Apple Refreshes The Whole MacBook Family

The much anticipated redesigns were presented today at the “Spotlight Turns to Notebooks” event in Cupertino. All of the Mac notebooks have received attention. MacDaily News also reports that Apple has “dramatically” lowered the entry price “for advanced notebook features including all-metal enclosures and pro-performance notebook graphics by $700 to make them far more affordable.” That is a great thing, given the economic times we’re facing.

The new MacBook and the 15-inch MacBook Pro are both thinner, more durable and really quite beautifully designed. They have precision unibody enclosures crafted from a single block of aluminum.

“Apple has invented a whole new way of building notebooks from a single block of aluminum. And, just as important, they are the industry’s greenest notebooks,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “The new MacBooks offer incredible features our users will love - like their stunning all-metal design, great 3D graphics and LED backlit displays - at prices up to £350 less than before.”

Jonathan Ives, Apple’s award-winning senior vice president of Industrial Design, was also there. (Hurrah for Jonathan!) “Traditionally notebooks are made from multiple parts. With the new MacBook, we’ve replaced all of those parts with just one part - the unibody,” he said. “The MacBook’s unibody enclosure is made from a single block of aluminum, making the new MacBook fundamentally thinner, stronger and more robust with a fit and finish that we’ve never even dreamed of before.”

The predictions made about the NVIDIA graphics turned out to be accurate. The entire MacBook family will now include state of the art NVIDIA graphics. Specifically, they will feature the new NVIDIA GEForce 9400M, a 3D integrated graphics processor which features 16 parallel processing cores, and which can deliver up to five times the 3D graphics performance of any previous MacBook and MacBook Air. This was a collaboration between Apple and NVIDIA, so this chip is brand new, and makes its market debut in this new line of MacBooks.

Those new large glass Multi-Touch trackpads which were predicted are now a reality. This glass MultiTouch trackpad on the MacBook and 15-inch MacBook Pro offer nearly 40% more tracking area and support more Multi-Touch gestures. The ability to use more gestures more easily will allow users to activate Expose or switch from one application to another with the touch of a fingertip. The entire trackpad surface serves as a button as well.

The MacBook line will also have instant-on LED-backlit displays which use up to 30% less energy than the predessors. Jonny Evans of MacWorld UK writes, ” It also eliminated the mercury found in industry-standard fluorescent tube backlights…. Every display in the new MacBook line uses completely arsenic-free glass.”

Speaking of environmental issues, MacDaily News writes, “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.”

Here are all the stats:

Pricing and availability 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(R) is now available for £719.

The 2.0 GHz, 13-inch aluminum MacBook, for a suggested retail price of £949, includes:
- 13.3-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1280 x 800 glossy display;
- 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 3MB shared L2 cache;
- 1066 MHz front-side bus;
- 2GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, expandable to 4GB;
- NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;
- 160GB serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
- a slot-load 8X SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+/-R DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
- Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);
- built-in AirPort Extreme(R) 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
- Gigabit Ethernet port;
- built-in iSight video camera;
- two USB 2.0 ports;
- one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analog;
- glass Multi-Touch trackpad;
- 60 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

The 2.4 GHz aluminum MacBook, for a suggested retail price of £1,149, includes:
-13.3-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1280 x 800 glossy display;
- 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 3MB shared L2 cache;
- 1066 MHz front-side bus;
- 2GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, expandable to 4GB;
- NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;
- 250GB serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
- a slot-load 8X SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+/-R DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW) optical drive; - Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);
- built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
- Gigabit Ethernet port;
- built-in iSight video camera;
- two USB 2.0 ports;
- one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analog;
- glass Multi-Touch trackpad and illuminated keyboard;
- 60 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

The 2.4 GHz, 15-inch aluminum MacBook Pro, for a suggested retail price of £1,399, includes:
- 15.4-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1440 x 900 glossy display;
- 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 3MB shared L2 cache;
- 1066 MHz front-side bus;
- 2GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, expandable to 4GB;
- NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;
- NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT discrete graphics with 256MB GDDR3 video memory;
- 250GB serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
- a slot-load 8X SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+/-R DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
- Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);
- built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
- Gigabit Ethernet port;
- built-in iSight video camera;
- two USB 2.0 ports;
- one FireWire 800 port;
- ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;
- one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analog;
- glass Multi-Touch trackpad and illuminated keyboard;
- 85 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

The 2.53 GHz aluminum MacBook Pro, for a suggested retail price of £1,749, includes:
- 15.4-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1440 x 900 glossy display;
- 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 6MB shared L2 cache;
- 1066 MHz front-side bus;
- 4GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM;
- NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;
- NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT discrete graphics with 512MB GDDR3 video memory;
- 320GB serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
- a slot-load 8X SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+/-R DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
- Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);
- built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
- Gigabit Ethernet port;
- built-in iSight video camera;
- two USB 2.0 ports;
- one FireWire 800 port;
- ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;
- one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analog;
- glass Multi-Touch trackpad and illuminated keyboard;
- 85 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

The 2.5GHz 17-inch MacBook Pro, for a suggested retail price of £1,949, includes:
- 17-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1920 x 1200 glossy display
- 2.5 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 6MB shared L2 cache;
- 800 MHz front-side bus;
- 4GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM;
- NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics with 512MB with GDDR3 video memory;
- 320GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
- a slot-load 8X SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+/-R DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
- DVI output port for video output (VGA adapter included);
- built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
- Gigabit Ethernet port;
- built-in iSight video camera;
- three USB 2.0 ports;
- one FireWire 800 port and one FireWire 400 port;
- ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;
- one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analog;
- Multi-Touch trackpad and illuminated keyboard;
- 85 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

The 1.6 GHz MacBook Air, for a suggested retail price of £1,299, includes:
- 13.3-inch widescreen LED-backlit high resolution 1280 x 800 glossy display;
- 1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 6MB shared L2 cache;
- 1066 MHz front-side bus;
- 2GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM;
- NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;
- 120GB serial ATA hard drive running at 4200 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
- Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);
- built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
- built-in iSight video camera;
- one USB 2.0 port;
- one headphone port;
- Multi-Touch trackpad and illuminated keyboard;
- 45 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

The 1.86 GHz MacBook Air, for a suggested retail price of £1,799, includes:
- 13.3-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1280 x 800 glossy display;
- 1.86 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 6MB shared L2 cache;
- 1066 MHz front-side bus;
- 2GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM;
- NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;
- 128GB solid state drive;
- Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);
- built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
- built-in iSight video camera;
- one USB 2.0 port;
- one headphone port;
- Multi-Touch trackpad and illuminated keyboard;
- 45 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

To take a look at these truly magnificent machines, see: http://www.apple.com/uk/ where it is the lead story.