Apple will be selling its MacBook Pro with Retina display for a lower price, the company announced on Wednesday. The new prices will be accompanied by updated processors too, as well as upgrades to other models.
The new prices for a 13-inch MacBook Pro are $1,499 for a 128 GB SSD and $1,699 for a 2.6 GHz processor and a 256GB SSD. The 15-inch variant is also seeing an update, with a faster 2.4 GHz quad-core processor in its base model and a 2.7 GHz quad-core processor and 16GB of memory in its top of the line model. The price of the two larger models will remain at $2,199 and $2,799, respectively.
Apple is also reducing the price on the 256 GB 13-inch MacBook Air ultrabook, which will now retail for $1399.
Since its release in October, the new Retina display models of the 13-inch MacBook Pro have received numerous favorable reviews from critics, but the price was a big downside. The notebook, while a beautiful, portable beacon of what's to come in personal computing, just wasn't powerful enough to justify its high price, at a whopping $1,699 and $1,999 for both models.
ArsTechina's Chris Foresman described the 13-inch notebook at its original price as a "solid laptop," but added that "it's not the greatest value." He went on to say to say that "the 13 inch Retina MacBook Pro is hard to recommend, even though I thoroughly enjoyed using it."
Nilay Patel of The Verge said "you're paying a lot of money for a computer that once again offers a single tantalizing glimpse of the future only to be limited by the realities of the present in almost every other way."
Gizmodo's Kyle Wagner called it "another reminder that sometimes wonderful things don't live up to their price tag."
These new prices and upgraded specs might be just what the 13-inch MacBook Pro needs to be more than a breathtaking piece of hardware not worth the price.
The new models are available now on Apple's Online Store, at their physical locations and at Apple Authorized Resellers.
