Retina Mac Numbers

Ryan Block did some math over at gdgt, and came up with a great analysis of the future of Retina displays on the Mac, and estimated resolutions and PPI counts for various upgrades. He notes how, assuming Apple will bring the Retina display to other Mac models and the external Thunderbolt display, the low-end 11-inch MacBook Air could actually be the most peculiar change due to its high pixel density.

Now, one area where things get a little wonky for Apple is in the MacBook Air line of devices (as you’ll see below). The current, non-Retina display on the 13-inch Air actually has the same resolution as the 15-inch MacBook Pro (1440 x 900), thus giving it a much higher pixel density (127 PPI) than, say, the 13-inch Pro (113.48 PPI).

And as it happens, the humble 11-inch Air actually has the highest pixel density of all the non-Retina computers Apple currently makes, with a PPI of 131. That’s pretty damn high for Apple’s lowest-end laptop.

According to recent speculation, the 13-inch MacBook Pro could be the next model to receive a Retina upgrade in October. At WWDC, like the “regular” 15-inch version, the 13-inch MacBook Pro received a speed-bump upgrade with new processor and faster graphics. Apple said they view thinner and Retina-ready devices as the future of laptops, so it only makes sense for the entire MacBook family to get a high-resolution display eventually.

Read Ryan’s analysis here for a full comparison of every Mac model (including iMacs) against proposed Retina resolutions.