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This past fall, when the 15-inch Macbook underwent its stunning unibody redesign that added an edge-to-edge LED-backlit display, a multitouch-enabled touchpad, and dual graphics cards, we heaped plenty of praise upon it; but lamented its lack of a memory card reader, and its hefty price tag. Apple has seemingly taken our gripes to heart, and has re-introduced the 15-inch MacBook with a number of noteworthy changes, including a lower starting price ($1,699 vs. $1,999), an SD Card reader, and a long-lasting lithium-polymer battery that delivers more than 8 hours on a charge. We wish there were more USB ports on board, but you won’t find a more powerful 15-inch notebook that’s this easy to carry.

Design

Measuring 14.4 x 9.8 x 1.0 inches and weighing 5.4 pounds, the revamped 15-inch MacBook Pro is spacious enough for long, comfortable computing sessions, yet won’t weigh you down when it’s time to go mobile. It sports the same carved-from-a-single-chunk-of-metal unibody design as its MacBook Pro brethren, retaining the sturdy aluminum chassis and rounded edges. The overall look is classy and modern.

Keyboard and Touchpad

Similar to other MacBook Pros, this unit features a shallow keyboard with black, isolated keys that provide adequate feedback when quickly typing URLs and crafting e-mails. It also has an ambient light sensor that backlights the keys when typing in low-light situations (such as a darkened plane cabin). While typing in a dark room, the soft glow enabled us to see the keys clearly.

A very large touchpad made navigating the desktop a snap, and its built-in multitouch functionality will have iPhone and iPod touch users feeling right at home as they swipe through photos and pinch and zoom Web pages. Falling in step with other MacBook Pro models, the 15-inch lacks dedicated mouse buttons; the entire pad doubles as one.

Display and Audio

Once again, Apple wows with a gorgeous edge-to-edge, glass 15.4-inch LED display (with a 1440 x 900-pixel resolution). The panel offers a 60 percent greater color gamut than its predecessor, and it really brought out skin tones and made other details pop while watching episodes of 30 Rock on Hulu or when we popped a DVD of There Will be Blood into the optical drive. Our only gripe with the display is that it kicks back too much reflection, especially when viewing content that has a dark background, or if you’re anywhere but directly in front of it. Its attractive black bezel border easily picks up fingerprints and smudges, but that’s nothing a cloth can’t remedy.

Flanking the keyboard are a pair of speakers that deliver solid (if unspectacular) sound. When we streamed Lyn Collins’ “Think” from Slacker, we enjoyed loud and clear audio, although funk classic lacked a robust bottom end.
Ports and Webcam

At Laptop Advisor, we want to provide you with the best information so you can make an informed, educated decision about what kind of laptop or notebook computer you want to buy. Whether you’re someone who’s comfortable with computers and wants a top-of-the-line laptop or a relative novice looking for something easy to learn on, Laptop Advisor can help you find the perfect computing companion. Take a look around our site.

Featured Article

Apple’s New Magic Mouse

Apple’s signature touchpad is now available on both their MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops. Now, let’s say you love the features that the touchpad provides you, but you just prefer to control the movement of your cursor with a mouse instead of a touchpad. Unfortunately, you had to choose one or the other — until now. Apple has found a solution for those of you with mouse-separation anxiety: the new Magic Mouse.

Upon first glance, the Magic Mouse is truly an odd-looking creature. It doesn’t seem like something this simple could do anything besides move a cursor. It has no buttons or wheels on it whatsoever. But–and here is where your eyes deceive you–the top of the Magic Mouse has a multi-touch area, and the entire mouse functions as a large button. So, all of the features available on the trackpad are now available to laptop users who prefer a mouse–even iMac users. These features include standard clicking, right clicking, scrolling, zooming, and a few others. Finally, if things get a little too complicated and you would prefer to disable some features, you can easily go into the settings and do as you please.

Apple has also added a few other upgrades, such as Bluetooth wireless connectivity and a more sensitive laser-tracking engine, giving you more control. Also, the technology outfitted in the Magic Mouse can easily differentiate between zooming, swiping, scrolling, and every other action you can perform. So, don’t worry about the mouse not being able to perform exactly as you wish. Priced at $69, this is definitely an accessory that Mac users and even those considering purchasing a Mac, should check out.

Laptop News

Apple’s New MacBook

Last week was a big one for Microsoft, with the Windows 7 launch, but it looks like Apple wants to steal away some of the spotlight with their new Mac Book. It could be a necessary update, random chance, or an actual direct competitor to sway the potential Windows 7 users. Whichever it is, the new Mac Book has many upgrades, making it that much more like its bigger brother, the Mac Book Pro, ding incentive for those looking to buy a cheaper Apple laptop.

