The new 15-inch MacBook Pro will be a significant departure from the
current design, with a retina display and an ultra-thin profile, 9to5Mac
claims, citing sources from Apple's supply chain.
It will be so thin, in fact, that it won't have room for an optical drive, just like its lightweight cousin MacBook Air.
Other design changes
include a power button on the keyboard itself (replacing the eject
button) and, possibly, the lack of an Ethernet port (replaced by an
extra Thunderbolt port).
The
MacBook Pro's new retina display -- the same technology that's in the
new iPad -- is described as "definitely the most important Mac
innovation in years" by the sources who've handled a prototype of the
device. The specifics are unknown, but users should be able to choose
between several Retina resolution modes.
Finally, the new 15-inch
MacBook Pro will have USB 3.0 support, and the latest Ivy Bridge
processors from Intel are a safe bet, too.
If these rumors are true,
the new 15-inch MacBook Pro might be one of the most important MacBook
devices to see the light of day in recent years.
How do you like these
specifications? What do you think about a 15-inch MacBook Pro without an
optical drive? Share your opinions in the comments.
By Stan Schroeder, Mashable