When it came time to deciding which Apple laptop to get a few months ago, the choice was pretty clear to me: The 13-inch MacBook. While I had previously had a last-generation MacBook Pro, the new MacBooks built with the sleek unibody process (carved out of one piece of aluminum) offered more than enough power for what I needed, in a smaller package. I didn’t really see an advantage is paying more just to get a “Pro” model — and now Apple apparently doesn’t either.
Today at its WWDC event, Apple has decided to rename its 13-inch unibody MacBook line, to MacBook Pros. Alongside this it and the other MacBook Pros have gained some new features. The biggest of these is the new built-in lithium polymer battery which can last for up to 7 hours. That’s a 2 hour increase over the current battery life — a 40% increase. This battery features 5 years of recharges before it starts losing its charge. Normal laptops get 300 recharges, this one gets 1,000.
Another new feature is a built-in SD card slot. Also, the 13-inch MacBook gains a Firewire 800 port. These new MacBooks can have up to 8 GB of RAM and the 15-inch one can get up to a 3.06 GHz dual core chip — meaning its the fastest laptop Apple has ever made. The laptops can also feature 256 GB SSD drives, as Apple continues to phase out the regular hard drive.
The 15-inch models will now start at $1699 while the 13-inch ones will be $1199. The white plastic MacBook will retain the “MacBook name. Apple has also dropped the price of the MacBook Air at the entry level to $1499.
I don’t get it… can you check your twitter account on the new Mac?
no news of iPhone yet ???
We’ll see if battery life is still comparable to new after a few hundred charges. They’re still Li-Iion batteries and that technology hasn’t changed THAT much – or does Apple claim to have their own technology that they have kept secret from the other laptop mfgs? Since they all buy batteries from the same few makers, I doubt it.
Actually, according to Apple, they make their own batteries and claim to have come up with their own battery technology. There’s a full video of their explanation about their battery technology on their site.
They use lithium polymer batteries as opposed to more common lithium ion batteries. This isn’t new technology obviously as all electric rc planes nowadays use lithium polymer batteries. The advantages include larger capacity in a small weight, the battery maintains its maximum charging capability for longer, and aren’t harmed by charging before they are fully discharged. Disadvantage more expensive and should they fail and catch fire they burn violently.
The new MBPs look pretty awesome. The drop in prices is also a welcome change!
However, the inclusion of the SD card slot is definitely a gimmick (as you can buy high quality SD card readers for about twenty dollars).
Great summary, thanks!
in* paying more
oh crap. game on.
5 years? I don’t think so. 7 hours per charge and 1000 charges is 7000 hours over the life of the battery. That’s about 292 days… not quite the 5 years they are boasting about. Unless you only use the thing about 6 full days per year.
It’s based on one cycle every 2 days or so.
Want it.
An SD card slot?! Yea!
I’m underwhelmed at the moment. Waiting to hear of iPhone news.
but does it come with a mouse?
Renaming all MacBooks to the “MacBook Pro” frees up the MacBook name for Mac Netbooks.
Where is My post? Ok, Tech Crunch, I’ll type it again:
“Renaming the MacBook to “MacBook Pro” frees up the name “MacBook” for Mac netbooks.”
The inclusion of firewire is huge, this was a sore point when the first 13″ macbook unibody came out. I’m getting one asap, glad i didn’t get the first generation.
As anyone with the new MacBook Pro 17″ would tell you, there is no way that you can get 7 hours of battery life (or 8 in the MBP 17 case) if you use the laptop at all. That number is completely unachievable. You have to be at 50% brightness, browsing the web at a rate of about 1 page a minute, turn off the keyboard lights, and move your finger on the track pad at a rate of 1 inch per 10 seconds.
I am joking, obviously, but these battery life numbers are not close to what you get out of it. I get, at moderate browsing, around 4:30 hours. Still great compared to other laptops, but still not the 8 hours that was promised.
I consistently get 6.5 to 7-plus hours on my MBP 17-inch. Sure, it goes down with a DVD spinning or with a CPU-intensive game, but for everything else, including with wifi turned on, I’m able to count on 7 hours.
I’m totally stoked.
I was just about to get a refurbished 2.4GHz aluminum MacBook for $1199. Now I’m scoring a new “Pro” with more battery, an SD card slot, and potential for 8GB of RAM..
Totally stoked. Thanks for stating the point that the new Aluminum MacBooks were basically Pro’s, glad to see it’s acknowledged.
Waiting anxiously to hear some iPhone news…
Battery life. Does anyone know how the 7 hours of battery life was tested?
Apple support phone lines currently clogged with people who just bought Macbook Pros 2 weeks ago for $500 more than they cost today. My cube just upgraded our 50,000 regeneration alcoves with macbook pros after 200 cubes running Vista spontaneously flew into the Sun. So we’re pissed and are on our way to Cupertino for an assimilation party.
I don’t actually understand what you just wrote.
