MBP

The seemingly unquenchable thirst for unsubstantiated news concerning Apple products rasps on today with two separate reports predicting Apple’s 13-inch MacBook Pros would soon be getting high-definition Retina displays. Mac-centric blog AppleInsider received a note from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo saying that Apple would have a 13-inch MacBook Pro with a Retina display on store shelves in time for the holiday shopping season. At this week’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Apple unveiled Retina displays for the 15-inch MacBook Pro.

After introducing the next generation 15.4-inch MacBook Pro, complete with Retina Display and an all-new thin design, Apple took down the 17-inch version of its laptop from its online store, effectively killing off the large desktop replacement.

Although no official announcement was made during Apple's WWDC keynote on Monday, the disappearance of the 17-inch MacBook Pro from the company's online store can be taken as confirmation that the large-screened notebook has reached end-of-life. 

The new MacBook Pro to be announced at WWDC 2012 tomorrow may not sport a redesigned Air-like enclosure. According to these photos—posted to Chinese forum WeiPhone—they will have the same industrial design of the old models, down to the same screw placement.

Chinese forum WeiPhone usually has solid information and these photos seem real. They show different components in a similarly shaped motherboard that has the exact same holes as the current one has. This may indicate that the exterior aluminum unibody design would remain exactly the same.