New Macbook Pros announced

[Phobic9]

13-inch MacBook Pro
1280x800 Display
2.3 GHz Intel Core i5 or 2.7 GHz Intel Core i7 (dual core)
4GB RAM
320 or 500GB HDD
Intel HD Graphics 3000
$1199 or $1499 w/ upgraded specs


15-inch MacBook Pro
1440x900 Display (can be upgraded to 1680x1050)
2.0 or 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7 (quad core)
4GB RAM
500 GB or 750GB HDD
Intel HD Graphics 3000 w/ 256MB AMD Radeon 6490 or Intel HD Graphics 3000 w/ 1GB AMD Radeon 6750
$1799 or $2199 w/ upgraded specs


17-inch MacBook Pro - same specs as high end 15-inch
1920x1200 Display
2.2 GHz Intel Core i7 (quad core)
4GB RAM
750 HDD
Intel HD Graphics 3000 w/ 1GB AMD Radeon 6750
$2499


All models have the same external design with the addition of a Thunderbolt port (Intel's Lightpeak).

http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/specs-compare.html
http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/24/apple-refreshes-macbook-pro-family-with-sandy-bridge-processors/#

I was really looking forward to buying one but now... I dunno. The 15" is definitely the sweet spot for me in terms of tech but the price will be ridiculous once I add in the higher res screen and the upgraded GPU. :hmm:

 

[alfa147x]

Apple is having to replace my last gen MBP next week... I might be able to convince them to upgrade me

btw you can daisy chain on the thunderbolt port. So you don't have to choose between your RAID array or external display. <--- This was my stupid question of the day

 

[speg]

"You can daisy-chain as many as six devices, including your display."

 

[disports]

Yeah no doubt. The 13" MBP looks underwhelming and I might get the 15" MBP but I'll want to upgrade the resolution and I might want a SSD which would jack up the prices for sure :/

 

[subtraction]

Any word on when they will update the regular macbook? I had kind of assumed they would have been updated at the same time as the pros...?

 

[slugg]

Oh how I wish sone kind of high resolution model were cheaper. Unfortunately, it looks like Apple is the only one offering good 16:10 screens anymore, especially in high res models.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Kinda early for this, hope these do not have the dreaded Sandy-Bridge SATA problem, but Intel could have corrected it much more quickly than expected.

Not too impressed with the display resolutions for screens that size. My old 15" ThinkPad that I payed ~$700 for has a 1680 x 1050 display... Any word on if Apple will offer non-TN LED-backlit displays (like an IPS panel)? I assume these are LED-backlit TNs?

Would have been cool if they had used SSD-Mechanical hybrid drives like the Seagate Momentous XT.

Shame they are not using nVidia chips, CUDA would have been nice.

 

[Eug]

Now we just need FW or FW-over-Lightpeak on an 11", and I'm in. Won't happen though.

In the meantime I'll just stick with my existing C2D MacBook Pro 13" with FW, and my 11" el-cheapo Acer.

I'm curious to see what shows up for Thunderbolt peripherals in the next year or so. I'd consider upgrading the 13" MacBook in 2012-2013 maybe.

 

[jalaram]

As usual, one nice side effect is the addition of last year's models in the refurb store. I saw one Macbook for $849.

 

[narreth]

wtf? intel gfx on the 13"? is that is bad as it sounds?

 

[subtraction]

wtf? intel gfx on the 13"? is that is bad as it sounds?

No, not at all.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Intel-HD-Graphics-3000-graphics-solution.43710.0.html

 

[DivideBYZero]

I'm very interested in the 13" er.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Actually on reflection the 15" with 8Gb and a high res screen looks great.

 

[speg]

"since ThunderBolt is based on PCI Express, it can even support FireWire and USB adapters"

Does this mean you can use USB 3.0 devices at USB 3.0 speeds (with an appropriate adapter)

 

[Eug]

Does this mean you can use USB 3.0 devices at USB 3.0 speeds (with an appropriate adapter)

Theoretically yes.

I'm hoping for Thunderbolt in an 11" MacBook Air, so that I can get FW (and USB 3) on a MacBook Air.

 

[senseamp]

That screen resolution is lacking for something labeled "Pro" at around $2K. My 3 year old 15 inch Dell has 1920x1200 display.

 

[disports]

Hm considering just getting the 13" MBA now and then maybe switching to the new MBA when it comes out. I don't want the dvd drive, would rather have SSD, don't need quad-core as I don't do anything labor intensive (web surf, watch tv shows, word processing, itunes), and it has the 1440x900 resolution.

 

[ViviTheMage]

glad they want i series on the 13" ... but I still don't need one, haha.

and I agree, resolution needs to be better.

 

[silverpig]

I just put 8GB of ram and a 60GB Vertex2 into my mid-2009 13" MBP. There's pretty much no reason at all for me to upgrade anytime soon. Yeah, sandy bridge would be nice, but for what I do with this, a C2D is plenty fine. Thunderbolt looks like it will be useful in 1-2 years when there are many devices for it.

 

[finbarqs]

damn... starcraft 2 on the hd 3000 still runs like 20 fps on medium settings.... Oh why do i have to play this thing on low settings still? If only they just threw in a switchable graphics option....

 

[runawayprisoner]

Looks like Apple is not in any hurry to overhaul Mac. It gives an option to new purchasers, but at the same time, current owners don't really need to update, or even feel the need to.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

Looks like Apple is not in any hurry to overhaul Mac. It gives an option to new purchasers, but at the same time, current owners don't really need to update, or even feel the need to.

You don't think Sandy Bridge and Thunderbolt is reason enough?

 

[akugami]

I was looking to get a 13" MBP but this looks a little underwhelming. I'm not in the market for a 15" or 17" and not looking to pay that type of price either.

 

[runawayprisoner]

You don't think Sandy Bridge and Thunderbolt is reason enough?

No... Sandy Bridge is faster, but not everyone pegs their MacBook Pro at 100&#37; usage all the time to squeeze those extra performance out. And it's not like I really run anything that needs that much CPU power except for compiling codes. If I really need a lot more power, I'd just get on my desktop.

Thunderbolt doesn't have any peripheral or accessories.

Plus battery life figures went from 10 hours down to 7 in their 50% brightness WIFI web surfing test. At 100% brightness plus WIFI web surf plus Flash 10.2, I get 6.5 hours out of my 13"... and 50% brightness gives me a 8-9 hours estimate.

Edit: I would upgrade if they included a Blu-Ray drive, or 8GB RAM by default, or something as substantial as that. I'm really only missing a Blu-Ray drive on my MacBook.

 

[KeypoX]

Edit: I would upgrade if they included a Blu-Ray drive, or 8GB RAM by default, or something as substantial as that. I'm really only missing a Blu-Ray drive on my MacBook.

8GB of laptop ram can be had for about $50 now adays why would you pay thousands for it?

Would have been cool if these had the 16GB SSDs like rumored, prob the leak of next years models. Im def gonna pass, might upgrade my desktop to sandy bridge when the hackintosh scene gets it all worked out.

New port looks very cool, can't wait to see stuff start coming out for it. I guess USB 3 is dead?