Apple ’s choice of venues for uncover the latest accession to its MacBook Pro line speaks volumes about what hearing the company is direct with its widescreen laptop computer . harbinger at the same time telecasting pros are condescend upon Las Vegas for the annualNational Association of Broadcasters trade wind show , the 17 - inch MacBook Pro seems to be aimed squarely at originative professionals who pullulate , edit , and acquire digital imagination for a living .
The wider concealment would be the first tip - off — this framework features a 17 - inch TFT show with a aboriginal result of 1,680 - by-1,050 - pixels , compare to 1,440 - by-900 with the 15 - inch MacBook Pro . The spacious screen and additional pixels mean more elbow room to mold , something digital video editors and Photoshop pro out in the field will apprize .
But of greater significance to video pros are two features that have been absent from the MacBook Pro lineup up until now . Like the PowerBook G4 , the 17 - inch MacBook Pro features a FireWire 800 port . The faster FireWire embrasure had been missing from the 15 - column inch MacBook Pro oblation ; in fact , the 17 - column inch laptop is the first Intel - based Mac to include a FireWire 800 port . The 17 - inch MacBook Pro also boast a dual - bed DVD - burning SuperDrive , a feature lose from the 15 - inch configurations .
David Moody , Apple ’s vice president of worldwide Mac Cartesian product marketing , toldMacworld ’s Jim Dalrymple that these two feature make their return to Apple ’s laptop offering because of the use of “ different technology ” in the 17 - inch simulation . I ’m sure that ’s the case — but I also think Apple had extra inducement to let in these feature , have who ’s the most likely candidate to purchase a wide - CRT screen MacBook . An 8X SuperDrive that can burn to dual - layer phonograph record would be a requirement for any machine targeted at a picture pro . And while FireWire 800 has n’t enjoy widespread acceptation , its truehearted transfer pace do attract to people who have to move a lot of data back and forth — like digital video editors .
For that intellect , I disagree with the more optimisticMacworldReader Forum bill sticker who are carry out hope that the FireWire 800 port will make an visual aspect in future 15 - inch MacBook Pro models : I do n’t opine that will ever befall . Apple clearly thinks the entreaty of that particular feature is limit to pros willing to pay for the high - ending MacBook . However , I would expect at least one of the pro - level Intel - based desktops to include FireWire 800 when they come along afterward in 2006 — that ’s another Mac model of finicky interestingness to digital - video pros .
Other random view about Monday ’s MacBook Pro unveiling :
• While FireWire 800 and dual - bed videodisc burning made their triumphant return , a built - in modem did not . Then again , this is barely a shocking omission , as modems have been get out out of Apple hardware date back to the last class ’s revision to the PowerPC - establish iMac and Power Mac lines . And , of class , the initial round of MacBook Pro models did n’t let in a modem , either . Apple has clearly written off that technology .
• I was a trivial surprised that the 17 - in model did n’t come with a piddling more processing oomph . Not that a 2.16GHz Intel Core Duo chip is anything to sneeze at — it just happens to be the same processor that ’s already available as a build - to - order choice for the 15 - inch MacBook Pro . A $ 300 add - on , the 2.16GHz mainframe would supercharge the cost of that 15 - inch model to $ 2,799 — the same price Apple charges for the 17 - inch MacBook Pro . conceive you ’d get all the supererogatory features listed above — the wider screen , the FireWire 800 port , the quicker double - layer SuperDrive — I ca n’t see why folks would prefer for the 15 - in MacBook with the 2.16GHz bit when they can get a 17 - inch modelling for the same price . Unless Apple ’s considering a price deletion for the other MacBook Pro models …
• Any time Apple announces a new computer , talk immediately sour to the next hardware spillage the company has planned . The speculation is n’t that unwarranted this sentence around — the 17 - in MacBook Pro ’s reaching means the last of the 17 - inch PowerBook G4 , leaving the12 - in PowerBookas the only pro - flat laptop remaining at Apple ’s on-line storehouse . Naturally , this has sparkle talk of what Apple plans to do with that section of its laptop line . get a 12 - inch MacBook simulation ? Come up with an totally new line of sub - notebooks altogether ? Or just sink the entire idea of a 12 - column inch pro laptop computer like a regretful substance abuse ?
I do n’t require that last option to find — there ’s just too much interest in a slender laptop computer for Apple to abandon that product . The interrogative is , can Apple cram the feature of a full - fledged MacBook into a small form cistron ? That ’s why , if Vegas casino really accepted wager on thing like Apple hardware expiration , my money would be on a sub - notebook - expressive style product — a slim laptop without some of the lineament you ’d find in the larger MacBook models but with more processing exponent than what will finally be available in the Intel - free-base combining weight of the iBook . Then again , maybe it ’s fortunate that Vegas casinosdon’taccept those kinds of wagers , as whatever I predict will inevitablybewrong .
