New Mac Pro Family and MacBook

[jwxie518]

It is not a new but just a thought to write it.

For those of you avoiding the whole WWDC live-blogging sensation that's going on throughout the web, here's a little tidbit of information you may not yet know. Apple announced the immediate availability of a largely-refreshed MacBook line. New models include a refreshed 15" MacBook Pro, a new (actually refreshed) 13" MacBook Pro, and an updated MacBook Air.

If you'll recall the 17" MacBook Pro has a fairly handsome battery that is built-in, recharges 1,000 times and lasts for 7 hours. That same battery can now be found in the 15" MacBook Pro and the 13" MacBook Pro. Apparently Apple really has a beef against user-replaceable batteries. But if they don't require recharging every 3 1/2 hours or die completely in 2 years, this may not be a bad thing.

The 15" and 13" MacBook Pros now feature an SD card slot to be replacing the ExpressCard slot of yore. Personally, I have never found a use for the ExpressCard slot but I imagine those with mobile data packages will be less than stunned. For the Firewire crowd there's some good news, the 13" MacBook Pro now has FireWire (again) so we can all put our pitchforks down.

The 15" MacBook Pro now starts at $1,699US featuring the 2.53GHZ Core 2 Duo and GeForce 9400 graphics only. Step-up models priced at $1,999 and $2,299 feature the 9400M and 9600M GT combo.

* $1,699US: 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB DDR3 RAM, GeForce 9400M graphics, 250GB HDD
* $1,999US: 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB DDR3 RAM, GeForce 9400M + 9600M GT graphics, 320GB
* $2,299US: 2.80GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB DDR3 RAM, GeForce 9400M + 9600M GT graphics, 500GB HDD

The 13" MacBook Pro is essentially a re-badged unibody MacBook but now featuring an SD card slot, Firewire, and the 7-hour battery hotness The new 13" MBP can be had with hard drives up to 500GB in capacity and RAM sizes up to 8GB. It didn't take long for the aluminum 13-incher to best its white sibling.

* $1,199US: 2.26GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB DDR3 RAM, GeForce 9400M graphics, 160GB HDD
* $1,499US: 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB DDR3 RAM, GeForce 9400M graphics, 250GB HDD

The MacBook Air has also received a little love in terms of specs increase and price decrease:

* $1,499US: 1.86GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB DDR3 RAM, GeForce 9400M graphics, 120GB HDD
* $1,799US: 2.13GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB DDR3 RAM, GeForce 9400M graphics, 128GB SSD

For college students, the BACK-TO-SCHOOL SUMMER PROMOTION sale is on-going. Get a Mac and you can get both 1) free printer and 2) free iPod touch.

The greatest news with the Pro 13" is that it adds the firewire 800 back and an SD reader slot instead of the express slot. I personally think SD slot is more convinceent but it is still a good idea with the ES in the past. Firewire is always an important feature to those professionals. Like my father who is a video editor, he needs it for almost everything. He said he dislike USB and it is still widely use for most of the digital electronic products (camera, video, converter, input/output)...

What do you guys think?

[WingedPanther]

I'm more of a Linux guy. I think Macs are a little pricey for what you get.

[jwxie518]

I am still pretty young (no income in fact) so there is little option for me. But since this is my first laptop and is my laptop for college, I would give the money for the MacBook Pro.
But I agree Panther, it's way too pricey.

[Jordan]

Impressive! I love the new batteries they have - 7 hours! Did you know they manufacture their own batteries and developed new technology for them?
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[jwxie518]

Impressive! I love the new batteries they have - 7 hours! Did you know they manufacture their own batteries and developed new technology for them?
Posted via CodeCall Mobile

lol that i do not know, Jordan. It's impressive. When people reported on the SATA I SSD speed limitation at 1.5Gpbs (should be 3.0), they said it was the reason Apple increased the battery life.

I would say the average is around 6 hours+ for common use. Although the battery is unchangeable, meaning if it dies, most likely you would have to purchase a new one. Most average Macbook users would buy a new MB within 3 years so I say this battery life (up to 5 years they say) is good enough.

[Jordan]

That is the one bad thing about these batteries, if they die you have to send your Macbook off to Apple and could be without a computer for a couple of weeks.

[jwxie518]

yeah... that's too.
lol

[TkTech]

I'll be sending you pictures of my new macbook pro on the 15th (my B-Day)

[Jordan]

Awesome! My birthday is on the 10th.

Here is a video about their new battery and what they've done: Apple - MacBook Pro - 17-inch Battery Video

[TkTech]

That video is B.S, btw. 'Their' engineers are sourced from Sony, and the concept of making a round thing flat to save space isn't exactly unique (Think IKEA) The battery is simply higher quality and a bit bigger to make up for the fact its non-replacable.