This is the moment that a number of Apple fans have been waiting for: Intel’s new Core i5 and i7 processors have made their way to Apple’s highly successful MacBook Pro line of portable computers. Personally? I’ve actually been waiting a while for this moment to consider an upgrade to my MacBook Pro with the Intel Core 2 Duo (Penryn) chipset in it, and an i7 (like the one in my desktop PC) would do very nicely.
Over at PC Magazine there are some glorious unboxing photos (like the one above) of the new MacBook Pros; which haven’t really changed form factor or case design from the previous models, but the guts have gotten a huge upgrade from the Core 2 Duo line. The 13-inch MacBook Pros retain their Core 2 Duo guts (and their price point) while the 15 and 17-inch MacBook Pros have seen the upgrades. Only the 15-inch has an i7 processor in it, even the 17-inch Macbook Pro only saw an upgrade to an i5.
The price point has been bumped up a touch, but that’s to be expected with the kind of processor upgrade that the i5 and i7 represent. Aside from that, the new MacBook Pros have all been given discrete and switchable graphics and new Nvidia graphics cards, which allow them to switch between built-in Intel graphics for normal tasks, but kick into overdrive and use the NVidia graphics cards when you start gaming or doing a graphics-intensive task.
If you’ve been waiting to update your MacBook Pro, now is a great time to do it – the Core i5/i7 processor lineup will be with us for a bit yet, and this is the time of year where Apple updates their notebook line, so you’re fresh off of an update cycle.