First of all, there were some minor changes to the internal specs of the Mac Book. These include a processor upgrade to 2.26 GHz (up from 2.13 GHz), a hard drive capacity of 250 GB (up from 160GB), and new DDR3 memory (upgraded from DDR2). Aside from those tweaks, there weren’t any major changes to the internal components of the Mac Book.

Now on to the more serious business: the external changes. Most of the features include implementing the Mac Book Pro technology into the Mac Books. The multi touch track pad, allowing users to perform zoom, scroll, and more is now possible just by using a couple of quick finger swipes. The screen now has LED back lighting, giving the display a brighter, more eye-catching feel. And finally, Apple’s very valuable feature, the built-in battery; though you won’t be able to remove or replace the battery, you get a much better battery life, and less degradation over time.

 

Apple updated its accepted MacBook and MacBook Pro notebook lines with the latest Intel Core 2 Duo “Penryn” processors, better hard drives and 2GB of memory standard in most models. As well, MacBook Pro comprises NVIDIA graphics processors, now with up to 512MB of video memory, and Apple’s Multi-Touch track pad, first introduced in MacBook Air.

The new MacBook Pro features an Intel C2D 2.6 GHz processor with 6MB of shared L2 cache; up to 4GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM memory and up to a 300GB hard drive, plus NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics with up to 512MB of video memory. Every MacBook Pro now comprises a trackpad with Multi-Touch sign support for pinch, rotate and swipe, which allows users to zoom and rotate photos in iPhoto or Aperture 2 or browse web pages in Safari. The laptop also sports a light up keyboard that makes it ideal for softly lit environments such as airplanes, studios or discussion halls and a built-in ambient light sensor, which automatically adjusts the brightness of the keys as well as the brightness of the show for optimal visibility.

The new Macbooks now come in three models and comprise faster processors and larger hard drives across the line; smooth white 2.1 GHz and 2.4 GHz models with 120GB or 160GB 5400 rpm hard drives and a black 2.4 GHz model with a 250GB 5400 rpm hard drive, previously only available as an option. The 2.4 GHz MacBook models ship with 2GB of memory standard, expandable up to 4GB across the line. The LCD panel common to all these 3 laptops is a 13-inch glossy widescreen display,

Apart from these changes, Every MacBook and MacBook Pro includes a built-in imminent video camera for video conferencing on-the-go; Apple’s MagSafe Power Adapter that magnetically connects the power cord plus safely cut offs when under strain; the latest generation of 802.11n wireless networking for up to five times the presentation and twice the range of 802.11g; built-in 10/100/1000 BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet for high-speed networking; Bluetooth; analog and digital audio inputs and outputs; USB 2.0; FireWire and a built-in SuperDrive.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs holds an envelope containing the new MacBook Air during his keynote at the MacWorld Conference in San Francisco. The super-slim new laptop is less than an inch thick and turns on the moment it’s opened. MacBook Air measures 0.16 inches (0.4cm) at its thinnest point while its maximum height of 0.76 inches (1.93cm) is less than the thinnest point on competing notebooks.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveils the new MacBook Air during his keynote at the MacWorld Conference in San Francisco. The super-slim new laptop is less than an inch thick and turns on the moment it’s opened. MacBook Air measures 0.16 inches (0.4cm) at its thinnest point while its maximum height of 0.76 inches (1.93cm) is less than the thinnest point on competing notebooks Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs holds the new MacBook Air laptop computer as he delivers the keynote speech to kick off the 2008 Macworld fair in San Francisco. Jobs introduced the wireless Time Capsule backup appliance, iTV 2 and the new ultra thin laptop MacBook Air.

Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs holds up the new Mac Book Air after he delivered the keynote speech to kick off the 2008 Macworld Conference and Expo in San Francisco. Jobs introduced the wireless Time Capsule backup appliance, iTV 2 and the new ultra thin laptop MacBook Air. Apple CEO Steve Jobs holds up the MacBook Air after his keynote at the MacWorld Conference in San Francisco. The super-slim new laptop is less than an inch thick and turns on the moment it’s opened.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs holds up the new MacBook Air after giving the keynote address at the Apple MacWorld Conference in San Francisco. The super-slim new laptop is less than an inch broad and turns on the moment it’s opened.

A MacWorld attendee stands next to a giant poster of the new MacBook Air ultra thin laptop at the MacWorld Conference & Expo in San Francisco .. MacBook Air measures 0.16 inches (0.4cm) at its thinnest point while its maximum height of 0.76 inches (1.93cm) is less than the thinnest point on competing notebooks.

A new MacBook Air ultra thin laptop sits on display at the MacWorld Conference & Expo in San Francisco . MacBook Air measures 0.16 inches (0.4cm) at its thinnest point while its maximum height of 0.76 (1.93cm) inches is less than the thinnest point on competing notebooks.