Apple rumored to be bringing Retina display to 15-inch MacBook Pro

From iPhone to iPod touch to iPad, Apple has slowly but surely rolled Retina displays across their iOS device lineup, and according to the latest rumors, they may be ready to start bringing it to the Mac. 9to5Mac's Mark Gurman has the scoop:

Apple will also introduce the Mac Retina Display in this new MacBook Pro, according to these sources in the far-east. The display is quoted as "jaw-dropping" and "definitely the most important Mac innovation in years," by sources familiar with the quality of the screens in test-production.

Sources familiar with software strings left behind in OS X Lion 10.7.4 and Mountain Lion betas say that this Retina Display MacBook Pro features multiple Retina resolution modes, so users are able to adjust the sharpness and image sizes to their liking.

Reportedly also in the pipeline is a new, thinner design that may ditch the chunky ethernet port, but add a fast USB 3 port to the mix, as well as the MacBook Air-style keyboard.

Retina Display on iOS uses a "point" that contains four pixels for each single pixel on old, non-Retina displays, resulting in text and images that are four times sharper. At that size, the individual pixels are typically too small for the human eye to see, and the results are more like digital paper than traditional dot displays.

Since Apple only had two screen sizes to handle in iOS -- iPhone/iPod touch and iPad -- it was a fairly straightforward transition for developers and designers, and transparent to end users. How they'll handle it with OS X, which goes from the 11 inch MacBook Air to the 27-inch iMac will be interesting.

Talk of Retina display Macs (or HiDPI or resolution independent) has been around for a while, as have signs that Apple has been preparing for it. After the new iPad in March, after using it for long periods of time, going back to the Mac made the text look pixelated.

Hopefully we'll learn -- and maybe even see -- more of these next generation Macs at WWDC 2012 this June.

If you're waiting on new MacBook Pros, jump into our Apple Forum and tell us just exactly what features you'll need to hit the buy button. And for more on Retina display in general, check out our Iterate podcast roun

Source: 9to5Mac