Apple's Retina MacBook Pros Now Cheaper and Better Equipped

Perhaps in response to the deluge of Ultrabooks and ultra-thins that have come out in recent months, Apple today upgraded its Retina MacBook Pro family with better parts and then lowered the price tag for good measure. In addition, Apple slashed $100 off the price of its 13-inch MacBook Air with 256GB of storage, which now starts at $1,399 instead of $1,499.

The 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display and 128GB of flash storage has been reduced to $1,499, down $200 over its previous price. Those who opt for the 256GB model will save $300 over the original price, as that version now sells for $1,699. It also sports an Intel Core i5 dual-core processor clocked at 2.6GHz instead of 2.5GHz.

MacBook Pro

Moving up the totem pole, the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display also gets a speed boost, with the lower-end model ($2,199) now featuring a 2.4GHz quad-core processor, up from 2.3GHz. The higher-end version ($2,799) also saw a 100MHz speed bump, going from 2.6GHz to 2.7GHz, along with double the RAM (now 16GB).

All of the updated models with new pricing are available today.