We all assumed it was coming after the flood of interviews that hit the web the last couple weeks, and we now know that a MacBook upgrade is fact, not just hopeful fiction. Apple unveiled its new 13-inch MacBook Pro revamp at its event today, and the slim-lined laptops will be receiving a boosted Retina display. This is wonderful news for those of you who were looking for a “cheaper” option than the 15-inch Retina display MacBook that was released earlier this year.
But just because its smaller, and is a 13-inch display, doesn’t mean it’s going to be as cheap as its “original form.” The 13-inch Retina display MacBook will come in at a price point of USD $1699, which is significantly higher than its predecessor. You’ll also be given a couple storage options to choose from.
Option 1: 128GB of Flash storage, 8GB of RAM, 2.5 Ghz Processor (Starting at USD $1699, that’s $500 USD less than the 15-inch version)
Option 2: 256GB of Flash storage, 8GB of RAM, 2.5 Ghz Processor (Starting at USD $1999)
Executives also spoke exclusively about green technology surrounding the new 13-inch MacBook Pro, boasting that it was EPA and environmentally friendly. There were also extensive discussions surrounding the amazing MacBook app store, complete with fully Retina-supported applications. The new MacBook will begin shipping today.
We all expected the new Retina display for the 13-inch MacBook, but I don’t think anyone really expected to see what Apple unveiled next. The lights dimmed, the crowd went silent, and an interesting picture of a futuristic and incredibly slim iMac appeared onscreen. The newest iMac features an incredibly thin 5mm edge, which is 80 percent smaller than previous models. The edge expands all the way to each side, as well as the top, but the bottom still contains the Apple logo and a thick border.
The first highlight to be revealed was the “casing” process called “friction stir welding” which is a seamless and incredibly strong weld that forms each piece of the iMac casing into one solid and cohesive shape. We then saw the new display, which is 5mm thinner than any previous iMac. Developers managed to remove the usual small “air gap” between the display and casing, which allows the product to be even thinner. They achieved this by laminating the display directly onto the glass (which is also 5 mm thinner than previous models). The entire display is 45 percent thinner, and the screen size will come in two options, a 21.5 inch display and a 27 inch model.
Developers also managed to coat the display in an anti-reflective substance, which they call a Plasma Deposition Process. This allowed them to apply the coating down to a single nanometer rating. The end result is a screen that is approximately 75 percent less reflective than its predecessors. Each screen is individually calibrated to ensure the utmost quality.
We also learned that this new iMac will feature a 720p HD Facetime camera, dual microphones, and an upgraded stereo system that Apple promises is “better than any iMac stereo system to date.”
Yet perhaps the most interesting and innovative thing to come from the entire iMac conversation was the reveal of what Apple calls the “Apple Fusion Drive.” This specialized drive fuses together the qualities of a standard HDD and a flash drive, to greatly improve performance. Its intelligence in design delves much deeper than that.
The Fusion Drive will actually sense what applications and programs you use more often than others and place them onto the flash drive. As explained onstage, flash drives produce content up to three times faster than a traditional HDD, which is why having programs loaded on flash is so important. The Fusion Drive will seamlessly move applications and programs back and forth between these two drives without the user having to do anything. It’s completely automatic.
The new 21.5 inch iMac will feature a 2.7 Gigahertz processor, 8 Gigabytes of RAM, an Nvidia Geforce GT 640 video card, and 1 Terabyte of HDD space. All of this comes in at an impressively “low price” of USD $1299. These units are slotted to start shipping next month. The 27 inch model sports a 2.9 Gigahertz 2.9 quad core i5 processor, 8 Gigabytes of RAM, an Nvidia Geforce GTX 660 video card and 1 Terabyte of HDD space. It will begin shipments in December and will slot at a price point of USD $1799. Both of these devices are environmentally friendly too, and use approximately 50 percent less energy when in idle mode than their predecessors.
Photo Credits: Apple
