Over the last several weeks, you may have heard people talking about “supposed” changes Apple was going to make to their MacBook laptops. Some of what we heard turned out to be just rumors, but much turned out to be true. Today Steve Jobs, along with a few of his pals from Apple took the stage to unveil the new laptops. At the end of the day we were left with a new 13-inch MacBook, a new 15-inch MacBook Pro, a MacBook Air with better graphics, and a new LED Cinema Display “made especially for a MacBook.”
About the new 13-inch MacBook:
The “better” of the two “new” MacBook’s, the 2.4GHz model, comes with features you’d expect from a MacBook Pro, like an LED-backlit display. In looks it has definitely changed, and now the MacBook’s and MacBook Pros look a lot alike.
New MacBook Features:
- Built from “a solid block of aluminum” – in other words, it should be durable (no more plastic).
- Illuminated keyboard (only 2.4 GHz model)
- New trackpad is one big button – no longer is there a button at the bottom of the trackpad for clicking — just click anywhere
- Improved graphics (powered by NVIDIA)
- Multi-Touch trackpad
Pricing of the new models is $1299 for the 2.0GHz model and $1,599 for the $2.4GHz model. One of the best moves Apple could have made was to drop the price of the white 13-inch MacBook (no aluminum casing) to $999.
About the new 15-inch MacBook Pro:
The biggest change here is in looks. You’ll see what I mean when you take a look at the image below:
A black rim around the edge of the screen is new, and reminds us of the iMacs.
Other features:
- Improved graphics (still powered by NVIDIA)
- Updated keyboard
- New glass touch-pad (with multi-touch)
- Made from a solid piece of aluminum
*Note: The 17-inch MacBook Pro was not updated
If you’d like more information, checkout the following:
The New MacBook
The New MacBook Pro
The New LED Cinema Display
We’re thinking that with the update, the new products look great. However, it’s not enough to entice someone to go out and buy a new computer if they updated within the last year or so.
When we were purchasing the MacBook Pro’s in April, there were rumors back then that Apple would be releasing updated models in the Summer. We thought long and hard about whether it would be worth waiting but all of the rumors at the time pointed to the idea that the new laptops would be equipped with the MacBook Air style keyboard (also known as the Chicklet keyboard). After playing with the MacBook Air, we realized that we preferred the “old style” keyboard without the spaces between the keys. After today, we are definitely happy we didn’t wait to make our purchases, seeing as the keyboard has changed.
One thing is certain about Apple. It sure knows how to make those babies cute. Great post!
true, they gave the outer design extra care and i might say that some people care about beauty more than performance ,i’m not saying that macbook is bad coz it isn’t .
ohhh. this macbook could be so expensive.
Very nice improvements, but still a bit pricey.
We’re in the market for a few macbooks (pro), but I’m quite disappointed. They haven’t improved a lot and the price hasn’t gone down. Of course it’s really great how the production process is going now and how environmental friendly they are, but I doubt many people select their laptops based on those features..
Since other laptops *have* gone down in price with more features, it’s becoming more difficult now to choose for OS X instead of Windows, imho.
Apple does pay quite a bit of attention to detail, even the little things like screws perfectly aligned.
Apple computers are definitely more pricey compared to other options out there, but they at least made an effort to get one computer under the $1,000 mark.
Now that the new MacBooks are made from aluminum and have features that were previously only available on MacBook Pros, a MacBook might be a viable option for *some* who thought they needed a Pro. I agree though, getting a Mac is more difficult financially than getting Windows.
That was kinda my thought as well. I thought that this iteration would at least include things like a memory card reader.
“New trackpad is one big button – no longer is there a button at the bottom of the trackpad for clicking — just click anywhere”
Only Apple could name something that’s been on laptops for the past decade a feature. For some stupid reason Macs have this disabled by default so most I’ve used have made me click the button. But now they go full circle, and those who actually like the button (it can be useful sometimes) are screwed over. No doubt all the design people in the trendy magazines will praise them for it though…
The following statement is made by the reviewer, Ashley:
The “better” of the two “new” MacBook’s, the 2.4GHz model, comes with features you’d expect from a MacBook Pro, like an LED-backlit display.
This implies that only the 2.4 GHz MacBook has the back lit display. Not so, both the less expensive and that version have it.