13" model now starts at $1,299, 15" at $1,999, shipping today.
More than a year after introducing the first Retina MacBook Pro at the 2012 Worldwide Developer Conference, Apple has announced that the computers will be getting a refresh at today's media event. The most significant update to the new models' specifications comes from Intel's brand-newHaswell processors, which should improve the battery life significantly compared to their Ivy Bridge-based predecessors.
Updates to both the 15-inch and 13-inch models were revealed today, which gets the two models on the same refresh schedule. (The 15-inch model was originally introduced last June at the 2012 WWDC, but the 13-inch model was introduced last October.) The 13-inch laptop starts at $1,299. The 15-inch model starts at $1,999. Both models ship today.
The upgraded 13-inch Macbook Pro comes with a 2.4GHz (2.9GHz Turbo) Core i5, 4GB of DRAM, a 128GB SSD, and Haswell's integrated Iris GPU. This means that the baby Macbook Pro finally has a better GPU than the MacBook Air—the 2560×1600 screen will continue to soldier on with integrated graphics, but the Iris 5100 GPU should be a decent step up in performance from the HD 5000 GPU in the Airs.
The new 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro is a logical upgrade over last year's model. The entry-level Retina MacBook Pro now uses a Haswell-based quad-core 2.0GHz Core i7 CPU that can Turbo Boost up to 3.2GHz, while the high-end model uses a 2.3GHz (3.5GHz Turbo) part by default. Both laptops can be upgraded to 2.6GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) CPUs at purchase. To power the laptop's 2880×1800 display, Apple swaps out the Nvidia GeForce GT 650M GPU in last year's model for an upgraded GeForce GT 750M with 1GB of GDDR5 graphics RAM in the high-end models, though the lower-end models will only include the Intel Crystalwell (that is, Iris 5200) integrated GPU. The GeForce 700M GPUs are architecturally similar to their predecessors, but higher clock speeds and tweaks to that architecture should be good for a decent performance boost. As in last year's models, OS X can dynamically switch between the integrated Intel GPU and the dedicated Nvidia GPU based on workload to save power.
Intel says that Haswell should enable big jumps in general-usage battery life, and to that end Apple has increased the battery life figures for all Retina MacBook Pros from seven hours to more than nine hours.
Other new, minor tweaks include a 1080p FaceTime webcam, which replaces the 720p webcam in the outgoing models. Like the MacBook Air and 2013 iMac before it, the MacBook Pros are also picking up 802.11ac wireless networking (the adapter will continue to connect to 802.11n, g, b, and a networks). Both models also include higher-bandwidth Thunderbolt 2 ports. The 13-inch model has dropped a bit of weight and slimmed down, to 3.46 lbs and 0.71 inches.
And what of the non-Retina MacBook Pros? There's just one left: a non-Retina 13-inch model at $1199, and it hasn't been upgraded from last year's Ivy Bridge configuration. That means a 2.5GHz dual-core i5, Intel's integrated HD 4000 GPU, and yes, a 500GB mechanical hard drive. The 15-inch non-Retina device appears to have been put down, though. Rest easy, old friend, and say hi to the white plastic MacBook for us when you get to that farm upstate.
We will continue to update this post as more information becomes available.
Source:ArsTechnica.
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