Apple Launch Event (23 Oct) – 13" Macbook Pro & iPad Mini

New Macbook Pro. New iPad Mini. Apple Fans! Stay tuned to 23 October 2012. The upcoming event has primarily focused on the iPad Mini but Apple would also likely unveil a refresh to the current Macbook Pro series. The new MacBook Pro 13″ with a Retina screen of resolution up to 2560 x 1600, is expected to be launched in end October and we have leaked photos to back up the claim. The retina resolution is typically used for 30″ inch displays and now compressed to fit a 13″ laptop screen. I can imagine Tim Cook come 23 Oct, waxing lyrical on how brilliant and revolutionary the new screen will be.

Leaked Photos of 13″ Macbook Pro 2012 (Retina)

The photos above are courtesy of a forum user on bbs.weiphone.com. The new Macbook Pro 13″ looks to be slightly thicker than the Macbook Air, and comes with additional connectivity of the HDMI, 2 thunderbird ports and USB 3.0. The new Macbook Pro provides a good solution to those who are looking for portability, yet not wanting to compromise on raw computing power. Furthermore, the retina screen display would be useful to graphic designers or editors.

On the online websites, 9to5Mac has speculated that the launch price of the potential small MacBook Pro to start from around US$1,699. Higher spec’ed models will be up for an additional US$200-US$300. That translates to a Singapore price of approximately S$2,198 but would likely be marked up further. Macs don’t come cheap.

iPad Mini

We covered the iPad mini previously and nothing much has changed since. Just a couple more days to the launch event, where in Apple own words – “We have a little more to show you“. It is also possible that Apple would refresh the current 9.8” iPad at the same time as well, as that is the only product that is currently still using the old 30 pin dock connector and it would make sense to migrate all products over to the Apple Lightning connector.