Product Notes: Apple MacBook Pro

April 19, 2010

On April 13, 2010, Apple announced updates to its MacBook Pro notebook line. Specific changes include Core i7 and Core i7 processors for the 15-inch and 17-inch and an optional higher resolution display for the 15-inch.

Notable in what is not included in any new MacBook Pro are 16:9 displays, integrated WWAN capability, or Blu-ray drives.

This update (significant for the MacBook 15-inch, moderate for the MacBook Pro 17-inch, and minor for the MacBook Pro 13-inch) follows previous updates to the MacBook Pro line in June 2009.

Design and Changes

The new MacBook Pros resemble the previous generation 13-inch, 15-inch, and 17-inch MacBook Pros with a few changes. Apple has bumped their claim of battery life from 7.0 hours to 10.0 hours.

Base RAM on all MacBook Pros has been upgraded to 4.0 GB, so no MacBook Pro needs to be upgraded to meet the RAM specifications in the Notebook Purchasing Guide.

All MacBook Pros have received an EPEAT Gold rating and are Energy Star 5.0-certified.

Configuration and Ordering Notes

Several notes when ordering a MacBook Pro:

1. The MacBook Pro 15-inch and 17-inch are available with Intel's current Core i5 and Core i7 processors. Information Systems & Computing (ISC) sees the 2.4 GHz Core i5 (15-inch) and 2.53 GHz Core i5 (15-inch and 17-inch) processors as the best choices - for many users the 2.66 GHz Core i7 (15-inch and 17-inch) processor will not show enough speed improvement to justify the extra cost.
2. The MacBook Pro 13-inch is available with Intel's previous generation Core 2 Duo processors. ISC sees both the 2.4 GHz and 2.66 GHz processors as good choices.
3. Though a 128 GB, 256 GB, and 512 GB solid state drives are available with the MacBook Pro, ISC does not believe that they are currently an appropriate choice for many users because the cost trade-offs are too great. ISC expects this assessment to continue changing throughout calendar year 2010.
4. ISC strongly recommends choosing AppleCare when purchasing any Apple notebook.

See ISC's Notebook Purchasing Guide and ISC's 'Desknote' Buyer's Guide for more configuration hints. As of April 2010, configuring a MacBook Pro 15-inch to the Mid-Weight Notebook specification can be done for approximately $1,900 to $2,200 while configuring a MacBook Pro 17-inch to the Mainstream 'Desknote' specification can be done for approximately $2,600. A MacBook Pro 13-inch can be built to the Lightweight Notebook specification for approximately $1,300.

Analysis

ISC sees the new MacBook Pros as being a solid choice among notebooks and desknotes available in early 2010. They remains Apple's only choice for Mac OS notebook users who require either significant peripheral connectivity capabilities or discrete graphics cards (in the 15-inch and 17-inch models).

ISC will follow up with a full review of these products as soon as they have completed testing.

MacBook Pro graphic courtesy of Apple

--John Mulhern III, Lead for Client Technologies, ISC Technology Support Services (April 19, 2010)