Apple’s 45nm Refresh: New MacBook & MacBook Pro
by Anand Lal Shimpi on February 29, 2008 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Mac
What’s New?
1) Mobile Penryn: The MacBook and MacBook Pro now both use 45nm Penryn based Core 2 Duo CPUs. The chipset and rest of the platform remain identical. We’ll be measuring the impacts of this on performance battery life.
2) Multi-touch Track Pads: The MacBook Pro now gets the same multi-touch functionality as the MacBook Air.
3) More Video Memory on the MacBook Pro: The GeForce 8600M GT Apple uses in the MacBook Pro now comes with either 256MB or 512MB of GDDR3 memory, up from 128MB - 256MB in the previous MacBook Pro. The base MacBook continues to use Intel’s X3100 integrated graphics and uses system memory (up to 144MB) for its frame buffer.
4) Bigger Hard Drives: Both the MacBook and MacBook Pro now come with larger 2.5” HDDs standard. Reasonable sized SSDs are still too expensive to realistically offer. I’ve got a 128GB SSD back at the office, I’ll be taking a look at its impact on battery life after CeBIT.
5) Slightly Updated Keyboards: The function key layout has been updated a bit and is now identical to the desktop and MacBook Air keyboards. The base MacBook does not get a backlit keyboard unfortunately.
The improvements to the MacBook and MacBook Pro lines are largely evolutionary, but they do come at no additional cost so it’s tough to complain about that.
| 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 |
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tayhimself - Friday, February 29, 2008 - link
I really like the chicklet keyboards. I like the Vaios that have the chicklets too. Different strokes and all that....LoneWolf15 - Friday, February 29, 2008 - link
Ward...Wash the Beaver's mouth out with soap, would you?mmntech - Friday, February 29, 2008 - link
Lol. Only morons need to swear to get their point across. I do partially agree though. I didn't like the MacBooks keyboard compared to my old iBook G4's.Looks like the Penryn offers a small but decent improvement in battery life. When you're on the go, every little increase counts. These are very respectable numbers. With DVD playback, you can actually watch movies like the Godfather and Lord of the Rings on a single charge and still have some to spare. Apple has always been good with battery life, which is the primary reason I bough my iBook. Looks like there are also some small performance increases too. I suppose the iMac line will be receiving an update soon to include these processors. It will be curious to see if the add DDR3 as an option for them.
Phlargo - Friday, February 29, 2008 - link
What a horrible thing to say. He is certainly permitted his preference. I think you might be the tool for blankly assuming that his opinion is unjust.A good article, Anand. I'm not a Mac guy, but I know they lead the way in design and feature integration. I really agree with the comment below about it being more of an impression than a review. I always like your articles for that reason!
Kitsune - Friday, February 29, 2008 - link
MacBooks have a very limited multitouch capability. They can do some of the tricks that the Pros and Air can do (right-click by putting two fingers on the pad, scroll around by rubbing two fingers in the desired direction, zoom the screen in and out by holding the control key while moving fingers on the pad) and can't do some of the other things (rotate and zoom selected objects). Or if they can, Anand found some trick that I'm not aware of, as I have the new 2.1 gHz MacBook sitting next to me now and can't get it to perform the latter functions.Devo2007 - Friday, February 29, 2008 - link
That is correct (I was just about to update my comment stating this). I believe the two-finger scroll feature and such aren't new though -- I believe my friend's Merom-based Macbook has that feature as well.tayhimself - Friday, February 29, 2008 - link
This is the case yes.Devo2007 - Friday, February 29, 2008 - link
You caught the one later in the article, but currently page 3 still shows this:2) Multi-touch Track Pads: Both the MacBook and MacBook Pro now get the same multi-touch functionality as the MacBook Air.
Gary Key - Friday, February 29, 2008 - link
That is corrected now.Devo2007 - Friday, February 29, 2008 - link
On Page 3, you indicate that both the Macbook and Macbook Pro have the multi-touch trackpad. Isn't it just the Pro model that has multi-touch? (all the news articles I read about the launch of these portables indicated it was just the Pro model).