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 1440×900 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, tell us in the comments.