Apple lowers laptop prices, beefs up specs

Today, Apple announced a number of changes in the pricing and hardware department for the company's MacBook laptop lineup. The Mountain View, Calif.-based corporation lowered the price for the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display and for the top-of-the line 13-inch MacBook Air and beefed up the specs for the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display.

If you were holding off on buying an Apple MacBook now is a good time to reconsider. The fruit-logo company slashed $200 from the price of the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display, which now starts at $1,499 and $1,699 for the base and top model, respectively. Apple applied a similar treatment to the 13-inch MacBook Air in 256GB trim, which now goes for $1,399, $100 less than before.

The base 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display features a 13.3-inch LED-backlight IPS display with a resolution of 2560 by 1600 and 227 ppi (pixel per inch) density; 2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost for up to 3.1GHz clockspeed backed by an Intel HD Graphics 4000 video card; 8GB DDR3L internal memory clocked at 1600MHz; 128GB of flash storage and a built-in 74Wh battery with a quoted battery life of 7 hours. There is also a 720p FaceTime front-facing video camera; two Thunderbolt ports; two USB3.0 ports; HDMI port as well as Bluetooth 4.0 and Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n connectivity.

The top 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display adds a 2.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost for up to 3.2GHz clockspeed and 256GB of flash storage. Both models come in at 31.4 x 21.9 x 1.9 cm and 1.62kg.

The top 13-inch MacBook Air features a 13.3-inch LED backlit display with a resolution of 1440 by 900; 1.8GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost for up to 2.8GHz clockspeed backed by an Intel HD Graphics 4000 video card; 4GB DDR3L internal memory clocked at 1600MHz; 256GB of flash storage and built-in 50Wh battery with a quoted battery life of 7 hours. There is also a 720p FaceTime front-facing video camera; Thunderbolt port; two USB3.0 ports as well as Bluetooth 4.0 and Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n connectivity. It comes in at 30 x 19.2 x 1.7 cm and 1.08kg.

The 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display now features higher-clocked processors, 100MHz faster than before. The base model sports a 2.4GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, while its more powerful brother now comes with a 2.7GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor as well as 16GB of internal memory. Pricing remains the same at $2,199 and $2,799 for the 256GB and 512GB variants, respectively.

The base 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display features a 15.4-inch LED-backlit IPS display with resolution of 2880 by 1800 and 220 ppi; 2.4GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor with Turbo Boost for up to 3.4GHz speeds backed by the Intel HD Graphics 4000 and nVidia GeForce GT650M in 1GB trim graphics cards; 8GB DDR3L internal memory clocked at 1600MHz; 256GB of flash storage and a built-in 95Wh battery with a quoted battery life of 7-hours. There is also a 720p FaceTime front-facing video camera; two Thunderbolt ports; two USB3.0 ports; an HDMI port as well as Bluetooth 4.0 and Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n connectivity.

The top 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display adds a 2.7GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor with Turbo Boost for up to 3.7GHz clockspeed, 16GB DDR3L internal memory clocked at 1600MHz as well as 512GB of flash storage. Both models come in at 35.89 x 24.71 x 1.8 cm and 2.02kg.