Apple updates MacBook with faster chips, more memory

[AppleInsider]

Apple today updated its MacBook consumer notebooks with faster Intel Core 2 Duo processors, 1GB of memory and larger hard drives in every model.

The new line of MacBooks remain just one-inch thin and feature built-in 802.11n wireless networking for up to five times the performance and twice the range of 802.11g. Every MacBook also includes a built-in iSight video camera for on-the-go video conferencing, Apple's MagSafe Power Adapter that safely disconnects when under strain, and iLife '06, Apple's award-winning suite of digital lifestyle applications.

"The MacBook is a huge hit with customers, and is one of the reasons that Mac sales are growing three times faster than PC sales," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "The new MacBook is faster, has even more memory and storage, and is an ideal notebook for customers' growing library of digital music, photos and movies."

Featuring a 13-inch glossy widescreen display, the one-inch thin MacBook comes in three models: white 2.0 GHz and 2.16 GHz MacBook models, and a black 2.16 GHz MacBook model. The MacBook includes a built-in iSight video camera for video chatting on-the-go with friends or family using iChat AV, recording a video podcast or iMovie using iLife '06, or taking fun snapshots with Photo Booth. Designed for the mobile lifestyle, the MacBook includes Apple's MagSafe Power Adapter that magnetically connects the power cord to the MacBook and safely disconnects when under strain, and the latest generation of 802.11n wireless networking for up to five times the performance and twice the range of 802.11g.

The MacBook comes with iLife '06, the next generation of Apple's award-winning suite of digital lifestyle applications featuring iPhoto, iMovie HD, iDVD, GarageBand and iWeb. The MacBook also comes with the latest release of the world's most advanced operating system, Mac OS X version 10.4.9 Tiger, including Safari, Mail, iCal, iChat AV, Front Row and Photo Booth.



Pricing & Availability

The new MacBook is available immediately through the Apple Store, Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.

The 2.0 GHz, 13-inch white MacBook, for a suggested retail price of $1,099 (US), includes:

13.3-inch glossy widescreen 1280 x 800 display; 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor; 667 MHz front-side bus; 1GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, expandable to 2GB; 80GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor; a slot-load Combo (DVD-ROM/CD-RW) optical drive; Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950; Mini-DVI out (adapters for DVI, VGA and Composite/S-Video sold separately); built-in iSight video camera; Gigabit Ethernet port; built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR; two USB 2.0 ports and one FireWire 400 port; one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analog; Scrolling TrackPad; the infrared Apple Remote; and 60 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

The 2.16 GHz, 13-inch white MacBook, for a suggested retail price of $1,299 (US), includes:

13.3-inch glossy widescreen 1280 x 800 display; 2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor; 667 MHz front-side bus; 1GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, expandable to 2GB; 120GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor; a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+R DL/DVD +/- RW/CD-RW) optical drive; Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950; Mini-DVI out (adapters for DVI, VGA and Composite/S-Video sold separately); built-in iSight video camera; Gigabit Ethernet port; built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR; two USB 2.0 ports and one FireWire 400 port; one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analog; Scrolling TrackPad; the infrared Apple Remote; and 60 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

The 2.16 GHz, 13-inch black MacBook, for a suggested retail price of $1,499 (US), includes:

13.3-inch glossy widescreen 1280 x 800 display; 2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor; 667 MHz front-side bus; 1GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, expandable to 2GB; 160GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor; a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+R DL/DVD +/- RW/CD-RW) optical drive; Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950; Mini-DVI out (adapters for DVI, VGA and Composite/S-Video sold separately); built-in iSight video camera; Gigabit Ethernet port; built-in AirPort Extreme wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR; two USB 2.0 ports and one FireWire 400 port; one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analog; Scrolling TrackPad; the infrared Apple Remote; and 60 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

Additional build-to-order options for the MacBook include the ability to upgrade to 120GB or 160GB (5400 rpm) or a 200GB (4200 rpm) hard drive, up to 2GB DDR2 SDRAM, Apple USB Modem, Apple Mini-DVI to DVI adapter, Apple Mini-DVI to VGA adapter, Apple MagSafe Airline Adapter and the AppleCare Protection Plan. Additional build-to-order options also include pre-installed copies of iWork '06, Logic Express 7, Final Cut Express HD 3.5 and Aperture 1.5.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[Sopranino]

WTF.....???? No MBP updates??? cr@p!!!!

[Matthew Yohe]

Surprised about the lack of a santa rosa update...

Oh well.

[fisha]

bit of a let down really . . . especially no santa rosa....


in yer own time apple . . . in yer own time.

[Kasper]

:::yawn:::

[PB]

Originally Posted by Matthew Yohe

Surprised about the lack of a santa rosa update...

Oh well.

