Apple Refreshes MacBook and MacBook Pros, Releases New 13" MacBook Pro

Today at WWDC 2009 Apple released updates to the Macbook and Macbook Pro line of notebooks. The 15" MacBook Pro gets a new low starting price, builtin battery, and swaps the ExpressCard for a SD-Card reader. The 17" MacBook Pro gets a bump in speed, RAM, and hard drive capacity. The big news is the addition of a 13" MacBook Pro, starting at $1,199, with a standard backlit keyboard, new display, FireWire 800, better battery life, and SD card slot.

Updated 15" MacBook Pro

• New lower $1,699 starting price
• Up to 3.06GHz dual core processor
• New battery that lasts up to 7 hours, with a lifespan of 5 years
• SD-card slot instead of ExpressCard

Updated 17" MacBook Pro

• Up to 2.8GHz dual-core processor
• Up to 8GB RAM and 500GB 7200RPM HD
• Retains ExpressCard slot

13" MacBook Pro

• New display
• 8GB RAM Max
• SD-card slot
• Better battery life
• Backlit keyboard
• FireWire 800
• Starts at $1,199

Updated Macbook Air

• Up to 2.13GHz processor
• Lower $1,499 starting price

All Apple notebooks now meet EPEAT Gold Rates and Energy Start Version 5 standards.

Stay tuned for more information on these new exciting Apple notebooks.

Related Articles:

• White Apple MacBook gets new processor and graphics
• Apple MacBook (Early 2009) Review
• Apple MacBook User Review

 

Thanks for the info Kevin!

Do you know if Apple has any plans to build a "high performance" laptop at some point in the future?

 

Kevin,you forgot better screen for 15".they said it will have 60% more color "something"

 

That 13" MBP is kinda sexy.1199 pretty nice starting price. I could see that being a very good notebook to walk around campus with and use for higher education purposes. I would consider using it fore those purposes. I got to give apple credit when it's due and that new 13" MBP has a market it will serve very well.

 

Now this forces the people that used an express card 3G for mobile broadband to now buy a quite obtrusive 3G usb dongle.
The built in battery is also not a great idea.


Apple needs to include built in 3G for me to be seriously interested in their products again. This is the mobile age.

Edited to add:
I always wanted a 13" MBP but i don't like lack of 3G capabilites/Express card slot.

 

Went to the Apple site and noticed for the "Macbook pro" if you want to hook up to an external monitor, you have to pay extra for some dongle to adapt to VGA or DVI.

 

13" MBP looks like a great contender, especially with the Firewire 800 put back in and a standard backlit keyboard.

 

The lack of expansion slots is the biggest problem I have with Apple. Nice products, prices are OK on some models, but no expresscard or eSATA options really limit what these can do.

 

It will look great next to you m17x... BTW,they now have educational discount for you get $ discount and free iPod touch.

HDMI adapter costs 15$

EDIT:not %,$

 

Wow that's pretty sweet, too bad my mom already bought her mac, although I have to say I don't like the built in battery... Could cause complications as far as problem with battery= send to apple, wait and recieve just because of battery... Not to mention not swappable! Like the old macs you could go on a spree lol, 2 batteries 14hrs

 

old macbooks get 4-5 hours,so 2x would get you ~9...but you would have to carry additional weight...and they claim that those will last 5 years,so it is not a big deal...and batteries never die silently,so you would know months before that you have problems

 

Well, its nice to see the prices coming down a little.

The 15" Pro is still $800 worth of hardware and an $800 mac OS...


I seriously hope they have addressed the fragility/low build quality of the last run of macbooks. (15" and 17")

$2000+ machines that break when you breathe funny next to them are not cool.

 

Then I should be able to order a new battery months before hand lol, not send my laptop in to apple months in advance and be without it for a while... My point is swappable Battery is my biggest no for this laptop, and when spending money for an investment like this everything has to be perfect

 

does this mean they're coming out with even cheaper "macbook" to compete with the netbooks in future?

 

welcome to the real world! nothing is perfect! if you want long battery,something has to be bad... if you notice that you are getting less from your battery,you can just go to local apple store and they ll change it in 15 minutes...what I meant it wont suddenly die on you

 

So they essentially renamed the unibody MBs to 13" MBPs and tossed the ExpressCard slot along with a few other changes, at a lower price?

It's getting to be a nicer package. I would have jumped on it if it had the 9600, but that's rather hard in something that small.

 

this is really bad

you cant upgrade the HDD your self

dont get me wrong, it is a really appealing update

but BAD apple, you cant upgrade the HDD yourself

 

You can upgrade the HDD and RAM yourself, you just need to remove a few screws. It should be just like on the 17" which is really easy to do.

