WWDC: Apple announces new MacBook Pro with retina display
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| WWDC 2012: Apple debuts new software, gadgets: At this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, Calif., the tech giant rolled out new versions of its MacBook Pro laptops and its Mountain Lion operating system. |
Apple announced Monday that all of its notebooks are getting an update, confirming rumors and giving the summer’s slew of ultrabooks some more competition. The company also introduced a new model.
The next generation MacBook Pro, unveiled Monday, is ultra-thin and was described by Apple as the “most beautiful computer” that the company’s ever made. The notebook will start at $2199.
The notebook is .71 inches thin, Ars Technica reported, and weighs just 4.46 pounds. It has a retina display, which measures 15.4 inches across, and has 220 pixels per inch.
The company showed off photo and video apps that take full advantage of the display, as well as a new Kepler graphics chip from Nvidia and a quad-core i5 or i7 processor from Intel. The computer will have a USB 3.0 /USB 2.0 port, and HDMI port, two Thunderbolt ports and a new MagSafe power adapter, the report said. The company also has changed the way it spaces the fans on the notebook, to make it run quieter, MacWorld reported.
The notebook, even with that power-hungry screen, will have 7 hours of battery life, TechCrunch reported. The battery, which Apple showed off on-screen takes up the bulk of the machine’s inside.
The new model will ship Monday.
Apple is also releasing a series of new applications in an attempt to stay apace with Google and others at WWDC. As Bloomberg revealed:
Apple Inc. is releasing a fresh lineup of computers and software tools to woo consumers and keep developers making applications amid accelerating rivalry from Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. and, now, Facebook Inc.
Apple will use the Worldwide Developers Conference starting today in San Francisco to debut Mac computers with high- definition screens, as well as features for the software that powers its iPhone and iPad. Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of product marketing, will probably emcee the keynote.
Leadership in the consumer-electronics industry hinges on a company’s ability to get developers to put its products first when building the next big application, such as “Angry Birds” or “Shazam.” With more than 600,000 downloadable games, magazines and productivity tools, Apple is the application leader. Microsoft is playing catch-up before the release of its next operating system, Google will host a developers conference this month and Facebook just opened its own store.
“It’s not just a battle for consumers’ hearts and minds -- it’s a battle for developers to get that next great application to be available first and foremost on their platform,” said Charles Golvin, an analyst at Forrester Research Inc. who studies the mobile technology industry. “These companies are duking it out.”
Mountain Lion, Apple’s latest OS X, was also explained further at WWDC, and new features like a notifications center were unveiled. As Hayley Tsukayama reported:
After showing off a whole slew of hardware announcements, Apple revealed more about their next version of OS X, Mountain Lion.
It will be an upgrade from Lion and Snow Leopard, letting some users skip one version of the operating system — a new thing for Apple. The system will be shipping in July for just a $19.99 upgrade, Ars Technica reported.
The company outlined eight features in Mountain Lion, several of which had been announced before. The new operating system will have a notifications center, a better system for sharing and more iCloud integration.
The new laptops Apple announced — a new MacBook Pro as well as updates to the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air — will have a free Mountain Lion upgrade, according to CNET.
Apple has added dictation to the Mac as well, a feature that MacWorld reported the company added to the new iPad and to iOS that works very well on mobile devices.
iCloud will have a Documents app in the Cloud feature, which will allow users to drag documents into the cloud and make them available on all your Apple devices. Users can edit and view documents from their mobile and desktop devices, The Verge said.
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