It’s actually pretty awesome. The Radeon HD 6750 that is. 480 unified processors, 1GB of VRAM. This card is superior than any previous discrete GPU offerings Apple has ever made. You pay for it though, the cheapest configuration that carry this GPU is the 2nd 15-inch MacBook Pro priced at C$2,249. Canada is still $50 more than the US even though the loonie is on par, what gives Apple? Many other retailers have adopted parity pricing, I don’t see why you should remain so special.
The specifications are more than typical Apple’s moderate bumps. For 2011 Apple added Thunderbolt (Intel’s Light Peak, now officially called the Thunderbolt) which carries bi-directional 10 Gbps. This port is going to change a lot of things, and Intel is pitting it directly at USB 3.0 standard. Intel has not adopted USB 3.0 on its own motherboards since it finalized. Today we know why, the Thunderbolt effectively doubles the raw throughput of USB 3.0, and is bi-directional. It can also be used to carry more than just data, audio and video signals are supported. Intel will be adding fiber optics within the decade to also allow the port to support bandwidths up to 100 Gbps.
Also new to MacBook Pros are standard quad-core Intel Core i7 processors on the 15″ and 17″ models. The 13″ received the Core i5 dual-cores. This is an improvement across the board, and everyone saw it coming. Intel refreshes their platform every year and a few months later Apple, and every other hardware manufacturer adopts it. No big deal, 2011 MBPs use Sandy Bridge, just Google it and see what’s new.
In case you haven’t noticed the latest Google Chrome stable release 5.0.375 switches on MacBook Pro’s discrete GPU as soon as you visit a website with it. While the MacBook Pro have plenty of battery life to spare it is still a waste of energy. So the solution, at least for me, is to download a tiny app called gfxCardStatus that will display in the menu bar which GPU is being used and allows users to manually switch between the dual-GPUs overriding system defaults.
Until Apple make the automatic graphic card switching algorithm more robust, gfxCardStatus is the best power saving app MacBook Pro users can install.
A bunch of reviews surfaced for the 2010 Arrandale refreshed MacBook Pros. By far the best one is by AnandTech. Engadget also posted a nice review but only focused on the Mac OS X environment. If you want to see pure benchmarks Gizmodo have posted some numbers.
iFixit have posted a teardown of the new MacBook Pro. The most interesting find is the placement of the Wi-Fi radio.
So some highlights of the reviews:
Apple did not use NVIDIA’s Optimus technology. Under OS X it is Apple’s own implementations that would switch from IGP to GPU on the fly based on the API calls. If an app calls for OpenCL, OpenGL or any other graphic API GPU is triggered to take over and the IGP is shut off. The difference here is NVIDIA uses instead a white list of apps to call for GPU. NVIDIA’s Optimus will also only work in Windows and does not shut off the IGP.
Apple’s automatic graphic switching will not work in Windows. You will only get the GPU in Windows.
Benchmarks and frame rates are fairly good and makes this a good investment for a desktop replacing portable gaming notebook.
The wait is finally over. The new MacBook Pro 15 and 17-inch notebooks can now be configured with Core i5 and i7 CPUs. There are also other changes under the hood. 4GB RAM is now the minimum. The entry level 15-inch now comes with a discrete GPU, and is $100 more. The 17-inch monster is now $100 less but is configured with a Core i5 standard, as opposed to an i7.
Also on the GPU front. 15 and 17-inch models are now powered by a GeForce GT 330M, ranging from 250 to 512 MB of memory depending on the model you get. Fully utilizing the NVIDIA Optimus technology which enables automatic graphics switching.
13-inch refresh is a bummer. Still using the Core 2 Duo CPUs but is now powered by a GeForce GT 320M, and is capable of an amazing 10-hour battery life. So I guess Apple is making the 13s the road warriors and the 15 and 17s are the production machines.
Not a bad refresh. Those wanting a 16:9 screen are no doubt disappointed. But you can now get 1680×1050 displays in the 15-inch models. So stop crying!