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| Source: Macgasm |
June is here and that means it is time for Apple’s annual
Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). Kicking off on the 11th of
the month, Apple is set to refresh nearly its entire lineup of computer
hardware at this year’s WWDC. Apple’s neglect of the Mac Pro, which has not
seen an update in two years, has caused panic among the artists and
professionals who use the machine. For a while, speculation was that Apple
would kill off the Mac Pro line entirely. Several “Save the Mac Pro” groups
sprouted up across the Internet to show Apple that buyers for its workstation
still exist. The Mac Pro will likely be updated this year with the latest 6 and 8-core Xeon E5 processors from
Intel.
Next up: The MacBook Pro. Rumors suggest that the MacBook
Pro lineup will get a complete redesign. The current unibody design has been around since October of 2008,
although it has seen updates along the way. To reduce thickness and weight,
Apple is expected to deliver the redesigned MacBook Pros sans optical drive
(Superdrive in Apple speak). An optical drive-less world is an inevitability
considering that Apple doesn’t even ship its latest operating system in DVD
format. The new MacBook Pros are also expected to have high-resolution “retina”
displays like the iPhone and iPad have. I’ll wait until WWDC to get too excited
about this feature, though. It would make computing more enjoyable and less
strenuous on one’s eyes, but a display with nearly double the resolution of the
current display is a large step.
The two remaining models in Apple’s lineup, the Mac Mini and
the iMac (and also the above MacBook Pro), will
be updated with Intel’s latest “Ivy Bridge” Core i processors.
The final few things that are expected at WWDC are software
related. It is likely that Apple will unveil some of the features of the yet to
be released iOS 6. To be included in iOS 6 is Apple’s new version of Maps.
Instead of relying on Google’s maps, Apple will create its own 3d map software
for the iPhone. Also likely is that Apple will demonstrate more features of the
upcoming Mac OS 10.8 “Mountain Lion.” They’ve given us a preview of “Mountain
Lion” before, but they will likely unveil more features at this year’s WWDC.
Be sure to catch Apple Insider’s live updates of WWDC on June 11 starting at 1:00PM eastern time.
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