Fresh from Apple's press event last Oct 22, 2013, Haswell-based MacBook Pros continue to make headlines. The refreshed set of laptops now run on fourth-generation Intel Core processors and packs on Retina display, faster storage and better connectivity options. Has Apple successfully returned to be the leading laptop maker?

"We've made the world's best pro notebook even better by adding more performance and even longer battery life," according to Philip Schiller, senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing for Apple. The Haswell chips proved to be a good addition to their iMac and MacBook Air lines, and it seems the same will go for the new MacBooks.

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

OS X Mavericks

The refreshed line of MacBook Pro with Retina display runs on Apple's OS X Mavericks. The Mavericks will be the 10th installment of Apple's advanced operating system. People can download the latest update for free from the Mac App Store

The OS Mavericks offers over 200 new features. Apple made sure users can take advantage of their OS by including the Compressed Memory feature. This feature shrinks inactive data to ensure the device stays responsive and fast. The graphics also supports top notch graphic performance through a dynamic video memory allocation and OpenCL support.

iWork and iLife

Apple also announced that people can get iWork and iLife for every purchase of Mac. iWork offers features like Numbers, Pages and Keynotes allowing users to create, control and share important documents like presentations and spreadsheets. iLife and iWork have been configured to provide full OS X Mavericks experience. The two apps are also iCloud integrated and updated to 64-bit.

Pricing and Configurations

The MacBook Pro with Retina display can be purchased through Apple Authorized Resellers and Apple retail stores. The 13-inch MacBook Pro ships with 2.4 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor and Turbo Boost speeds up to 2.9 GHz. It also includes 128 GB flash storage, Intel Iris graphics and 4 GB of memory. Other configurations include 2.4 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor plus Turbo Boost speeds up to 2.9 GHz, 256 GB flash storage and 8 GB memory; 2.6 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor plus Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.1 GHz, 512 GB flash storage and 8 GB memory.

Retina/Screen Resolution

Apple has something to say about the pixel support of the new MacBook Pro Line:

"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."

The 15-inch model offers 5 million pixels, whereas the 13-inch model offers 4 million.