Apple has done it again: they have managed to reduce the price of a top selling product, add more features, and again convince the early adopters to plunk down their cash for something new.  The
MacBook Pro, 17-inch, 2.5GHz is certainly not a cheap machine (retailing for over $2500) but the list of absolutely pro features is too great to avoid. 

First, boasting he latest Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 6 MB shared L2 Cache, this computer screams at up to 74% faster than the original Core Duo-based MacBook Pro!  If you are doing heavy Pro tools or Photoshop applications, you can boost the Ram on this master to 4Gigs.  That will make this computer as fast and responsive as the desktop Mac units we are so damn familiar with.
 
As for video/graphics, the MacBook Pro 17" 2.5 comes loaded with NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics card with 512MB video ram.  I've been playing with the graphics for a while and even with multiple Ram intensive programs such as pro tools and photoshop, this computer does not stop to blink.  The quality of the monitor is nothing short of amazing.  Thin and a thing of beauty and wonder.  As for loaded software you will find Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard advanced operating system, and iLife '08.
 
In practice, I would say one of the coolest things about the new MacBook Pro is that the touch pad supports multi gestures (like the famous iPhone/iPod Touch).  I was able to pinch web pages larger and smaller.  My favorite gesture is that when in Safari, if you stroke the pad with three fingers you can go back a page- very useful. All in all this computer will Apple to the power hungry who demand cutting edge speed and good looks from Apple.  Looks like another winner.

Check it out at Apple.com here:
MacBook Pro, 17-inch, 2.5GHz - MB166LL/A

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This entry was posted on Thursday, May 8th, 2008 at 1:51 pm and is filed under Apple. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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