First Take: MacBook Pro

By  |  Tuesday, October 14, 2008 at 10:39 am

Those spy shots we’ve been seeing were real — as promised the new MacBook Pro came with a new unibody aluminum enclosure, switching out the old silver buttoned keyboard for one closer to that of the current MacBooks. Gone is the trackpad button as well, meaning Apple is ready to bring the finger gestures that has become part of iPhone navigation to the world of Apple notebooks.

Yes, the rumors of Apple creating these machines out of a single block of aluminum are true too, by the way. The trackpad is made of glass, which Apple says will allow users to employ 40 percent more tracking area, and virtual buttons can be used in order to use right clicking from the mouse pad (Yaay! no more control-click!).

The new MBP will swap out the Intel integrated chip for NVidia’s chips, including BOTH the GeForce 9400M and 9600 GT, allowing for better graphics capability when the user needs it. They can be switched on the fly, which is pretty cool if you ask me.

Apple has also opted to use the Mini Display Port, which is best explained by AppleInsider:

DisplayPort is a new license-free, royalty-free, digital audio/video interconnect, intended to be used primarily between a computer and its display monitor, or a computer and a home-theater system.”

That would allow the MBP to connect to the new Apple Display, also introduced today for $899.

What the enthusiast sites apparently missed in their guesses was the SSD option, which brings one of the Air’s signature features to the MBP line. This along with the new manufacturing process would also allow Apple to shrink its laptops even further — the new model measures in at .95″ thick.

Here’s the highlights of the specs of each model that we haven’t covered above:

$1999

  • 15.4″ widescreen LED-backlit display
  • 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
  • 2GB RAM, expandable to 4GB;
  • 250GB HDD with Sudden Motion Sensor
  • 8X SuperDrive
  • 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, Ethernet
  • iSight camera
  • two USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire® 800 port, ExpressCard card slot
  • one audio line in and one audio line out port

$2499

  • 15.4″ widescreen LED-backlit display
  • 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
  • 4GB RAM
  • 320GB HDD with Sudden Motion Sensor
  • 8X SuperDrive
  • 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, Ethernet
  • iSight camera
  • two USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire® 800 port, ExpressCard card slot
  • one audio line in and one audio line out port

The new models will begin shipping immediately, with Jobs telling the crowd to expect them at retail on Wednesday.

 
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  1. new-macbook-pro-macbook-and-cinema-displayin-per | seomcek.com Says:

    […] striking thing is that while the naming conventions of MacBook and MacBook Pro live on, the difference in industrial design does not. And even in terms of specs, the […]