The salient features of Apple's new notebooks: MacBooks, Pros and Airs--My take

Yesterday, Apple released updates to all three lines of its notebooks, extending its novel MacBook Air construction technology to the MacBook and MacBook Pro lines. The new "unibody" construction technology consists of carving the frame out of a solid 2.5lb piece of aluminum. The new 13" MacBook weighs in at 4.5lbs instead of 5.0lbs, the 15" MacBook Pro is 5.5lbs and the MacBook Air is still 3.0lbs. Curiously, no mention was made of the 17" MacBook Pro until the Q&A session and the answer was that an update to it is coming.

The biggest visual update was to the 13" MacBook line (image courtesy of Apple, Inc.). Two all-new aluminum MacBooks were introduced to replace the two higher-end plastic models. They have thinner tops enclosing an LED-backlit screen surrounded by black (like an iMac's display), a new Nvidia GeForce 9400M graphics chip set that is much faster than the former Intel X3100 integrated graphics, a new glass multi-touch trackpad with integrated button and a backlit keyboard just like the MacBook Pro on the high-end model. Their prices are $1,299 and $1,599. Apple also kept the entry level white plastic MacBook but lowered its price by $100 to $999, not $800 as speculated. Gone is the black plastic MacBook. The new MacBooks also have a new mini DisplayPort in place of a mini DVI port to which a DVI, VGA or Dual-link DVI adapter can be attached, all at extra cost. A 128GB solid state hard drive is a $700 option on the lower model or a $600 option on the higher model.

The 15" MacBook Pro line at $1,999 and $2,499 gets the same beautiful but larger 15.4" LED-backlit display surrounded in black as the 13" MacBook and the same large glass multi-touch trackpad with built-in clicker. The MacBook Pros' graphics are improved from the Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT to the 9400M plus 9600M GT (yes both!) and they get the same mini DisplayPort that can use one of three extra cost adapters like the MacBook. The 128GB solid state hard drive is a $600 or $500 option on the new MacBook Pros and the drive bay is now easily accessible like on the MacBook. The MacBook Pros still have a fast FireWire 800 port but no eSata port. They also still have an ExpressCard/34 slot to distinguish them from the MacBooks.

The MacBook Air line at $1,799 and $2,499 gets some updates as well but not the new black glass surrounding the screen nor the new glass trackpad. The really new features of the MacBook Air are the Nvidia GeForce 9400M graphics, mini DisplayPort and a SATA (serial) interface for the hard drives in place of the slower PATA (parallel) interface. The 128GB solid state hard drive is a $500 option on the low-end MacBook Air.

In summary, the new aluminum MacBooks are the most revolutionary. With 2.0-2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPUs and the Nvidia GeForce 9400M graphics, the new aluminum MacBooks should now be excellent game machines for the Mac masses. If you don't need a FireWire port or ExpressCard slot, the MacBooks are a bargain and every bit as beautiful as the larger and heavier MacBook Pros. I have been working on the 13.1" screen of my original MacBook Air for going on 7 months now while on the road nearly half the time and no longer miss the 15.4" MacBook Pro screen that I gave up. The MacBooks are now a full pound to 2.1 pounds lighter respectively than the 15" and 17" MacBook Pros. If I were a MacBook user, I would definitely be looking to upgrade to one of these babies!

The MacBook Pros are evolutionary in that they are faster and, I think, much better looking with the black glass around the screen. I was already a convert to the glossy screen so the loss of the matte option isn't a big deal to me. Only the glass trackpad that also acts as a clicker is revolutionary. Okay, I guess the unibody construction is revolutionary as well but it has been on the MacBook Air for awhile. The new easy user access to the hard drive is very welcome. All of the changes are welcome but they wouldn't motivate me a lot to trade in a recent MacBook Pro. On the other hand, if I were still hanging onto a PowerBook G4 or original MacBook Pro, this new MacBook Pro would get me to trade up for sure.

The MacBook Air is going on 7 months of age. I really love mine. This refresh brings some speed increases, especially in graphics, but this performance increase is not really needed for what I do with my Air. For those who want to use it with a 30" Cinema Display or do some gaming with it, this update is for you--I have my Mac Pro for those and other tasks. The capacity of the hard drive goes up 50% to 120GB but I've still got 30GB unused on my 80GB Air and that is with a Boot Camp Windows XP partition. The capacity of the solid state hard drive doubles to 128GB and this is very welcome but the $500 extra outlay is still a bit steep for me. The new MacBook Air's battery does not appear to last any longer, something that would interest me. Still, these features make a very attractive MacBook Air even more attractive to those who want one so Apple's Air sales should remain strong. I think I will wait for black glass surrounding the screen, a glass trackpad with built-in clicker, a reasonable price on the solid state drive and better battery life along with any newer stuff in a future edition before I trade up. [Bill Fox]