Could try English…
Why do you upgrade 2 weeks before a major conference where you know an upgrade may be possible, sigh…
Look this will even tell you:
http://buyersgu....macrumors.com/
So after an 2 hours on the phone I found out the price protection guarantee is the same as the refund period, 14 days, so it’s only of benefit to apple since all that does is prevent people from returning hardware that Apple can then only sell as heavily discounted refurbs. Their price guarantee should really be the industry standard 30 days.
I just bought a 13 inch macbook and didn’t get the upgraded proccessor because of the price. The guy helping assured me that it was the best thing out and nothing new was coming out for a while. So two days later I open safari and guess what, new upgraded macbook pro with the proccessor I wanted. I’m going in tomorrow to complain. Any ideas/suggestions of what will happen?
I did the same thing! I bought the 13′ macbook the day before the 13′ macbook pro came out..I called and complained. You can return the laptop within 14 days but there will be a 10% restocking fee. The managers at the apple stores can waive that fee if they wanted too. Luckily, I found one that will. So I’m going in tomorrow to trade it in!
who doesn’t research this stuff beforehand. i can tell you at least 6 months before any new device i buy is going to be released. it’s your own fault and apple nor anyone should feel obligated to upgrade your device.
will the current 13inch unibody be able to utilize this new battery. I rarely get 3 hours on mine, i am still stuck to the wall most of the time.
WOO! I’m so stoked to see this, been waiting for a long time!! Thank you Apple!
I’m surpised to see Techcrunch repeating Apple’s clearly false claims about battery life. The current MacBook Pros, which according to apple give 5 hours of battery life, have never given us more than 3 under best case.
Apple has also had horrendous problems with it’s batteries, and we had our entire office’s laptop batteries replaced under warranty when they died after only 6 months use.
I’m waiting for consumer protection laws to deal with the battery life issue, the same way they did on monitor sizes (at least in Australia). In the meantime, can Techcrunch please be a bit more careful before simply quoting the marketing pitch from Apple on this matter!
Thanks, James
Re battery life. I’m sorry but anyone who claims they get the ‘full’ battery life from their machines in any reasonable usage is living in cloud cuckoo land.
Indeed as stated if you closed all your applications, shut down the brightness and do nothing on your machine you will start to get close to the magical claimed figure.
But if you actually use your machine in any way, give it up.
I have a unibody macbook, which is a good machine, but I very rarely get over 2hours. For those scoffing, the ‘genius’ bar eventually said 1.5 – 2hours is normal under ‘regular’ usage.
I’m sure these new machines are better – but again no where near the claimed figures…
This is good news!
It’s great that battery technology now allows us to work all day on a single charge. I use a samsung nc10 with some extra ram, exclusively because I can use it all day, wherever I am.
Battery
I used my old MacBook (black) for now 2,5 yrs and the battery still works quite well. I have to admit that I used it most of the time plugged in and the stats widget says it still has 100% health. But to me it’s no big deal to plug it in, since there are outlets nearly everywhere…
If you try not to open all appplications and put the screen brightness down or to a medium level you actually can have many hours of working on battery. If you download huge files over Wifi, have Bluetooth switched on and run numerous big applications (like office, photoshop, etc.) you won’t reach that. So what do you expect?
But what shall Apple do? They only can give you estimated numbers as far as the lasting of the battery is concerned, because they don’t know how you are using your computer.
I don’t see what the problem is.
i just bought the macbook unibody for 7 days…. and now the release a macbook pro 13″ at lower price and upgraded features.. frustrated as i am.. im wondering if its possible to change for the new product as im still under 14 days of purchase?
Yes you can. You can either return it and buy a new one or they’ll do a price match. I opted to return it. Even though it’s a pain and I have to pay the 10% restocking fee it still works out to a free upgrade because my drive, battery, and CPU are all being upgraded and I get the SD slot. Just call apple support and take care of it asap because 14 days is the limit.
I was considering ordering a Macbook yesterday. Now I’m considering getting a new pro… Any idea on UK Prices?
dang, i have the last gen of 13″ MacBook. adding an SD slot, while nice, doesn’t kill me. But adding a firewire port hurts. Oh well still a great computer
Love to see that improved battery life. About time!
Every update frustrates someone which got the old edition.
I bought a macbook 13.3 inch 20 days ago, before this whole 13.3 inch pro thing even happened. Two questions:
1. Can I return my macbook and get a 13.3 inch pro?
2. If I do return my macbook, what do I do about the microsoft office that I downloaded on my macbook? Can I transfer that to my new pro somehow?
I bought a macbook 13.3 inch 20 days ago, before this whole 13.3 inch pro thing even happened. Two questions:
1. Can I return my macbook and get a 13.3 inch pro?
2. If I do return my macbook, what do I do about the microsoft office that I downloaded on my macbook? Can I transfer that to my new pro somehow?
1. No, you can’t. It’s 14 days.
2. If you decide to sell it and get the new one, you can uninstall Office on that computer and the key will remain usable for your next one. And of course, should you leave it on, you get three keys anyway.