Mac & iPod Reviews
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New MacBook Pro
Professionalism
At this end of the laptop market, professionalism reigns supreme. Most people who consider buying a MacBook Pro take a certain standard for granted. What they’re looking for are those features that will make their professional lives easier and give them an edge in their particular industry.
The MacBook Pro also appeals to computer enthusiasts who want the best. Their interests may lie in gaming, digital photography, or advanced technology, and they want to enjoy these with the finest laptops they can obtain.
Apple is well aware of what these customers want. This is why the company invests a lot of time and effort in keeping the MacBook Pro at the forefront of top-of-the-range laptop development. The latest versions of the MacBook Pro prove this.
The 15-inch MacBook Pro
Apple has made specific enhancements to the 17-inch MacBook Pro, so it’s worth considering the 15-inch model separately. This doesn’t mean that the 15-inch MacBook Pro is a poor relation. It still provides a tremendous range of features, and distinct improvements on the previous version.
Power on the 15-inch model now comes from 2.4GHz or 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processors, or an optional 2.8GHz. The 2.4GHz models have 3MB on-chip shared L2 cache that runs 1:1 with the processor speed. The 2.53GHz and 2.8 GHz MacBook Pros both have 6MB.
Memory on the 2.4GHz model is two 1GB SO-DIMMs of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM, with two SO-DIMM slots supporting up to 4GB. On the 2.53GHz MacBook Pro, memory is a standard 4GB in the form of two 2GB SO-DIMMs.
For anyone familiar with previous MacBook Pros, such changes mean even greater speed and flexibility. These are two criteria that users of video and sound applications - Final Cut Express and Logic Express, for example – value highly.
Users will also appreciate the enhanced hard drives. The 2.4GHz MacBook Pro has 250 GB as standard, while the 2.53GHz has 320GB. Both run at 5400 rpm, but there are optional upgrades to 7200 rpm. Alternatively an optional 128GB solid state drive will keep the battery working longer.
On the graphics side, Apple has continued its commitment to NVIDIA processors. The 15-inch MacBook Pro now has the energy efficient GeForce 9400M with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM sitting alongside the brilliant image quality of the GeForce 9600M GT, with 256MB of GDDR3 memory. The memory on the GT processor increases to 512MB for the 2.53GHz and 2.8GHz models.
These integrated graphics processors deliver outstanding results for those who need the latest and best from their laptop.
The 17-inch MacBook Pro
The 17-inch MacBook Pro is a more muscular version of the 15-inch. The Intel Core 2 Duo processor is 2.66GHz with 6MB on-chip shared L2 cache. The optional upgrade is 2.93GHz.
Memory is 4GB, although the 17-inch MacBook Pro can support 8GB in two SO-DIMM slots.
The hard drive begins where the standard 2.53GHz 15-inch MacBook Pro leaves off: 320GB at 5400 rpm. For extra speed, there’s an optional 320GB at 7200 rpm. There are also 128GB and 256GB solid state drives available.
The graphics on the 15-inch MacBook Pro are hard to beat for a laptop, so the 17-inch follows suit. For sheer excellence, there’s the NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT processor with 512MB of GDDR3memory. For those who want to extend the battery life, there’s the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M processor with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with the main memory.
There are two features that really set apart the 17-inch MacBook Pro from its smaller associate, however. These are the battery and the screen.
The battery life of the 17-inch MacBook Pro on a single charge is now an astonishing eight hours. This may reduce to seven hours using the 9600M GT graphics processor; and peripheral devices connected to the laptop can drop the battery life still further. Even so, a maximum eight hours is superb for a large, high performance laptop. It is, after all, the equivalent of a standard working day.
What’s even more surprising is the number of times a user can recharge the battery. Normally, a laptop user should expect to obtain 200 – 300 charges from a battery before replacing it. The 17-inch MacBook Pro battery can last for up to 1000 charges.
Apple has achieved these breakthroughs after intensive work by its engineers and electro-chemists. To make a battery last for up to eight hours, they designed special lithium polymer cells and built the battery into the laptop.
To make the battery survive for 1000 charges, the Apple scientists developed Adaptive Charging. This is a technology that employs a microchip on the battery to communicate with the laptop. The purpose is to adjust the battery current according to the needs of the computer.
As for the 17-inch MacBook Pro’s screen, Apple was determined to give their flagship laptop the same quality colour that appears on a first class desktop monitor. The result is a high resolution widescreen offering 1920 x 1200 pixels, the equivalent of 133 pixels an inch. This provides a 60% better range of colour than former MacBook Pro models.
The moment the 17-inch screen comes to life, the difference the new high resolution makes is obvious. The colours are the richest many users will ever have seen on a laptop. This alone makes the 17-inch MacBook Pro the laptop of choice for anyone who needs desktop quality on the move.
Conclusion
Pros
- Both MacBook Pros have benefitted from internal upgrades that meet customers’ expectations
- Speeds are faster than ever, especially with complex applications
- Graphics on both the 15-inch and 17-inch models are stunning
- Up to eight hours battery life on the 17-inch MacBook Pro, and up to a 1000 charges
- Superb screen quality on the 17-inch
Cons
- It’s hard to find fault with the MacBook Pro, unless you want to see the battery life and screen resolution of the 17-inch model on the 15-inch as well
MacBook Pro Pricing Information
From £1,369.00 |
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