Apple's next-gen MacBook Pro family announced in India, prices slashed

Apple has introduced the new MacBook Pro family, featuring some sparkling new tech and significantly different specs from the previous generation, but remain much the same on the outside. There are five models split between the three sizes – two 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pros, and one 17-inch MacBook Pro – and all of them will feature Intel’s Sandy Bridge chips, in Core i5 and i7 variants. Find the India pricing, which has dropped in some models, in the table at the bottom of the article.

The MacBook Pro family also introduces Intel’s first iteration of Light Peak technology, the dual-channel I/O ‘Thunderbolt’, which promises up to 10Gbps bi-directional transfer speeds. Read more on Thunderbolt, here. But while MacBook Pro notebooks are available with Thunderbolt right now, devices supporting them will only arrive in the latter part of the year. Many major storage manufacturers however, have vowed support for both Thunderbolt and other future Light Peak technologies.

Intel Thunderbolt port

All the MacBook Pro laptops also ship with a FireWire 800 port on board, while the 17-inch model has an ExpressCard/34 slot instead of a SDXC card slot.

Related Stories

  New Apple MacBook Pro laptops expected this week, sporting Sandy Bridge & Light Peak

  Apple introduces the world’s first Thunderbolt Display; gives the Mac Mini an update

  Mac OS X Lion - Everything you need to know

  Rumour: Apple tests iPad's A5 chip in MacBook Air

Apple’s latest generation of MacBook Pro laptops differ from last in two other major aspects – they feature AMD Mobility Radeon graphics (6000M) instead of Nvidia’s offerings, and, have new FaceTime HD cameras for video-chat, which offer 3 times the resolution as their iSight predecessors, promising full HD video conferencing. FaceTime for Mac has also been released, available for 99 cents on the Mac Store. All the laptops feature LED-backlit screens, with a choice of glossy or anti-glare coating (not in 13-inch models). The 15-inch models also come with a choice of 1680x1050 high-resolutions screens, instead of the 1440x900 default.

Importantly, the 13-inch MacBook Pro models do not feature discrete graphics, but apparently, Apple and Intel are confident the Sandy Bridge assisted Intel HD 3000 graphics will be up to the challenge. Check out other important specifications, including India pricing, below:


 

Model	13-inch MacBook Pro		15-inch MacBook Pro		17-inch MacBook Pro
U.S. Price	$1,199	$1,499	$1,799	$2,199	$2,499
India Price	Rs. 69,900 (inclusive of VAT)	Rs. 84,900 (inclusive of VAT)	Rs. 104,900 (inclusive of VAT)	Rs. 124,900 (inclusive of VAT)	Rs. 142,900 (inclusive of VAT)
Display	13.3-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display	13.3-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display	15.4-inch LED-backlit glossy or optional antiglare widescreen display	15.4-inch LED-backlit glossy or optional antiglare widescreen display	17-inch high-resolution LED-backlit glossy or optional antiglare widescreen display
CPU	2.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor	2.7GHz dual-core Intel Core i7 processor	2.0GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor	2.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor	2.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor
HDD	320GB 5400-rpm hard drive	500GB 5400-rpm hard drive	500GB 5400-rpm hard drive	750GB 5400-rpm hard drive	750GB 5400-rpm hard drive
Integrated Graphics	Intel HD Graphics 3000 with 384MB DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory	Intel HD Graphics 3000 with 384MB DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory	Intel HD Graphics 3000 with 384MB DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory	Intel HD Graphics 3000 with 384MB DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory	Intel HD Graphics 3000 with 384MB DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory
Discrete Graphics			AMD Radeon HD 6490M with 256MB GDDR5 memory	AMD Radeon HD 6750M with 1GB GDDR5 memory	AMD Radeon HD 6750M with 1GB GDDR5 memory
Memory	4GB DDR3 1333MHz RAM, up to 8GB	4GB DDR3 1333MHz RAM, up to 8GB	4GB DDR3 1333MHz RAM, up to 8GB	4GB DDR3 1333MHz RAM, up to 8GB	4GB DDR3 1333MHz RAM, up to 8GB
Battery Life	Up to 7 hours (wireless web browsing)	Up to 7 hours (wireless web browsing)	Up to 7 hours (wireless web browsing)	Up to 7 hours (wireless web browsing)	Up to 7 hours (wireless web browsing)
Battery Strength	Built-in lithium-polymer 63.5 watt-hour	Built-in lithium-polymer 63.5 watt-hour	Built-in lithium-polymer 77.5 watt-hour	Built-in lithium-polymer 77.5 watt-hour	Built-in lithium-polymer 95 watt-hour

Apple introduces the world’s first Thunderbolt Display; gives the Mac Mini an update

This is basically 27-inches of Thunderbolt goodness, LED style! The display is a 27-inch display has edge-to-edge glass design, aluminum an glass enclosure and uses the IPS technology. The aspect ratio is 16:9, and has a 178-degree viewing angle. The built-in ambient light sensor adjusts brightness according the brightness around you.

This display is compatible with any Thunderbolt capable MacBook, and is being positioned as the ‘ultimate docking station’. Users can access FaceTime HD camera, high quality audio, Gigabit Ethernet, FireWire® 800, USB 2.0 and Thunderbolt ports. This display/docking station will connect to the MacBook Pro or the MacBook Air, and charge then when in use.

According to Apple, the Thunderbolt Display is the world’s first display to include Thunderbolt I/O technology. Featuring two bi-directional channels with transfer speeds up to an amazing 10Gbps each, each Thunderbolt port delivers PCI Express directly to external peripherals such as high performance storage and RAID arrays, supports DisplayPort for high resolution displays and works with existing adapters for HDMI, DVI and VGA displays. Thunderbolt-based Macs with discrete graphics can drive two external displays giving professional users over 7 million additional pixels of display real estate and the ability to daisy chain additional Thunderbolt devices, as well as video and audio capture devices.

“The Apple Thunderbolt Display is the ultimate docking station for your Mac notebook,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With just one cable, users can dock with their new display and connect to high performance peripherals, network connections and audio devices.”

The Thunderbolt display will retail for Rs 56,900.

Along with the new Thunderbolt display, and the MacBook Air refresh, Apple has also showered some love on the Mac Mini. Users can now select a version from the latest range of the Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors. For discrete graphics, the ATI Radeon HD 6630M solution has been introduced with the new Mac Mini. The new OS, the OSX Lion will come pre-loaded on the machine.

Apple seems to be giving the Thunderbolt I/O technology loving to almost all its products, and the Mac Mini too gets these capabilities. Users can configure up to 8GB of RAM, faster 7200rpm hard drive or even a 256GB flash drive. What the Mac Mini doesn’t get is an optical drive, and that seems to be critical to keeping the Mac Mini’s size down. The current version has 7.7-inches in width and just 1.4-inches in height.

Prices of the new Mac Mini
Intel Core i5 2.3GHz dual core, 2GB RAM and a 500GB hard drive: Rs. 44,900 
Option to add memory up to 8GB and a 750GB hard drive.

Intel Core i5 2.5 GHz dual-core, 4GB of memory and a 500GB hard drive: Rs. 54,900 
Options to upgrade to a 2.7GHz dual-core Core i7 processor, up to 8GB of memory, and a 750GB hard drive with an option to add or replace with a 256GB solid-state drive.

Intel Core i7 2.0 GHz quad-core with Lion Server, 4GB of memory and dual 500GB hard drives: Rs. 56,900
Options to upgrade include adding memory up to 8GB, two 750GB hard drives, or up to two 256GB solid state drives.