Update 4 Final
They finally did it, a couple of weeks after people predicted but it happened. The MacBook Pro is now 64bit running on the latest of Intel’s Core Duo processors. Apple also bumped up the memory is ships with, a larger hard disk and firewire 800. Nice upgrade. The MacBook Pro costs the same as before. Buy now or wait until the end of January.
Apple bumps MacBook Pro to Core 2 Duo
October 24 - Apple released a long-awaited update to the MacBook Pro Tuesday, upgrading the laptop’s processors with 64-bit Core 2 Duo chips that Apple says perform up to 39 percent faster than the previous Core Duo-based MacBook Pro. Other specifications remain largely unchanged.
Update 3:
A ‘pretty firm’ date has been set for some kind of refresh announcement and it is the 25th Sept. See here.
Update 2:
The rumours of a September launch for merom’s are certainly growing legs.
Core 2 Duo Based Macs… September?
Core 2 Duo for the MacBook and MacBook Pro?
Update 1:
Well, not at the developer conference. The developer conference was lackluster, nothing huge announced aside from the expensive and powerful Mac Pro desktops. Even the Leopard preview was astonishingly dull.
I know why, the less they show now the larger the impact against Vista as the OS will come out almost side by side. Apple is hiding the deck right now, fearing yet more peeking from Redmond.
January is the consumer conference and I’m sticking with the prediction that merom will go into the MacBook Pro’s. I stated a long time ago that I wouldn’t buy a new Mac until January 2007, that is looking a pretty good bet still but for different reasons than I originally thought.
I refused to buy a first generation Intel expecting teething issues. I was right, the new laptops had battery, heat, noise, display and driver issues. The January revision would have been stable and I’d have bought it. Now January will see a new chip, a leap to 64bit, a new form factor for the MacBook Pro. It’s revision one all over again; teething issues ahoy.
The annoying thing is I’m going to be buying it anyway. I won’t be able to resist a second time.
Back to the original post:
MacBook Pro’s going 64 bit? I’m guessing so. Compared to the current Apple MacBook Pro the Intel Merom line is faster, it’s 64 bit and it uses less power.
The additional bonus is it puts clear water between the MacBook Pro and the MacBook. Chosing between the two lines right now is difficult, a friend of mine is going through that dilemma right now. The only current factor is ‘Do you want to play modern games?’ If the answer is yes then buy a MacBook Pro.
Right now though wait, don’t buy anything until after next Monday’s WDDC keynote.
So far, the success of Apple’s Intel systems has hinged on a single line of processors, the 32-bit Core Duo series formerly code-named Yonah. But in recent weeks, Intel has rolled-out far more capable chips in its 64-bit line of Core 2 Duo processors, including a mobile variant known by its code-named Merom.
The news has lead to widespread speculation over precisely when and where the new mobile chips will take their seat in Apple’s product lines.
According to a source familiar with the Mac maker’s plans, the company is slated to receive mass shipments of the new Merom Core 2 Duo processors by the first week of September and plans to be amongst the first PC manufacturers to introduce systems based on the new chips.
A Flickr set of the WWDC06 banner is up:
It shows a new Nano, but the enclosure on the Mac Book Pro looks the same as ever.
1 response so far ↓
1 Powerbook vs Macbook Pro vs Macbook - TRIBE - tribe.ca // Jul 22, 2007 at 2:47 AM
[...] January They did just launch the desktops afterall! [...]
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