At the WWDC in San Francisco, Apple today unveiled a new laptop lineup, starting with the improved Macbook Pro 15-inch. The Macbook Pro 15-inch, always the heart of Apple's portable lineup, is now being called the fastest Macbook ever. The machine will ship with Intel Core 2 Duo processors at clock speeds up to 3.06GHz, with an L2 cache bumped to 6MB. The new machines will also use up to 8GB of memory. This memory bump comes as Apple begins a serious push into 64-bit computing with their upcoming OS update, Mac OS X Snow Leopard.
The new Macbook Pro 15-inch will also see storage capacities up to 500GB, with high-end SSD options reaching 256GB of storage. The laptop will get an improved monitor, and the new display technology will be used across the Macbook Pro line. Apple reps claim the new display offers a 60% improvement on the color gamut. In addition, the Macbook Pro 15-inch, and all smaller Macbook Pro models, will lose their Express Card slot and instead gain an SD card reader. This is a first for Apple, who had shied away from including a built-in media reader, even as most competitor machines have included card readers for years.
The most contentious improvement on the new Macbook Pro models will be the new, improved battery. The new Macbook Pros get a battery akin to the recently updated 17-inch model, which has been using a larger, built-in batter for months now. The built-in battery cannot be removed, so taking extras on the road is no longer an option. However, the battery on the new Macbook Pro 15-inch machine should last up to 7 hours of typical use. Also, Apple claims the battery will lose its overall charge over a much longer period. While previous laptop batteries had to be replaced about every 2 years, the battery on the new Macbook Pro will need to be replaced closer to every 5 years, which Apple is touting as a green advantage for their laptop lineup.
The new Macbook Pro 15-inch is available today in multiple configurations. The lowest end model will ship for $1700, and will come with a 2.53 GHz processor, 4GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive and a simpler, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics set. The most expensive model, with all the fastest options except for the $600 extra 256GB SSD, will come with a 3.06GHz processor, 8GB of RAM as well as the NVIDIA 9600M GT graphics processor, at a configured price of $3650.
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