Apple updates MacBook Pro lineup

By Rick Marshall October 24, 2011

Apple appears to have given its lineup of MacBook Pro laptops a bit of an upgrade, and done so without the usual fanfare that surrounds any tweaks to the popular model.

Among the changes to the ultra-light laptop line are the addition of faster processors and more powerful graphics chips. Both changes were made without any adjustment to the models’ listed prices.

Specifically, the 13-inch MacBook Pro comes with either a 2.4 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor or a 2.8 GHZ dual-core Intel Core i7, a step up from the prior CPU offerings for the model. The models also got an upgrade to their hard drives, with 500GB and 750GB hard drives as the stock option on each model, respectively.

Similarly, the 15-inch MacBook Pro has upgraded its basic model’s processor to a quad-core 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7, with the option of upgrading to a 2.4 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7. The basic model of the 17-inch MacBook Pro comes with the 2.4 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 as its default processor.

In the graphics department, the basic 15-inch MacBook Pro now comes with a more powerful AMD Radeon HD 6750M discrete graphics card with 512MB of GDDR5, and the speedier 15-inch model comes with an AMD Radeon HD 6770M with 1GB of GDDR5 — the same graphics chip that now comes stock with the 17-inch model.

The price of the new MacBook Pro models range from $1,199 for the basic 13-inch model to $2,499 for the 17-inch model.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

A veteran journalist with more than two decades of experience covering local and national news, arts and entertainment, and…

Computing

The 5 best MacBooks for video editing in 2024

Apple MacBook Pro 16 front angled view showing display and keyboard.

Video editing is one of the most demanding things you can ask of your laptop. Not only do you need a powerful processor to keep things running smoothly, but you'll also need loads of RAM and a solid GPU to best carry out the task. If any of these components are lacking, you could run into trouble with your software – resulting in sluggish performance and a frustrating overall experience.

Hunting for a laptop that's robust enough to handle video editing isn't easy, but you can make things more manageable by sticking to Apple's MacBook catalog.

Computing

How to select multiple files on a Mac

An open MacBook Pro on a table.

macOS is an intuitive and innovative operating system. Over the years, Apple has revamped and evolved its tried and true platform numerous times, but there are a number of core features that have been around since the beginning. One of these is the ability to select multiple files at once.

Computing

How to take a screenshot on a Mac

The keyboard and trackpad of the MacBook Pro 14-inch.

For most new Mac users -- especially if they're coming from Windows -- one of the first questions they need to ask is how to take a screenshot on a Mac? There's no dedicated Print Screen key like there is on Windows, but there is keyboard shortcut, and if you want something more akin to Microsoft's Windows Snipping tool, there are some great screenshot apps you can use, too.

Here's how to take a screenshot on a Mac in a few different ways.
How to take a screenshot using keyboard shortcuts
MacOS keyboard shortcuts are the quickest ways to take screenshots, whether you're capturing the entire screen or just a portion. By default, Apple's methods save your screenshot to the desktop, but if you want to copy the screenshot to the clipboard, there's a keyboard shortcut you can use instead.
How to capture a selected area