Apple Unveils Revamped MacBooks – Deeper Relationship With NVIDIA
Apple has unveiled their all new MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops today in a Cupertino dog ‘n’ pony show led by everybody’s favorite fun-guy, CEO Steve Jobs. The slick new laptops feature all-metal precision unibody enclosures crafted from a single block of aluminum, state of the art NVIDIA graphic cards, instant-on LED-backlit displays and large glass Multi-Touch trackpads that offer almost 40 percent more tracking area and support more Multi-Touch gestures.
Steve Jobs was on hand as Ringmaster with Tim Cook, Chief Operating Officer, Phil Schiller, senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, and Jon Ive, senior vice president of Industrial Design along for the ride as well (more public exposure for heirs apparent?). NVIDIA is now playing a much more important role in Apple’s hardware due to their Nvidia GeForce 9400M, which includes the chipset and the graphics processor on a single card. It has 16 parallel graphics cores, pushes 54 Gigaflops and runs up to 5 times faster than Intel Integrated graphics.
The entire new MacBook family meets stringent Energy Star 4.0, EPEAT Gold and RoHS environmental standards, and leads the industry in the elimination of toxic chemicals by containing no brominated flame retardants, using only PVC-free internal cables and components, and using energy efficient LED-backlit displays that are mercury-free and made with arsenic-free glass.
The new MacBook line features the powerful new NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, a revolutionary new 3D integrated graphics processor that features 16 parallel processing cores and delivers up to five times the 3D graphics performance as previous MacBook and MacBook Air designs. Apple has worked together with NVIDIA on this groundbreaking graphics processor and is the first to bring it to market in the new MacBook family.
The new smooth glass Multi-Touch trackpad on the MacBook and 15-inch MacBook Pro gives users almost 40 percent more tracking area than before, making it even easier to use Multi-Touch gestures like pinch, rotate and swipe. New gestures allow users to activate Expose or switch between applications at the touch of a fingertip. The entire trackpad surface is also a button, allowing users to both track and click virtually anywhere on the trackpad. Users can easily enable multiple virtual buttons in software, such as right-clicking.
Every member of the new MacBook family features an LED-backlit display for brilliant instant-on performance that uses up to 30 percent less energy than its predecessor and eliminates the mercury found in industry standard fluorescent tube backlights. The ultra-thin displays provide crisp images and vivid colors which are ideal for viewing photos and movies, and the edge-to-edge cover glass creates a smooth, seamless surface. Every display in the new MacBook line uses completely arsenic-free glass.
The new MacBook delivers the top three features that MacBook customers have told us they want in a new MacBook: an all metal enclosure, high performance 3D graphics and LED-backlit displays. At only 0.95-inches thin and weighing just 4.5 pounds, the new 13-inch full featured aluminum MacBook is an incredibly compact and durable notebook starting at just $1,299. Featuring the new NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor, MacBook delivers outstanding 3D game play on a consumer notebook, with up to five times faster graphics performance than the previous generation. The new MacBook is available in two models: the 2.0 GHz MacBook with a 160GB 5400 rpm hard drive, and the 2.4 GHz MacBook with a 250GB 5400 rpm hard drive and a backlit keyboard.
The powerful new 15-inch MacBook Pro at only 0.95-inches thin and weighing just 5.5 pounds offers ultimate performance and extensive expansion features in a remarkably portable design. Starting at $1,999, the MacBook Pro uses the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors available, running up to 2.8 GHz, and a new graphics architecture that allows users to switch between the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics processor for better battery life and the powerful NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT discrete graphics processor for higher performance. The new MacBook Pro is available in two models: a 2.4 GHz model with a 250GB 5400 rpm hard drive and a 2.53 GHz model with a 320GB 5400 rpm hard drive.
Apple also updated MacBook Air and the 17-inch MacBook Pro. MacBook Air, measuring only 0.16-inches at its thinnest point, 0.76-inches at its maximum height and weighing just three pounds, now includes new NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics and a faster architecture to provide robust support for 3D games and enhanced performance. Starting at $1,799, MacBook Air is available with a 120GB 4200 rpm hard drive, a 50 percent increase from the previous generation, or a new 128GB solid state drive. The updated 17-inch MacBook Pro keeps its original aluminum design, and now comes standard with a high resolution 1920 x 1200 LED-backlit display and a larger 320GB hard drive or an optional 128GB solid state drive.
The new MacBook, 15-inch MacBook Pro and MacBook Air include a next generation, industry-standard Mini DisplayPort to connect with the new Apple LED Cinema Display featuring a 24-inch LED-backlit widescreen display with a built-in iSight video camera, mic and speakers in an elegant, thin aluminum and glass enclosure. Part of the next-generation DisplayPort industry standard, the new Mini DisplayPort delivers a pure digital signal that can drive up to a 30-inch widescreen display. The Mini DisplayPort is ultra-compact at just 10 percent the size of a full DVI connector, perfect for the sleek design of the new MacBook family. Adapters are available for using the MacBook’s Mini DisplayPort with older generation VGA, DVI/HDMI and Dual-Link DVI displays.
The new MacBook, 15-inch MacBook Pro and 17-inch MacBook Pro are now shipping and the new MacBook Air will be available in early November. An updated 13-inch white MacBook featuring 2.1 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processors, a 120GB 5400 rpm hard drive and a slot-load 8X SuperDrive is now available for $999.
More information on the new Apple laptops.
