Serious Speed Boost for MacBook Pro

Apple has two strong 13-inch notebooks to entice shoppers, and one of them just got a lot stronger. While the 13-inch MacBook Air ($1,299) emphasizes portability and instant gratificaiton via Flash memory, the new 13-inch MacBook Pro ($1,199) is all about speed and extra-long endurance. The latest version boasts a bevy of new components and abilities, including a second-generation Intel Core i5 processor, a FaceTime HD webcam, and Thunderbolt high-speed connectivity. The much-loved unibody aluminum chassis remains, along with the outstanding backlit keyboard and glass touchpad, all for the same price. So how much better is this 13-inch MacBook Pro than its predecessor, and what do you give up?

The 2011 13-inch MacBook Pro is virtually identical to its predecessor. Slim with its iconic curved lid, the aluminium unibody chassis exudes premium build quality from all angles. Measuring 12.8 x 8.9 x 1 inches, and weighing 4.6 pounds, the new machine has the same dimensions as before but is a fraction heavier (0.2 pounds). Of course, the 13-inch MacBook Air (0.7 inches thick, 2.9 pounds) makes the Pro look heavy by comparison, but this 13-incher still slips into bags easily and is relatively easy to carry.    

Users will also find the same black Island-style keyboard and large multitouch touchpad that have graced previous models. Chiseled from a single block of metal, the MacBook Pro feels extremely sturdy. One drawback is that the MacBook Pro's battery is not replaceable, at least not without Apple tech support. Also, the chassis can scratch easily if exposed to sharp objects, making a custom-fit cover a smart investment.      

Despite its metallic construction, the MacBook Pro mainly kept its cool on our heat tests. After playing a Hulu video at full screen for 15 minutes, we measured a temperature of 90 degrees Fahrenheit at the center of the keyboard, while the notebook's underside returned the same reading. The touchpad was cooler at 80 degrees. The bottom back end of the 13-inch MacBook Pro did get toasty, logging a temperature of 109 degrees; we consider anything over 100 degrees cause for concern.

Folks familiar with the MacBook Pro know that its keyboard is one of the best around. The laptop's big square keys have a soft finish and are arranged in an island-style setup, offering plenty of spacing. They also make little sound when hit, yet provide a satisfying click. Equipped with an ambient light sensor, the keyboard is backlit as well, one of the advantages the 13-inch MacBook Pro has over the 13-inch Air.

Like MacBook Pros before it, the current version has a vast 4.1 x 3-inch touchpad that doubles as one massive button. Frankly, it's the gold standard; it let us glide our fingers across it with minimal friction and intuitively press down to make selections. We never missed the lack of a discrete mouse button, or even two.

The full gamut of familiar multitouch gestures are here as well. We easily used two fingers to scroll up and down through webpages and zoom in and out of photos and documents. With four digits we pushed all windows out of the way for a clear view of the desktop, and with three fingers swiped our way from app to app.

The New MacBook Pro: The Last Notebook You’ll Ever Need

From the outset, Apple's MacBook Pro has been the standard-bearer for professional notebook computers. Apple's extra-mile engineering sets the bar for performance, durability, build quality, longevity, ergonomics, battery life, and connectivity. For the past several years, Apple has had only itself to outdo with each new generation of MacBook Pro, yet Apple has still managed to set the pace, mostly with upgrades to materials, graphics, disk size, and battery life.

Not to take such advances for granted -- after all, the one-piece machined aluminum frame and dynamic GPU switching were among many unique and jaw-dropping innovations -- but where's the ultimate to-die-for model year leap, the upgrade so substantial that we may not see its like again for five years? As tight as money is now, buyers want to see double, triple, and order-of-magnitude level improvements to justify spending $1,799 to $2,499 on a notebook.

[ Read about the long-standing love affair between InfoWorld's Paul Venezia and the MacBook Air. | Subscribe to InfoWorld's Technology: Apple newsletter. ]

With the new Thunderbolt MacBook Pro, so nicknamed for its revolutionary high-speed I/O port, that's just what you'll get. The 15- and 17-inch quad-core models deliver twice the CPU performance of Core 2 Duo, three times the graphics performance of the previous generation's Nvidia GeForce GT 330M, and more than ten times the external I/O bandwidth of 800MHz FireWire. Even with a base price of just $1,199 and dual-core instead of quad-core CPUs, the new 13-inch MacBook Pro still outpaces prior Mac notebooks in terms of CPU and I/O performance.

This brand of magic can't be conjured by Apple's competitors. Sustained innovations like the MagSafe quick-disconnect charge port, the industrial-grade frame machined from a solid block of aluminum, digital optical audio input and output, automatic integrated/discrete GPU (graphics processing unit) switching, and a five-year battery already have no equal.

Now Apple has integrated Intel's just-released second-generation Core i5 (13-inch MacBook Pro) and Core i7 (15-inch and 17-inch models) into its popular commercial notebooks. By doing so, MacBook Pro has picked up the power of Intel's Turbo Boost dynamic overclocking, Hyper-Threading thread acceleration, 1,333MHz of DDR3 RAM, large Level 3 cache, and integrated memory controller. Intel's speedy new silicon and enlightened bus design, combined with Apple's full-custom motherboard and software, delivers those 2X CPU performance gains bragged about by Apple and proven in my benchmarks.

