Apple WWDC 2012: Apple announces next generation MacBook Pro with Retina Display

(CBS News) Apple announced Monday updates to its MacBook Pro line, introducing the company's next generation MacBook Pro.

CNET: WWDC 2012 live blog

Apple senior vice president Phil Schiller introduced the next generation MacBook Pro, which comes with Retina Display, weighs 4.46 pounds and is 0.71 inches thick. Apple calls it the world's highest-resolution notebook display, with a whopping 2,880 x 1,800 display. The next generation MacBook will ship with OS X Mountain Lion, an HDMI port, Thunderbolt and Intel Quad-core i7 processor.

"It's a true breakthrough in engineering - there's never been a notebook this thin, this light, this powerful for professional use. Don't worry, I'll tell you all about it in just a minute, I just want to enjoy this," Schiller said.

Schiller also announced updates to Apple's MacBook lineup. The MacBooks will come with 512GB Solid state drive (SSD), Turbo Boosts up to 3.2 gigahertz, third-generation Intel Core i5 (Ive Bridge) processor, USB 3.0, 720p camera, and FaceTime HD among other hardware upgrades.

Noticeably absent is Retina Display for the 13- and 15-inch MacBooks. Fifteen-inch MacBook Pros will get 1,440 x 900 resolution, while 13-inch MacBook Pros will see 1,280 x 800 resolution display.

Apple chief executive officer Tim Cook also reported 30 billion apps have been downloaded, with $5 billion paid out to developers.

"It's become an economy in and of itself. The App Store operates in over 120 countries, and we're adding additional countries," Cook said.

[hypnotoad72]

It sounds VERY impressive.... But I'll wait for the actual reviews to come in. As I've been a buyer of the 2009 and 2011 models and, especially for the 2011 model, have been underwhelmed with the lack of QC Apple authorizes for such an expensive device.

The 2011 models overheat badly and come with underperforming power supplies that get scalding to the touch because the hardware needs more than 85W and the little brick cannot provide that much. (As professional articles have shown, the CPU throttles down and current MacBooks won't make use of their 3.1GHz turbo boost modes because of it.)

Macworld reviews the 15" and 17" MBPs and found the 17" ran faster than the 15" for heavy processing, despite both having identical CPU and GPU components. Except for the battery wattage - the 17" overtook the 15" because it didn't throttle down as much. (to make a long techie story short.)

Actually, most MBPs since their debut in 2006 have had overheating issues. Like I said, I'll wait for the reviews.


Tim can boast $5B has been paid out to developers. On the surface, we feel warm and fuzzy all over. Looking deeper, the fuzzy is just old dust. Don't forget that Apple collects 30% of the top of every sale. So Apple is making far more than all of the developers combined. Most developers don't make back the development costs (which require a Mac... Apple won't put XCode out to PCs. Until they are mandated to do so, but if you want a walled garden you have to put it up all the way.) XCode 4 has been called "the Windows Vista of Apple IDEs" as well...