According to a new report from DigiTimes, new slimline versions of the 13 and 15-inch Macbook Pro are currently in production and on-target for March shipments.
The report indicates that the Macbook Pro will lose its optical drive in the next refresh, allowing for an overall reduction in weight and thickness.
The MacBook Pro will no longer have an optical drive enabling thinner designs, the sources indicated. Despite the slim profile, the new devices will feature more advanced specs than the MacBook Air in terms of CPU performance and storage capacity, the sources said.
Production for the next-generation MacBook Pro has already begun with shipments to Apple kicking off in March, the sources noted. Monthly shipments will eventually climb to 900,000 units from the 100,000-150,000 units targeted initially, the sources said.
The decision to drop the optical drive from the MacBook Pro line of laptops reduces the differentiation between the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air lines, with some suggestion that Apple may merge the two product lines at some point in the future.