Why? MB Pros don't have it yet. Santa Rosa will be rather for the autumn Macbook update.

[PB]

Originally Posted by Kasper

:::yawn:::

Well, yes and no. The Macbook needed this refresh, even if this means not updated graphics yet.

[vinea]

Not sure why folks would expect more than a speed bump...

[Banjo]

Originally Posted by fisha

bit of a let down really . . . especially no santa rosa....


in yer own time apple . . . in yer own time.

Surely the major hardware updates will all happen with Leopard's introduction? That would seem to make sense as both an incentive to buy updated products and as a means to get people on the new OS. Apple product announcements are always a "let-down", not because of the nature of the products, but because of our rather farfetched speculation... and long may it continue!

[DaveGee]

Originally Posted by vinea

Not sure why folks would expect more than a speed bump...

Around here?!?! You **are** kidding right?

[Bergermeister]

Oh, drat. No super-mini-portable with 5GHz quad processors for $399. I have had it with Apple.


Speed bumps. WWDC is next month...

[Banjo]

The Apple Store is now back online, confirming that the MacBook bump is the only update for today!

[Ste]

I find it slightly -- just ever so slightly -- irksome that the 13" MacBook now has a faster optical drive than the 15" MBP.

[Bergermeister]

Originally Posted by Banjo

The Apple Store is now back online, confirming that the MacBook bump is the only update for today!

What store are you looking at? After reading your message, I checked US, Japan and Australia and they are all still down.

[solipsism]

1) Santa Rosa offers very little performance improvement. Apple should wait until Santa Rosa's Robson is working well before implementing in the MacBook (Pro) lines. Plus, we'll definitely see it int he MBP before the MB.

2) My *new* black MacBook has a 0.16GHz slower processor, 2x slower SuperDrive and 40GB less capacity than the new black MacBook. Will I be crying over these new release, calling foul on Apple and franticaly claiming my machine is now obsolete? Hell no!

3) With the speed of the MacBok nd MacBook Pros getting this close and the optical drive of the MB being 2x faster than the 15" MBP, it's a safe bet that new Satna Rosa MacBook Pros with this new optical drive and larger HDDs will appear at WWDC in 3 weeks.

[DaveGee]

Originally Posted by Banjo

Surely the major hardware updates will all happen with Leopard's introduction? That would seem to make sense as both an incentive to buy updated products and as a means to get people on the new OS.!

Gotta disagree with you on this...

If anything Steve will force new hardware out the doors a month or so PRIOR to the 'announced release' of 10.5 (pushing employees to the breaking point no doubt) which in turn will force those fine customers who just purchased the new hardware to pony up another C note for the new OS a few month later.

Oh and look for those same fine folks to come here to bitch moan & complain about Apple not having an 'upgrade policy' for people who 'just last month' bought a new computer. With some insisting that they MUST have an upgrade pricing. They never did (not really*) and they never will... They just don't do it (at the OS level).

(*) Okay smarty OS X 10.1 is the exception that proves the rule.

D

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by Bergermeister

Oh, drat. No super-mini-portable with 5GHz quad processors for $399. I have had it with Apple.

[Bergermeister]

From Apple's HotNews:

iTunes Offers Exclusive Pre-Order of New Paul McCartney Album “Memory Almost Full”
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2007/05/15itunes.html

That is the big news of the day.

[Bizmac]

Bad update no SR...no intel x3000...the MacBook is now outdated
Shares will soar...bad move Apple.

[aegisdesign]

They also dropped the prices here in the UK. The three base specs are now £50 cheaper each.

They were £749 / £879 / £999.

They're now £699 / £829 / £949. Prices including our VAT at 17.5%. With the USD/GBP exchange rate hovering around $2 to the pound, that's not a brilliant drop but still welcome.

Good to see 1GB standard in the low end model too.

[BenRoethig]

Originally Posted by vinea

Not sure why folks would expect more than a speed bump...

I don't know, maybe because bargain basement HP got the newest tech last week, and we expect more out of a premium computer maker like Apple.

[aegisdesign]

Originally Posted by solipsism

1) Santa Rosa offers very little performance improvement. Apple should wait until Santa Rosa's Robson is working well before implementing in the MacBook (Pro) lines. Plus, we'll definitely see it int he MBP before the MB.

True except for the X3100 GPU that is part of Santa Rosa and that's the one part where the MacBook really was crying out for an update.

[Zandros]

Originally Posted by Banjo

The Apple Store is now back online, confirming that the MacBook bump is the only update for today!

It went up, and then down again... I wonder what they are doing.

[aegisdesign]

Originally Posted by Bergermeister

From Apple's HotNews:

iTunes Offers Exclusive Pre-Order of New Paul McCartney Album “Memory Almost Full”
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2007/05/15itunes.html

That is the big news of the day.

