Apple refreshes MacBook Pro range
Faster CPUs, lower prices, for the pre-post-PC crowd
Apple has stopped working on watches, televisions and all the weird stuff it has patented for just long enough to refresh its MacBook Pro range.
Reg readers may remember the MacBook as an example of Apple's “personal computer” range, a product category it pioneered in the late 1970s.
The phone and fondleslab company is still plugging away in that market and has tweaked the machines for the romantics and nostalgia freaks who still buy “portable personal computers” instead of touch-enabled modern kit.
New CPUs are the main extra, but for the record the new 13-inch model boasts a 2560x1600 retina display and solid state disks with 128GB or 256GB of capacity. Dual core i5 and i7 CPUs are on offer, at 2.5 and 2.6 GHz respectively . Apple's “hurry up and buy one now” page doesn't offer the chance to add to the 8GB of memory the machine possesses when it leaves Apple's artisanal manufacturing workshop, but it is possible to configure the machines with up to 768GB of solid state disk.
The 15-incher boasts 2880*1800 resolution, quad-core i7s at up to 2.7GHz across the range, 8GB or 16GB of RAM and an NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1GB of GDDR5 memory. Again, upgrades to 768GB of disk are on offer.
All new models are said to have batteries capable of driving the machines for seven hours without needing to connect to an external power source.
Apple has also dropped the price of the MacBook Air's 256GB variant.
Prices for the new models are as follows
| Model/Nation | Australia | UK | USA |
| MacBook Pro 13-inch 2.5GHz | $AUD1649 | £1249.00 | $1,499.00 |
| MacBook Pro 13-inch 2.6GHz | $AUD1849 | £1449.00 | $1,699.00 |
| MacBook Pro 15-inch 2.4GHz | $AUD2499 | £1799.00 | $2,199.00 |
| MacBook Pro 15-inch 2.7GHz | $AUD3199 | £2299.00 | $2,799.00 |
| 13-inch Air with 256GB SSD | $AUD1549 | £1199.00 | $1,399.00 |
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COMMENTS
doesn't offer the chance to add to the 8GB of memory the machine possesses when it leaves Apple's artisanal manufacturing workshop, but it is possible to configure the machines with up to 768GB of solid state disk
Why the restriction on RAM? Surely it's just a simple 2 minute job of popping the ram cover off, and slotting in 2 new....ah wait.
Re: *splutter* How much??
Oooh, you're so right. £1,249 for a 13" MacBook Pro with retina screen, 2.5GHz, 8Gb, 128Gb flash, when you could have:
- a plastic Sony Vaio with a slower 2GHz processor, a cack low res letterbox 1366x768 screen for a mere £1,513 (http://www.sony.co.uk/customise/vaio-t-series).
- A corporate drone laptop from Dell (Ultrabook XPS 13) with a letterbox screen complete with crapware demos for £1,230 + delivery
Yeah, Apple are *so* expensive.
Re: *splutter* How much??
In the States I've gotten used to good laptops priced at $400. As Wibble reminds me I've never considered a Sony, they've always been pricey without anything compelling to make it worth it.
But a couple of months ago this life-long Windows user finally bought a 13-inch MacBook Pro. Yes, I would have loved for it to have been cheaper, but now that I have one I don't feel like I've been ripped off. Solid construction, great touch-pad, nice OS.
While I won't be ditching my Toshiba laptop anytime soon, I can see how the Mac hardware/OS integration makes it more pleasant to use.
Re: *splutter* How much??
Not sure why you seem to have taken personal offence at my post with your snarky comments about the free market.
I'm sure people will buy them, valuing certain things more highly than me. However, with OSX being (officially) limited to Apple hardware, my choice of a different brand of laptop will have consequences for the operating system I can run. Its Annoying that I can't choose a cheaper but similarly specced lappy and (officially) use OSX on it.
Re: *splutter* How much??
Easy, then go to Dell and buy yourself the equivalent specced laptop surely? Its why we have a "free market". Dont think its value for money find another lappy. I will be getting one for my new contracting laptop, dual booted. Will probably last me as long as my old white macbook (6 years and counting, and is still worth a couple of hundred quid btw and runs lion)
