Apple announced Tuesday that it has updated its high-end MacBook Pro laptops with faster processors, better graphics and more memory space.
The laptops are still available in three models: two 15.4-inch versions that retail for $1,999 and $2,499, and a larger, 17-inch edition that costs $2,799. But with Tuesday's update, the lower-end 15-inch model is now equipped with 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processors (previously, it had a 2.16GHz chip); the higher-end 15-incher and the 17-incher now come with 2.4GHz processors, up from 2.33GHz. These new processors are indeed Intel's latest Centrino--or "Santa Rosa"--chips, which were introduced in early May.
All three MacBook Pros additionally now can be upgraded from 2GB to 4GB of RAM (random access memory) at extra cost, and have faster Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT graphics cards designed for media-intensive animation and gaming.
The 15-inch models also have an energy-efficiency boost, with LED-backlit displays. Apple has touted these not only as power-saving but also mercury-free.
The announcement comes on the heels of another Apple laptop upgrade: In May, the company released new versions of its lower-priced MacBook machines. Those laptops received processor and memory upgrades in addition to a hard-drive space boost (which was not part of Tuesday's MacBook Pro boost), but did not come with Santa Rosa processors or LED-backlit screens, as had been rumored.
The last major update to the MacBook Pro laptops was in October, when they were first manufactured with Intel Core 2 Duo processors.
It's shaping up to be a hot summer for Apple. The company is expected to make more product announcements--though no one's really sure what they will be--at its Worldwide Developers Conference next week. Additionally, perhaps its most hotly anticipated product ever, the iPhone, will hit stores on June 29.
Google creates an animated doodle that features a boy, a girl, Google's search engine, and a jump rope. But might there be darker, more analytical, more troubling interpretations to this tale?
The Silicon Valley online payments startup grew by 1,000 percent last year and is hopeful it can repeat that level of growth this year. To do that, it's had to move away from its early friends-and-family roots and embrace small businesses.
Chamtech's spray-on antenna uses a nano material to provide a low-power boost to antenna range. The wireless-in-a-can product may some day bring an end to unsightly cell towers.
EnerG2 opens a plant to make an engineered carbon that will improve performance of energy storage devices and make storage for start-stop hybrid cars less expensive.
Enter for a chance to WIN a PS Vita
Join the conversation