New Macs announced today - small and for Pros

Well, kinda. Today at WWDC, Apple revealed a comprehensive revamp of the MacBook line. As I have been writing about Macs for several years now, first in MacGuide and then on my own blog and here on Mac Planet, Apple has been steadily blurring the line between consumer and professional Macs.

This took a lurch today when almost the entire MacBook line was renamed MacBook Pro.

That's right. Not so long ago, we had Apple MacBooks in white polycarbonate plastic, and bigger MacBook Pros in aluminium. Last September, Apple relaunched the little 13-inch laptops in aluminium unibody enclosures, the result of a new, Apple-developed manufacturing process.

This kept the bodies slim, tough and rigid, sure - but it also made them look more like their bigger siblings, the 15 and 17-inch MacBook Pros which had had also just got the unibody makeover.

Further, the MacBooks progressed to 'proper' video cards. Until then they had struggled a little with an integrated graphics processor that used main system RAM.

As I said at the time, there was less than ever to differentiate the two models - MacBooks for students and writers and MacBook Pros for photographers, movie makers etc. Pros would be looking enviously at the smaller, more portable 13-inchers thinking about their travels and luggage requirements.

Strangely, at the same time, Apple kept selling one white model of MacBook. Even more strangely, a couple of weeks ago Apple boosted the power of the last white MacBook to such an extent it was actually faster than the next-model-up 13-inch unibody MacBook, even though it was considerably cheaper.

The white laptop's Core 2 Duo processors were upped from 2GHz to 2.13GHz. At the same time, hard drive capacity increased to 160GB (from 120) and the white one also got faster 800MHz DDR2 memory; the previous entry-level MacBook used 667MHz RAM.

As I said at the time (on my own blog and on Twitter), it looked like an end-of-liner - Apple regularly makes and all-time best-of machine without increasing the price, and then deletes the model entirely a short time later, as happened with the G5 iMac.

But even after today's announcements, the white MacBook is still on sale, and still looks a good contender in the speed/price stakes.

For today at WWDC, Apple not only added new battery tech to the unibodies across the board, allowing the batteries to be charged three times as often as previous and for them to keep a usable charge for a very useful seven hours, but Apple actually renamed the MacBook. Now it's the 13-inch MacBook Pro...

How Apple actually put it was "Apple today updated the aluminium unibody MacBook Pro line to include 13-inch, 15-inch and 17-inch models featuring Apple's innovative built-in battery for up to 40 per cent longer battery life."

Each MacBook Pro (even the 13-inch) now has an LED-backlit display with greater colour intensity, the glass Multi-Touch trackpad and an illuminated keyboard, FireWire 800 port and NVIDIA graphics. The 13-inch starts at NZ$2399 inc GST.

New for the 13-inch is an SD card (aka ExpressCard) slot in the left hand side, just like its 15-inch and 17-inch siblings. This opens up the market for accessory makers like Sonnet Technologies, which already makes card readers and FireWire adapters, for example, that fit this slot.

The new 13-inch MacBook Pro represents quite an upgrade, with the new seven hour built-in battery and improved display. The lower-end model has 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive - for $600 more ($2,999) you get a 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB of RAM and a 250GB hard drive.

Build-to-order options for the 13-inch MacBook Pro include the ability to upgrade to 8GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, a 250GB 5400rpm, 320GB 5400rpm or 500GB 5400rpm hard drive or a 128GB or 256GB solid state drive.

You can get a Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter, Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter (for 30-inch DVI display) or a Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adapter for a non-Apple secondary monitor. You can also buy the Apple Remote, Apple MagSafe Airline Adapter and the AppleCare Protection Plan.

The next step up, price wise, nets you two more inches of screen. The new 15-inch MacBook Pro now also has the seven hour built-in battery and improved LED-backlit display with the greater colour gamut.

It comes with 4GB of RAM across the board and is actually cheaper - it costs $200 less than the model it replaces. It's available in three models: a 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo system (250GB hard drive and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics) for NZ$3499.

The 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo system has a 320GB hard drive, and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M and 9600M GT graphics for RRP NZ$3,999. Finally, the 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo system has a 500GB hard drive and the same graphics. That costs $4,699.

I still expect the white MacBook to be pulled shortly, so if that's what you're after, I'd look sharp (although this is my speculation - all Apple will say is "it's still on sale"). If it goes, it leaves a space for ... what, exactly? Apple needs to fill the cheap, portable and student space here with something. It was one of its strongest markets. Watch this space, and my call is thus: expect another Apple Special Event. Soonish.

Note that, at WWDC, Snow Leopard was also announced, new iPhones, the new iPhone OS and a new version of Safari is out. Safari is available now - free for Mac and Windows - and I'll write about Snow Leopard, which is [ahem] 64-bit across the board, shortly.

 

- Mark Webster mac.nz