MacBook Pro 15-Inch Production To Start April, 13-Inch In June

Production for Apple's much rumored thinner and lighter MacBook Pro refresh is expected to begin in mid-April. According to DigiTimes, Apple will start with the 15-inch MacBook Pro, which will have initial monthly shipments of 200,000 units. The 13-inch model will start production in June with initial monthly shipments between 300,000 and 400,000 units.

The new MacBook Pro lineup is expected to pack Intel's latest Ivy Bridge chips, which are set for release by the end of this month. The quad-core Ivy Bridge processors are expected to go on sale April 29 with the Core i7-3720QM and Core i7-3820QM models along with Intel's HD 4000 integrated graphics expected in the new MacBook Pros.

The thinner and lighter design of the new MacBook Pro models will be very similar to Apple's popular MacBook Air. The new lineup will even forgo built-in optical drives to slim down and to favor digital content delivery through iTunes over physical discs. A 17-inch model is also in the pipeline, but is rumored to retain the optical drive to keep power users happy.

[via AppleInsider]