14 DAY TRIAL // Apple has announced upgrades to its range of Mac laptops at yesterday's special event hosted by the company's execs in San Francisco. Excluding the MacBook Air, all unibody notebooks now feature an improved, built-in battery, an LED-backlit display with greater color intensity, an illuminated keyboard (new to the 13-incher), an SD card or ExpressCard slot, as well as a FireWire 800 port for more affordable prices. The Air wasn't left out in the cold either, and is now available at a lower price with even better performance.
“Across the line, all of our new MacBook Pro models now include Apple’s innovative built-in battery for up to seven hours of battery life, while staying just as thin and light as before,” Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, said. “Starting at just $1,199, the aluminum unibody MacBook Pro is more affordable than ever and sets a new standard for environmentally friendly notebook design.”
To the delight of WWDC '09 attendees, Phil Schiller confirmed that Apple's most popular Mac, the 13-inch MacBook, was getting the built-in battery previously reserved for 17-inch Pro models, without changing the price. According to the company, users will be able to get seven hours of work time with the new Lithium-polymer-based powering unit. But Apple didn't just upgrade the battery on the 13-inch unibody MacBook. The laptop also gained the above-mentioned SD card slot, a FireWire 800 port, an illuminated keyboard (previously available only on MacBook Pros and the super slim MacBook Air), and an improved LED-backlit display with 60% greater color gamut.
Apple's new 13-inch notebook starts at the same $1,199 price, while offering Pro-level performance. No wonder Apple decided to add to this one the “Pro” dubbing as well. The new device can also be configured with a 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB of RAM and a 250GB hard drive for the price of $1,499.
Naturally, the 15-inch and 17-inch Pro models also got the new LED display, SD card slot and better battery, but also Pro-specific upgrades (higher clock speeds, more RAM and storage, etc.) and are now available for new entry prices of $1,699 (15-inch) and $2,499 (17-inch). Also noteworthy is that, for the first time, MacBook Pros can now handle 8GB of RAM, and can be upgraded with a 500GB hard drive (HDD) or a 256GB solid state drive (SSD).
As for the company's ultra-thin notebook, the MacBook Air, Apple announced more powerful and more affordable configurations. The MacBook Air continues to be available in two models, only now it starts at the new entry price of $1,499 for a 1.86 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo system with a 120GB hard drive and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics. A 2.13 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo MacBook Air, with a 128GB solid state drive (SSD) and the same graphics card starts at $1,799.
Visit Apple here to learn more about the company's new line of notebooks, and perhaps order your own 13-inch Pro for the amazing price of $1,199.