Retina MacBook updated with new CPUs, faster storage, rose gold option

Apple’s ultra-thin 12″ retina MacBooks (launched a year ago) have been updated to include 1.1-1.3GHz. dual-core Intel Core M CPUs based on the chip giant’s Skylake architecture, which was released last summer/fall. The original MacBooks used CPUs based on Intel’s prior-gen Broadwell architecture. The Skylake chips come with an integrated GPU (the Intel HD 515) said to deliver up to 25% better graphics performance.

Apple has also provided faster PCIe flash storage for its retina MacBooks, and promises an additional hour of battery life. A rose gold option has been added to go with existing gold, silver, and space grey options. The notebooks still sport an all-metal enclosure and Force Touch trackpad, and continues relying on a single USB Type-C port for power and data.

A base model (1.1GHz. Core M3 CPU with Turbo Boost speeds of up to 2.2GHz. and 256GB of storage) still goes for $1,299, and a more powerful model (1.2GHz Core M5 CPU with Turbo Boost up to 2.7GHz., 512GB of storage) for $1,599. A Core M7 CPU is available via configure-to-order options.

With a weak PC market weighing, Apple’s Mac revenue fell 3% Y/Y in calendar Q4 to $6.7B, with units dropping 4% to 5.3M. ASP rose to $1,270 from the prior quarter’s $1,205.

Apple has also quietly made a small-but-notable update to the $999 base model for the 13″ MacBook Air: It now comes with 8GB of RAM instead of 4GB.