Apple unveils updated MacBook Pro notebooks

As anticipated, the iPhone maker has boosted both the memory and processing power of its professional laptop range and has also cut the price of its one remaining non-Retina Display model.

Now, all models with a Retina display come with double the memory and improved battery life. So for 13-inch models that means 8GB instead of 4GB of RAM as standard and 16GB in the 15-inch models.

All 13- or 15-inch notebooks also get upgraded to the latest iteration of Intel's Haswell processor, so performance and battery life will also get an upward push. With the smaller Retina display notebooks that means dual-core Intel Core i5 processors that offer up to 2.8GHz with additional Turbo Boost speeds of up to 3.3HGz while the bigger notebooks get quad-core Intel Core i7 processors up to 2.5 GHz with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.7 GHz.

However, Apple is keeping prices the same. That means that an entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display will cost $1,299 (€1299) with a 2.6 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.1 GHz, 8GB of memory, 128GB of flash storage and Intel Iris graphics.

For an extra $700 or €700, consumers will be able to snap up a 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display boasting a 2.2 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.4 GHz, 16GB of memory, 256GB of flash storage and Intel Iris Pro graphics.

If the specs bumps weren't sufficiently appealing, Apple has also cut the price of the flagship 15-inch model -- which comes with a 2.5 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.7 GHz, 16GB of memory, 512GB of flash storage, and Intel Iris Pro and NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M graphics -- to just $2,499 (€2499).

"People love their MacBook Pro because of the thin and light, aluminum unibody design, beautiful Retina display, all day battery life and deep integration with OS X," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. "The MacBook Pro with Retina display gets even better with faster processors, more memory, more affordable configurations and a free upgrade to OS X Yosemite this fall."

On Tuesday, the company also confirmed that its last remaining notebook with an optical drive, the 13-inch MacBook Pro, which is slightly thicker than the Retina Display models thanks to its CD/DVD combo drive and which has a lower resolution screen, will remain in production.

Describing it as an attractive option for consumers considering making their initial jump from a PC to a Mac, the laptop has a 2.5 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.1 GHz and a 500GB spinning hard drive and while it hasn't had its RAM upgraded (it's stuck on 4GB), it has had US$100 cut from its price tag. It will now cost just US$1099.