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Apple announces 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display: 2,560 x 1,600 resolution, Thunderbolt and HDMI starting at $1,699
If the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display was feeling lonely up there on its high-resolution pedestal, it needn’t any longer. As expected, Apple just announced a 13-inch version to keep it company. The 2,560 x 1,600 resolution means that 13-inch screen offers a ppi of 232, marginally more than its larger brother’s 226. As well as that lovely new display, there’s a pair of Thunderbolt ports, and a full-size HDMI port to let you make good use of it with, as well as a pair of USB 3s. While this might not be the primary focus of the day, it will definitely be one of the more hotly anticipated reveals from the company’s San Jose event this afternoon. The base model will run you $1,699 and comes with a 2.5GHz i5 processor, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of flash memory. At the top end you can expect 768GB hard drive, atop a Core i7. And, like last time, to top it all off, all the new goodies come in a slimmer, desire-stoking design — weighing a whole pound less than the 2011 13-incher and at just 0.75-inches thick, 20 percent thinner. Already full of want? Then don’t hang around, as it ships today! In the meantime, keep your retinas locked right here for our hands on.
13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display reportedly seen with 2,560 x 1,600 LCD, dual Thunderbolt ports
We hope you didn’t want Apple’s little event next week to be a complete surprise. After promises of extra details for a prior leak, a WeiPhone forum goer has returned with photos of what’s supposed to be the active screen and ports of the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display that might be on stage come October 23rd. If this is what we get alongside the similarly unofficial miniature iPad, we’ll take it. The possible leak shows a 2,560 x 1,600 LCD (four times higher in resolution than the existing MacBook Pro) and, importantly, no sacrifices in expansion versus the 15-inch Retina model — there’s still the dual Thunderbolt ports and HDMI video that shipped with this system’s bigger brother. Vital details like the performance and price are left out, so there’s a few cards left off Apple’s table, but the images hint at what could be a tempting balance between the 15-inch MacBook Pro’s grunt and the MacBook Air’s grace.
Google adds mouse lock to stable Chrome 22 for 3D shooter mavens
Google’s fast-track approach to updating Chrome gives a different theme to each update: last time, it was all about visual acuity. For the just launched Chrome 22 stable version, the focus swings to gaming. Web apps can now lock in the mouse control for first-person shooters, simulations and other 3D content that needs the full attention of the pointer during play. Not keen on action games through the browser? There’s still some fine-tuning in place for those who live on the cutting edge, including Windows 8 users and Retina MacBook Pro owners. The update may already be sitting on your computer if you’re running Chrome; if not, you can get your gaming-friendly fix (and the security notes) through the source links.
Photoshop CS6 and Lightroom 4 will support HiDPI, MacBook Pro Retina Display in ‘the coming months’
You know who’s likely to buy the MacBook Pro with Retina Display? Creative professionals (obviously). So you know what programs should really be optimized for that 2,880 x 1,800 screen? Try Photoshop, or Lightroom. Adobe hears your frustration, and apparently empathizes mightily: the company just posted a blog post promising Photoshop CS6, Lightroom 4 and Photoshop Touch will support HiDPI, including the MacBook Pro’s Retina Display, within the “coming months.” (No, this near-term update does not include Photoshop Elements, unfortunately.) While that timetable is on the vague side, the outfit says having a Creative Cloud membership will ensure you get that update sooner. Until then, your frankengadget renders will still look a little blurry, sorry.
Apple MacBook Pro with Retina display review (mid 2012)
Product categories come and go, grow and wither, revolutionize the world and then slowly fade into a state of cold, quiet, everlasting obsolescence. It happens all the time, sometimes over the course of just a year or two (see: netbooks) and, while companies have made billions by establishing truly new categories, rarely has anybody rocked the world by splitting the difference between two very closely aligned ones.
That’s exactly what Apple is trying to do here. The company’s MacBook Pro line is one of the most respected in the industry for those who need an ostensibly professional laptop. Meanwhile, the MacBook Air is among the best (if not conclusively the best) thin-and-light laptops on the market. Now, a new player enters the fray: the MacBook Pro with Retina display. It cleanly slides in between these two top-shelf products, while trying to be simultaneously serious and fast, yet slim and light. Is this, then, a laptop that’s all things to all people, the “best Mac ever” as it was called repeatedly in the keynote? Or, is it more of a compromised, misguided attempt at demanding too much from one product? Let’s find out.
