Included in Apple’s slew of product announcements are a number of new models in the MacBook Pro lineup. These upcoming notebooks will for the first time feature the Haswell processors by Intel, which is expected to boost battery life and processing performance.

Besides the fourth-gen Intel Core CPU, this year’s 13-inch MacBook Pro has underwent several changes in hardware. It’s now thinner and lighter at 3.46 pounds and 0.71 inches at its thickest part. Apple claims the battery provides an ample 9 hours of usage time. Storage is a 128GB PCIe based flash, which promises up to 60 percent speed boost. Prospective buyers will find a much lower price that starts at just $1,299, which is $200 cheaper than the last year model of the 13-inch MacBook Pro. 4GB of RAM is available.

On the other hand, the 15-inch MacBook Pro also sports Haswell processors to take advantage of improved efficiency. This translates to up to 8 hours of continuous use. The price has also been cut by $200, so that the cheapest variant costs only $1,999. The 15-inch model also touts 8GB RAM, 256GB internal storage, and Wi-Fi 802.11ac connectivity. The new Haswell processor also makes use of Intel’s Iris integrated graphics, which should be sufficient for professional and gaming purposes.

Also included in the new MacBook Pro laptops are refined apps for productivity and entertainment. Apple has updated several of its native applications, such as iPhoto, iMovie, Pages, and GarageBand. The new OS X Mavericks also comes preinstalled and offers a variety of fixes and improvements to get better performance from the hardware components. For instance, Apple claims a 6GB worth of data can be easily fitted inside 4GB of RAM due to changes in compression and space allocation methods.

Both models of the MacBook Pro start shipping today.

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