The online Apple Store Apple today quietly expanded the available has expanded the range of build-to-order configuration options for the $2199 base model MacBook Pro with Retina display which had heretofore been limited to a 2.3 GHz Core i7 processor and 256 GB of flash storage, with the only performance hardware option being a $200 RAM upgrade from 8 GB to 16 GB.
Buyers of the the low-end rMBP can now also opt for 512 GB ($500) and 768 GB ($1000) SSD upgrades and/or upgrade the standard 2.3 GHz CPU to a 2.6 GHz unit for a reasonable $10.
I suppose it would be cynical to suggest that this was part of the game plan all along, for after a first wave of early adopters were persuaded to pony up an extra $600 for the higher end model in order to get a more reasonable capacity storage drive.
