Tuesday, June 5, 2007

[Apple News] MACBOOK PRO'S ROAD TRIP...TO SANTA ROSA!

The web is a flurry of Apple Activity (or should I say iActivity - I swear I'm TMing that, Apple! In the immortal words of the seagulls from Finding Nemo, "mine mine mine mine!") because of the announcement early this morning of the update to the Macbook Pro line of Apple laptops. Reports of oceans rising (from fanboys like myself all drooling) soon followed Apple fans finding out that the new Santa Rosa line of processors from Intel are now included in the newest Macbook Pro update.

The new "Santa Rosa" (the newest Core 2 Duo chip) processors are going to really push the Macbook Pro laptop to the forefront of that product type globally. With processor speeds of 2.2GHz or 2.4GHz, the new Macbook Pros will also have a 4MB L2 Cache. This
"Smart Cache" that will be shared between the two core as each needs it. They will also see the addition of the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics controller, for some really good 2d & 3d graphics work. But one of the two true kickers for this update...is that the new Macbook Pros will be able to utilize 4GB of RAM (667MHz DDR2)! Now the extra 2GB of RAM is a tad expensive to add on...but I am sure you can find it elsewhere quite soon! (We at YMS are working out a new deal with a GOOD memory manufacturer to bring you lower prices and better quality memory...stay tuned!)

Oh yes, I mentioned a second kicker didn't I? Say goodbye to the old fluorescent (CCFL) displays of the past...and say hello to LED displays! That's right, in keeping with Apple's greener policies, they have switched their laptops to mercury-free, LED displays. Now while I haven't seen one of these up close and personal yet, there is talk that these new displays are better for the eyes, AND can add 30% more life to a battery, because they use even less power. Apple, my eyes thank you already. :)

Now, who wants to give me $3,000 so I can get one right now?* :)

-Mike Leader

*TOTALLY WORTH THE PRICE

Edit: Just because y'all asked...the stats posted on the Apple site -

The 2.2 GHz, 15-inch MacBook Pro, for a suggested retail price of $1,999 (US), includes:

* 15.4-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1440-by-900 LCD display;
* 2.2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor;
* 2GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, expandable to 4GB;
* 120GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
* a slot-load 8x SuperDrive® with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
* NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 128MB GDDR3 memory;
* DVI-out port for external display (VGA-out adapter included, Composite/S-Video out adapter sold separately);
* built-in Dual Link support for driving Apple 30-inch Cinema HD Display;
* built-in iSight video camera;
* Gigabit Ethernet port;
* built-in AirPort Extreme® 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;
* ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;
* two USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire 800 port, and one FireWire 400 port;
* one audio line in and one headphone out port, each supporting optical digital audio;
* Scrolling TrackPad and illuminated keyboard;
* the infrared Apple Remote; and
* 85 Watt Apple MagSafe Power Adapter.

The 2.4 GHz, 15-inch MacBook Pro, for a suggested retail price of $2,499 (US), includes:

* 15.4-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1440-by-900 LCD display;
* 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor;
* 2GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, expandable to 4GB;
* 160GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
* a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
* NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 256MB GDDR3 memory;
* DVI-out port for external display (VGA-out adapter included, Composite/S-Video out adapter sold separately);
* built-in Dual Link support for driving Apple 30-inch Cinema HD Display;
* built-in iSight video camera;
* Gigabit Ethernet port;
* built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;
* ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;
* two USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire 800 port, and one FireWire 400 port;
* one audio line in and one headphone out port, each supporting optical digital audio;
* Scrolling TrackPad and illuminated keyboard;
* the infrared Apple Remote; and
* 85 Watt Apple MagSafe Power Adapter.

The 2.4 GHz, 17-inch MacBook Pro, for a suggested retail price of $2,799 (US), includes:

* 17-inch widescreen 1680-by-1050 LCD display;
* 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor;
* 2GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, expandable to 4GB;
* 160GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
* a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
* NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 256MB GDDR3 memory;
* DVI-out port for external display (VGA-out adapter included, Composite/S-Video out adapter sold separately);
* built-in Dual Link support for driving Apple 30-inch Cinema HD Display;
* built-in iSight video camera;
* Gigabit Ethernet port;
* built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;
* ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;
* three USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire 800 port, and one FireWire 400 port;
* one audio line in and one headphone out port, each supporting optical digital audio;
* Scrolling TrackPad and illuminated keyboard;
* the infrared Apple Remote; and
* 85 Watt Apple MagSafe Power Adapter.

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