Beware the allure of Apple's Retina displays

Apple's Retina displays are drop-dead gorgeous. But be careful what you wish for.

Like many, I got the third-generation iPad because of the 2048-by-1536-pixel-density Retina display. And, like many, I didn't see a huge difference at first.

That was then. Now it's painful to pick up my Dell laptop with its 1,366-by-768 13.3-inch display and Windows 7 fonts (note: font-smoother utilities go just so far). And while my 11.6-inch MacBook Air fares better than the Dell (it packs the same number of pixels but into a smaller area giving it a higher PPI or pixels per inch), I'm suddenly wondering whether I should renounce my penchant for portability (the Air is under 2.4 pounds) and go with a 4.5-pound 2,880-by-1,800 MacBook Pro Retina.