How does Eclipse work on new Retina MacBook Pros?

Question

I'm thinking about buying the new MacBook Pro. I will use it mostly to write code when I'm not at home and I've read that non-native apps look horrible due to the resolution. I was wondering if someone has tried using Eclipse or Zend Studio and if they work well.

Answer 1

To enable a retina rendered Eclipse

From: https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=382972

Here's the workaround:

Do "Show package contents" on the Eclipse.app. Edit Contents/Info.plist using your favorite text editor. Just above

</dict>
</plist>

Place this:

<key>NSHighResolutionCapable</key>
<true/>

Then, make a copy of the app so that OSX will notice the change. Now, the info window will not show "Open in Low Resolution" as checked. Launch Eclipse and enjoy your new retina awesomeness.

Answer 2

I went to the apple store for just this reason. I downloaded and installed eclipse on a MPB, it looked awful. It wasn't just me, another programmer was looking at the machine with me and agreed. I called over one of the apple guys, and he basically said, yup it'll look like crap till it's updated.

I suggest you try it at an apple store. But I found it un-usable (so disappointed)

Answer 3

It should work the same, but each pixel it draws will take up four pixels on the screen. Look at a non-retina app on a retina iPhone or iPad and you'll see how Eclipse will look on a retina Mac.

Answer 4

Eclipse will work as it always has, however the text and the graphics on screen for non retina optimized apps will look less sharp. To see a worst case example here is one provided from the MacBook Pro Retina Display Analysis done by AnandTech.

On the left is a non-retina app while on the right is a retina app.

Answer 5

I came across your question while searching how to fix the way eclipse displays on the retina mbp. It's not that text renders bad, it actually renders how you would see it on a normal computer. It's just that when you switch from looking at super crisp retina text to looking at ordinary text it's kind of like you put on somebody's light prescription glasses.