New Mac Book Pro & Mac Book

[Martin_Doudoroff]

Today, Apple announced upgrades to their Mac Book and Mac Book Pro lines.

The new Mac Book update appears to be little more than a processor replacement.

The new Mac Book Pro update is notable for:

• LED backlight option for 17" model (15" already had one)
• Upgraded graphics (could be useful for Aperture 2.0 users)
• Multi-touch track pad (as in the Mac Book Air)

Prices remain roughly the same across the board and all units appear to be available immediately.

[Jerry Skrocki]

Originally Posted by Martin_Doudoroff

Today, Apple announced upgrades to their Mac Book and Mac Book Pro lines.

The new Mac Book update appears to be little more than a processor replacement and upgraded wireless networking.

The new Mac Book Pro update is notable for:

• LED backlight option for 17" model (15" already had one)
• Upgraded graphics (should be useful for Aperture 2.0 users)
• Multi-touch track pad (as in the Mac Book Air)
• Networking and ports all brought up to most current technology

Prices remain roughly the same across the board and all units appear to be available immediately.

The wireless updates are not new (2007) and there are no new ports. The only new updates are processor and hard drive choices for the MacBook. For the MacBook Pro, new processor, hard drive choices, video card memory upgrade, choice of LED screen ($100 option that extends battery life to and estimated 5 hours) and touchpad.

This was a disappointing announcement. Why not move to all LED technology? Bandwidth is still limited to 800MHz and the same DDR2 667MHz memory.

[Martin_Doudoroff]

Originally Posted by Jerry Skrocki

The wireless updates are not new (2007) and there are no new ports.

I stand corrected.

Originally Posted by Jerry Skrocki

This was a disappointing announcement.

Yes, Mr. Pundit.

Originally Posted by Jerry Skrocki

Why not move to all LED technology? Bandwidth is still limited to 800MHz and the same DDR2 667MHz memory.

I agree that it's surprising the 17-inch model is still available with a fluorescent back-light. An explanation may soon arise. (The LED back-light appears to only be available with the "Hi-Resolution" 1920x1200 display option of the 17".)

As for the bus speed and memory speed question, I haven't found any mobile Core processors from Intel on their web site that support anything beyond the 800/667 the MBP currently offers. Of course, the Intel site and product line is pretty baffling, so I may have overlooked something.

[Noel_Carboni]

Not so disappointing to one who just bought a MacBook. It's comforting when new technology that utterly obsoletes what you just bought takes more than 2 months to come out after spending the Big Bucks.

Yes, I know, any high tech gear should be considered obsolete when one opens the box.

-Noel

[Martin_Doudoroff]

This is pretty trivial, but I saw it observed that the latest MB and MBP models now sport an option/alt key on the right side of the keyboard, in addition to the one on the left side. This configuration is consistent with the Mac Book Air and the new key replaces the dedicated Enter key, which is still accessible with Fn+Return.

http://images.apple.com/macbookpro/i...7_20080226.jpg

Personally, I am appalled Apple still hasn't found a place for the Print Screen, System Request, Scroll Lock and Pause/Break buttons. And I'm bewildered that after all these years, I cannot launch my mail or web browser with a dedicated button on an Apple keyboard!

(Just kidding.)

Seriously, my favorite feature in all of OS X may actually be the system preference setting that disables the caps lock key.

[Jerry Skrocki]

But you can launch Widgets and Spaces with dedicated buttons!

[David_Buzzard]

You can disable the Caps Lock key? I guess that would make it difficult for posting personal ads up on Craig's List.

I'm liking all the Mac Book Pro. I might just buy the basic model, as I was looking at the 15 inch 2.4 before.

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