Apple will be releasing their new line of Macbook Pros and I must say, I am disappointed. The biggest upgrade with the Macbook Pros is the Intel Sandybridge Core i5 and i7, Thunderbolt I/O, and Facetime HD cameras. However, you’re sacrificing this power for -3 hours in battery life and a big downgrade for graphics cards for the 13″ version. As for the addition of the Thunderbolt I/O, yes it’s almost twice as fast as the upcoming USB 3.0 but so was Firewire compared to USB 1.0, yet Firewire never made it mainstream due to costs. I foresee the same situation here with Thunderbolt. Unless you can get the 80% market of PC (non-Mac) manufacturers to start including Thunderbolt in their desktops and laptops, products using the Thunderbolt will never be priced cheap enough for mass production. Therefore, Thunderbolt will probably be just another faster port on the Mac lineup, rarely being used, complementing the USB 3.0 which will be standard and mainstream.
Having a dedicated graphics chipset (Nvidia 320M) is a big advantage to the previous Macbook Pro 13. I was hoping for the SSD and Apple keeping the Nvidia chipset and sold my Macbook Pro 13 in expectations on seeing a decent upgrade in the model. However, after seeing the specs, it appears I will be cancelling my sale made on Amazon.com
Judging by the new lineup, it appears Apple is trying to cut costs in order to stay competitive in introducing decent priced laptops that utilize the Core i5/i7, when compared to the Windows laptops. Nevertheless, the price gap between the PCs and MACs is easily shown as the new 17″ Macbook Pro is selling for $2,500 while a comparable 17″ PC Laptop is selling for $1,500.
Conclusion:
- If you own a 2010 Macbook Pro, wait for 2012 to upgrade.
- If you don’t own a Macbook Pro and now considering one, purchase the refurbished 2010 Macbook Prosfound in Apple.com’s outlet and save yourself $200+.
Reviews:
- Apple refreshes MacBook Pro family with Sandy Bridge processors, AMD graphics, Thunderbolt I/O tech, and FaceTime HD cameras
- Apple launches new MacBook Pro line
- All About the New Macbook Pros 2011
- Apple Launches MacBook Pros with Thunderbolt, Quad Core CPUs, AMD GPUs
