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MacBook Pro Line Gets Spec Bump; New CPUs & GPUs

by - source: Tom's Hardware US

Apple has ever so quietly rolled out an update that gives its MacBook Pro line a nice boost.

The tech world might be buzzing about the release of Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs biography, but Apple is carrying on, business as usual. The Cupertino-based company kicked the last week of October off with improved specs for the MacBook Pro laptops, upgrading the processors and graphics for its slightly bulkier line.

Starting today, shoppers looking to pick up a new MacBook Pro can opt for a 13-inch model with a 2.4GHz Core i5 or a 2.8GHz Core i7 dual-core processor, instead of the previous 2.3GHz and 2.7GHz, and a bump in HDD capacity for the entry-level model, which will now come with 500GB of space. The 15-inch model doesn't see any change to storage space, but the laptop does get a processor upgrade, increasing from 2.0GHz and 2.2GHz Core i7 CPUs to 2.2GHz or 2.4GHz i7s. New 15-inchers will also either an AMD Radeon HD 6750M GPU with 512MB on GDDR5 memory, compared to the 256MB 6490M, or a 1GB GDDR5 Radeon HD 6770M, as opposed to a 1GB GDDR5 6750M. Those shelling out big bucks for the massive 17-inch MacBook Pro will also see some changes. Again, the graphics are going from a 1GB 6770M, up from a 6750M, and the CPU is going up to a 2.4GHz i7 version from a 2.2GHz i7.

Head on over to Apple to check out the full specs for Apple's MacBook Pro line.

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makafri 10/25/2011 3:11 AM
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-5+

and still they will run portal 2 like a dual core and a radeon hd 4xxx

Anonymous 10/25/2011 3:14 AM
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-20+

Still under-speced for the price. :/

bennaye 10/25/2011 3:17 AM
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bear95 :
Still under-speced for the price.



You mean overpriced.

otacon72 10/25/2011 3:23 AM
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2.4GHz quad-core
Intel Core i7
4GB 1333MHz
750GB 5400-rpm1
Intel HD Graphics 3000
AMD Radeon HD 6770M with 1GB GDDR5

$2,499.00


...just laughable. Be a decent buy if you knocked 50% off it.

Ragnar-Kon 10/25/2011 3:39 AM
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Since I work with Macs every day, glad to see they put a decent GPU in the 15".

Still too pricey for me personally though.

icepick314 10/25/2011 4:11 AM
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bennaye 10/25/2011 4:24 AM
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icepick314 :
why are people STILL complaining about Apple's price?you're paying for the label and usability...and as far as Macbooks, you're paying for the package, not spec...if you want spec, go buy a regular notebook...



I still complain because it's far more fun to jump on the Apple bandwagon-of-hate than to shell out actual money to buy something. I've been doing this for some time now, so it gets hard for me to resist commenting on Apple's outrageous prices for something that can be bought for 40% less at the PC side of things.

Oh dang, I did it again.

aznshinobi 10/25/2011 4:33 AM
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LOL, a much better spec wise Lenovo is only $1000 compared to this. Well inflated for the price.

eddieroolz 10/25/2011 4:58 AM
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Not much of a spec bump now, is it?

AbdullahG 10/25/2011 5:08 AM
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icepick314 :
why are people STILL complaining about Apple's price?you're paying for the label and usability...and as far as Macbooks, you're paying for the package, not spec...if you want spec, go buy a regular notebook...


A laptop half the cost if not less can provide just as much usability, better specs, and overall a better deal for the price. I don't want to pay over a grand extra for a stupid glowing Apple on my laptop...

11796pcs 10/25/2011 5:09 AM
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bennaye :
I still complain because it's far more fun to jump on the Apple bandwagon-of-hate than to shell out actual money to buy something. I've been doing this for some time now, so it gets hard for me to resist commenting on Apple's outrageous prices for something that can be bought for 40% less at the PC side of things.Oh dang, I did it again.


You just made my day. You have a killer philosophy.

nebun 10/25/2011 5:09 AM
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greghome 10/25/2011 5:18 AM
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nebun :
apple computers are not built for games....if you want to game get yourself a pc....so stop bitching



Agreed, Apple build their PCs to exploit dumb people......
and yea Macs are PCs too,
look up on the definition of Personal Computer :P

alyoshka 10/25/2011 5:20 AM
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Well, lets hope with the miniscule hardware upgrade there is no gigantic price upgrade....

bennaye 10/25/2011 6:17 AM
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greghome :
Agreed, Apple build their PCs to exploit dumb people......and yea Macs are PCs too,look up on the definition of Personal Computer



A certain advertisement with 2 guys; 1 wearing a bland suit, the other being a hipster douche in general, begs to differ on the Mac being a PC. But nonetheless, you are technically correct.

And Apple designs their products with the *RICH* stupid person in mind. Which is contradictory when you think about it, but true nonetheless. As only rich people could afford to refresh their computers year after year, and only stupid people would not see things on a purely economic viewpoint and pay vastly more for something that doesn't perform as well as a PC.

But then again, some people are very concerned about their image, and I guess Apple products *do* have a tendency to alleviate those concerns. So who am I to say whether Apple is crapple or not?

/endrant.

eatfoodnow 10/25/2011 6:58 AM
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Who cares about the upgrade to the 6770m, they just did an effective price drop of $150 on the original upper 15" model (looking at refurbished models of course). It's only $1700 for a very high quality built laptop with specs near a sager np5165 (with the core i7 2630qm upgrade of course) which is around $950, although that's without an OS. Pretty good deal for a macbook pro!

De5_roy 10/25/2011 7:21 AM
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can they play crysis?

bennaye 10/25/2011 7:35 AM
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de5_roy :
can they play crysis?



