Today Apple announced updates to its MacBook, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro lines. The notebooks aren't available until tomorrow, but I've started putting together some analysis on the specs. It turns out there's quite a bit of give and take in Apple's new announcements; you get more, but you do give some up.

The new notebooks are also very important as they put to rest rumors of NVIDIA's departure from the chipset business, at least at this point. All of the notebooks I'm talking about here use a brand new Intel chipset by NVIDIA, called the GeForce 9400M. Apple is actually the first OEM to announce support for the 9400M, the chipset itself doesn't actually launch until tomorrow.

While Apple is sticking to Intel CPUs, it has forgone G45 in favor of NVIDIA's offerings - sending a huge message to Intel: the quality of its integrated graphics must improve. While it's unlikely that Nehalem's eventual on-package GPUs will be enough, Larrabee could eventually win Apple's affection once more.

For consumers, this should mean snappier graphics performance (as well as more attractive iMac and Mac mini options assuming NVIDIA's chipsets make their way over there as well). However my quick discussion today will focus more on size and battery life.

Starting with the MacBook Pro: Smaller, Bigger, Lower Power and Lower Battery Life?

Ok now this is kind of sneaky, Apple made the MacBook Pro thinner than any other MacBook Pro, but it's wider, deeper and heavier. Granted, these are minor increases in dimensions, total volume actually decreased by about a percent. The 0.1 lbs increase in weight is most likely due to the use of glass on both the display and trackpad.

But for so much glass only a 0.1 lbs increase in weight isn't bad, oh but wait, the battery went from a 60WHr unit to a 50WHr unit. A lighter battery to offset weight gains elsewhere.

The give and take continues when you look at the hardware specs. Apple did a lot to reduce power consumption on the MacBook Pro: the GeForce 9400M chipset will use less power than Intel's G35M which was used on the previous notebook, DDR3 runs at a lower voltage than DDR2 (1.5V vs. 1.8V) and thus we see a drop in power there as well. However the reduction in total system power needs is offset by the fact that the new MacBook Pro has a smaller battery, so I'd expect battery life to stay roughly the same.

Granted the MacBook Pro was never a slouch when it came to battery life, I measured a worst case of 3.38 hours on the MacBook Pro and a best case of over 5.1 hours - just don't expect any better from the new one.

The New MacBook: I Think I Might Like It

The new MacBook does a bit better, you don't give up too much but what you do get in return is pretty much what I've been asking for. The dimensions are basically the same, but we get a much thinner unit.

The LED backlit display fixes my biggest complaint with the MacBook, the screen should be on par with that of the MacBook Pro - finally.

Apple continues to put FireWire 400 on the chopping block, there's absolutely no FireWire support on the new MacBook. The GeForce 9400M + DDR3 combo also reduce power consumption, but Apple outfits the new MacBook with a smaller 45WHr battery.

You do pay for all of this, the updated configuration will run you $1299 up from $1099 (although you can still buy the entry level MacBook at $1099). The display alone is worth the $200 price premium honestly.

The New MacBook Air: Have your Cake and Eat it Too

There are no tradeoffs with the new MacBook Air, you get a 45nm Penryn based processor this time around, the GeForce 9400M and DDR3 memory - all of which should give you more battery life. Unlike the other two configurations however, the new MacBook Air retains its old battery - unchanged. So the new MBA should actually see longer battery life, I'd expect it on the order of 20% longer.

Final Words

I'll be up early and at the Apple store tomorrow morning to snag some of these new notebooks, but hopefully the analysis today should help put things in perspective. Stay tuned for more coverage.