The Retina is outstanding. The very single problem you'll have after working on it for a while is looking at normal screens; or rather: every time you'll go back to the Retina, your eyes will feel relieved. I've worked with it for six months and the screen really makes a difference: I obviously design, but I also do video and audio editing, and it's almost* perfect even there.

For your needs and the ones of most of us I believe the Retina is just the best choice on the market: Photoshop & Illustrator have been updated, and if you hate the status quo Sketch has been running great since the 2.0. Writing code or words is just a pleasure for the eye: I also code and write poetry/normal stuff, and boy, words look better than on paper; if you use iA Writer or any other app customised for writing you'll fall in love with how wonderful they look. Same experience with Sublime/TextMate/whatever.

When I bought it Photoshop wasn't yet updated and a lot of other apps and websites weren't either, I thought it would have been a nightmare for my eyes, and yet everything turned out fine some weeks later: lots of apps got updated, and a constantly increasing number of websites started support these little beasts. After a while I stopped noticing, and in any case the modern web is CSS and words: the majority of the sites you'll go to everyday will likely look just fine.

• It's important to highlight that while you have mobility — the machine is extremely light for what it hides under the hood — the battery is the very single setback: it will surely improve with the next models, but for the moment it's not great. I don't have an average time but as far as I recall from the first tests it doesn't last more than 4/5 hours with Sketch/Xcode+Chrome (~40 tabs)+iTunes+iA Writer+Skala running at the same time. I've come to understand that if you need to take it around you need to optimise various factors: turn off the keyboard backlight, lower the brightness as much as you can (don't hurt your eyes, though), turn off/on the wifi when you don't need it, and open/close apps as you need.

Hope it helps.

tl;dr Go for the Retina.

I've been using a Retina now for 9 months. Three different models — 2.7 16GB for 7 mos. (swapped once), 2.4 8GB for 2 mos.

A few things:

1) Most of the web still looks terrible. Noticeably terrible. The retina-ready web is getting better, but it's definitely not there yet.

2) Photoshop isn't the speediest when it comes to certain little things... Occasionally, it chugs when hiding layers, moving through layer comps, or rotating the canvas. Once in a blue moon, it chugs when trying to pull up available typefaces from the type panel.

3) Other Adobe products have their performance issues too... Fireworks is hideous. Plain and simple. After Effects in retina resolution seems like a good idea, but performance is often terrible. Rendering video takes twice as long as a non-retina machine with the same specs. And previewing video is a joke. Even with tweaked RAM and cache settings, frames drop at an abysmal rate.

4) Using external displays — I've had lots of hiccups switching between my 27" display and AirPlay (working and displaying during meetings). I've had Finder glitch out and display the sidebar in 1280x800 resolution while everything else is displayed in 1920x1200. Icons in the dock and task switcher will often appear stretched 2x their intended size. Chrome has a huge issue when switching from external displays... where suddenly everything is at 1/2 size (http://cl.ly/NDzk)

tl;dr — the high resolution display seems like a fantastic idea, but the graphics card in the current MBPr models occasionally can't keep up displaying all teh pixels.

I love my computer, it's beautiful and super light, but I wish I had gone with a MacBook Air. Definitely can't wait until the next gen MBA.

I'm on the retina and I love it. A lot more sites have become retina-friendly, and honestly you get used to seeing a few blurry images every now and then. The pure crispness of the text on the screen is worth it alone.

Retina for sure. Dedicated graphics card is what it's all about.

I'd go with the Air and wait for the v2 rMBP's with Haswell chips. As some others have mentioned, the rMBP's are nice, but even with 16 GB of RAM and maxed out CPU/GPU it's not enough to push all those pixels at 60 fps. The 13" rMBP is running a slightly higher powered Intel HD 4000 integrated graphics card, the same card the MBA uses. It's just not very good, it barely makes the cut for the Air, I can't believe they shipped it in the rMBP…

I've written about this same issue and included a few links on Branch. Feel free to check it out: http://branch.com/b/apple-s-new-13-inch-retina-display-macbook-pro?ref=sidebar#1Vc780Y-JrI

I'd say go for the Retina. The whole industry will have to work out how to approach higher resolution screens. I figure that the sooner you get started on trying what works and what doesn't the better. It also more closely mimics the resolution of tablets/smartphones, so designing for those types of devices should be easier.

