reviewed for this form factor. Anyone who loves quality images will love this computer. Our only qualm with it is the limited number of ports. Everything else is great... if not perfect.
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 12/20/2013
Rating: Total score: 100%
Source: Comp Reviews

Apple has taken one of the best 15-inch laptops on the market and improved upon it by making a number of internal changes while keeping the excellent external design the same. The new Haswell based processor doesn't give it a huge boost in performance but gives it even more running time such that people can get a full performance laptop that runs as long as an ultrabook.
Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 12/04/2013
Rating: Total score: 80%
Source: Trusted Reviews

Is the 15-inch MacBook Pro a powerful yet surprisingly portable laptop? Yes. Does it last much longer than any other laptop in its class? Yes. But does that mean you should buy one? In the right circumstances, yes, but it’s not a simple argument. We love the design, the battery life and the screen… what’s not to love about the screen? But then the graphics performance is mediocre for the money you’re spending, and that’s with the Intel Iris Pro graphics and dedicated graphics working together -- cheaper version just have the Intel variety. This doesn’t make it a great desktop replacement if you want to play games, but that isn’t such a big deal if you’re more interested in doing video and graphics work using GPU acceleration and need the portability.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 11/29/2013
Rating: Total score: 90% price: 50% performance: 80% features: 100% display: 90% mobility: 90% workmanship: 100% emissions: 90%
Source: BCW - Business Computing World

The 15-inch MacBook Pro is very expensive and, of course, significantly larger and heavier than its 13-inch counterpart, so business travellers who value portability above all else will prefer the slimline MacBook Air or a Windows Ultrabook. The laptop’s poor upgrade and service options are also short-sighted limitations.
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 11/08/2013
Source: T3

In the case of the 15-inch MacBook Pro Retina it's clearly business as usual for Apple, yes the reductions in size are impressive, but when you take into account the fact that pricing for 15-inch model starts at £1,699 this is clearly a product that will be either a treat for some, or a necessary expense for others. The 13-inch model, however, is where things begin to get really interesting. In the past, the original 13-inch MacBook Pro Retina would have cost you £1,449 for the 128GB model, and in return you paid for something that was cutting edge.
Comparison, online available, Medium, Date: 11/08/2013
Rating: Total score: 80%
Source: It Pro

Apple's MacBook Pro laptop range combines high performance with long-lasting battery life, and the latest model continues this trend. This is one of the best large-screen laptops on the market. Battery life, responsiveness, display quality and versatility are unmatched. However, the high-price and limited serviceability prevent this from getting a wholehearted recommendation.
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 11/05/2013
Rating: Total score: 80%
Source: PC World

Much improved battery life and fast internal storage are both welcome improvements to this latest iteration of the 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro. The $1999 2.0GHz MacBook Pro’s lack of discrete graphics took a toll on its Cinebench and 3D game performance, but it’s a much faster system than the high-end 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro. The $2599 2.3GHz Retina MacBook Pro was faster in just about every way than the system it replaces and would be a great fit for owners of older Mac portables looking for a high-performance laptop.
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 10/31/2013
Rating: Total score: 90%
Source: Computer Shopper

It's fair to say that the new MacBook Pro offers little in the way of surprises. The 15-inch model is the same size and weight as the 2012 model, with the same chassis and port selection—except for the step up to Thunderbolt 2. The PCIe-based flash storage trims a noticeable few seconds off boot time and should produce quicker app launches as well.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 10/31/2013
Rating: Total score: 100%
Source: Slashgear

Mac users have never had it so good. The MacBook Air’s Haswell update earlier this year gave the ultraportable the longevity it deserved, with twelve hours of runtime enough to satisfy even the most demanding road-warrior. At the time, only the thought of what Haswell could do for the MacBook Pro gave us pause for flexing our credit cards.
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 10/26/2013
Source: PC Mag

The Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (2013) earns its title as one of the best high-end desktop replacement laptops you can buy. It has the power of a desktop Mac, and the battery life to carry you through a full workday and beyond. The screen resolution is higher than most all-in-one desktop PCs and desktop replacement laptops. The MacBook Pro 15-inch compares well to laptops ranging in price from $1,400 to high powered systems that run over $2,700. Systems like the Toshiba Kirabook and the Razer Blade (2013) come in at about the same $2,000 price point ad the MacBook Pro 15-inch.
Single Review, online available, Very Short, Date: 10/25/2013
Rating: Total score: 100%
Source: CNet

Apple's 15-inch MacBook Pro, recently updated to current-generation Intel CPUs, retains its position as a favorite premium laptop for power-users. The slimmer body and higher-res screen of the original Retina MacBook Pro was a revolutionary leap. This revamp adds modest internal upgrades for modest improvements, but price cuts to both the 13-inch and 15-inch models sweeten the deal.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 10/25/2013
Rating: Total score: 85% performance: 90% mobility: 90%
Source: Laptop Mag

At $2,599 for our configuration ($1,999 to start), the 15-inch MacBook Pro represents a serious investment, but it also delivers a serious dose of power and endurance in a portable design. The new Retina MacBook Pro offers very fast quad-core performance paired with some of the fastest flash storage around and (optional) discrete graphics, making quick work of pretty much any task.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 10/23/2013
Rating: Total score: 80%
Foreign Reviews
Source: Mac & i - Heft 1/2014

