See What Is Inside The New Apple Macbook Pro Laptops
Posted on 24. Feb, 2011 by LaptopMan in Laptops, Laptops
Apple has launched their new refreshed line-up of Apple Macbook Pro laptops. The new updated notebooks didn’t receive much in cosmetic changes but there was the addition of a new connector port named “Thunderbolt”. However all the new models did get updated to the new second generation Intel Core processors (Sandy Bridge).
Two of the three sizes (13-inch, 15-inch and 17-inch) have two models that are customizable right from the Apple website, the 17-inch only had one base model for customization. The new 13.3-inch laptops starts at $1,199.00, the new 15.4-inch models start at $1,799.00 and the new 17-inch model starts at $2,499.00.
To speak a bit on the new Thunderbolt connector port added to each model I’ll give you a quote from the Apple press release; “Thunderbolt is a revolutionary new I/O technology that delivers an amazing 10 gigabits per second and can support every important I/O standard which is ideal for the new MacBook Pro.” The new connector port is capable of many things like outputting multiple streams of video onto a display, and doing large file (10GB – 20GB) transfers in mere seconds all with one cable.
If you have been paying attention to connector tech. you’ve noticed the new USB 3.0 standard that has been emerging over the past few years, Thunderbolt outdoes it by a margin of about 2x. The single Thunderbolt cable that is needed will come with adapters at some point for other connection types including USB but for now Intel and Apple state that Thunderbolt is backwards compatible with every “important” I/O standard.
However to get to what else is included in the new Macbook Pro’s, the new laptops feature Intel CPU’s and Integrated graphics support along with AMD Radeon HD discrete graphics backing up each model.
The lowest priced 13.3-inch model has a 2.7GHz Intel Core i5 dual-core processor and Intel HD Graphics 3000 integrated.
The lowest priced 15.4-inch has a 2.0GHz Intel Core i7 quad-core CPU, Intel HD Graphics 3000 and AMD Radeon HD 6490M with 256MB GDDR5.
The base 17-inch model comes with a 2.2GHz Intel Core i7 quad-core CPU, Intel HD Graphics 3000 and AMD Radeon HD 6750M with 1GB GDDR5 graphics.
To speak on the performance of the Intel HD Graphics 3000 integrated graphics they are a very good upgrade over the aged Intel HD Graphics found in pre-Sandy Bridge Core processors. The Intel HD Graphics 3000 allows for solid HD video playback why still offering decent low-resolution 3D gaming performance.
However the AMD Radeon line-up is relatively new at the moment and nobody had been able to do any benchmarking for them yet. But the Apple Macbook Pro 15-inch and 17-inch laptops have the AMD Radeon HD 6490M and AMD Radeon HD 6750M as options.
Now the processors are a big leap in speed and the last gen. Core processors from Intel for the most part doesn’t match. But to speak from an Apple laptop stand point it’s a big upgrade for the 13-inch and 15-inch models because until today there were still Intel Core 2 Duo’s being used on some of the models –and the regular MacBook still uses them–.
What was highlighted above was just the rough overview of the new things. The Apple Macbook Pro’s still have plenty of features, most you are probably familiar with already. You can order/read more on any model 13.3-inch, 15.4-inch or 17-inch right on the Apple website or you can go to your local Best Buy or Apple retail store and buy/check one out for yourself today.
Related Posts
One Response to “See What Is Inside The New Apple Macbook Pro Laptops”
Leave a Reply
Apple iPad 2 Leak: 1.2GHz Processor, Camera and Thunderbolt I/O | Tablets Planet
02. Mar, 2011
[...] I/O port. Thunderbolt is a new I/O connector developed by Intel that was just launched on the new Apple Macbook Pro laptops. Thunderbolt offers super-fast transfer speeds that are about double that of USB 3.0 and the [...]