Apple Unveils The Next-Generation MacBook Pro With Retina Display, Starting At $2199 [WWDC 12]

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“”Nobody turns over their entire line as quickly and completely as we do at Apple. So what’s next? We need to make room on the slide for this.” And Apple is about to announce a completely new and improved MacBook Pro, the next-generation.

““With the MBA, the engineering team did something bold. They reenvisioned the consumer notebook, and were aggressive in embracing new technologies, and discarding legacy technologies. Things we could eventually do without.”

“So what would make a next-generation MacBook Pro?” Schiller asks.

According to Schiller, the next-gen MBP is the most beautiful computer Apple has ever made. It’s thin, its light, it has no optical drive, it’s exactly what the rumors had us believe it would be: a cross between the last MBP and the MacBook Air.

The new MBP is about as thin as the current Air, and weighs under four and a half pounds. And it has a Retina Display.

Contrary to our theories, it’s a true pixel doubled display with a 2880 x 1800 resolution, or 220dpi. But it’s not just more pixels.

“The quality of this display is the best we’ve ever made. Better contrast ratio, deeper blacks … reduced glare and reflection of the glossy display by 75%.”

If apps aren’t updated to work with the display, they’ll work in pixel-doubled mode, same as on an iPad or iPhone.

Inside the new MacBook Pro, it’s almost all battery, which makes sense: it would need a hell of a battery to manage to drive that display. Despite this, it’ll offer 7 hours of battery on a charge.

Here are the specs:

Quad-Core Processor up to 2.7GHz
Up to 16GB of 1600MHz RAM
Next-Gen Kepler Graphics from GeForce GT 650M
Up To 768GB SDD
New, smaller, thinner MagSafe
SD, HDMI, USB 3, 2x Thunderbolts, Firewire 800
802.11n, Bluetooth 4.0
Only 0.71 inches thick, compared to the current MBP’s 0.95 inches

According to Jony Ive, the new MacBook Pro’s “Tthermal system operates in a way that is nearly imperceptible to users.” Asymmetrical fan blades splits the fan noise over more frequencies, so they are perceived as quieter. Wow.

As for prices? The next-gen MacBook Pro will start at $2199, which is a beefy price even for a pro machine, but this is clearly aimed at video and graphics professionals.

(This story is developing. Check back for updates.)

Image: GDGT

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