 

That was my impression. I haven't checked yet, but are the 13" MBs removed from Apple's line as a result?

 

Judging from their website, all they've done is remove the uni body macbook and relabeled it "13" Macbook Pro". The $1000 white macbook is still there.

 

Nice move with the UB's.....might get people to score a 13" rather than a White $1000 model

 

Show me another laptop in such a slim and light chassis with the same specs and dual graphics cards...

Thats what your money is buying...especially the slim chassis

 

The dual graphics is not on the lower model 15" mbp. To get the dual graphics, you need the $1999 model.

 

Also... I'm guessing the battery is non removable as it was on the previous 17" MBP?

That's sort of a shame. I'm too used to being able to swap out batteries.

 

I don't see this happening. Unlike let's say an AW or ASUS, Apple firmly believes in aesthetics, battery life and weight first and hardware second.

With such a small and light profile and thin factor, the 17" can already warm up decently with a dual core and 9600 GPU.

There's a reason gaming laptops are pretty thick and can weigh a decent amount (albeit my daughter's GX720 is rather light, but it can't touch the Apple in height and the AC adapter is much bigger than Apples).

I would like Apple to explore the market for a, "power user," segment of the market and see perhaps if there is a crowd that would like a 280M/4870M under the hood and *maybe* a Quad Core at the expense of a few extra pounds and obviously a larger AC adapter and .5-1" more thickness (ok, who are we kidding? 1"+ more thickness ).

 

I never understood the point of making a 17 inch laptop thin when it already takes up a huge footprint and weighs a ton... and at the cost of performance, heat management and price.

 

Apple would never make a portable powerhouse, but they would jump on external VGA I'm sure.

 

Hmm? What? Where? Linky? ?

 

In that case why not just buy a desktop?

The 17" MBP is lighter and smaller than most 15" notebooks. The key is portability. The people buying the 17" machine have fairly specific requirements for mobile video, photographic, audio, etc. workflows. They aren't gaming or watching Youtube at least not when on the clock.

 

One correction, the 17" pro can also have up to a 3.06 GHz dual core.

I looked on the apple site just now because it didn't sound right...

 

Well the T9900 is out. You'd think they could put a Q9000 in...

 

no it isnt

 

It's color gamut.

I'm not sure, and don't quote me on this, but I read somewhere that the higher color gamut monitors are in the new 13" MBPs.

 

The cheapest 15" MBP is also reduced to only having the 9400M, no 9600M GT in that baby.

 

Holy crap!

If the only thing you upgrade is the proc. to a 3.06 the price is $2800!

Has that thing got a titanium chassis and a plutonium power cell?

 

It's an Apple™ .

 

Its like that for the other makes as well.. going to a T9800 on a Dell sxps16 will cost you $600 on the Canadian site.. cant imagine what a T9900 would cost.

 

it weighs 6.6 lbs. It isn't much heavier than a regular 15 inch laptop. My 15 inch laptop weighs just about the same as it. The MacbookPro is an inch wider than mine, the same depth and about half an inch thinner than mine is.

 

no removable battery... and no real 'upgrade'.

I still want apple to create a 15.4 MBA... then I'll be interested.

 

I think the biggest thing today was the price drop in the air and the better processor. The price on the air isn't completely outrageous anymore I think.

 

..and I for one was hoping for a 16:9 screen. What the heck were they thinking, sticking with the 9600GT for the Macbook Pro? They should have went with at least a 130m. Forget Apple, my next laptop's going to be a Lenovo.

 

That's the first time I ever saw this on this forum. Well not first, but it sure is rare.

 

There's a sucker born every minute

 

That built in battery isn't a good thing.

 

Does the 13" MBP have a better quality screen than before? The older 13" MB UB had a mediocre screen.

 

lol for a second there I thought I could get a 15" MBP for 1699/1799!

 

too expensive, underpowered and ugly lol

 

Neutered cache and 2.0ghz per core and many apps not optimized for a quad core at the cost of a higher voltage and thermal budget under load?

Nah, not seeing it.

Apple is shooting for a specific market with their 17" and making dimensions/weight/battery life/portability/usability their #1 criteria. Hardware specs have to suffer with your priorities set like that.

In the words of Chris Rock, "I'm not saying what Apple is doing is right........but I understand."

 

For those that have zero intentions of gaming, the 9400M is more than adequate to drive the OSX UI.

 

Let's see if I get this right. No user-replaceable battery?

I'll pass.