By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla
It has been a while since Apple introduced new MacBook Pros. Now we're hearing reports here and there that the next refresh of Apple's midrange and high-end notebooks might feature the Retina Displays that are on the new iPad as well as the iPhone 4, 4S and the latest iPod Touch.
There has long been a speculation that the MacBook Pro line will get slimmed down form-factors that put them closer to the MacBook Air.This means they will lose the optical drives and go completely SSD (Solid State Drive) for storage. These will likely be running the latest Ivy Bridge Intel processors, stunning Retina Displays and USB 3.0.
9to5Mac reported that" Kirk Skaugen, Intel's Vice President and General Manager of the PC Client Group, revealed that the new processors are built for Retina display at the Intel Developer Forum that took place on 11 April."
The USB 3.0 bit surprises me personally since Apple has long been pushing the adoption of Thunderbolt as a means of high speed data transfer. Thunderbolt accessories aren't exactly flying off the shelves and haven't gained the momentum many expected, which might be the reason for going with USB 3.0. This is great news for consumers who will have a better selection of interfaces.
Another tell-tale sign of the impending shift to Retina Displays for Mac portables is the discovery that upcoming application icons for TextEdit are Retina Display resolution (1024-by-1024 pixels, double that of the previous 512-by-512 pixels). AppleInsider has discovered that, "Double-resolution icons can also be found in various applications in the developer preview of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, Apple's next-generation Mac operating system set to arrive this summer."
Sources: 9to5Mac