*Chuckle*

[aegisdesign]

Originally Posted by Zandros

It went up, and then down again... I wonder what they are doing.

That's spooky. It's done the same here in the UK too.

[BenRoethig]

Originally Posted by Ste

I find it slightly -- just ever so slightly -- irksome that the 13" MacBook now has a faster optical drive than the 15" MBP.

The 15" Powerbook had a faster optical drive than the 15" Macbook Pro. They tried to make it as thin as possible which meant downgrading from a 12.7mm notebook drive to a 9.5mm drive meant for ultra portables.

[vinea]

Originally Posted by BenRoethig

I don't know, maybe because bargain basement HP got the newest tech last week, and we expect more out of a premium computer maker like Apple.

3 weeks from WWDC and a real keynote? Right.

'Sides, while it seems that the HP is shipping quickly (3 days) Apple may not have been able to secure the volume to transition the majority of their notebook lines over right away (figuring the MacBooks are half or more of the volume). HP can afford to run dry on the DV2500T since they have other models. Apple not so much.

The speed bump buys them a month or so till WWDC and enough stock for a chipset change. The GMA 3100 will be a nice improvement but the speed bump a reasonable consolation prize for anyone forced to buy a MB this month. And its not a major production change for Apple.

Many if not most folks are hopefully able to wait. I am for either an updated MB or Mini for my parents.

Vinea

[aegisdesign]

I wonder how much money they lose taking the store offline like this. It's 2.30pm here now in the UK and it's been offline most of the working day.

If I was supposed to be ordering new kit today, I'd have to go elsewhere.

[backtomac]

IMO, users would have been better off if Apple had gone with SR and keep the CPU speeds the same. The new IG procesor would probably be of more benefit than the modest bump in CPU speed this upgrade provided. I know it's far sexier to say 'hey look how fast our CPUs are' from a marketing perspective, however.

[wilco]

Originally Posted by Bergermeister

Oh, drat. No super-mini-portable with 5GHz quad processors for $399. I have had it with Apple.

The only thing worse than the whiners are these cliched responses.

[Marvin]

Originally Posted by aegisdesign

They also dropped the prices here in the UK. The three base specs are now £50 cheaper each.

They were £749 / £879 / £999.

They're now £699 / £829 / £949. Prices including our VAT at 17.5%. With the USD/GBP exchange rate hovering around $2 to the pound, that's not a brilliant drop but still welcome.

Good to see 1GB standard in the low end model too.

I'm very happy to see these price drops but no Santa Rosa and no Mini update = .

2GHz & 2.16GHz Minis would have been very welcome. Even 1.83GHz in the low end now that the MBs aren't using them and 1GB Ram standard.

[backtomac]

Originally Posted by Marvin

I'm very happy to see these price drops but no Santa Rosa and no Mini update = .

Mac mini=Apple's bastard child

[Bergermeister]

Originally Posted by wilco

The only thing worse than the whiners are these cliched responses.

Read your own posts.

[vinea]

Originally Posted by Bergermeister

Read your own posts.

To quote that other thread:

Ziiiing...

Edit: Sorry...that would be

zzzzzzzzzzzzing!

My bad.

[EagerDragon]

Originally Posted by Banjo

The Apple Store is now back online, confirming that the MacBook bump is the only update for today!

The Apple store is still down here in USA.

[Matthew Yohe]

Originally Posted by PB

Why? MB Pros don't have it yet. Santa Rosa will be rather for the autumn Macbook update.

I was referring to Pros not being updated. in due time.

[doemel]

Originally Posted by aegisdesign

True except for the X3100 GPU that is part of Santa Rosa and that's the one part where the MacBook really was crying out for an update.

You mean that's the part some MB users should rather get an MBP instead? We're talking about a consumer laptop, not a professional laptop.

[Rolo]

Disappointed about no Centrino Duo but it's a decent upgrade, anyway. Slightly faster, twice the RAM, larger HDs, faster SuperDrive, the new 802.11n are all very welcome. The Santa Rosa upgrade will probably happen in November for the holiday buying season and it'll ship with Leopard.

If the MBP coming out in June doesn't have SR, I'll really be bitterly disappointed and will wait for the next update.

[aegisdesign]

Originally Posted by doemel

You mean that's the part some MB users should rather get an MBP instead? We're talking about a consumer laptop, not a professional laptop.

The Intel X3100 replaces the Intel GMA950 in the current MacBook. It's still integrated graphics like the GMA950 but adds DirectX10 shader support and H.264 video acceleration. It's perfect for consumer laptops and not for pros.

You can read about it at http://www.intel.com/products/chipsets/GM965/index.htm

[EagerDragon]

So far zzzzzzzzzzzz