Single Review, , Length Unknown, Date: 01/19/2014
Source: Mac & i - Heft 1/2014

Single Review, , Length Unknown, Date: 01/16/2014
Source: Mac Welt - Heft 1/2014

Single Review, , Length Unknown, Date: 12/01/2013
Rating: Total score: 93%
Source: Mac Life - Heft 1/14

Single Review, , Length Unknown, Date: 12/01/2013
Rating: Total score: 96%
Source: Computerbild - Heft 25/2013

Single Review, , Length Unknown, Date: 12/01/2013
Rating: Total score: 88%
Source: Mac Welt

Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 11/25/2013
Rating: Total score: 93% performance: 94% features: 92% ergonomy: 95%
Source: Chip.de

Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 11/12/2013
Rating: Total score: 89% price: 69% performance: 95% features: 83% display: 88% mobility: 92% ergonomy: 85%
Source: Mac Welt - Heft 12/2013

Single Review, , Length Unknown, Date: 11/01/2013
Rating: Total score: 82%
Source: Notebookjournal

Negative: no improvements compared to predecessor
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 11/28/2013
Source: CNet France

Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 03/12/2014
Rating: Total score: 80%
Source: Zoom

Positive: Perfect performance for daily work; good IPS display; good autonomy.
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 08/29/2014
Source: 3DNews.ru

Positive: Retina display; good performance; long battery life. Negative: High price.
Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 10/29/2013
Source: enet.com.cn

Positive: Excellent overall performance; hard disk speed boost; outstanding display; long battery life. Negative: Noisy fan; Reflective screen; slightly hot.
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 09/24/2013
Source: Dinside

Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 01/16/2014
Rating: Total score: 100%
Comment
Series:
The Retina display is a display which has high enough pixel density that the human retina can’t distinguish individual pixels and was first introduced as a cutting edge technology together with the iPhone 4. Thanks to the retina display, the iPhone 4 was called "Best device in its class" by The Wall Street Journal, and "Best smartphone on the market" by Engadget. The MacBook Pro with Retina display introduced at the WWDC in San Francisco in June 2012 is a separate product line, independent of the original MacBook Pro and should continue the success of the iPhone.
Apart from just the retina display, this new laptop also features a new design similar to that of the MacBook Air, but without Super Drive as well as Ethernet and FireWire 800 ports. Unlike the original MacBook Pro series with standard hard drive, it includes a Solid State Drive. In short, every technological advantage of Apple are concentrated on this new MacBook Pro with Retina display, from the amazing display found in the iPhone, iPad to robust system performance of the MacBook Pro as well as the portability, design and flash storage - this laptop has it all.
In particular the retina display is the sharpest computer display and outclasses every other laptop or computer display by far at the time of its introduction. It is that important that Apple even decided to call this laptop "MacBook Pro with retina display". In fact, the display alone outweighs the biggest disadvantage of the new MacBook Pro, the price – it's Apple we are talking about. If you can afford the steep entry price, this is the most amazing laptop money can buy.
NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M: Upper mid-range graphics card of the GeForce GT 700M series. Based on the Kepler architecture and manufactured by TSMC in a 28nm process.
Modern games should be playable with these graphics cards at low settings and resolutions. Casual gamers may be happy with these cards.
» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Graphics Cards and the corresponding Benchmark List.
Intel Core i7: The Intel Core i7 for laptops is based on the LG1156 Core i5/i7 CPU for desktops. The base clock speed of the CPUs is relatively low, but because of a huge Turbo mode, the cores can dynamically overclock to up to 3.2 GHz (920XM). Therefore, the CPU can be as fast as high clocked dual-core CPUs (using single threaded applications) but still offer the advantage of 4 cores. Because of the large TDP of 45 W / 55 W, the CPU is only intended for large laptops.
4850HQ:
Haswell-based quad-core processor clocked at 2.3 GHz with Turbo Boost support up to 3.5 GHz. Offers an integrated Iris Pro Graphics 5200 GPU and a dual-channel DDR3 memory controller.
» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Processsors.15.40":
15-inch display variants are the standard and are used for more than half of all laptops.
The reason for the popularity of mid-sized displays is that this size is reasonably easy on the eyes, often allows high resolutions and thus offers rich details on the screen, yet does not consume too much power and the devices can still be reasonably compact - simply the standard compromise.
» To find out how fine a display is, see our DPI List.Apple: Apple is a US company founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. Headquartered in Cupertino, California, the company is known for its innovative products such as the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch, and manufactures computers and consumer electronics as well as operating systems and application software. Apple is also a leading provider of software and services such as the App Store, iTunes and iCloud.
Apple has earned a reputation as a company that focuses on design and ease of use. As for their notebooks, they are mostly in the high-priced segment, have their own operating system, but also run Windows on the newer Macbooks.
Apple is one of the most valuable companies in the world and has a loyal following of customers and fans. The company also has a strong presence in the entertainment industry, with services like Apple Music and Apple TV+. In 2023, Apple had an approximate 8% market share of global PC sales, ranking it 4th after Lenovo, HP, and Dell.
89.21%: There are not very many models that are rated better. Most of the assessments are in percentage ranges below that. The tested product is not considered perfect, but the sources give a clear purchase recommendation.
» Further information can be found in our Notebook Purchase Guide.