Apple announced
San Francisco– Faster, thinner laptops with hi-res screens as well as FaceTime video chatting over cellular networks. And a smarter Siri,But no upgrades to Apple TV .That, in brief, is what Apple will be rolling out to its users over the next six months. The company announced these updates, and a bunch of other significant if not surprising news, during a keynote presentation Monday kicking off its annual developers’ conference.
Here are the highlights:
Refreshed MacBooks:
The most impressive new product announced on Monday is a new MacBook laptop with a high-resolution display that Apple says will contain 5 million pixels — 3 million more than an HD television.
“the new MacBook Pro is the most advanced Mac we have ever built,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook.
The new “retina display” MacBook Pro measures 15.5 inches across and contains an Intel quad-core i7 processor. It will feature up to 16GB of memory and up to 768GB of internal flash storage, Marketing Vice President Phil Schiller told attendees. It goes on sale today.
The laptop is about .7 inches thick and weighs less than 4.5 pounds — about the size and weight of a MacBook Air, he said. Prices for the new MacBook Pro will start at $2,199 for a model with 8GB of memory.
iOS 6 and Siri:
That system, which enhances mobile devices with more than 200 new features, is expected to be available this fall.
“In iOS 6 we have built an entire new mapping system from the ground up. And it looks beautiful,” said Senior VP for iOS Scott Forstall. “We’re covering the world.”
Thirty billion apps and counting:
The event runs through Friday and is the company’s first World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) since co-founder and longtime chief Steve Jobs died last fall.