I'm inclined to say no.

cold fire 10/25/2011 7:59 AM
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Meanwhile, the Lenovo Y470 is only $749 !!

And it has similar and some better specs than the CrapBook

-2nd generation Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM Processor ( 2.00GHz 1333MHz 6MB )
-NVIDIA GeForce GT 550M 1GB
-8 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz
-500GB 7200rpm
-And lastly a better OS --Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64

del35 10/25/2011 12:06 PM
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Quote :A laptop half the cost if not less can provide just as much usability, better specs, and overall a better deal for the price. I don't want to pay over a grand extra for a stupid glowing Apple on my laptop...


If you are technologically illiterate or mentally challenged, an Apple logo means a lot. It is like man who is illiterate pulling a gold plated pen to sign his name.

garrick 10/25/2011 12:29 PM
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For that much money Apple should put in 8gb of ram at least. I also can't believe they haven't been putting 500gb hdds in until now since even budget laptops these days come with 500gb by default.

nebun 10/25/2011 2:16 PM
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halls 10/25/2011 2:51 PM
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Say what you will about the price, but there is no denying a Macbook Pro is stylish and solid. Once you've held an aluminum laptop and used it for an hour or two, everything else feels flimsy and cheap by comparison.

tical2399 10/25/2011 3:04 PM
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^^ This is why Apple is still in business folks. LOL. It's stylish. Who cares. Its a laptop not a new pair of kicks its need to be powerful, and affordable not stylish.

LuckyDucky7 10/25/2011 3:07 PM
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@halls Except if you're using another business-class laptop. You only seem to be thinking of consumer-level junk for doing actual work on.

Ever heard of a ThinkPad? Those things will stand up to much more than a Macbook Pro will, are higher-speced, and have more features than a MBP does. They've got better keyboards, are more durable, have user-replaceable parts, and have more features and power than a Mac does.

Oh yeah, and they're pretty much the gold standard for enterprise laptops. Just like they've been for the past 15 years.

Au_equus 10/25/2011 3:18 PM
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halls :
Say what you will about the price, but there is no denying a Macbook Pro is stylish and solid. Once you've held an aluminum laptop and used it for an hour or two, everything else feels flimsy and cheap by comparison.


superficiality at its best. I can understand if an apple user claims its 'more user friendly' and it suits their modus operandi, but when they get the apple product b/c of its looks, they just provide ammo to apple-haters.
I got an Envy17 (default 6850m) modded with an ssd and extra ram at >$1000 less and, for superficial purposes, it looks and sounds waaaaaayyyyyy better than its MBP cousin, but that's my opinion.
cheers

inthere 10/25/2011 4:32 PM
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I bought my Macbook Pro because I run both operating systems on it. I need OSX for the music business and also Final Cut Pro. Lot of OSX only apps and hardware. Also, resale on Macs are just sick, you can sell them for up to 80%. Last 5 years I've sold used Macs and gotten a brand new one for $400 or less, the price of a good video card. My girlfriend sold her 4 year old Macbook pro 17 inch for $1250, and got a 2011 Macbook Pro for $999 from MicroCenter, so she got a new Mac AND came out $250 ahead. Good luck selling ANY 4 year old PC for over $1000: nobody wants em.

tical2399 10/25/2011 4:35 PM
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inthere :
I bought my Macbook Pro because I run both operating systems on it. I need OSX for the music business and also Final Cut Pro. Lot of OSX only apps and hardware. Also, resale on Macs are just sick, you can sell them for up to 80%. Last 5 years I've sold used Macs and gotten a brand new one for $400 or less, the price of a good video card. My girlfriend sold her 4 year old Macbook pro 17 inch for $1250, and got a 2011 Macbook Pro for $999 from MicroCenter, so she got a new Mac AND came out $250 ahead. Good luck selling ANY 4 year old PC for over $1000: nobody wants em.




But that still shows how stupid Mac users are. After 4 years Mac hardware is just as outdated as PC hardware. Its not like apple was using super cutting edge tech thats still top of the line 4 years later.

Do Mac users think that time stops or something and that 4 year old specs are somehow newer and more special than 4 year old pc specs?????

inthere 10/25/2011 4:44 PM
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Well, it sold for that much because the 2007 Macbook Pro has both firewire 400 and a firewire 800 slot on it; the new ones have only firewire 800. It also has the express card slot so that he could hook up 3 more firewire devices. 99% of all the best audio interfaces use firewire 400, and he's in the Music business. He's running 2 different audi interfaces and a Focusrite Liquid Mix, and the Liquid Mix is not friendly to daisy chaining. As he can run 50+ track sessions on the 4 year old Mac and a Mac with Firewire400+expresscard slots will cost him a minimum $2500, he got a good deal.

beardguy 10/25/2011 5:16 PM
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Nice to see a bump in specs. Macbook Pro's are amazing laptops depending on your needs. It's the go-to standard in fields like design, music, and video production. There is a reason for that. The price is inflated, no doubt, but you will be hard pressed to find such a durable laptop that works as well Mac Book Pro. These things can take a beating, and they just keep chugging.

subaru41 10/25/2011 5:22 PM
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otacon72 :
2.4GHz quad-coreIntel Core i74GB 1333MHz750GB 5400-rpm1Intel HD Graphics 3000AMD Radeon HD 6770M with 1GB GDDR5$2,499.00...just laughable. Be a decent buy if you knocked 50% off it.



Have you seen the people that walk out of the apple store with a new Macbook. It looks like they just rode a horse. Ever time someone buys an Mac computer at the Apple store, they bend you over and screw you from behind at the checkout counter. That is Apple's way of saying thanks for buying our overpriced piece of crap computer. I heard though the soreness only lasts about 3 months.


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