Hooray!!!
Steve Jobs has just announced the new Intel-based MacBook Pro and iMac.
According to MacNN, Steve Jobs has just uttered those words about the new MacBook Pro:
“Tried to do everything to get a G5 processor in PowerBook. [Here is the] MacBook Pro. Use the Intel Core Duo. It is 4-5 times processor than the PowerBook G4. Integer […] 4.5x faster. Fastest Mac notebook ever. Also the thinnest available. 15.4-widescreen LCD display that is as bright as Cinema Display. Also built-in iSight.”
This is my dream computer!!! Here are the official specs for the 1.67GHz model:
- Main
- Mac OS X v10.4.4 Tiger
- Intel Core Duo processor @ 1.67GHz
- 2MB on chip shared L2 cache
- 667MHz frontside bus
- 512MB of PC2-5300 (667MHz) DDR2 memory
- 80GB 5400-rpm Serial ATA hard
- SuperDrive (DVD±RW/CD-RW)
- Backlit keyboard with ambient light sensors
- iLife ’06 & Photo Booth & Front Row
- Video
- 15.4-inch TFT display @ 1440 by 900
- ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics processor with 128MB of GDDR3
- Built-in iSight camera
- Audio
- Analog/Digital audio in and out
- Stereo speakers and internal microphone
- Connectivity
- Apple Remote
- AirPort Extreme wireless networking (Wifi 802.11g standard)
- Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
- 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet
- One FireWire 400 port
- Two USB 2.0 ports
- One ExpressCard/34 slot
And, of course, Apple Store is now open again:
Available as from February at $1999. I need to start saving NOW!
I’m tempted to buy one, but my only concern is portability. I need a laptop that I can use on a plane in an Economy-class plane seat. Hopefully there will be some kind of ultra-portable macbook pro in the future.
My heart wants one!
But my brain tells me that the Macbook Pro is too expensive and it’s little brother the Macbook (the successor of the iBook) will be a better investment. The Macbook will surely lose the iSight camera and the graphic chipset but I think it will have a similar widescreen TFT display.
Steve has mentioned that the pro software (like Logic, Final Cut, Aperture, etc.) don’t work at this moment (check http://www.apple.com/rosetta/) so I guess many professionals will just wait for those applications to be ported to the Intel instruction set.
Like anonymous, I like my notebooks portable. I’ll wait until they release the smaller version. By then hopefully any niggles with the first version would have been fixed. Maybe it’s good that Apple didn’t release the smaller Macbook Pro first. So /me waits.
Avinash,
Many will order the MacBook Pro TODAY as Apple has demonstrated that it requires little effort to make binaries Universal.
If you are not interested in the gimmicks, wait for the MacBook. Many flaws will have been ironed out by then, and the prices will have gone down a little. But anyway, the MacBook Pro price is comparable to high-end Powerbook G4 — that’s why I think professionals will order it today.
To anonymous:
If the Powerbook, even 15″, is not portable, I don’t know what is. Granted 17″ are too much for economy seats, though.