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Apple's New Penryn MacBook Pro: Dissected
Apple's New Penryn MacBook Pro: Dissected
Date: February 26th, 2008
Topic: Mac
Manufacturer: Apple
Author: Anand Lal Shimpi
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Today Apple introduced its first MacBook and MacBook Pro notebooks based on Intel's 45nm mobile Penryn CPU. We've already looked at the mobile Penryn CPU and discovered that despite offering very little performance boost, its contribution to improving battery life was significant. We're hard at work on seeing how mobile Penryn stacks up in the MacBook Pro but we couldn't resist a look at its internals before then.

The old and new MacBook Pro are 100% identical from the outside:

The specs of the new MacBook Pro are as follows:


  New Penryn MacBook Pro 15" Old Merom MacBook Pro 15" New Penryn MacBook Old Merom MacBook MacBook Air
Dimensions H: 1.0"
W: 14.1"
D: 9.6"
H: 1.0"
W: 14.1"
D: 9.6"
H: 1.08"
W: 12.78"
D: 8.92"
H: 1.08"
W: 12.78"
D: 8.92"
H: 0.16-076"
W: 12.8"
D: 8.94"
Weight 5.4 lbs 5.4 lbs 5.0 lbs 5.0 lbs 3.0 lbs
Screen Size/Resolution 15.4" / 1440 x 900 15.4" / 1440 x 900 13.3" / 1280 x 800 13.3" / 1280 x 800 13.3" / 1280 x 800
CPU Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz - 2.6GHz (45nm Penryn) Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2GHz - 2.6GHz (65nm Merom) Intel Core 2 Duo 2.1 - 2.4GHz (45nm Penryn) Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 - 2.2GHz (65nm Merom) Intel Core 2 Duo 1.6 - 1.8GHz (65nm Merom)
GPU NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT (256MB - 512MB) NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT (128MB - 256MB) Intel GMA X3100
(144MB UMA)
Intel GMA X3100
(144MB UMA)
Intel GMA X3100 (144MB UMA)
Memory 2GB - 4GB DDR2-667 2GB - 4GB DDR2-667 1GB - 4GB DDR2-667 1GB - 4GB DDR2-667 2GB DDR2-667 (fixed)
HDD 200 - 250GB 2.5" 5400RPM SATA
200GB 7200RPM SATA
120 - 250GB 2.5" 5400RPM SATA
200GB 7200RPM SATA
120 - 250GB 2.5" 5400RPM SATA HDD 80 - 160GB 2.5" 5400RPM SATA HDD 80GB 1.8" HDD
or 64GB 1.8" SSD
Optical Drive Integrated SuperDrive Integrated SuperDrive Integrated Combo drive or SuperDrive Integrated Combo drive or SuperDrive Optional External USB SuperDrive
Networking 802.11a/b/g/n
10/100/1000 Ethernet
802.11a/b/g/n
10/100/1000 Ethernet
802.11a/b/g/n
10/100/1000 Ethernet
802.11a/b/g/n
10/100/1000 Ethernet
802.11a/b/g/n
Built in iSight Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Inputs 2 x USB 2.0
1 x FireWire 400
1 x FireWire 800
1 x ExpressCard/34
1 x Audio in
1 x Integrated mic
2 x USB 2.0
1 x FireWire 400
1 x FireWire 800
1 x ExpressCard/34
1 x Audio in
1 x Integrated mic
2 x USB 2.0
1 x FireWire 400
1 x Audio in
1 x Integrated mic
2 x USB 2.0
1 x FireWire 400
1 x Audio in
1 x Integrated mic
1 x USB 2.0
1 x Integrated mic
Outputs 1 x Audio
1 x dual-link DVI
1 x Audio
1 x dual-link DVI
1 x Audio
1 x mini-DVI
1 x Audio
1 x mini-DVI
1 x Audio
1 x Micro-DVI
Battery 60WHr 60WHr 55WHr 55WHr 37WHr
Price $1999 $1999 $1099 $1099 $1799

As you can see, not much has changed with these new notebooks. They get a slight bump in clock speed (but potential increase in battery life as well) combined with a larger hard drive.

The shining star of the new notebooks is Intel's mobile Penryn CPU, so let's take a closer look.

Inside the new MacBook Pro   Next Page

 
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18 Comments - Last by mainchochacho, 629 days ago
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You see something that looks out of place? by KeypoX, 632 days ago
Wheres waldo? No but seriously the cdrom looks like it should be in a computer 10 years ago not today. Need a fix for this, everything has gotten smaller cd/dvds have stayed the same for what 15-20 years?

Reply
RE: You see something that looks out of place? by Duwelon, 632 days ago
The need for capacity has outpaced the desire for a smaller media size.

Reply
Multi-Touch Capability by halihassan, 632 days ago
Based on the iFixit dissection of the Macbook Air, the multi-touch support on the Air is provided using the same chip as the iPhone, the Broadcom BCM5974. Is this chip present on the new Macbook Pro? Since the motherboard is noted as virtually identical, I figured that this may be the only noteable difference between the motherboards.

Reply
changes? by nhshah, 632 days ago
i was wondering about the multitouch interface
as well as the new LED backlight system for the 17" MBP


any thoughts on the gpu - is that (forced) increase to 256 gonna
draw more power, and if so, how significant?

also, what about cooling/fans?
not physical or even software or nethin, but just how hot the
processor runs at full force...??

Reply
RE: changes? by nhshah, 632 days ago
also, whats the thought about future price drops....

i had heard some rumors, i know they are probably mostly just rumors..

but it is likely that they kept the price the same for now jst to

attempt to streamline the upgrades and make it seem like not a big deal?(especially since preliminary testing shows barely any significant positive change)


Reply
RE: changes? by mmntech, 632 days ago
There has been a $100 price drop in Canada for both the MacBook and MacBook Pro. They were selling at $1249 and $2199 respectively but are now down to $1140 and $2099. I think this has more to do with the higher dollar than actual price cuts. They're still over priced in Canada though. Best Buy in their infinite wisdom are still selling the old models at the old, higher price. I guess they're gambling that most of their customers don't do they're homework. They'd be right.

Reply
Keyboard by andreschmidt, 632 days ago
Isn't the keyboard layout different?

As far as I recall the new MacBook Pro keyboard layout includes the new media keys, found on the new flat Apple Keyboard and the MacBook Air.

Reply
Brand of hard/optical drive? by ncbill, 632 days ago
Could you list the brand/model of the hard drives and optical drive in the MBP?

Especially interested to see if Apple has upgraded their Superdrive, since the bargain bin Matshita DVD burner that Apple put in my Macbook is failing along with many others:

http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1172&start=0


Reply
RE: Brand of hard/optical drive? by Anand Lal Shimpi, 632 days ago
The hard drive is a Hitachi 5K250 while the DVD drive is a Panasonic (aka Matsushita). The DVD drive is listed as Model UJ-867.

Hope this helps :)


Reply
USB Ports by potpoi, 632 days ago
I noticed that apple has added an additional USB port on the new macbook pros, to bring the total up to three, instead of the two shown in the table above.

Reply
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