The new MacBook and MacBook Pro is now more than 2 weeks old. With the introduction of the aluminum MacBook the Apple laptop family is look more and more like the other Mac. The only Mac that doesn't have the Glass X Aluminum treatment will be the MacBook White (999USD), and that I think might be entering its final year.
So what's the big deal about about this new MacBook. Is it the beautifully design "Unibody" design that reduce almost 1/2 the parts needed to put together the laptop? Or is it the new "No Button Trackpad with Multi-touch Gestures? I think those are important touches but I think the biggest and most important improvements lie inside the unibody and those improvement will be the most important factors in choosing your next Mac notebook.
The first major improvement goes to the GPU (Graphic Process Unit). Last look at the MacBook Al first. With the new NVIDIA GeForce 9400M the MacBook can now not just about to run fancy 3D games. It now can handle consumer level HD video editing (1080i) and hight quality photos with ease. So if you just bought a Full-HD video cam the new MacBook Al will be a great match. If you are still using stander miniDV or 720P HD cam the basic white MacBook will do if you have a tight budget (999USD/7800HKD).
For the new Unibody MacBook Pro. The GPU improvement is event more crazy.
Yes crazy, why? Cause this Notebook I think is the first laptop that uses 2 GPU. You might wonder why the need of 2 GPU, just because you pay more for the Pro so they give you more? The reason is simple for the Pro laptop the balance between processing power and battery life has always been a reason why laptop never gets desktop level GPU power. Some PC laptop has try but it end up to be a huge laptop with very limited battery hours. Sometime the industry call those "Desktop replacement", for people that can't leave the desktop power, but wanted something that is more portable. With 2 GPU Apple has manage to let the user to have a choose in running their MacBook Pro in a more power saving mode or screaming graphic mode that rival the Mac Pro performance. For pro user that work on 3D, video editing and design the new MacBook Pro is a must have if you are looking to replace your notebook.
The 2nd most important improvement goes to the new system design that can
now handle DDR3 (very fast memory) and 1066MHz frontside bus. What those combination means is that program that process a lot of memory will run much faster. Like iMove, Final Cut Express, Photoshop, Final Cut Studio etc... So if you run a lot of memory intensive program, the new MacBook or MacBook Pro 15"will be your best choose even over the upgraded MacBook Pro 17".
With those major improvements the MacBook can really replace a lot of desktop system, specially combine with Apple new 24" LED Cinema Display. It might cost more then any iMac with similar power, but now you can have desktop grade power everywhere you go. For Pro user the new MacBook Pro might not be as speedy as a Mac Pro workstation, but it come very close to be the Mac Pro on the go.
Link to MacBook reviews:
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