Apple's New Penryn MacBook Pro: Dissected
by Anand Lal Shimpi on February 26, 2008 5:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Mac
Today Apple introduced its first MacBook and MacBook Pro notebooks based on Intel's 45nm mobile Penryn CPU. We've already looked at the mobile Penryn CPU and discovered that despite offering very little performance boost, its contribution to improving battery life was significant. We're hard at work on seeing how mobile Penryn stacks up in the MacBook Pro but we couldn't resist a look at its internals before then.
The old and new MacBook Pro are 100% identical from the outside:
The specs of the new MacBook Pro are as follows:
| New Penryn MacBook Pro 15" | Old Merom MacBook Pro 15" | New Penryn MacBook | Old Merom MacBook | MacBook Air | |
| Dimensions | H: 1.0" W: 14.1" D: 9.6" |
H: 1.0" W: 14.1" D: 9.6" |
H: 1.08" W: 12.78" D: 8.92" |
H: 1.08" W: 12.78" D: 8.92" |
H: 0.16-076" W: 12.8" D: 8.94" |
| Weight | 5.4 lbs | 5.4 lbs | 5.0 lbs | 5.0 lbs | 3.0 lbs |
| Screen Size/Resolution | 15.4" / 1440 x 900 | 15.4" / 1440 x 900 | 13.3" / 1280 x 800 | 13.3" / 1280 x 800 | 13.3" / 1280 x 800 |
| CPU | Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz - 2.6GHz (45nm Penryn) | Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2GHz - 2.6GHz (65nm Merom) | Intel Core 2 Duo 2.1 - 2.4GHz (45nm Penryn) | Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 - 2.2GHz (65nm Merom) | Intel Core 2 Duo 1.6 - 1.8GHz (65nm Merom) |
| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT (256MB - 512MB) | NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT (128MB - 256MB) | Intel GMA X3100 (144MB UMA) |
Intel GMA X3100 (144MB UMA) |
Intel GMA X3100 (144MB UMA) |
| Memory | 2GB - 4GB DDR2-667 | 2GB - 4GB DDR2-667 | 1GB - 4GB DDR2-667 | 1GB - 4GB DDR2-667 | 2GB DDR2-667 (fixed) |
| HDD | 200 - 250GB 2.5" 5400RPM SATA 200GB 7200RPM SATA |
120 - 250GB 2.5" 5400RPM SATA 200GB 7200RPM SATA |
120 - 250GB 2.5" 5400RPM SATA HDD | 80 - 160GB 2.5" 5400RPM SATA HDD | 80GB 1.8" HDD or 64GB 1.8" SSD |
| Optical Drive | Integrated SuperDrive | Integrated SuperDrive | Integrated Combo drive or SuperDrive | Integrated Combo drive or SuperDrive | Optional External USB SuperDrive |
| Networking | 802.11a/b/g/n 10/100/1000 Ethernet |
802.11a/b/g/n 10/100/1000 Ethernet |
802.11a/b/g/n 10/100/1000 Ethernet |
802.11a/b/g/n 10/100/1000 Ethernet |
802.11a/b/g/n |
| Built in iSight | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Inputs | 2 x USB 2.0 1 x FireWire 400 1 x FireWire 800 1 x ExpressCard/34 1 x Audio in 1 x Integrated mic |
2 x USB 2.0 1 x FireWire 400 1 x FireWire 800 1 x ExpressCard/34 1 x Audio in 1 x Integrated mic |
2 x USB 2.0 1 x FireWire 400 1 x Audio in 1 x Integrated mic |
2 x USB 2.0 1 x FireWire 400 1 x Audio in 1 x Integrated mic |
1 x USB 2.0 1 x Integrated mic |
| Outputs | 1 x Audio 1 x dual-link DVI |
1 x Audio 1 x dual-link DVI |
1 x Audio 1 x mini-DVI |
1 x Audio 1 x mini-DVI |
1 x Audio 1 x Micro-DVI |
| Battery | 60WHr | 60WHr | 55WHr | 55WHr | 37WHr |
| Price | $1999 | $1999 | $1099 | $1099 | $1799 |
As you can see, not much has changed with these new notebooks. They get a slight bump in clock speed (but potential increase in battery life as well) combined with a larger hard drive.
The shining star of the new notebooks is Intel's mobile Penryn CPU, so let's take a closer look.
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Anand Lal Shimpi - Wednesday, February 27, 2008 - link
The hard drive is a Hitachi 5K250 while the DVD drive is a Panasonic (aka Matsushita). The DVD drive is listed as Model UJ-867.Hope this helps :)
andreschmidt - Wednesday, February 27, 2008 - link
Isn't the keyboard layout different?As far as I recall the new MacBook Pro keyboard layout includes the new media keys, found on the new flat Apple Keyboard and the MacBook Air.
nhshah - Tuesday, February 26, 2008 - link
i was wondering about the multitouch interfaceas well as the new LED backlight system for the 17" MBP
any thoughts on the gpu - is that (forced) increase to 256 gonna
draw more power, and if so, how significant?
also, what about cooling/fans?
not physical or even software or nethin, but just how hot the
processor runs at full force...??
nhshah - Tuesday, February 26, 2008 - link
also, whats the thought about future price drops....i had heard some rumors, i know they are probably mostly just rumors..
but it is likely that they kept the price the same for now jst to
attempt to streamline the upgrades and make it seem like not a big deal?(especially since preliminary testing shows barely any significant positive change)
mmntech - Tuesday, February 26, 2008 - link
There has been a $100 price drop in Canada for both the MacBook and MacBook Pro. They were selling at $1249 and $2199 respectively but are now down to $1140 and $2099. I think this has more to do with the higher dollar than actual price cuts. They're still over priced in Canada though. Best Buy in their infinite wisdom are still selling the old models at the old, higher price. I guess they're gambling that most of their customers don't do they're homework. They'd be right.halihassan - Tuesday, February 26, 2008 - link
Based on the iFixit dissection of the Macbook Air, the multi-touch support on the Air is provided using the same chip as the iPhone, the Broadcom BCM5974. Is this chip present on the new Macbook Pro? Since the motherboard is noted as virtually identical, I figured that this may be the only noteable difference between the motherboards.KeypoX - Tuesday, February 26, 2008 - link
Wheres waldo? No but seriously the cdrom looks like it should be in a computer 10 years ago not today. Need a fix for this, everything has gotten smaller cd/dvds have stayed the same for what 15-20 years?Duwelon - Tuesday, February 26, 2008 - link
The need for capacity has outpaced the desire for a smaller media size.