Yawn, Apple Updates MacBook Pros

If you Apple FanBoys are done salivating over the new iPad Apple has updated the MacBook Pro line-up to add in the new Core i5 and Core i7 CPU's from Intel as well as slightly more updated GPU's from NVIDIA.

Among the low-end line (if you can call it that) is an updated 13-inch MacBook Pro running a non-Arrendale Intel Core 2 Duo processor running at either 2.4 or 2.66GHz, NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics and up to 10 hours of battery life starting at $1,199.00.

These are rather mild updates to your older system so there really isn't much to shout about! It’s the new Intel Core i5 and i7 MacBook Pros that everyone’s been waiting for and that most will be salivating over.

The lowest end of the Intel Core based MacBook Pro packs a 2.4GHz Intel Core i5 CPU, 4GB of memory, a 320GB hard drive, and a NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M GPU with 256MB of RAM. This marks a significant update on the previous model, which didn’t have discrete graphics. It starts at $1,799.00. Want to bump that CPU to a 2.5GHz Core i5, that'll cost you $200 more and increases not just the CPU but the hard drive as well up to 500GBs.

Go up to $2199.00 and you get a 2.66GHz Intel Core i7 CPU and double the GPU RAM, you are however still stuck with the rather none impressive NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M.

Finally at the top end is the new 17" MacBook Pros: The only come in one flavor and feature an Intel Core i5 CPU running a clock speed of 2.53GHz, 4GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive, an ExpressCard/34 slot and NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M graphics with 512MB of RAM for $2,299.

For anyone but an Apple FanBoy the specs on the updated MacBooks are a bit of a yawner. The low end Core 2 Duos aren't really much, even the lower end Core i7's aren’t anything special compared to similarly-priced PCs. Numerous manufacturers offer a PC for around $2000 that comes with quad-core i7’s, 1GB graphics card along with tons of RAM and a higher-res screen than what’s in the new MacBook Pros. The one area however that Apple has most of those PCs covered is going to be battery life. Apple apparently made the trade-off of not going with the most powerful hardware available to boost the projected battery life to previously unheard of levels.

Apple is claiming that the 15- and 17-inch can see between 8-9 hours while the smaller, Core 2 Duo-equipped 13-inch can rock for 10 hours straight. That’s impressive even if Apple exaggerated those claims a bit. A similarly priced, all be it much higher end PC wouldn't be able to touch those claims. You'd be lucky to get 2-3hrs of use.


More details from Apple