Apple Working on MacBook Pro Retina Displays: Report

Forget iPad 3's with Retina Displays, Apple might give its MacBook Pro line-up a real "pro" upgrade with screen resolutions that could stretch 2,880x1,800 pixels. Currently, the highest configurated 17-inch MacBook Pro tops out at 1,920x1,200. A Retina Display on a MacBook Pro would mean significantly more screen real estate.

This isn't the first time we've heard talk about Retina Displays for Apple's Mac family. DigiTimes reports that "sources in the upstream supply chain" highly support Apple releasing a MacBook Pro with such a dense display.

No doubt the Apple blogs will be going crazy over this bit of news, but can a display with such a resolution be done?

Well, if we look at what's been swirling around in the Apple rumor-verse, it certainly seems like a possible move on Cupertino's part.

If a slimmed down 15-inch MacBook Air gets launched in 2012 as rumored, then Apple might see fit to once again split its lineup of notebooks into real consumer and professional sectors as it once did (MacBook vs. MacBook Pro).

For notebooks, other than the portable MacBook Air (come on, the integrated graphics are still rather weak), Apple sells the MacBook Pros. Since the 13-inch MacBook Pro arrived, and the plastic polycarbonate MacBook was dropped, the Pro line is the only one that's still standing, for a notebook with an optical drive.

Apple's 27-inch iMac has a 2,560x1,440 display, so it's not within Apple's reach to build a Retina Display. Samsung's rumored to have its own high-pixel 2,560x1,600 11.6-inch display for a Galaxy Tab, which could just as easily be used for a laptop.

A higher resolution sounds real nice on paper, but if Apple can't sort out any accompanying battery drainage or pricing premiums, consumers might not bite. But again, maybe that's exactly Apple's strategy — to target a Retina Display MacBook Pro away from ma and pa and at real power-users who would appreciate all those extra pixels. Wouldn't that be a surprise?

Via DigiTimes

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