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Thursday, July 5, 2012

Apple MacBook Pro Winter 2011 Notebook Evaluation

By Robin Charles


In the beginning of 2006 Apple supplanted the actual Powerbook G4 with the MacBook Pro. Created for professionals on the move, Apple continued to refine their family of high-performance laptop computers every year. Several of the new revisions introduced design changes but this year is the year of the Apple MacBook Pro Winter 2011 laptop computer and while the style still looks just like last year, Apple made many improvements which are more than welcome particularly if you have not upgraded your MacBook Pro for the past several years.

Advantages

The Apple MacBook Pro Winter 2011 notebook computer joins the Sandy Bridge bandwagon as each one of its models have Intel second generation Core i5 and Core i7 processors. The smaller sized model, the 13-inch, will now be powered by the latest Intel Core i5 2620M, which is very fast. The real breakthrough however, would be the quad core processor which drives the 15-inch and 17-inch models, preferred among Final Cut Pro users. Even though 4 GB is the minimum memory shipped, you can receive up to 16 GB for a further cost. If you're into gaming or any other graphic intense programs, the AMD Radeon HD 6490M can fully meet your needs. If that's still not really fast enough, you can even update to the Radeon HD 6750M. Don't be concerned about losing out on life of the battery, since the Intel HD Graphics 3000 works very efficiently. With these performance advancements, the new 2011 models virtually soar in the benchmarks.

One other significant change lies in the Mini DisplayPort that is generally used for hooking up an Apple LED Cinema Display or any other supported models. Intel's completely new Thunderbolt technology provides much more overall flexibility in how the particular port functions. Finally transfer speeds, that have been enhanced by up to 1200%, will stop being the bottleneck that has slowed down file transfers to high capacity hard drives. Additionally it is flexible making it possible for devices to daisy-chain off of a single Thunderbolt channel without any performance degradation.

The earlier iSight webcam was replaced by the FaceTime HD camera, similar to those found in the iPhone 4 and iPad 2. The Apple company has established 720p as the new standard resolution for video telephone calls using the FaceTime HD camera.

Drawbacks

One major portion which has not been replaced however, is the battery, which means it's going to now last a shorter time between charges. In wireless mode you are able to still utilize it for as much as 7 hours, which will be enough for most users. The MacBook Pro 13-inch also receives a minor downgrade as it uses the Intel integrated graphics without an AMD or NVIDIA counterpart. Only gamers need to be concerned though, because the Intel HD 3000 graphics is a wonderful improvement over its predecessors.

The Verdict

The Apple company has again taken a commanding lead in the coveted professional laptop category with their newest line of MacBook Pros, the Winter 2011 edition. Fresh MacBook Pro buyers can be assured that they will be able to run the most demanding software for the near future.




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