As I type this, Steve Jobs is on stage at the Town Hall on Cupertino campus, unveiling new notebooks. The first among them is the new MacBook Pro, which features an iMac-inspired screen (with the same black bezel), constructed from a new aluminum unibody, created with the same sort of manufacturing process used to make the MacBook Air.
The new Pro features a MacBook/MacBook Air-style keyboard with the usual amenities, including backlighting, motion sensor, magnetic latch, iSight, speakers, microphone, plus an LED-backlit display. There’s a new glass trackpad which actually acts as the button itself—you can press the whole trackpad for a physical click. And it supports multi-touch gestures, including new four-finger gestures for Exposé and the application switcher.
Under the hood, there’s two new graphics chipsets by Nvidia, the GeForce 9600M and the 9600M GT. It’s go 32 parallel graphics cores, running at 125 gigaflops. The 9400M allows for 5 hours of battery life, and the 9600M GT gets 4 hours of battery life, but you can choose. There’s a slot-load SuperDrive, Gigabit Ethernet, FireWire 800, dual USB 2 connectors, and a mini Display Port interface. There’s also audio in and out in both analog and optical digital, an ExpressCard 34 slot, and there’s a battery indicator on the side instead of the bottom.
On the environment front, Apple’s pushed to make a greener MacBook Pro, with aresenic-free glass, no brominated flame retardants, no Mercury, and no PVC. And it’s all highly recyclable with a 37% smaller package.
The new MBP is the thinnest ever produced, at just .95”. It’ll feature an option for a solid-state drive, and you can access both the drive and battery on the bottom of the machine. Two configurations will be offered: a $1999 15.4” model with a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo and 3MB L2 cache, 2GB 1066 MHz DDR3 memory, with a 256MB GeForce 9600M GT, a 250GB HD, and a slot-loading SuperDrive. The second configuration is a $2499 model running at 2.53GHz with a 6MB L2 cache, 4GB of RAM, 512MB of memory on the GeForce 9600m G, 320GB HD. Upgrade options for 2.8GHz processor and more are available, and the laptops will be shipping tomorrow.
Ech! The embarrassing "chiclet"-style keyboard is a real disappointment... if it's anything like the one on my wife's MacBook (current model) with its loud, plasticky, loose-feeling action (not to mention the big separation between keys, making typing feel difficult, missed keys, etc.) then I'm glad I got my current generation MBP when I did. And the glossy screen... more ech. Glare is always a problem on her MB, and fingerprints, dust, etc. seem to always accumulate. I prefer the 'matte' screen of my current MBP. Thin is nice and boosted internals are nice too, but design-wise, I'm disappointed. Trivial but color scheme is also bad - the black of the screen border clashes with the nice aluminum motif of the rest of the notebook.
The new MacBooks look like Marvin the Martian. Seriously!
Where is the FireWire ?
I utterly despise glossy displays!!! What was Apple thinking on this front.
I'll be a little more reserved about the absence of a button on the trackpad, but this seems like a really bad idea too! Why not have all the multi touch and still include a button down there?
Incredible that no matte screens are offered on the MacBook Pro, and that Mr. Jobs announced that the customers want the glossy screen 'cause it's bright'.
A glance at all the Mac blogs/comment sites (especially pro-photo sites) will prove Mr. Jobs comment incorrect.
Glossy screens a poor for color comparison, and are miserable to use in uncontrolled lighting. Like most places you use a laptop -they're portable!
@Ota, on the left side. One Firewire 800 port.
Could it be that the Steve Jobs 'Reality Distortion Field'has actually evenloped Mr Jobs himself?? Maybe the heart attack wasn't true, but insanity may be?? How on earth, when the Pro version is a 'Pro" version, can you remove the choice of a Matte display, when the powerbook's and Macbook Pro's are standard equipment for photographers, video editors, web designers, graphic artists etc, all of whom tend to require, as a default, accurate, non adjusted colour, so that they can then proof and adjust as they need?? The whole point and love of the high end apple laptops were the beauty of the screens and the accurate colour rendition! Sheer stupidity! Graphics quality monitors, for photo editing and proofing are all matte, so as not to affect the colour. Thank god the option's still on the 17", but how long for, and then what? For me it's pointless using a glossy screen, partly for the refelction issue, but primarily, as it does not produce accurate colour rendition! For the first time ever, I actually think Steve Jobs has finally succambed to the god complex he's known for, and assumes he now knows what everyone needs! Pure stupidity, and yes, as it may come across, I'm really unhappy about something this stupid being done. I really hope this one comes back to bite Apple in the butt, BIG TIME. It's the singular most stupid move they've made in the last 10 years....and I have a feeling will alienate a lot of loyal apple users who work in a graphics, photography or film based job due to the now unuseable screen that they'd otherwise be happy to rely on. Truly truly unimpressive....
Another thing I forgot to point out in my 'glossy screen' rant.....
Has anyone noticed how the prices have gone up?? Base line model of Macbook Pro, new Macbook? Even the 17" is a higher price, equal to that of adding a high res display and going to 4GB RAM as upgrades on the previous price. So not more for your buck, just the difference it would have cost anyway. I love it...financial crisis or not, apple make it more expensive! OK, I need a valiuim.....
These complaints about the glossy screen really seem out of proportion to me. It's not like the systems are fundamentally flawed. Buy the laptop and get a filter to slap on there. Ideal? No, but it will work perfectly fine. Turns out people really do want glossy screens (I love how individuals think they know what everyone else wants better than Apple's market research) and everyone else can be satisfied with a simple after market product. I bet there will be a bunch of anti-glare products designed specifically for these MacBooks.
As my other post wasn't added..just to point out to Dave-O - All high end or graphics/photography/video editing based screens are matte/non glare for neutral colour tonality. A standard requirement for anything involving colour rendition, adjustment or proofing. A reason why so many, if not nearly all people in those fields use and rely on Macbooks pro's (or powerbooks) as the screen is (was) unequalled in the market. A glossy screen is a fundamental flaw when it compromises the use of the product it's on, and the generic use it has for most users. I'm sure Apple's market research for consumers said go glossy...video playback, home and family photography etc, but I'm bet a large sum of money that the same was not said by the pro creative community. It's not a problem on a Mac Pro system, you just go out and buy a graphics based monitor, designed for the purpose....but it doesn't help when you need to carry one with you and find a power outlet, so you can use the mac pro efficienty. As for adding a matte filter...kinda like buying a car in a colour you don't like because the manufacturer says 'we know best, and you don't have a say', and getting sticky plastic to cover it so you find the colour you like. Not a solution, just us beng told by Apple 'we know it all...' It's not even something apple can now retro fit. Hopefully I'll pick up another 17" so the problem doesn't affect me. Just to point out, almost every windows based laptop over $450 has a glossy screen, even the pro end, so the one thing apple had for pro users re screens, it's now chosen to remove???