Mac · Retina & Beyond · 2012
MacBook Pro with Retina Display
Retina comes to the Mac — 5.1 million pixels made text look printed. To fit it, Apple slimmed the body, soldered the RAM and ditched the DVD drive. The pro blueprint for a decade.
MacBook Pro with Retina Display: key facts
When was the MacBook Pro with Retina Display released?
The MacBook Pro with Retina Display was released in June 2012. Apple discontinued it in October 2013.
How much did the MacBook Pro with Retina Display cost?
The MacBook Pro with Retina Display launched at $2,199 in 2012 — about $3,079 in today’s money (approximate, US CPI).
What are the MacBook Pro with Retina Display’s specs?
The MacBook Pro with Retina Display used a Intel Core i7 (quad) running at 2.30 GHz, with 8 GB of memory and 256 GB of storage. It ran OS X 10.7 Lion.
Why does the MacBook Pro with Retina Display matter?
First Mac with a Retina display; dropped the optical drive and Ethernet on a pro machine.
Full specifications
| CPU | Intel Core i7 (quad) · 2.30 GHz |
|---|---|
| Cores | 4 |
| Memory (RAM) | 8 GB (up to 16 GB) |
| Storage | 256 GB |
| Display | 15.4" Retina, 2880×1800 |
| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M |
| Ports | 2× Thunderbolt, USB 3, HDMI, MagSafe 2 |
| Weight | 2.02 kg |
| Dimensions | 1.8 cm unibody |
| Operating system | OS X 10.7 Lion |
| Released | June 2012 |
| Discontinued | October 2013 |
| Launch price | $2,199 |
How the MacBook Pro with Retina Display compares to today
A 16 GB Apple Silicon MacBook Pro has about 2.0× more memory than this device shipped with.
At 2.30 GHz, the clock is roughly 1.4× slower than a single performance core of a 16 GB Apple Silicon MacBook Pro — and that is before counting cores, width and IPC.
This held about 65,500 modern phone photos — a respectable library even today.
Launched at $2,199 in 2012 — about $3,079 in today’s money (approx., US CPI).
Cross-architecture speed figures are clock-only and approximate; inflation figures use US CPI.
Did you know?
At launch almost no apps were Retina-ready, so everything looked fuzzy for months.
Related Mac models
Open the MacBook Pro with Retina Display in the interactive archive →
Last updated: 2026-06-25