New MacBook Pro here, refreshed hardware launched

Apple launched its “next generation MacBook Pro” today (11 June 2012) at its Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) event in San Francisco.

The company also announced a new set of internals for its current MacBook Air and MacBook Pro line of products that would go on sale in the US today.

Confirming rumours that a hardware refresh would see Apple adopting the new Intel Ivy Birdge processors, the MacBook Air will have up to a 2GHz Intel Core i7 and support up to 8GB of 1600MHz memory, as well as a 512GB SSD.

The devices will include two USB 3.0 ports and a 720p FaceTime HD camera.

MacBook Air

An 11-inch MacBook Air will still cost $999, include a 1.7GHz dual-core i5, 64GB SSD, and run at a resolution of 1366×768. The price goes up to $1099 if you want a 128GB SSD.

A 13-inch MacBook Air will cost $1,199 and ship with a 128GB SSD, 1.8GHz dual-core i5, and 1440×900 display. Increasing the drive space to 256GB ups the price to $1,499.

Both the 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air have 4GB RAM by default.

Macbook Air

MacBook Pro

The default configuration of the 13-inch MacBook Pro still has a lower resolution than the Air (1280×800), but has a 2.5GHz dual-core i5, 4GB RAM and a 500GB mechanical drive. It will go for $1,199.

For $1,499, the 13-inch MacBook Pro sports a 2.9GHz dual-core i7, 8GB RAM, and a 750GB mechanical hard drive.

Both 13-inch MacBook Pro models will use Intel’s integrated HD Graphics 4000 GPU.

The 15-inch MacBook Pro will have a 1440×900 display powered by a Nvidia GeForce GT 650M GPU. For $1,799 you get 4GB RAM, 512MB graphics memory, a 2.3GHz quad-core i7 and a 500GB hard drive.

A higher-end model of the 15-inch MacBook Pro is also available for $2,199 with a 2.6GHz quad-core i7, 8GB RAM, 1GB graphics memory, and a 750GB hard drive.

No mention was made of a 17-inch MacBook Pro, suggesting that rumours of its demise were correct.

Contrary to some of the rumour doing the rounds, the MacBook Pro will keep its optical drive.

Apple Macbook Pro presentation

MacBook Pro with Retina Display

However, Apple went on to announce that at the same price as the high-end 15-inch MacBook Pro, you can get a notebook with a “Retina display” running at a resolution of 2800×1800.

Macbook Pro with Retina display

Billed as the “next generation MacBook Pro”, the notebook is specced to support up to a 2.7GHz quad-core Core i7 CPU, 16GB of RAM, and an SSD of up to 768GB.

On the right of the device it has an SD card slot, HDMI and a USB 3.0 port. On the left is a new, thinner MagSafe 2 connector, 2 Thunderbolt ports, another USB 3.0 port, and a headphone jack.

The default configuration costs $2,199 and includes the 15.5-inch Retina display, 2.3GHz quad-core i7, 8GB RAM, GeForce GT 650M 1GB graphics, and 256GB SSD.

Macbook Pro vs Macbook Pro with Retina display

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