Apple just announced their latest line of MacBook Pro with Retina Display. For what spanned endless months of waiting for the market now became a reality. The tech giant held a press event last Oct 22 to unveil its new sets of products including the refreshed line of MacBook Pros running on fourth generation Intel Core processors. As Apple claims, the 2013 MacBook Pro is the "world's best pro notebook" today.

Can the refreshed MacBooks truly deliver?

Announced features include efficient energy use, longer battery life, latest Intel Core processors, new and improved graphics and enhanced flash storage. The device starts at $1,299. True to its design principle, Apple kept the MacBooks thin and light. According to the tech giant, they will be shipping the refreshed notebooks with free iWork and iLife.

Retina Display

One of the most standout features of the device is its Retina Display. According to Apple, the latest MacBooks have stunning high-resolution display unlike any other. The retina display on the 13-inch model boasts of four million pixels, while the 15-inch model packs five million pixels. This provides users a level of clarity that is impressive and astounding, according to Apple.

"The pixel density is so high, your eyes can't discern individual pixels. Images take on a new level of realism. A spectacular 2560-by-1600 resolution on the 13‑inch MacBook Pro and an equally impressive 2880-by-1800 resolution on the 15‑inch MacBook Pro let you see more of your high-resolution images with pixel-for-pixel accuracy. And text is so sharp, you'll feel like you're reading email, web pages, and documents on a printed page," Apple said in their post.

Haswell Chips and Performance

Even though the MacBook Pros are 0.71 inches thin, they promise a lot of power. The 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display runs on fourth generation dual-core Intel Core i5 processors clocked at 2.6 GHz with Turbo Boost at 3.1 GHz. The device is 90 percent faster than previous models thanks to the integrated Intel Iris graphics. It is possible to configure the 13-inch model using faster dual-core Intel Core i7 processors clocked at 2.8 GHz with Turbo Boost at 3.3 GHz.

The 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display runs on fourth generation quad-core Intel Core i7 processors clocked at 2.3 GHz with Turbo Boost at 3.5 GHz. The 15-inch variant features Intel Iris Pro graphics for unmatched integrated graphics performance. Users can choose to configure the 15 incher with Iris Pro and GeForce GT 750M discrete graphics plus 2 GB of video memory for unprecedented performance.

Users can configure the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display using faster quad-core Intel Core i7 clocked at 2.6 GHz with Turbo Boost at 3.8 GHz. As for battery life, the 13-inch MacBook Pro offers up to 9 hours of battery life. This is additional two hours from the previous models. It also offers up to 9 hours of video playback. The 15-inch MacBook Pro, on the other hand, offers 8 hours of battery life. This provides additional hour of battery from previous model. Video playback is up to eight hours.

PCIe-based Flash Storage and Wi-Fi

MacBook Pro with Retina display also includes PCIe-based flash storage. This offers up to 60 percent better performance compared to the previous generation. The 802.11ac Wi-Fi provides smooth wireless connectivity that is three times better than the previous offering. Dual Thunderbolt 2 ports provide up to 20 Gbps of bandwidth for every external device. This lets people connect to a number high-performing devices plus multiple displays. An HDMI port provides users fast HDTV connectivity.

OS X Mavericks

The refreshed line of MacBook Pro with Retina display comes with OS X(R) Mavericks. The Mavericks is the 10th installment of the one of the most advanced operating systems. The MacApp Store offers the OS for free. The OS Mavericks offers over 200 new features along with power-saving capacities to make sure the Mac performs faster and uses energy more efficiently.

The OS X Mavericks features a Compressed Memory function which shrinks inactive data automatically. This ensures the Mac is responsive and fast. Dynamic video memory allocation and optimised OpenCL support for enhanced memory and integrated graphics.

"We've made the world's best pro notebook even better by adding more performance and even longer battery life," Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, Philip Schiller, claimed.

"MacBook Pro with Retina display continues to redefine the pro notebook," he added.