Thinner 15-Inch MacBook Pro Coming with Retina Display and USB 3.0

Apple's much-rumored 15-inch MacBook Pro will reportedly receive a new design that will be considerably thinner than the existing MacBook Pro due to the removal of the optical drive.

While many have speculated that the new 15-inch MacBook Pro will pickup the design from the late-2010/mid-2011 MacBook Air, sources familiar with the prototype units say that this is untrue. Instead, the new 15-inch MacBook Pro is described as being an ultra-thin version of the current MacBook Pro. Basically, the prototype design is a thinner, yet more robust, version of the late-2008 design. It has no tapering like the MacBook Airs.

The casing of the forthcoming MacBook Pro includes ports for the MagSafe power connector, two USB ports, and audio in/out jacks, a battery level indicator along the left side. The right side offers a pair of Thunderbolt ports, another USB port, an SD card slot, and a Kensington lock slot. Apple also may remove Ethernet port entirely in order to achieve the thin design.

The report indicates that the USB ports on the new MacBook Pro will support USB 3.0. A fresh report from Digitimes also claims that Genesys Logic has won a contract to supply USB 3.0 chips for a forthcoming MacBook Air revision, and it seems likely that such compatibility would also be coming to the MacBook Pro.

A launch timeframe for the new MacBook Pro remains unknown.