13/01/2006
URL: http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/notebooks/0,39050488,39097523p,00.htm

Editors' note : As of May 2006, Apple has bumped up the processor speed of its base model to 2.0GHz and the high-end unit to 2.16GHz.

In today's Macworld keynote, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the MacBook Pro, a 15.4-inch wide-screen laptop built on Intel's new Centrino Core Duo chipset, a dual-core processing platform itself announced just five days ago at CES. Jobs claims that Intel's Core Duo will deliver performance that's four to five times faster than what you'll get from Apple's prior-generation PowerBook G4. The 25.4mm thick MacBook Pro weighs 2.54kg and includes a built-in iSight camera, an ExpressCard slot, and an Apple Remote for navigating the company's Front Row media software. Two versions are available: a S$3,688 model with a 1.67GHz processor, 512MB of RAM, and an 80GB hard drive; and a beefier S$4,588 model with a 1.83GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, and a 100GB hard drive.

Upside: Bar none, the best thing about the MacBook Pro is that Apple has shelved IBM's plodding G4 PowerPC processor in favor of Intel's new Core Duo. We're also psyched to see a decent graphics card onboard, ATI's Mobility Radeon X1600 with 256MB of memory, along with x16 PCI Express architecture. Designwise, the MacBook Pro looks a lot like the 15-inch PowerBook and, at 2.54kg, it weighs about the same. Still, the MacBook Pro offers a slightly larger screen, a nominally thinner profile, and a fetching bundle of specs.

1.67GHz or 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo

667MHz frontside bus and main memory

PCI Express architecture

Up to 120GB Serial ATA hard drive

ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 with up to 256MB memory on 16-lane PCI Express

ExpressCard/34 slot

Dual-link DVI, VGA adapter included

One FireWire 400 port, two USB 2.0 ports

Optical digital and analog audio I/O, built-in microphone and stereo speakers

Slot-loading SuperDrive

Illuminated keyboard, scrolling TrackPad

Built-in AirPort Extreme (802.11g), Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, and Gigabit Ethernet

Mac OS X Tiger with iLife '06, featuring iWeb

Downside: The elephant in the room is battery life--Jobs neglected to mention it in his keynote. Though Intel says its dual-core processors consume less power than the prior generation of single cores, we're curious to see how long the new MacBook Pro will run away from the wall socket--a display that bright is bound to suck a lot of power. Jobs did say that the MacBook Pro delivers roughly four times as much performance per watt as the PowerBook G4, but who knows exactly what that means?

Outlook: The MacBook Pro likely signals the end of the road for the entire PowerBook line, whose G4 processors seem positively ancient as of this morning. Nevertheless, we're truly happy to finally see an Apple laptop with power to match its beauty. If you have S$3,688 to spend on a laptop, the MacBook Pro gives you fewer and fewer excuses not to go with Apple. If it delivers on Apple's performance promises, the MacBook Pro will give Apple bragging rights to the prettiest and most powerful laptop on the planet. The MacBook Pro ships in February.