Apple updates MacBook Pro with industry's first LED-backlit displays, faster processors, more

Mac Daily News ^ | 06/05/2007

[Swordmaker]

New MacBook Pros announced... LED backlit displays... PING!

If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.

[mnehring]

Nice.. May be time to update the wife’s iBook.

[Wyatt's Torch]

FYI - LED backlight is only on the 15.4” not the 17”

[Wyatt's Torch]

Nice that the base RAM is 2Gb

[johniegrad]

more overprice macbooks that no one will by PING.

I just bought one.

[CheneyChick]

Nice that the RAM is expandable to 4 GB. It wasn’t so long ago that that was the size of the hard drive....

[SlowBoat407]

more overprice macbooks that no one will by PING.

If you had been here longer than two days you would have seen all of the data debunking the myth that macs are overpriced. Oh, and even "overpriced" macs have spell check available.

[vox_freedom]

Keewwwwweelllll!

This will be my new machine. Thanks.

[George W. Bush]

more overprice macbooks that no one will by PING.

Poor Apple. It's the end for those foolish Mac guys for sure!

[Yossarian]

more overprice macbooks that no one will by PING.

Mac OS X comes with a built-in system-wide spell checker and dictionary, but not a grammar checker - so I'm afraid it wouldn't help you out.

Oh, one other thing: I'm going to order one next week!

[George W. Bush]

I think we all expected the expanded RAM and LED backlighting. But a lot of media professionals are going to be very happy at the high-res option on the 17" models. About time.

Did you notice that OpenOffice for the Mac appeared today (alpha release)?

Slashdot | OpenOffice.org for Mac OS X Alpha Released!

And we have the KDE upcoming release (all the major KDE apps running on Linux will also run on Mac and Windows). And Leopard to follow. It's a great year for Mac.

[Yossarian]

Nice that the RAM is expandable to 4 GB. It wasn’t so long ago that that was the size of the hard drive....

Good to see you! And regarding the RAM, well, my job as a chip designer depends on people buying the latest and greatest, so let me say that: "YES, you need a 2.4 GHz dual core processor & 4 GB RAM to browse the latest websites, run Office, and keep track of your recipes!"

[coon2000]

Go to school so you can get a good job and then you can afford to BUY one. You will also learn the correct usage of by, bye and buy.

Oh, and another thing, I bought a 17 inch Mac Pro.

[George W. Bush]

Lucky dog. Hi-res screen or standard?

[Mr. Blonde]

Millions of people can buy an Apple computer and not significantly affect MS’s market share. Doesn’t mean those people are don’t exist or have made the wrong choice in computer.

[George W. Bush]

And regarding the RAM, well, my job as a chip designer depends on people buying the latest and greatest, so let me say that: "YES, you need a 2.4 GHz dual core processor & 4 GB RAM to browse the latest websites, run Office, and keep track of your recipes!"

I'm trying to squeak by with only 3GB on my Mac Pro (2x512MB + 2x1GB modules). And all I'm running right now is Firefox (18 tabs open), Vienna newsreader, M$ Excel, Adobe Acrobat, EyeTV PVR running live capture from satellite, Photoshop CS3, iTunes, and VMWare with a 512MB RAM configuration and running Red Alert 2 (a DirectX 7 game).

The database engine in the newsreader can actually seem a little slow with these programs all open at once. It's enough to make me stamp my feet in a fit of pique!

If I trade in (or sell) my 2 512MB modules, should I get two more 1GB modules ($200 at OWC less $65 trade-in on my 2x512MB modules)?

Or should I pony for two 2GB modules, keeping in mind the unique Mac Pro architecture which favors using only four dual-rank DIMMs for Xeon serial-memory bus? (For quality 2x2GB, $470 less my 2x512MB trade-ins or only $135 net to get to 4GB. And OWC just managed to install 32GB of RAM in a Mac Pro, serious server territory there.)

I keep thinking 4GB just isn't enough for a workstation I expect to own for 2-3 more years before selling and upgrading.

Maybe I should just wait and see if the RAM glut caused by Vista's short sales brings the price down sharply. Mid-summer might be very good to buy RAM.

[coon2000]

I am not sure, it is at home right now. Since I purchased it in December it is probably the standard display. I did get the glossy finish display which is great for photos.