"What Would Make the Next Gen MacBook Pro?"

ByMike Moffit

…so said Phil Schiller at today’s WWDC Keynote speech when he talked about asking the Apple engineering team this exact question.

The answer, of course, is the entirely new 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display. I knew I wanted one before I even heard what it was as it sat on the pedestal under a velvety black shroud! Oh Apple, you slay me (along with an audience of developers).

Obviously its name, “15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display,” lets you know what Apple thinks is its most endearing feature, and in fact there has never been a notebook display like this before. The resolution is 2880 by 1800 which is 5.1 million pixels! That’s 3 million more than an HDTV. Oh my word, I can’t wait to see it in person.

It’s more svelte, too. Weighing in at 4.46 pounds and only .71 inch thick. (Is there a word for svelter?) Apple was able to shave more than a pound off the non-Retina Display MBP. This was achieved by not including an optical drive and moving to all flash storage. This puts the MBP w/RD at the same weight as the 13-inch MBP. Pretty good, eh?

So what about all the other stuff? The MBP w/RD sports two USB 3.0 ports, two Thunderbolt ports, and HDMI port set it apart from its peers. Bluetooth, FaceTime, and SDXC slot are still there. Did you notice that Ethernet isn’t there? You’ll need to add an Ethernet to Thunderbolt adapter to connect to wires.

What’s all this going to cost? Prices will start at $2,199 for the basic configuration of:

  • 2.3GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
  • Turbo Boost up to 3.3GHz
  • 8GB 1600MHz memory
  • 256GB flash storage
  • Intel HD Graphics 4000
  • NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1GB of GDDR5 memory
  • Built-in battery (7 hours)

See it here.

And $2,799 for the 2.6GHz configuration:

  • 2.6GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
  • Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz
  • 8GB 1600MHz memory
  • 512GB flash storage
  • Intel HD Graphics 4000
  • NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1GB of GDDR5 memory
  • Built-in battery (7 hours)

See it here.

This is the first new Mac since Steve passed away and I really, really missed hearing “oh yeah, just one more thing…”

Steve, they did you proud.

We will keep you posted regarding when they will be in stock!

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