Apple Announces New MBA and Retina Display MacBook Pro

Apple's Phil Schiller took to the stage during today's keynote to unveil new MacBook Airs and MacBook Pros.

Apple usually releases a new iPhone at its World Wide Developer Conference. However, the company threw developers for a loop last year when it decided to hold off until September for the launch of the new iPhone and this year the company was expected to do the same. Instead, rumors pointed to new MacBooks at WWDC and it turns out the rumors were correct.

Apple today announced new MacBook Airs as well as new MacBook Pros. Let's start with the Airs first, shall we? The new versions of Apple's ultra portable will come in 11- and 13-inch variants. Apple is adding Intel's Ivy Bridge processors, as expected, Intel HD Graphics 4000, up to 8GB 1600MHz of RAM, up to 512GB of flash storage, as well as support for USB 3.0, and a FaceTime HD camera at 720p. Prices for the 13-inch start at $1199, while the 11-inch starts at $999. Sadly, there's no Retina Display for the MacBook Air. Still, it's probably a good thing -- it's unlikely the base prices would be so low ($100 less than before) if these new machines were packing such monstrous displays.

Apple also updated the 15-inch MacBook Pro, making the laptop thinner and lighter than before. The MBP now weighs in at 4.46 pounds and measures just 0.71 inches, which is almost as thin as the MacBook Air. The biggest change to the MacBook Pro is the addition of the Retina Display. That's right, Apple is bringing the Retina Display, previously only found in the iPad and iPhone, to its line of Pro notebooks.

Apple is calling it the world's highest resolution notebook display with over 5 million pixels and a 220ppi. The Retina display uses IPS technology for a 178-degree wide viewing angle, and has 75 percent less reflection and 29 percent higher contrast than the previous generation. Display aside, Apple is also adding Intel's latest Ivy Bridge CPUs (up to 2.7GHz with Turbo Boost bringing things up to 3.7GHz), Nvidia GeForce GT 650 discrete graphics, up to 16GB of 1600MHz RAM, and up to 768GB of flash storage. For connectivity you've got 2x Thunderbolt, 2x USB 3.0, and a new HDMI port. The MacBook Pro is also getting the same FaceTime HD camera as the MacBook Air.

The 15-inch MacBook Pro is available with a 2.3 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7, 8GB of memory and 256GB of flash storage starting at $2,199. Upping that to a 2.6 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7, 8GB of RAM and 512GB of flash storage will push the price to $2,799.

The new MacBook Airs and MacBook Pros are available today from Apple.com.

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