Phil Schiller on Monday at the WWDC Keynote unveiled a new line of MacBook Pros and effectively tidied up the previously slightly messy notebook line. Instead of writing everything out, here’s the before and after in bullet format:
Before:
MacBook Air 13.3″ 1.6 GHz
MacBook White 13.3″ 2.13 GHz
MacBook Unibody 13.3″ 2.0 GHz
MacBook Unibody 13.3″ 2.4 GHz
MacBook Pro 15.4″ 2.4 GHz
MacBook Pro 15.4″ 2.66 GHz
MacBook Pro 17″ 2.66 GHz
After:
MacBook Air 13.3″ 1.86 GHz
MacBook Air 13.3″ 2.13 GHz
MacBook 13.3″ 2.13 GHz (White)
MacBook Pro 13.3″ 2.26 GHz
MacBook Pro 13.3″ 2.53 GHz
MacBook Pro 15.4″ 2.53 GHz
MacBook Pro 15.4″ 2.66 GHz
MacBook Pro 15.4″ 2.8 GHz
MacBook Pro 17″ 2.8 GHz
As you can see, one of the most distinct difference is one that was not made abundantly clear by Phil: the Unibody MacBook is no more. Apple has given the 13.3″ unibody notebook the “MacBook Pro” moniker, and instead kept the “MacBook” branding only on the older and cheaper white model. Perhaps this was indeed foreshadowed when they bumped the specs of the latter to 2.13 GHz earlier last week?
In the perspective of the consumers, the most important change to Apple’s notebook line is the aggressive slashing of prices. The most drastic of all is the previously-crazily-costly $2199 MacBook Air, which now costs $700 less at $1499. Each MacBook model also saw a price cut of up to $300, and keep in mind that all notebook models received modest spec bumps (4 GB RAM instead of 2 GB, processor speed upgrades, etc.). Also, the MacBook Pros quizzically received new SD card slots, in place of the only ExpressCard slot. “Instead of”, Apple? Why not just add it on?
Another main change to all MacBooks and MacBook Pros (minus the MacBook Air), is the inclusion of the built-in Lithium Polymer battery introduced with the unibody 17″ MacBook Pro. Apple claims that this will last for 7 hours, and will have up to 1,000 recharges, lasting the consumer up to 5 years before seeing diminishing life. Undoubtedly this move on Apple’s part will cause great controversy. There is the camp of people who will love the dramatically increased battery life, and there is the other camp who will condemn the user-unserviceable nature of the new batteries. Sounds like the glossy-display battle all over again, eh?
Well that’s it for now, but I just caved in after waiting several years, and placed an order for the $1699 15″ MacBook Pro 2.53 GHz model. I expect for it to arrive today, and will get my unboxing pictures and first impressions up. A longer in-depth review will follow afterwards.
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