Although Apple’s 15’’ MacBook Pro was the first consumer notebook that gained a Retina-level display (nearly a year ago), it isn’t the only such offering anymore. Google’s Chromebook Pixel with its 12.85’’ 2560×1700 display and Toshiba’s Kirabook with 2560×1440 220 PPI display have joined the market in recent months. Seeking to raise the ante on Retina displays, Samsung and Sharp have both introduced new high-resolution displays in the past week, targeting notebooks and ultrabooks with the latest technology. The new displays from both companies sport 16:9 ratios, making them unfit for Apple’s line of notebooks, which currently all use 16:10 ratio displays, but they do make Retina displays a mainstream feature in the relatively near future.

Apple Wednesday morning announced a hardware refresh of their MacBook Pro with retina display lineup, and at the same time, reduced pricing.

The base-model 13-inch MacBook Pro with retina display with 128GB of flash storage now starts at $1499, rather than $1699. For the $1699 price, buyers can get the new 2.6Ghz processor configuration with 256GB of flash storage. It doesn’t seem like a whole lot, but any slashed prices are welcome.

The refresh doesn’t only affect the 13-inch MacBook Pro with retina display, as the 15-inch MacBook Pro with retina display also gets a minor speed boost. The basic 15-inch MacBook Pro with retina display now comes with a 2.4Ghz quad-core processor configuration, while the top-of-the-line configuration now comes with a 2.7Ghz quad-core processor and 16GB of memory.

Apple has decided on the bigger 4.6-inch display for its next iPhone and started placing orders to its suppliers, the Maeil Business Newspaper said, quoting an unnamed industry source.

Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus and HTC’s upcoming HTC One both have 4.6-7 inch 720P displays. The Galaxy Nexus has a 316 PPI which is in Apple’s “Retina Threshold” but is a whole other 16:9 ratio.

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I’m sad to report that I am not as off-the-wall impressed with the new iPad as most of the other reviews I have read (except maybe David Pogue’s). It is absolutely a top-notch Apple product and easily the best tablet on the market, but not all will appreciate its tradeoffs.

The Retina display is by far the biggest new feature—and it is certainly impressive. However, it is not a life-changing experience that some have described, and it isn’t a big enough differentiator to warrant an almost double-sized battery in my opinion. The new Retina apps are really great, but the extra weight is noticeable. The marginal extra thickness does not bother me, but the heat generated by the new processor on the left side does. Reading books on the new Kindle app is certainly extra pleasurable with the Retina update, but the warmth and the weight more than offset the improved screen after about 15 minutes to 20 minutes. The new iPad also takes almost twice as long to charge; although, you can still expect it to run for almost 10 hours like all the other iPads.