News tagged ‘MacBook Pro’

The new MacBook may come with a return of the backlit keyboard. The backlit keyboard was omitted from the October 2010 redesign of the laptops line, as rumored, due to design issues and battery life constrains. The new MacBook Airs will feature the design of 2010 MacBook Airs. A backlit keyboard may be helpful in low-light conditions, and it’s currently implemented in all versions of Apple’s MacBook Pro line. Appleinsider’s sources, who are familiar with the matter, claim that the new laptops will be launched any time this month.

With the release of new models later this month, Apple is set to reinstate a feature to its MacBook Airs that went missing when the company overhauled the ultra-thin notebooks into more cost-affordable products late last year, AppleInsider has learned.

According to people familiar with the matter, backlit keyboards will join the string of hardware enhancements planned for the new 11.6- and 13.3-inch notebooks, which are also expected to adopt high-speed Thunderbolt ports, an upgrade to Intel’s Sandy Bridge architecture, and possibly high-speed 400MBps flash memory.

MIC Gadget has posted an article that tells us about some details of the upcoming Mac Pro update that may come out in August. MIC Gadget also posted a screenshot of the App Store that shows a Mac Pro with Promise Thunderbolt RAID system. The current generation of the Mac Pro doesn’t support Thunderbolt technology. Of course, that image could be just an error of the graphics department, but if it doesn’t, we should expect Mac Pro with Thunderbolt that is slowly being rolled out onto every Mac.  The MacBook Pro, iMac already received Thunderbolt input/output ports, and recent rumors claim that the MacBook Air refresh will similarly get Thunderbolt capability. The image also shows that the Mac Pro design won’t be changed. MIC Gadget also believes that the Mac Pro will feature an 8 core CPU that will be ‘exclusive’ to Apple for a few months before other PC manufacturers can have access to it in Q4 of this year.

Our sources indicate Apple is making headway with access to this technology, and they are investing heavily into the Mac Pro. Sandy Bridge will be integrated with the new Mac Pro CPU as well, but issues remain with the heat being produced by such powerful CPUs.

Arstechnica and iFixIt claim that Apple’s new Tunderbolt cable is actually a "smart" cable that contains circuitry and firmware. iFixIt have already torn down the cable, having found inside two Gennum GN2033 chips in the connector that works as a transceiver to enable “reliable data transfer at cutting-edge speeds over low cost, thin-gauge copper cables.” There were also found additional support chips and resistors, so the total number of chips inside the Thunderbolt connector is 12, of course not including multiply smaller electronic components.

Quite interesting that the current Thunderbolt ports found in iMac and MacBook Pro are planned to be compatible with future Thunderbolt cables, bringing a significant speed improvement. But the current generation of such ports works on the traditional wiring.

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CNET reports that Apple is going to launched revamped Mac Pro and Mac mini in late July or early August. Details, as usual, are unclear, though, according to the previous 9to5Mac reports, the devices may get a smaller, rackmountable design that can hold multiple solid-state-drives

My sources tell me ALL NEW Next-Gen Mac Pros and Mac Minis will launch either end of July first week of August.

The Mac mini models that are now short on supply, will reportedly receive the Thunderbolt technology and Sandy Bridge processor, the same as implemented in  the MacBook Pro and iMac families launched earlier this year. Both devices will have preinstalled Lion software.

August more likely, Sandy Bridge and Thunderbolt on both. NO details for specs or configurations given. DO NOT BUY! WAIT for the new Macs!

Any user regardless of his profession will be able to choose a notebook to his taste from the Apple notebook family.  The entry-level MacBook will be a perfect choice for casual users; MacBook Air will fit someone who travels a lot; MacBook Pro will definitely satisfy everyone’s needs. This statement was supported by the ranking in Consumer Reports special computer issue.

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HardMac reports that  that the latest iMac family released this week support up to 450 Mbit/sec Wi-Fi. Apple first brought the 450Mbps WiFi features in the 2011 MacBook Pro family, but they haven’t been actively advertising it. Apple changed their Airport card and also installed 3 antennas (instead of 2 before), something indispensable to be able simultaneously to use 3 channels of 150 Mbits/s. Each antenna is capable of a data rate of 150 Mbit/sec. Combined, the three antennas achieve the 450 Mbit/sec speeds using the multiple-input/multiple-output (MIMO) wireless standard.

As noted by AppleInsider, the newest iMacs and MacBook Pros must be running a developer build of Lion to take advantage of the 450 Mbit/sec speeds. And MacRumors notes that in order to actually take advantage of the 450 Mbit/sec speed, you'll need to have a compatible wireless router, such as the latest AirPort Extreme or TimeCapsule.

The first iMac 2011 benchmarks already appeared on Geekbench’s website, revealing good performances for the new machines with results sometimes (depending on the model) above 2010 Mac Pros and early-2011 MacBook Pros.

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Only couple days ago Apple released new iMacs with Sandy Bridge possessors and Thunderbolt technology. iFixit’s team, of course, immediately started tearing down a 21.5-inch model.  They  found that this model iMac opens in the same way as previous generations by pulling off the magnetically-held glass and removing the screws holding the LCD in place.

