Apple has announced updates and $200 price cut for three varieties of its 13-and 15-inch MacBook Pro notebook line.
The 13-inch model will be Apple's only non-Retina MacBook Pro available for purchase. The notebook features a 2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor (Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz), 4GB of 1600MHz DDR3 memory, a 500GB 5400-rpm hard drive and integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000 technology. Apple's only MacBook Pro offering a disc drive through a 8x SuperDrive, also has a FireWire 800 port, Kensington lock slot, gigabit ethernet, a Thunderbolt port (not Thunderbolt 2), two USB 3.0 ports and a SDXC card slot. It's priced at $1,199, that's down from $1,499.
Those wanting a more technologically modern 13-inch can spring for the Retina display model which range between $1,299 - $1,799 depending on variables including processor speeds, RAM and storage, among other options. That means choosing between a 2.4 GHz or 2.6 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, 4GB or 8GB of DDR3L memory, Intel Iris Graphics, and 128GB to 512GB of hard drive space also configurable to 1TB of flash storage.
The higher-end 15-inch Macbook Pro featuring the Retina display, comes in at $1,999 and $2,599 flavors and give buyers a choice between Intel's 2.0GHz and 2.3GHz quad-core i7 processor with 8GB of DDR3L memory, configurable to 16GB. Storage starts at 256GB along with the ability to upgrade to 1TB of flash storage. They come standard with the Intel Iris Pro Graphics card, but there's an option for NVIDIA's GeForce GT 750 with 2GB of dedicated video memory.
Though the lower-end 13-inch non Retina display is the only model to feature an optical drive, Apple has a SuperDrive available for purchase.
Both models will use the next-generation 802.11ac Wi-Fi which, according to Apple, delivers wireless performance improvements of up to three times that of 802.11n. Of course all MacBook comes with the latest OS X update Mavericks. Through Mavericks power saving feature, the new notebooks also boast of having improved battery life.
