During the June 11 2012 press conference at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference, the company unveiled their new MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models for the next generation. These exciting new models have several new features of great benefit to consumers. This includes easy to use features, improvements to speed, power and storage, along with an all new display and camera that is not only far beyond the competitions current offerings, but their own as well.
The current MacBook Air is what Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller claims is the model of laptop “everyone is trying to copy.” The top of the line model lived up to that with its 256GB flash storage, a 1.7GHz dual-core i5 processor and 4GB of RAM. The next generation doubles on this performance in most ways, and is up to 60% faster. The top of the line model is available with 512GB of flash storage, a 2.0GHz dual-core i7 processor and 8GB of RAM. All of these numbers translate to you being able to do your work, send your emails, and watch your movies quicker, easier, and with minimal delay.
Another major upgrade to the next MacBook Air is the Intel Ivy Bridge chip. This new chip will be of benefit to consumers as it provides up to a 15% increase in CPU performance, and up to a 68% increase in integrated GPU performance. This all comes down to you being able to do more at once, making you more productive and efficient. These upgrades will be powering the new 720p camera for FaceTime, and to display your information, movies, and projects on a high-resolution display that is equivalent to the previous generation’s next best display. Meaning the 11 inch model for this generation is equal to the last 13-inch model, and the new 13 inch is equal to a typical 15-inch notebook in terms of resolution. With all these useful upgrades it’s hard to believe that this is being offered for less than the last model’s initial price. The base model 11-inch is $1029, and the top of the line 13-inch is $1529.
The updates to the new MacBook Pro are immediately noticeable before you even open it up. It is now much thinner at 0.71 inches (25% thinner than the last model), nearly the same as a MacBook Air. Picking it up you’ll notice it is now 4.46 pounds (the last model is 5.6 pounds), meaning it is even easier to carry around all day while taking up less space. Once you open it you will find the most stunning display available on any laptop: a Retina display with 5.1 million pixels. Four times the number of pixels on a traditional display. Phil Schiller referred to it saying that “the pixels are so small that your retina cannot discern them.” You just may be unable to tell if you’re looking at a computer screen or through a window into real life. It is also the first notebook to include two Thunderbolt ports, two USB 3 ports, and an HDMI port, you will have tremendous flexibility to connect to multiple external displays like your HDTV and other high performance devices.
The offerings from Apple at this year’s WWDC were no small upgrades. From the performance upgrades to the MacBook Air, to the display on the MacBook Pro and its new connectability, this was a major move from the most exciting and innovative computer company on the market. Phil Schiller went as far as to say that the new MacBook Pro is the “Best computer ever made.” If that seems hard to believe then at the very least it is tough to ignore that the new MacBook Pro and MacBook Air are now capable of desktop performance in a laptop size.
With the new 17″ Mac Pro being thinner and lighter, is a SS hard drive still available and what is the gig rating?
Thanks,
Barry.
Hi Barry, the MacBook Pro 17″ has been discontinued, but Apple released a new MacBook Pro with Retina Display to take its spot. Like the MacBook Air, it uses solid state Flash as its primary storage device, configurable up to 768GB. The CPU is configurable up to 2.7GHz quad-core Intel Core i7.
It looks good on paper, but – - -
The ram is hard wired in & cannot be upgraded by the user (? or at all). It would be foolish to buy the 8 gig ram model. The 16 gig one is the only way to go if you are using PS & LR4. The latter being a real ram hog. You are also paying x3 the cost of other ram which is just as good. (OWC).
It isn’t clear if you can swap the optical drive for a 2nd. hard drive eg. an SSD as a very fast boot/scratch disc.
The usb 3 is welcome, but thunder bolt still has a limited selection of drives at a VERY high prices.
Hi John, on the classic MacBook Pro, the RAM and hard drive are still user-upgradable, and the maximum amount of RAM it supports is 16GB (using two Kingston 8GB modules, available at Simply Computing). We can also swap out the SuperDrive with an SSD and install a bracket to keep it in place (an SSD is physically smaller than a SuperDrive.) Although Thunderbolt is still somewhat pricey, several manufacturers like Belkin and LaCie will be introducing Thunderbolt to eSATA hubs, so you can connect multiple high-speed (cheaper) eSATA hard drives to your Mac.
I was refering to the lastest MBP with Retina display
Sorry I thought you were asking about the Retina display model, but then you mentioned the optical drive.
The new MacBook Pro with Retina Display does NOT have an optical drive. The RAM and Flash drive are not upgradable either.
Hope this clarifies any misunderstanding.
I have a MB Pro 17″ 2.8 Ghz Intel Core Duo with 4 Gb Memory and 750 Gb HD, what would I be getting in exchange other the retina display and losing optical drive? Convince me and I might make the move.
Hi J-P, the new MacBook Pro with Retina display is much more portable at 15.4″ (diagonal) and only 2.02kg. Compare that to the 17″ size and 2.99kg weight of your MacBook Pro. With two Thunderbolt ports, you’d be able to improve your productivity by connecting to two external 27″ displays or up to 14 external Thunderbolt devices (like hard drives, hubs, controllers, etc.)
Performance-wise, the all-flash storage is up to four times faster than traditional hard drives, and the quad-core (or virtual octo-core with HyperThreading technology) Core i7 processor is up to 50% faster than the 2011 MacBook Pro. All these improvements mean less time waiting for files to be opened up or video effects to be rendered, and a more enjoyable experience when you work on your Mac.
We invite you to come into any of our locations and test drive the new MacBook Pro with Retina display yourself!
The new MB Airs do have some nice performance upgrades. I’m almost compelled to sell my iPad 3 and purchase. Tempting.
Got the Mac Air for my husband. Can’t thank the staff enough for all their help. Had a glitch trying to go on a live auction. But should be all good. 有難うね！ (thank you). ^^