In line with previous rumours, Apple has today updated both the 13-inch and 15-inch Retina MacBook Pros with faster Haswell processors.
As rumoured, the new 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro models come with 16 GB of RAM, while the 13-inch version has the standard 8 GB of RAM.
Here are the tech specs of the new models:
• 13-inch 2.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5, turbo boost up to 3.1 GHz, 8GB of memory, 128 GB flash storage – $1,399
• 13-inch 2.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5, turbo boost up to 3.1 GHz, 8GB of memory, 256 GB flash storage – $1,599
• 13-inch 2.8GHz dual-core Intel Core i5, turbo boost up to 3.3 GHz, 8GB of memory, 512 GB flash storage – $1,899
• 15-inch 2.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i7, turbo boost up to 3.4 GHz, 16GB of memory, 256 GB flash storage – $2,099
• 15-inch 2.5GHz quad-core Intel Core i7, turbo boost up to 3.7 GHz, 16GB of memory, 512 GB flash storage – $2,699
It is worth noting here that Apple now charges $50 more for the new models. When the company refreshed its Retina MacBook Pro line last year, the 13-inch, entry-level model with 2.4 GHz processor was priced at $1,349, and today you’ll need to pay $1,399 for an extra 200 MHz of speed and 4 GB of RAM.
Now compare this with the $100 price cut in the US for the new high-end, 15-inch Retina MBP models and the 13-inch, non-Retina MacBook Pro.
Update: Apple has issued a press release.
“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 and a free upgrade to OS X Yosemite this fall.”
Want to see more of our stories on Google?
P.S. Want to keep this site truly independent? Support us by buying us a beer, treating us to a coffee, or shopping through Amazon here. Links in this post are affiliate links, so we earn a tiny commission at no charge to you. Thanks for supporting independent Canadian media!
“Turbo boost”… My Alienware computer has that, except they don’t call it “turbo boost”… They call it “normal”. My PC from the late ’90’s had it as well, along with a button to turn it on and off. Except when it was off, it was just a crippled version of “normal”.
I had a car that had turbo… except it used an actual turbine.
Don’t you just love American BS marketing.
Except Turbo Boost (an Intel term, not Apple’s) *isn’t* “normal”. It’s dynamic *overclocking* that happens when the system requests maximum processing power, and the system does its best to reach the rated “turbo boost” frequency, subject to power, current, and temperature specification limits.
This isn’t the 90s where most computers were desktops and plugged in all the time. Manufacturers actually care about things like energy efficiency and power management now, mainly to squeeze as much battery life out of mobile systems as possible. Lower power usage also means less heat to dissipate.
The 90s “turbo” button on PCs was the real marketing BS, since that was the normal CPU speed, and you *underclocked* it by turning turbo off, since many DOS games relied on clock frequency for timing and would run ludicrously fast on the CPU’s normal speed.
With current-gen Intel CPUs, turbo boost actually is an honest increase over the rated frequency.
Which isn’t to say current chips can’t theoretically run at their TB speed all the time through manual overclocking (I do it myself on my gaming PC’s i7 3770k), but you’d need additional power and a beefed up cooling system, which may make it unsuitable for the desired form factor (e.g. laptops).
Maximum possible speed is not maximum rated speed for a reason, and it’s not because of BS marketing. Think about it, if the TB speed was “normal”, they’d be charging more for it, wouldn’t they?
It’s a shame you had to type all that. If only you had seen my tongue planted firmly in my cheek, and the dash of satirical relevance because “turbo” is really BS marketing hype intended as a refresh of the same sort of functionality that has existed for years. It reminds me of the eyeglass store that advertised their new eyewear with “HD vision”.
wtf… get out of here..
Yes, if only I’d seen your tongue planted firmly in cheek… somehow… over the internet… for a post that even now, still reads like you meant every word of it.
It depends on your frame of mind. That of someone with an open mind, or that of someone who is just looking for flaws.
Al, Sarcasm doesn’t work on the internet
so i just ordered a macbook pro retina display online on the 24th with
3.0GHz Dual-core Intel Core i7
16GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
512GB Flash Storage
and i compared it to the “new” model specs and nothing has changed? or am i missing something? if the “new” models are intact better in anyway i might cancel and re order
No need to cancel your order. Really, the only cool thing about these updates is that the 15″ rMBP now comes standard with 16GB of RAM.
Cancel your order and take the extra ram.
But if you can wait next year for Intel’s Broadwell processors, even better.
Does this mean that the previous models get moved to the refurb section of the store?
So, now it’s a 100.00 difference between Canada and the US.
Let’s assume the hike is because of the dropping dollar (there is no justification otherwise). This means a 10% differential in value. If the US sees a drop of 100$, Canada should see a cut of 90$ alongside a hike of 10% in the product cost totalling an even break for 1000$. In that sense, the price hike actually makes sense.
I have expected GPU update. GTX850M maybe?! This sucks, that “turbo” does mean shit to a user. You will never notice it….