In the 15- and 17-inch models, Intel's stellar CPU is married with the most powerful and power-efficient mobile GPUs on the planet, AMD's Radeon HD 6000M series. The 17-inch MacBook Pro and the 2.2GHz 15-inch model feature AMD's Radeon HD 6750M GPU with 1GB of GDDR5 RAM, while the base 15-inch model uses the Radeon HD 6490M with 256MB of GDDR5 RAM. Apple uses a clever and simple technique to switch between low-power Intel integrated graphics and the gaming-grade AMD GPU on the fly. This is central to achieving a verified seven-hour battery life across all models, and that's without cheating: wireless networking active, display at midlevel brightness, and even battery-draining Flash Player running in the browser.

If, in all of this, you can't see a reason to upgrade your notebook, maybe I can bring the point home: This might be the last notebook computer you'll ever need or want. After more than two weeks of continuous testing, it's hard for me to imagine what I'd want in a notebook in three to five years that MacBook Pro doesn't deliver right now. Whatever I want, I'll plug into Thunderbolt, the game-changing 10-gigabit peripheral interconnect that deserves (and gets) its own section in this review. I have no lingering doubt that a PC notebook maker might trump MacBook Pro. What Apple has done requires metal, glass, genius, and OS X. It can't be replicated with plastic and Windows.

iPad versus MacBook Air: Which is right for you?

Both the iPad and the MacBook Air offer phenomenal hardware solutions, but they occupy distinct niches. A well-accessorized iPad may take you pretty far along the way in getting work done on-the-go, but in no way does it provide the full OS X experience. In cost as well as weight, a low-end MacBook Air is not all that different from an iPad, but it lacks the simple form factor and touch-based interface that makes the iPad a perfect lightweight reading and connectivity solution. Two tools, two form factors -- which one is right for you?

At this time, Apple's computing solutions consist of five families. They include:

Pocket solutions: small in form factor and big in music and gaming, these include the iPhone and iPod touch pocket-based devices.Tablets: perfect for on-the-go reading, media watching and lightweight connectivity, this family is represented by the iPad.Laptops: including the sleek MacBook Air as well as the more powerful (but larger) MacBook Pro, laptops provide mobility crossed with full OS X solutions.Desktops: ranging from the consumer-grade Mac mini through the incredibly able iMacs and topping out with the Mac Pro, these computers let you get your work done with as many monitors, hard drives and printers as your work demands.Other: a catch-all family for computers that don't fit into the other categories, this family is currently limited to the non-mobile TV-based Apple TV, which provides an iOS solution with a limited user appliance interface.

The iPad and MacBook Air belong to separate families, and yet they're often put up against each other for purchasing decisions, especially when considering the 11-inch entry MBA. Both provide mobile on-the-go solutions. Both are lightweight. Both are affordable. So why go for one over the other? It all comes down to use case.

When the MacBook Air first debuted, many people called it "Apple's netbook." It wasn't. The Air is a full-featured laptop with a proper keyboard and screen, despite its small size. Netbooks, for all that they looked like laptops, were used in a different way. Their incredibly low cost and mobile form factor was not geared to providing a full OS experience. Instead, they provided a simpler on-the-go way to keep in touch and perform light computing tasks. Netbook computing wasn't about work, it was about connectivity and experiencing media, the same tasks now performed by Apple's iPad.

The iPad is the perfect device for playing games, watching some shows, checking email, surfing the Web and reading books. It may not be the ideal device for any single one of those tasks, but it is excellent at doing all of them. Add in its incredibly slim form factor and amazing portability, and you're looking at what the netbook should have been from the beginning. Instead of shrinking a laptop and using 5 percent of a standard operating system, the iPad offers core netbook functionality with a physical package that beautifully matches those tasks.

What the iPad does not do well is work. Yes, you can get work done when the need arises, but the iPad was not designed for day-to-day business. It is, at its heart, a netbook with the core demands of light computing and connectivity guiding its use. If you want multitasking, multiple windows, professional software suites and so forth, then you want a proper computer running a full-featured OS. You want a laptop or desktop, not a pocket or tablet device, even if you still need mobility.

That's where the MacBook Air excels. It provides the same kind of beautiful form factor and portability that typifies the iPad while adding in the full OS X experience. When your demands are business, deadlines and mobility, the MBA is the solution. Yes, you can find iPad workarounds and viewers, but why settle?

The MBA offers exactly the same UI, the same software and the same power as other desktop installations, but it provides these on a lightweight laptop that travels in the car and to the coffee shop as well as into the boardroom and the classroom. It does this with a full hardware keyboard and trackpad, without iPad compromise.

In the end, it all comes down to you and your needs. The iPad is not a laptop, and laptops are not iPads. Your specific use case and your personal needs should guide you as to whether you want to cuddle up with an iPad or drink mocha with a MacBook. They are both powerful, affordable and usable solutions. Which one is right for you?