Friday, February 25, 2011

2011 MacBook Pros launch with Intel's Thunderbolt (Light Peak) and Sandy Bridge

Apple updated its MacBook Pro line on Thursday, Feb. 24, as expected, with (also as expected) Intel's new Sandy Bridge processors and Intel's new Light Peak (dubbed Thunderbolt by Apple) I/O technology. Those were the major updates expected to arrive on Apple's MacBook Pro line.

In addition, NVIDIA's graphics are out of the picture, so to speak, with the new MBPs having switchable intergrated graphics combined with a discrete AMD GPU (except for the 13-inch model; it has only integrated graphics). As expected there are five new models, 2 13-inch models, 2 15-inch models, and a 17-inch model.

Apple includes Facetime on the new MBPs. At the same time, the program has exited beta in the Mac App Store and is now $0.99 there.  The new MacBook Pros feature FaceTime HD cameras.

The new Light Peak (Thunderbolt) Intel technology promises up to 100Gbps transfer rates (in the future) with 10Gbps for now, twice that of USB 3.0. The port shares duties as a mini DisplayPort interface, as well. Aside from that, and the SD card slot now supporting SDXC, connectivity options are unchanged.

Base RAM levels remain the same, but Apple has upgraded them to using 1333MHz chips instead of the 1066MHz chips from the last generation. Base pricing also remains the same, for the 13-inch and 15-inch models at least, at $1,199 and $1,799 respectively. The 17-inch model's base price returns to the $2,499 level of 2009, up $200 from 2010.

You can read Apple's full press release below.

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