On February 24th Apple will unveil a new line of MacBook Pros, incorporating Sandy Bridge and dropping in price. We’ve covered the Light Peak/Thunderbolt port and even looked at the five features we all want. Let’s do an official recap of the new line, starting with the price.
Price Drop
Word on the street is the new Sandy Bridge MacBook Pros will drop by $100, specifically the 13-inch will be $1099 instead of $1199. All new MBPs will use new processors, the 13-inch will use an i5 2410M processor (Sandy Bridge) and the 17-inch will come standard with an i7 Sandy Bridge (either 2630QM or 2635QM).
Light Peak / Thunderbolt
As we previously discussed, the new models will feature an Intel Thunderbolt/Light Peak port. This port uses copper technology which replaces the SCSI, SATA, USB, FireWire and PCI Express ports on a computer with 10 gigabits per second bi-directional data transfer. Intel will be demonstrating the technology at their own event tomorrow as well.
Larger trackpads, SDXC slot
BGR is reporting that all models will include new, larger trackpads. Inspired by the Magic Trackpad, navigating the new MBPs will be easier than ever. Storage capacity will also be upgraded thanks to new SDXC card slots which support cards in up to 2TB capacity. 2TB memory cards, seriously?
Faster memory, longer battery life
With the Sandy Bridge chipset comes faster memory. All new MacBook Pros will use 1333 MHZ DDR3 memory (up from 1066 MHz DDR3). With nVidia out of the equation, Intel graphics will pave the way for better battery life. The new line offers up to 10 hour battery life (up from 8 to 9 hrs).
FaceTime HD 720P
Remember that phenomenon known as FaceTime that never really took off to the extent Apple intended. Well expect the new MacBook Pros and next week’s iPad 2 announcement to fill that void. MBPs will feature Facetime HD and ship with FaceTime version 1.0 with support for 720P video.
OS X 10.6.6
The last bit of dirt we’ve rounded up on the new MacBook Pros is that they’ll ship with OS X 10.6.6. According to 9to5Mac OSX 10.6.7 will unify the existing and new MBPs. That pretty much wraps up all the rumors and confirmed specs of the new Sandy Bridge MacBook Pros. Stay tuned as we bring you the latest coverage from Apple’s announcement tomorrow. Anyone sold on the new specs?
via 9to5Mac
