Why Didn’t the New 13-inch MacBook Pro Get a Higher Resolution Screen?

By Ray Nicolini

There's no question that the new MacBook Pros are blazingly awesome. The whole line has been rejuvenated with Sandy Bridge processors, better graphics and a lightning fast Thunderbolt I/O port. But one thing has been bothering us about the update, or rather, lack of update: The 13-inch MacBook Pro still has a lower resolution screen. There's not even an option for a higher-res screen, like the 15-inch Pro.

Why is the 13-inch Macbook Pro still stuck with a worse screen than the 13-inch MacBook Air?

It doesn't seem to be an aspect ratio problem, the 13-inch MacBook Pro has a native resolution of 1280 by 800 at a 16:10 aspect ratio. The beautifully high resolution screen of the 13-inch MacBook Air has a native resolution of 1440x900 which is, yup, also 16:10 (and the same resolution as the stock 15-inch MBP). We can't imagine Apple needing to use leftover displays because of an over-order from component companies either. They're too competent and agile for that kind of mistake. And finally, updating an LCD panel doesn't seem too hard—it's arguably as easy as updating any of the other internals.

So...what happened? Are they saving it for a future re-design? That seems to be the most obvious reason, since everything else on the Pros, except for the hot new chips and Thunderbolt (which even uses the same hole in the chassis as the old Mini DisplayPort), is exactly the same. But we don't know.

We'd love to hear from you guys on this. If you have ideas on why there's no high resolution screen for the 13-inch MacBook Pro or hell, even a high resolution resolution screen option, please leave a comment or e-mail me here. If you have facts on why this couldn't happen or any sort of evidence, we'd really love to talk to you.

AppleInsider: New MacBook Air 'certain' to be 11.6-inches, may have flash-based instant-wake ability

By Ray Nicolini

Rumors of an 11.6 inch MacBook Air refresh are nothing new at this point, but AppleInsider says it's confirmed a smaller version of Apple's ultraportable is coming at next weel's "Back to the Mac" event, and that units are rolling off factory lines right now in preparation for near-immediate delivery. AI also says it's been told that the revised machine will feature a novel new storage system called "SSD Card" that looks like a stick of RAM -- a smaller form factor that would obviously allow the new Air to be even smaller, and possibly sport instant-on wake times, something that's been rumored from other sources this week as well. We'll be at the event live next week so we'll see what happens -- keep it locked right here.

Update: CNET's chiming in with rumors of a "significantly lower" price than the current model's $1,499 starting point, which is always fun to hear -- the catch is that it might still use an older Intel Core 2 Duo chip and NVIDIA chipset, which is far less fun. We'll see!

via Engadget.com