Apple unveils gorgeous Retina 13-inch MacBook Pro, starts at $1,700

Retina has come to the 13-inch MacBook Pro, and it’s gorgeous. Apple announced the update to its 13-inch pro-level laptop at an event today in San Jose, Calif.

Here are specs for the unit at the base price:

• Screen with 2,560-by-1,600 resolution
• 8GB of RAM (base config)
• 128GB SSD (base config)
• 2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5
• Two Thunderbolt ports, two USB 3.0 ports, HDMI, SD card slot, 3.5mm headphone jack, and MagSafe 2 power connector
• Ships with Mountain Lion OS

The devices starts at $1,700, $500 less than the 15-inch MacBook Pro.

More details on the MacBook Pro 13-inch with Retina Display can be found in Apple’s official announcement.

MacBook sales have been extremely strong in the last quarter, jumping 30 percent even while the laptop market as a whole dropped almost five percent. The new Retina 13-inch model can only serve to increase that strong demand.

Photo credit: Dean Takahashi/VentureBeat

Apple’s October Surprise

We expected Apple to announce an iPad mini today, and we got it. What we didn’t expect was the sheer number of new products the company unveiled. Here’s a rundown of the news.

• Apple debuts new MacBook, iMac, IPad 4 and iPad Mini (live blog)
• With the iPad Mini & an updated iBooks Author, Apple finally has a chance of revolutionizing the classroom
• Apple announces 7.9″ iPad Mini, measuring just 7.2mm thick
• Apple debuts full-size 4th-gen iPad with super-fast A6X chip & HD front camera
• Tablet domination: Apple has sold more than 100M iPads
• Apple’s Fusion Drive combines SSD speed with big storage
• Apple announces stunning 5mm-thick iMac
• Apple launches new iBooks with continuous scrolling, better iCloud support, and page filters
• Apple by the numbers: 200M devices running iOS 6, 125M docs in iCloud