New MacBooks Take The Heavy Out Of Metal

Apple kicked off the launch party for its latest lineup of MacBooks Tuesday with some unsubtle digs at Microsoft and proceeded to confirm several pre-launch rumors about graphics, specs and pricing during a two-hour showcase of burnished aluminum eye candy at the computer maker's Cupertino, Calif. campus.

The latest MacBooks feature Nvidia GeForce 9400 motherboard graphics, and speculation that Apple would unveil its first sub-$1,000 notebook also proved accurate, if barely, as CEO Steve Jobs announced that an older, white plastic model would be re-priced at $999.

But the stars of the show were clearly the new aluminum MacBooks, featuring ultra-thin, all-metal enclosures, LED-backlit displays, the 3D graphics boost courtesy of Nvidia, and smooth glass Multi-Touch trackpads offering about 40 percent more tracking area than previous Apple notebooks.

The new products, like all current Macs, will feature Apple's Boot Camp software, meaning MacBook users will be able to run Microsoft Windows XP in addition to Apple's own OS X operating system. Demonstrating a new MacBook running XP led Apple COO Tim Cook to quip, "When I look at this, it sends shivers up my spine."

Bashing Redmond was a running gag for Cook, according to MacWorld's Jason Snell, who live blogged Tuesday's event. Explaining how Apple has made dramatic inroads in notebook market share in the past year, Cook said part of that success resulted from "something we didn't do -- Vista."

Nvidia, which is set to launch its 9-Series motherboard graphics processors for desktops very soon, purpose-built a mobile version of its upcoming GeForce 9400 chipset for the new MacBooks, according to Apple. Asked if Santa Clara, Calif.-based Nvidia's 16-core mobile chipset would be made available to other notebook makers, Jobs indicated the product could wind up being a one-off for Apple.

"We helped them, and we're the first to take it to market, and maybe the only, but that's up to them," Jobs said Tuesday, according to MacWorld.

For its part, Nvidia is claiming its 9-Series chipsets deliver five times the graphics performance of Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel's G45 integrated graphics and twice that of Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Advanced Micro Devices' 7-Series chipsets.

The new lineup, to be made available at Apple retail stores Wednesday according to Jobs, includes two new basic MacBooks with 13.3-inch displays, a pair of MacBook Pros with 15.4-inch screens and a third with a 17-inch display, as well as a couple of new 13.3-inch MacBook Air systems that won't ship until early next month.

Next: Specs And Pricing

The re-priced white MacBook trucks along on a 2.1GHz Intel Core 2 Duo mobile processor, and features a 13-inch display and 120GB of hard disk space. It's also got a slot-load 8X SuperDrive, clearing up some earlier guesswork by Apple watchers that Jobs and Co. might eliminate the optical drive to take the system's price below $1,000 at retail.

The basic MacBooks, measuring less than an inch at their narrowest and weighing 4.5 pounds, come in two flavors. The first, featuring a 2.0GHz dual-core chip from Intel and a 160GB hard drive, goes for $1,299, while the second, priced at $1,599, has a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo and 250GB of on-board storage. Both basic configurations start with 2GB of DDR3 memory that's expandable to 4GB, no doubt for a pretty penny. Other upgrade possibilities include swapping in a 320GB hard drive or 128GB solid state drive, DVI, Dual-Link DVI VGA adapters for the Mini DisplayPort, as well as options for the Apple USB Modem, Remote and MagSafe Airline Adapter products, and the AppleCare Protection Plan.

The new MacBook Pros are also under an inch at their thinnest and tip the scales at 5.5 pounds. The 15.4-inch notebooks come in 2.4GHz, 250GB and 2.53GHz, 320GB varieties. The 2.4GHz model costs $1,999, features 3MB of shared L2 cache on its Intel processor and has 2GB of memory that upgrades to 4GB. The $2,499, 2.53GHz MacBook Pro starts with 4GB of memory and its Core 2 Duo boasts 6MB of L2 cache. Both versions, like the basic MacBooks and the new MacBook Airs, feature Nvidia GeForce 9400M onboard graphics, but the 15-inch MacBook Pros also throw in GeForce 9600M GT discrete cards for extra video playback pop. MacBook Pro upgrades are similar to the ones available on the basic MacBook, but 2.8GHz Core 2 Duos can also be had, and the standard 5400 rpm hard drives can be switched out for 7200 rpm devices.

Nice enough, but on Tuesday morning that was just build-up for the entrance of the Big Daddy in the MacBook Pro lineup. Built for HD playback and media creation, the $2,799 MacBook Pro has a 17-inch, 1920x1200 LED-backlit display, 2.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 6MB of shared L2 cache, Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT graphics with 512MB of GDDR3 video memory and a 320GB hard drive.

Apple's MacBook Air also got an update. Both refreshed models have 13.3-inch, 1280x800 LED-backlit displays and the new Nvidia integrated graphics chipset. The first, with a 1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo and 120GB hard drive, retails for $1,799, while the 1.86GHz version will sell for $2,499 and features a 128GB solid state drive.

The last new product unveiled Tuesday by Apple was a 24-inch, 1920x1200 LED-backlit widescreen display that docks to the MacBook lineup via Apple's new Mini DisplayPort, which is 10 percent the size of a full DVI connector. The Apple LED Cinema Display has a built-in iSight video camera, microphone and speakers, as well as three USB ports. It's set to hit retail shelves in early November and will be priced at $899.