One More Thing: Intel MacBook Pro Debuts

January 9th, 2006 at 2:00 PM - Macworld Expo by Brad Cook

SAN FRANCISCO -- Prefacing the announcement with his trademark statement "Oh, thereis one more thing," Apple CEO Steve Jobs revealed at the end of his Tuesday Macworld keynote that the PowerBook line is the second Mac to receive Intel Core Duo processors. However, along with the new processor comes a new name: MacBook Pro.

Mr. Jobs said that the MacBook Pro is the fastest laptop ever produced, running four to five times faster than the previous PowerBook G4. Itis slimmer than the current 17-inch G4 PowerBook, weighing 5.6 pounds, and it features a 15.4-inch LCD screen thatis as bright as an Apple Cinema Display, making it 67% brighter than the one found on the previous model. Like the iMac, it has a built-in iSight camera and an infrared remote port, with Front Row and iLife i06 already loaded on it too, along with Mac OS X v10.4.4.

It has a new ExpressCard slot as well as MagSafe, a new type of power connector thatis attached to the computer magnetically, so if someone trips on the cord, it just falls off the computer. Like its predecessor, the MacBook Pro features a scrolling trackpad, an illuminated keyboard and a sudden motion sensor that locks the hard drive if it detects that the computer has been dropped.

The base MacBook Pro, selling for US$1,999, offers a 1.67GHz Intel Core Duo processor, 512MB of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM expandable to 2GB, an 80GB 5400 RPM hard drive, a SuperDrive, a PCI Express-based ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 video card with 128MB Video RAM, a DVI-out port for an external display, built-in Dual Link support for connecting a 30-inch Apple Cinema HD Display, two USB 2.0 ports and one FireWire 400 port and audio line in and audio line out ports.

The high-end MacBook Pro sells for $2,499 and comes with a 1.83GHz processor, along with 1GB of RAM, a 100GB hard drive and 256MB of Video RAM.

Apple will ship the new MacBook next month but is taking orders for it now.