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There are some rumors claiming that the next revision of Apple's MacBook Pro line will utilize a brand new case for the first time in several years. Macrumors.com pointed out a February iLounge piece that asserted that 2011 will see the “all new design” described as “a big milestone” for the MacBook Pro family. iLounge reported that this new design was under development at the time at Quanta Computers, a contract manufacturer. There no specifics on what the next MacBook Pro might look like, though many have previously speculated that Apple will take cues from the MacBook Air line that offers an iMac-inspired design with a black-bezel and aluminum unibody casing.

Yesterday Apple reported its financial results for the second fiscal quarter of 2011. In this quarter Apple earned $24.67 billion and net quarterly profit amounts to $5.99 billion. In the year-ago quarter the company’s revenue was $13.50 billion and net quarterly profit was $3.07 billion. Gross margin was 41.4 percent, compared to 41.7 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 59 percent of the quarter’s revenue.  This fiscal quarter is also the best quarter for the iTunes Store with $1.4 billion revenue. $2 billion was paid to developers in App Store.

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Jonathan Ive, designer of many Apple’s iconic products, is said to want to spend more time in England. Ive reportedly has proposed to commute from Somerset, but Apple's board seems unwilling.

A friend of the family told The Sunday Times: 'Unfortunately he is just too valuable to Apple and they told him in no uncertain terms that if he headed back to England he would not be able to sustain his position with them.'

Ive joined Apple in 1992 and has been responsible for the design of the unibody MacBook Pro, iPod, iPhone and iPad and rose to become the company's senior vice president of product design.

Apple announced alongside new MacBook Pros the first developer preview of OS X 10.7 Lion, first demoed last October.

Apple today released a developer preview of Mac OS X Lion, which takes some of the best ideas from iPad and brings them back to the Mac for the eighth major release of the world's most advanced operating system. The Lion preview is available to Mac Developer Program members through the Mac App Store, and the final version of Lion will ship to customers this summer.

Apple also outlines a number of features to be found in Lion:

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Along with new Macbook Pros yesterday Apple also released FaceTime for Mac.

Its latest beta-version became available back in October and allowed users who entered their Apple ID to chat with other users of Macs, iPhone 4 or iPod 4G.

The new version of application now supports 720p video, which can be made with the FaceTime HD camera in fresh MacBook Pros. The standard-definition camera on most other Apple devices can offer VGA-quality for Mac-to-Mac video calls.

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15-inch MacBook Pro: this model comes with Quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, 4GB RAM and Intel HD Graphics 3000 + AMD Radeon HD 6000M graphics. The graphics switching will work exactly like the previous models - it automatically switches between the GPU and IGP depending on what you're doing.

The cheapest $1,799 model has a 2.0GHz quad-core Core i7 processor, Intel HD Graphics 3000 + AMD Radeon HD6490M graphics with 256MB of GDDR5 memory and a 500GB hard drive. The $2,199 model has faster 2.2GHz Core i7 chip, AMD Radeon 6750M graphics with 1GB of GDDR5 memory and 750GB hard drive.

The display resolution is 1440x900, upgradeable to 1680x1050 high-resolution glossy or antiglare.

17-inch MacBook Pro: This is a powerful 17-inch macbook pro. It has the same specs as high-end 15-inch MacBook Pro. For just $2,499 you get that 2.2GHz Core i7 processor, AMD Radeon 6750M graphics and a 750GB hard drive. Resolution is 1920x1200 with antiglare option.

17-inch MacBook Pro has 3 USB ports and ExpressCard/34 slot compared to 2 USB and SDXC card slot in 15-inch version.

Bor both 15 and 17 inch models you can customize it with 128GB, 256GB and 512GB SSD and increase RAM to 8GB. Different HDD options are also available - 500Gb (5400 or 7200 rpm), 750Gb (5400rpm). You can also upgrade to 2.3GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 with 8MB shared L3 cache. Both come this Built-in FaceTime HD camera.

More photos:

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As we reported earlier, today Apple unveiled new 13", 15" and 17" MacBook Pros. 13-inch notebook will be offered in two configurations: one with an Intel Dual-Core 2.7 GHz i7 processor and 500GB HDD for $1,499 and another with an Intel Dual-Core 2.3 GHz i5 processor and 320GB HDD with price of $1,199. In other hardware specifications, which are listed below, they are the same:

• 13.3-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display with native resolution of 1280x800.
• Intel HD Graphics 3000 that sports 384MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory;
• 4GB of DDR3 RAM @ 1333 MHz with two other SO-DIMM slots to support up to 8GB;
• Built-in 63.5-watt-hour Li-Pol battery that allows to surf the web wirelessly for up to 7 hours;
• 8x slot-loading SuperDrive;
• FaceTime HD camera;
• Thunderbolt port, Gigabit Ethernet port (RJ-45), FireWire 800 port, 2 USB 2.0 ports, Audio in/out, Kensington lock slot, SDXC card slot;
• 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet support;
• 2,04 kg weight.

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