Apple Announces New MacBook Pro Line: Core i5 and i7 Power, Auto-switching Graphics, Long Battery Life

Today Apple announced their next generation MacBook Pro family. These new, more powerful notebooks feature Intel’s Core i5 and i7 processors for the 15 and 17-inch models. The 13-inch MacBook Pro also gets a CPU upgrade — 2.4GHz and 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo — but oddly there’s no option for Core i3.

Apple also upgraded the graphics cards on each model. The 13-inch now sports an Nvidia GeForce 320M integrated graphics card and the 15 and 17-inch models get fancy Nvidia GeForce GT 330M discrete GPUs as well as integrated Intel HD graphics. And though Apple doesn’t state it outright, it looks like the larger notebooks rock Nvidia’s Optimus technology since they automatically switch between the discrete and integrated graphics as needed.

Update: After talking with Apple, while the new 15 and 17-inch MacBook Pros do have automatic switchable graphics that are instantaneous, they do not use Nvidia’s Optimus technology.

This may explain why Apple claims the larger models will last up to 8 – 9 hours on a charge even with all the juice under the hood. The 13-inch MacBook Pro promises to last up to 10.

The high resolution display options for the 15 and 17-inch models will ensure that you have every opportunity to take advantage of all that power. But it does seem like these bigger MacBook Pros are getting all the love (and the fancy features), while the smallest of the bunch has to settle for just being amazing instead of awesome.

Pricing for the 13-inch model starts at $1,199, the same as the last generation. The 15-inch ranges from $,1,799 ($100 more than its previous starting point) to $2,199. There’s only one 17-inch configuration available for $2,299, but it’s $200 less than the previous generation’s starting price ($2,499).

The full spec spread is on Apple’s website. Look for our reviews of these systems soon.