Apple is shaving the price off low- and high-end MacBook Pros while also doubling the memory and boosting the processing power of each of its Retina-fitted notebooks.
Starting at the top, the base price of the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display was lowered to $2,499 and its 8 GB of RAM was doubled to a standard of 16 GB. The clock speed of the notebook's quad-core, i7 processor was tuned up to 2.5 Ghz in the base model (3.7 Ghz turbo), with an option to step it up to the 2.8 Ghz version of the i7 (4 Ghz turbo).
From there, the 4 GB of RAM in the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display was doubled to a standard of 8 GB. A dual-core, i7 processor, clocked at 3.0 Ghz (3.5 Ghz turbo), was made available as an alternative to the 13-inch, Retina-fitted Macbook Pro's dual-core, i5 processor.
Rounding out the list of refreshes Apple made to its MacBook Pro line, $100 was shaved off its non-Retina, 13-inch MacBook Pro. The price drop brought the notebook down to $1,099.
An optional upgrade to 1 TB in flash storage was made availabe to both the 13-inch and 15-inch versions of the MacBook Pro.
Apple will continue to provide its iLife and iWork software suites for free with each purchase of its MacBook Pros, the company stated. And with a new version of OSX coming out in late 2014, Apple said the download of the new operating system would be free as well for MacBook Pro owners.
"This fall, Mac users will be able to download OS X Yosemite, a redesigned and refined version of OS X, with a fresh, modern look, powerful new apps and amazing new continuity features that make working across your Mac and iOS devices more fluid than ever. OS X Yosemite will be available as a free download from the Mac App Store," stated Apple in a press release.
With IBM's highly anticipated Broadwell series of processors still in development, the MacBook Pro refresh, like the iMac update before it, was likely a move to attract new customers until IBM's processors offer the pronounced bump in power Apple enthusiasts have been eagerly awaiting.
"People love their MacBook Pro because of the thin and light aluminum unibody design, beautiful Retina display, all-day battery life and deep integration with OS X," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing. "The MacBook Pro with Retina display gets even better with faster processors, more memory, more affordable configurations and a free upgrade to OS X Yosemite this fall."
