Apple tweaks Retina MacBook Pro tagline thanks to Chromebook Pixel

Apple new Retina screen tagline_2013 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Say what you will about Google’s pricey Chromebook Pixel, but you can’t deny it has the highest pixel density of any laptop on the market right now – beating even Apple’s Retina displays on its latest MacBook Pros.

MacbookPro_retina_highest-res-ever — Image used with permission by copyright holder

And that’s why Apple has quietly changed its marketing lingo for its MacBook Pros with Retina displays on its website, as reported by Hot Hardware. To stay on the good side of the Federal Trade Commission’s strict laws against false advertising, Apple can no longer claim that its MacBook Pros are, “The highest-resolution notebook ever. And the second-highest,” as its website used to say.

With a 2560 x 1700 pixel resolution touch display, the Pixel manages to cram a whopping 4.3 million pixels into its 12.85-inch screen, which works out to be 239 pixels per inch (PPI) in terms of pixel density. By comparison, the 13-inch MacBook Pro’s 2560 × 1600 display, with just 227 PPI, is no longer top dog .

Now, the MacBook Pro with Retina’s landing page simply says, “High performance has never been so well defined,” on top of a photo of the 13-inch and 15-inch laptops. However, if you scroll to the section about the “Stunning Retina display,” and shown in the photo to the left, you can see that Apple is still referring to both laptops as, “The highest-resolution notebook ever.” This statement is only true for the 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro, which has the highest resolution of the three at 2880 × 1800, but not the 13-inch’s display as the heading suggests.

That said, the pixel resolution of a display is not the only factor in what makes a great display. You also have to consider its screen size in relation to the number of pixels it packs. So while the 15-inch MacBook Pro’s Retina display has the highest resolution, its pixels are also spread over a bigger surface than the Pixel’s 12.85-inch screen. So, the 15-inch MacBook Pro’s pixel density is just 220 PPI versus the Pixel’s 239 PPI.

Apple’s legal department should probably get on that one as the Chromebook Pixel will be hitting stores in April. Considering that the Pixel’s display has touch capabilities, has the highest pixel density, and is second in resolution only to the 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro, it is hard to argue that it isn’t the best laptop display on the market right now.

[UPDATE 10:12AM 3/26/2013: Provided more details on the resolution of the 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro and additional factors in determining display quality.]

Article originally published on 3/25/2013

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