The steep cost of owning a MacBook Pro laptop outfitted with Apple’s Retina display just became a little more manageable. The company announced Wednesday that its 13-inch model is getting bumped down in price, while the 15-inch version is receiving a speed boost at the same price point as the prior iterations.
So if that illustrious pixel count and flash storage used to be a couple hundred dollars out of your price range, now might be the time to grab that new notebook you’ve been wanting.
Price Cut For 13-Inch MacBook Pro
The 13-inch MacBook Pro now starts at $1,499, down from $1,699. If the the 128GB of storage of that model is not enough for you, the 2.6GHz model now costs $1,699 – and it comes with 256GB of storage.
If you have the cash, and absolutely need the extra screen space to explore the Retina display’s full potential, the 15-inch model had its specs amped up a bit. The base model is now .1 GHz faster, from a 2.3GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 chip to a 2.4GHz version. It starts at $2,199, the same price as before.
15-Inch Models Keep The Same Price
The higher end model – with 16GB of memory and a 512GB solid state hard drive – had its already blistering 2.6-GHz quad-core processor upped to a 2.7 GHz, still at the bank-busting price of $2,799.
Apple made no secret of the targeted audience of its Retina Display MacBook Pro models when they debuted last summer; Only the truly dedicated (and well off) Apple fans were likely to spring for that much.
But after a bit of bruising to its stock, and the rumor mill flying at top speed over cheap iPhones and risky smartwatches, it seems Apple thinks a little price cutting might help get its high-end laptops into more hands.
Image via Apple.