As a graphic designer and an avid user: Retina, there's absolutely no question about that.

The MacBook Air won't be able to carry the heavy load of using Adobe CS6 and the many other stuff you'd want it to do - and also, if you're a graphic designer working on such a small monitor is just a no-go.

With Retina display you're able to see everything as if you were working on Adobe Illustrator. No pixel is left unseen.

Short Version Buy the 15" Retina Pro. There is no better machine for visual design. Hook it up to a 27" Thunderbolt Display.

Long Version The machine doesn't dictate your process for design. You are striving for resolution independence in the design process and resolution specific output (1x, 2x) for production.

As a visual designer, it helps to view your work on a variety of devices. That is just par for the course right now. The Retina MacBook Pro is just one device.

Alright.

After a (literally) entire workday of research. I've come to my consensus. Go Retina.

I know Tim B. is concerned about the 72dpi workflow, as am I, but I've figured it out. Here it goes:

• Start your docs at twice the px of what they would be at 72dpi.

• EVERYTHING must be divisible by two. This includes shape width & height, strokes, etc..

• It also includes (IMPORTANT NOTE HERE) the distance from that element to the top, bottom, right and left edge of the doc. (i.e. the shape must be 300px from left edge, not 301px).

• You can do all of this easily via the trust INFO panel in photoshop.

TL;DR: If every measurement is divisible by 2, you're going to be fine in 72dpi. GO RETINA.

I have both. Get Retina.

The only reason to get the Air is if you literally have your laptop with you all the time, everywhere you go, and need to work on it constantly. The weight difference feels slight at first, but it stacks up overtime.

Don't worry about low-DPI stuff. It will catch up soon. It has to :)

Retina

I've had 3 Airs, and the screen in the retina is amazing. If you have the money go for it.

I'm wondering the same thing as the OP. I love the LOOK of the screen on Retina, but my concern lies in the area of "Presenting to Clients". If I design something on my Retina display, but my client isn't on Retina, I can either show them a GIANT comp, or one that has been reduced by 50%. Does reducing a comp by 50% mess up some of the minor pixel details? I know there is a bjango plug-in for this, but I'm still in the dark. Here's a scenario to be extra clear:

• I want to design a comp that is 960px wide on 72dpi screens. So, I take my rMBP and create a file that is double that width (1920px).

• I typically use vector shapes & smart objects in my work, and knowing I will be downsizing by 50%, everything in my layer styles is at an even number.

• When it's time to present to the client, I reduce the comp in size by 50%, bringing it down the the correct size for 72dpi displays.

Will it still be clear and crisp? OR will I have to do some minor retouching to get it be as clean as I'd like.

you're a still student? save your money!

I'm going 15" retina.

Thanks for all the positive reactions. :-)

However, I am still curious if anyone changed their workflows when working in 72dpi mode for a website for example.

I have the retina mac. The web looks fine most of the time, it's just smaller so it doesn't look like shit.

Apps/software that has not been optimized is what makes me feel like punching the screen so I'd highly advise to check if what you use was updated already. Photoshop is updated but Indesign isn't and I don't think that's coming anytime soon. Skype is updated but the official twitter app for example hasn't.

Otherwise the computer is great, lightweight, USB ports on opposite sides, doesn't overheat like crazy (does get hot as expected), and can run games like Starcraft at high res w/no issues.

I have the base model Retina MacBook Pro with 16GB RAM, and it's amazing. I highly recommend it.

If you go for Retina you have to get the 15" since the 13" doesn't have a GPU included so it doesn't have the power to handle all the pixels the screen provides in a good manner.