Just Review For Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch

Just Review For Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch  

Apple upgraded its entire range of notebooks with the mid-2012 refresh. Although the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display has grabbed most of the headlines, the entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro shouldn't be overlooked.

The two new 2012 13-inch MacBook Pros retain the same form factor used by the previous generation, which was released in late 2011. Once again, we get a unibody enclosure milled from a single block of aluminium. This is far stronger and lighter than if it were built from separate parts.

The LED backlit screen is the same as before, as is the 720p FaceTime camera that sits above it. Just the thing for video calls. Apple's famous backlit keyboard is retained too. When the light dims, the keys are automatically lit to aid typing. You can dim this backlight if it's too strong, or switch it off altogether if (for example) you're watching a movie.

But although from the outside they look exactly the same as before, the 2012 13-inch MacBook Pros offer significant improvements over the 2011 laptops under the hood.

The processors have been upgraded. Although the speed bump is very small - 0.1GHz on each model - the new CPUs are Ivy Bridge chips, the third generation of Intel's Core i series. These processors have significantly better integrated graphics than their late 2011 predecessors.

Since the 13-inch MacBook Pros' logic board is too small to house a discrete graphics processor, this is a very important upgrade.

The top-of-the-range 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display made a few sacrifices for the sake of portability, losing its optical drive to make it lighter, dropping a couple of connectivity ports that were too big for the ultra-thin body and swapping the hard drive for solid state storage to reduce both bulk and weight.

But the two new 13-inch MacBook Pro models stay faithful to the regular MacBook Pro design. The 8x SuperDrive for reading and burning CDs and DVDs is retained, as are the FireWire 800 and Gigabit Ethernet ports.

The single Thunderbolt port introduced last year is also retained, as is the SDXC card reader. Once again, the 13-inch MacBook Pros have two USB ports, but these are now USB 3.0. Storage is still via a hard disk drive, at least in the standard, off-the-shelf computers.

The cheaper of the two 13-inch MacBook Pros costs the same as before; this entry-level 2.5GHz MacBook Pro is still £999 in the UK or $1,199 in the US. The pricier 13-inch 2.9GHz MacBook Pro has actually got a little cheaper, selling for £1,249 or $1,499.

Like all Macs, the new MacBook Pros come supplied with the latest version of OS X, which at the time of writing is 10.7 Lion. If you buy before the release of its successor Mountain Lion, which is due in July 2012, you can claim a free upgrade. Apple's acclaimed iLife suite is also included; edit your videos with iMovie, make music with GarageBand and organise your digital photographs in iPhoto.

MacBook Pro With Higher Resolution Retina Display

The MacBook Pro is a line of Macintosh portable computers introduced in January 2006 by Apple Inc., and now in its third generation. Replacing the PowerBook G4, the MacBook Pro was the second model, after the iMac, to be announced in the Apple–Intel transition. It is also the high-end model of the MacBook family and is currently produced with 13- and 15-inch screens, although a 17-inch version has been offered previously.

The first generation MacBook Pro appeared externally similar to the PowerBook G4, but used the Intel Core processors instead of PowerPC G4 chips. The 15-inch model was released in January 2006, a 17-inch model in April, both of which received several updates and Core 2 Duo processors later in the year.

The second model, known as the "unibody" model, has a more tapered design and a casing made from a single block of aluminum. It debuted in October 2008 as the 15-inch MacBook Pro and the 13-inch aluminum unibody MacBook. The following January brought the design to the 17-inch model, along with the built-in battery that joined the rest of the MacBook Pro line in June, including the 13-inch model which Apple absorbed into the MacBook Pro line. Subsequent updates brought upgraded Intel Core i5 and i7 processors and introduced Intel's Thunderbolt technology.

Apple released the third generation of MacBook Pro in June 2012 as a 15-inch screen size only. At the same time, slightly updated versions of the previous 13- and 15-inch unibody models were announced that will sell in parallel, although Apple has delisted and possibly discontinued the 17-inch variant. While dimensionally smaller than its predecessor, the similarly styled third generation model still retains a unibody form factor. Specification-wise, the most substantial differences in the next-generation MacBook Pro are the fitment of a significantly higher resolution Retina display, the elimination of the optical drive, and replacement of hard disk drives with solid-state drives.

The original 15-inch MacBook Pro was announced on January 10, 2006, by Steve Jobs at the Macworld Conference & Expo. The 17-inch model was unveiled on April 24, 2006. The first design was largely a carryover from the PowerBook G4, but used Intel Core CPUs instead of PowerPC G4 chips. The 15-inch Macbook Pro weighed the same as the 15-inch aluminum PowerBook G4, but was 0.1 inches (0.25 cm) deeper, 0.4 inches (1.0 cm) wider, and 0.1 inches (0.25 cm) thinner. Other changes from the PowerBook include a built-in iSight webcam the inclusion of MagSafe, a magnetic power connector designed to detach easily when pulled to prevent the entire laptop from being pulled off a surface. Both features were later brought over to the MacBook. In order to fit into the slimmer MacBook Pro, the optical drive was half the speed of the one in the PowerBook G4 and could not write to dual layer DVDs.

Both the original 15- and 17-inch model MacBook Pros come with ExpressCard/34 slots, which replace the PC Card slots found in the PowerBook G4. All pre-unibody 15-inch models have two USB 2.0 ports and one FireWire 400 port, while the 17-inch models have three USB 2.0 ports as well as one FireWire 400 port. When first introduced, the MacBook Pro did not come with FireWire 800 or S-Video ports, although FireWire 800 was added in the next 15-inch model revision and was present in every version of the 17-inch design. S-Video capability can be attained through the use of a DVI to S-Video adapter. External displays with up to a 2,560 × 1,600 pixel resolution are supported through a dual-link DVI port. All models include a built-in Gigabit Ethernet port, Bluetooth 2.0, and 802.11a/b/g. Later models include support for the draft 2.0 specification of 802.11n and Bluetooth 2.1.