MacBook Pro 2013 release date, specs and pricing

Apple MacBook Pro with Retina display

Apple refreshed its high-performance MacBook Pro laptops, with the latest devices packing Intel Haswell chipsets and the Retina Display.

The 13in Retina Pro model starts at $1299 and includes a2.4GHz Core i5 chipset, 4GB RAM and a 128GB SSD. It offers up to nine hours of battery life.

A larger 15in Retina Pro has a starting price of $1999 and packs a 2GHz Core i7 processor with Iris graphics, 8GB RAM and a 256GB SSD. It offers up to eight hours of battery life.

Both laptops start shipping today (22 October 2013).

Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing also talked up the inclusion of Thunderbolt ports and claimed Wi-Fi is three times as fast as previous generation thanks to 802.11ac support.

Mavericks

Both devices will come equipped with Apple's latest Maverick's operating system, which the Californian company claims has more than 200 new features, including a refreshed version of Safari, it's custom web browser, enhanced multi-display support and increased power efficiency.

Also on board is Finder Tags, which helps organise your files on iCloud (read our sister site CloudPro's iCloud review), and Finder Tabs, which consolidates multiple Finder windows into a single window with multiple tabs.

"Mavericks is an incredible release, which introduces significant new apps and features, while also improving the performance and battery life of your Mac," said Craig Federighi, Apple'ssenior vice president of Software Engineering.

"We want every Mac user to experience the latest features, the most advanced technologies, and the strongest security. We believe the bestway to do this is to begin a new era of personal computing software where OS upgrades are free."

Khidr Suleman is the Technical Editor at IT Pro, a role he has fulfilled since March 2012. He is responsible for the reviews section on the site  - so get in touch if you have a product you think might be of interest to the business world. He also covers the hardware and operating systems beats. Prior to joining IT Pro, Khidr worked as a reporter at Incisive Media. He studied law at the University of Reading and completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Magazine Journalism and Online Writing at PMA Training.