10 Years Ago Today: Apple Announces First MacBook Pro With a Retina Display

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Today marks the 10th anniversary of Apple announcing the first MacBook Pro model featuring a higher-resolution Retina display.

2012 retina macbook pro apple website
Introduced at WWDC 2012, the 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro introduced a much thinner design compared to the previous model, as Apple removed the built-in Ethernet port, FireWire port, and CD/DVD drive. The notebook was still equipped with two Thunderbolt ports, two USB-A ports, an HDMI port, an SD card slot, MagSafe 2, and a headphone jack.

"The MacBook Pro with Retina display pushes the limits of performance and portability like no other notebook," said Apple CEO Tim Cook, in a press release announcing the new MacBook Pro. "With a gorgeous Retina display, all flash architecture and a radically thin and light design, the new MacBook Pro is the most advanced Mac we have ever built."


At the time it launched, Apple said the Retina MacBook Pro featured the world's highest resolution notebook display, with 220 pixels per inch. The notebook was powered by Intel's third-generation quad-core Core i7 processors, and equipped with NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M graphics, up to 16GB of RAM, and up to a 768GB SSD.

Pricing for the first Retina MacBook Pro started at $2,199 in the United States. In October 2012, Apple announced a 13-inch MacBook Pro with a Retina display, which started at a lower price of $1,699. Both notebooks are now on Apple's obsolete products list.

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Top Rated Comments

Johann2000 Avatar
Johann2000
28 months ago
10 years later and we are still at 8GB base ram ..
Score: 94 Votes (Like | Disagree)
erkanasu Avatar
erkanasu
28 months ago
who else is feeling old AF?
Score: 59 Votes (Like | Disagree)
entropys Avatar
entropys
28 months ago
The high point of apple design.
Score: 56 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Sharky II Avatar
Sharky II
28 months ago
Typing this on my 2012 rMBP and it's still a great machine... the screen is still beautiful, bright, white and sharp. I was lucky that mine didn't have the delaminating issue.

Quad core i7, 16GB RAM and an SSD means it's still more than capable of dealing with everyday tasks... it can play a 60fps 4K video on YouTube without issue and even plays back 4K H265 files but having no decode/encoders, the fans ramp up immediately!

MagSafe, built in SD Card reader, HDMI out, minidisplay port and USB3...! The only thing that lets it down is that, since installing opencore/Monterey, running it in 1920 "high" res makes it feel a little sluggish (graphically). But most of the time I'm at default unless there's some specific work that needs lots of space.

This model obviously peaked in 2015.

Here it is next to a 10 year younger Mac Studio Ultra and it still looks modern.

Attachment Image
Score: 34 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheYayAreaLiving ?️ Avatar
TheYayAreaLiving ?️
28 months ago
Golden era! Such an iconic product. Most advanced ?

When Apple announced this MacBook Pro. I couldn’t afford it however the retina screen display was stunning. This was a well-developed, structured, and industry-leading engineered product, Apple had worked on.
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Think|Different Avatar
Think|Different
28 months ago
Meanwhile, still too many entry-level, third-party displays are still nothing close. It’s baffling.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments