Apple’s flagship Regent Street store has sold out of the new MacBook Pro notebook, just hours after going on sale. And a tipster told Pocket-lint that the London-based branch only had seven to sell in the first place.

The portable computer that features a Retina display, the like of which is found in both the iPad and iPhone 4S, was announced on Monday at Apple’s WWDC event, where it was revealed it would begin shipping immediately.

Yet, despite the steep price tag – a cool starting cost of £1,799 up to almost £3,000 – fanboys remain as keen as ever to get their hands on the latest Apple kit. Sadly, having received only seven new MacBook Pros for its opening day, the store is telling customers they will have to come back tomorrow.

“We did have some today, but we have already sold out,” a sales person at the Regents Street Apple Store told Pocket-lint. “We’ll have some more deliveries tomorrow, but we don’t know how many.”

We also spoke to the Covent Garden Apple Store, who told us that it didn't get any stock of the new MacBook Pro on launch day at all.

Online customers aren't faring much better. They're being told that they will now have to wait three to four weeks before they can expect delivery. Mind you, at least OS X Mountain Lion will be available around then.

Whether Apple has underestimated the demand for the new MacBook Pro or whether it’s a clever ploy by the manufacturer to keep wanting customers coming back to the store, we’ll leave you to decide.

Have you tried to buy a new MacBook Pro? What was your experience? Let us know in the comments below...