For all those who weren’t up real early this morning, you may have missed the buzz around Apple’s updates to it’s product line at the Worldwide Developers Conference. Focusing on the Macbook Pro, it looks like the changes are more than just a simple speed and battery life increase. Some of the main features include the long discussed upgrade to a retina display which is likely to become the standard for most Apple products. With pixel sizes that are individually invisible to the naked eye, the overall display is well received as being very crisp and easy to read in many lighting conditions. The weight is likely to come down to around 2KGs which is still heavier than other Windows based laptops but, when you consider the overall build quality, is quite an achievement.  Making use of Intel’s newest architecture, the newer Macbook Pros will feature an i7 third generation processor and can be upgraded to a total of 16GB of RAM. 3 USB 3.0 connections will be available (backwards compatible with most legacy USB equipment), though we generally prefer four, but there is an HDMI connector which is a much welcomed addition.

It will be an interesting test to see if people are willing to pay the expected $2499 RRP in Australia at launch or await the inevitable price drop. Especially considering you can get very good Windows laptops for under the thousand dollar mark including extended 3 year’s warranty and typically a host of other features packed in including gaming graphics chips. As many companies are epxressing, the drop in consumer purchase growth with overall computer sales growth just 1.9 percent in the first quarter of this year. Apple is currently the third top computer maker in the USA with around a 10.6 share of the market, and is still out of the top 5 worldwide computer makers such as IBM and Dell (not including tablets).