The new retina MacBook Pro is clearly the way that the MacBook Pro line is heading. There is the option for a 512 GB or 768 GB SSD in them, but it is at an increased cost.

I've looked that the new screens in person and they are very impressive. The actual resolution of the display is 2880 x 1800. The version of the OS for the retina is basically resolution independent so the user no longer selects an exact resolution but rather how large or small they would like their interface elements to appear.

I've been without an optical drive on my MacBook air for a couple of years now and I don't miss it. I have one of the small external ones for the handful of times I've needed it, and that's been maybe half a dozen in the total time I've owned the machine.

If you just want the processor power, take a look at the Macbook Air line. You can now get an 11 or 13 Air with a 2.0 GHz core i7 as an option.

John Scalzi stupidly left his new MacBook Air in JFK recently, and he's identified its location and locked it remotely.

Ha, I love this comment:

My name is Ubu Wanunu from Nigeria. I work for the Abuja airport security. Yesterday an american pilot arriving from New York died here. In his possession i found an MacBook Air squawking your ID. Nobody else noticed. I will gladly send it to you, if you send me 200 US$ shipping costs upfront. Airport workers are not paid well here, so i cannot send it otherwise. Please handle this matter confidential. If official processes are involved, returning your Notebook may take several years.

Entirely unrelated: does anyone here run WebOS? What are your opinions?

I don't run it anymore, but I was part of the team that made it.

On the plus side, the cards and notification interface is still better than Android or iOS, and the way it merges things like contacts and SMS/IM still hasn't been matched.

On the minus side, the phone hardware was never quite good enough, performance in the apps wasn't great and version two of the software is pretty flawed.

The Airs don't work for me because the screens are too small.

I get that Retina is really impressive and super duper, but...my current screen is really nice too. I'm not actually feeling a lack, so it's not high on my list of things to pay for. And the 512GB is way more than I need to spend on a laptop.

The idea of a flash drive is very seductive, but the extra spend is offputting. Maybe if I'd done this with bonus money...but an extra grand right now? Can't justify it.

Is there noticeable lag between the 5400RPM drives and the 7200? What kind of usage would benefit most from that? I'm at 5400 now, and I'm trying to think of when I felt the lack.

I do use my CD/DVD drive often enough that I'm not willing to go external for it yet. I don't have space for that in the same way I don't have space for a mousepad.

Interesting, Rob. I got one of the Touchpads during the fire sales and...it's neat? I mean, I like some of the handling choices, like flipping up the window to get to what's behind it, and stuff.

But why is so much of the app store pay to play? I mean, there's stuff I can't test drive, and I'm not willing to randomly plonk dosh down for my backup tablet. I want to *know*.

Is there something about the development/certification process that makes it relatively expensive, or what?

It sounds like the best machine for you is the standard Macbook Pro then. You can still get a traditional hard drive in it, still has the optical drive, and still has the standard screen resolutions.

Before I started switching to SSD most of my machines were 5400 RPM drives and they are fine for most uses. The only time I've needed 7200 is when I'm doing audio recording and editing to the drive that has a high track count and high edit density.

Yeah--that's what I'm thinking--I'm not editing anything real time, audio or video, so really at best it's irritation, not messing things out.

SSD sounds great, but like Retina, it should probably wait until my next upgrade.

Which leaves me at 2.3GHz, 15" screen (maybe hi res?), 4GB RAM, default 500GB 5400RPM...yeah, I'll look into that.

Thanks for the perspective!

Is there something about the development/certification process that makes it relatively expensive, or what?

I don't think so. It could be less competition allows the developers to keep the prices higher.

From where I'm standing, I *feel* like the barrier to entry as a user is too high. So I'll spend money on a few Android apps (even $20 one time...whoa), but that's because all the free apps locked me into the platform, so now it feels more like investing than spending.

But with WebOS, I feel like the developer community is pricing itself right out of the market.

Oh, and the front facing camera is unwieldy.

I've decided to go with the 2.3GHz with a hi res display. Nothing super fancy.

Going way back...

Gris, thank you for the MyBackup Pro recommendation. It worked out really well. It's got my endorsement for rooted phones. The restore process was quick and easy.

Next question for the hivemind: Over/On-the-ear headphone recommendations? Noise cancellation would be nice, but not necessary. I have a decent pair of earbuds, but I'm looking for something that has better sound quality.

Are the Beats Studio or Bose QC headphones all hype? I'm willing to spend the money for the performance, but I'm out of the loop. I've heard good things about Audio Technica and Sennheiser, but I need to find a B&M store that carries them.

I know output will only be as good as the input, so I will primarily use them to listen to mp3s/AACs on my iPod. At what point would I hit diminishing returns?

eta: Ars is not Audio. Two totally different things.