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The Road Warrior: How Did My Last Year’s 2007 Apple Notebook Forecasts Pan Out?

In the Apple 'Book orbit, 2007 proved to be a year of refinement and consolidation rather than innovation and revolution, with no major new product announcements despite persistent rumors of an imminent Mac subnotebook in the works. Didn't happen, although the rumors are now louder than ever, and we may see something unveiled at Macworld Expo in a couple of weeks.

In my The Road Warrior 2006 wrap-up and look ahead at 2007 this time last year, I said I didn't anticipate another upgrade for the MacBook Pros and MacBooks machines before Spring, 2007, and I was correct in that there were no notebook (or computer system at all) announcements at what turned out to be "iPhone Expo" in January.

I did pose the rhetorical question as to whether Apple would have a MacBook Pro with Intel's "Santa Rosa" chip and "Robson" NAND/Flash hybrid technology ready for the customary April/May notebook refresh announcement.

That time envelope came and went, and it was June 5, some eight months after the Revision B MacBook Pro refresh of October, 2006 which introduced the Core 2 Duo chips, before Apple released its second refreshment or Revision C of the MacBook Pro line which indeed were equipped with the latest Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 ("Santa Rosa") processors but without the "Robson" hybrid element. Also new was LED display backlighting on the 15" model, a high-res 1920-by-1200 display option on the 17" MacBook Pro, a 33 percent increase in the memory expansion ceiling, to a much more practical 4 GB from 3 GB, the latter being awkward on machines that prefer memory pairing, and 2 GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM became standard on all models. There was also a new NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processing unit that Apple claims is more than 50 percent faster than the one in the original Core Duo MacBook Pro, and comes with either 128 MB or 256 MB of VRAM.

For the MacBook Pro, that one revision was it for 2007, and the June 5 specification remains current as we head into 2008.

Price points remained the same as with the previous models.

Current MacBook Pro Models and Specs:

2.2 GHz, 15-inch MacBook Pro

* 15.4-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1440-by-900 LCD display;
* 2.2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor;
* 2GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, expandable to 4GB;
* 120GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
* a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
* NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 128MB GDDR3 memory;
* DVI-out port for external display (VGA-out adapter included, Composite/S-Video out adapter sold separately);
* built-in Dual Link support for driving Apple 30-inch Cinema HD Display;
* built-in iSight video camera;
* Gigabit Ethernet port;
* built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;
* ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;
* two USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire 800 port, and one FireWire 400 port;
* one audio line in and one headphone out port, each supporting optical digital audio;
* Scrolling TrackPad and illuminated keyboard;
* the infrared Apple Remote; and
* 85 Watt Apple MagSafe Power Adapter.
$1,999.00

___

2.4 GHz, 15-inch MacBook Pro

* 15.4-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1440-by-900 LCD display;
* 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor;
* 2GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, expandable to 4GB;
* 160GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
* a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
* NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 256MB GDDR3 memory;
* DVI-out port for external display (VGA-out adapter included, Composite/S-Video out adapter sold separately);
* built-in Dual Link support for driving Apple 30-inch Cinema HD Display;
* built-in iSight video camera;
* Gigabit Ethernet port;
* built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;
* ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;
* two USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire 800 port, and one FireWire 400 port;
* one audio line in and one headphone out port, each supporting optical digital audio;
* Scrolling TrackPad and illuminated keyboard;
* the infrared Apple Remote; and
* 85 Watt Apple MagSafe Power Adapter.
$2,499.00

___

2.4 GHz, 17-inch MacBook Pro

* 17-inch widescreen 1680-by-1050 LCD display;
* 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor;
* 2GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, expandable to 4GB;
* 160GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
* a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
* NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 256MB GDDR3 memory;
* DVI-out port for external display (VGA-out adapter included, Composite/S-Video out adapter sold separately);
* built-in Dual Link support for driving Apple 30-inch Cinema HD Display;
* built-in iSight video camera;
* Gigabit Ethernet port;
* built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;
* ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;
* three USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire 800 port, and one FireWire 400 port;
* one audio line in and one headphone out port, each supporting optical digital audio;
* Scrolling TrackPad and illuminated keyboard;
* the infrared Apple Remote; and
* 85 Watt Apple MagSafe Power Adapter.
$2,799.00

The MacBook had to wait until the cusp of October/November to get its upgrade to Intel Santa Rosa CPUs. In terms of nominal clock speed, there was no increase on the base, 2.0 GHz model, and only a slight one with the high-end machine from 2.16 GHz to 2.2 GHz (3%). However, clock speed is a poor denominator in terms of comparing actual performance, and Santa Rosa GHz are more potent than the previous Core 2 Duo GHz, and while overall performance with the 2.2 GHz unit is only improved by about five percent over the previous model, some sub-categories, like memory performance and stream performance were up by a bit less than 15% and 25% respectively according to benchmarks posted by Primate Labs Blog,

However, this modest refreshment was more than just a modest speed bump, and some of the other enhancements are arguably more exciting than the Santa Rosa chips.

High on the list was a video support upgrade to the http://www.intel.com/products/chipsets/GM965/index.htm Intel GMA X3100 integrated video chip with 144 MB of graphics allocation, replacing the previous GMA 950 unit with an 80 MB package of RAM annexed. Disparaged by some as 'vampire video," the Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) is an integrated graphics solution that provides for a computer to be built without a separate conventional graphics processor unit, which lowers the overall cost with a side benefit of lower power consumption

The GMA X3100 is the mobile version of the GMA X3000, and annexes a portion of the computer's system main memory rather than having its own, dedicated VRAM. This modality results in a performance penalty as both the CPU and GPU have to access memory over the same bus. Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard has drivers for the GMA X3100, which are used in the latest revision of the MacBook range

Rounding out performance tweaks, the Santa Rosa MacBook supports up to 4GB RAM, double the 2GB ceiling in the previous models, which will help with addressing the greater amount of system RAM being diverted to the GMA X3100, and the frontside bus has been upgraded to 800MHz from 667MHz, which is nice, but unlikely to result in much difference in performance since the the RAM is still running at the same speed as before. Standard RAM (1 GB), hard drive and SuperDrive options haven't changed, with a 250 GHz HD a BTO option The new MacBooks ship with OS 10.5 Leopard installed, so folks who aren't keen on being early adopters for the new OS might want to consider picking up a remaindered or refurbished unit of the previous model, although that involves a painful tradeoff in the lower RAM ceiling and pokier video system of the earlier model.

There are also a couple of key, visual differences in the new MacBooks.

The keyboard has new media control keys across the function key row:

Function Key Features:
F1, F2 Decrease or increase the display brightness
F3 Exposé allows quick access to all open windows
F4 Dashboard allows access to widgets
F5, F6 Programmable keys
F7—F9 Media controls for rewind, play, or fast forward
F10 Mute the sound coming from the speakers or headphone port
F11, F12 Decrease or increase volume from speakers or headphone port

The rear vent spacing has been reconfigured, with the "MacBook 13-inch Late 2007" having much wider spacing between the vent fins than the previous MacBook models, which will improve cooling performance, so with the more efficient Santa Rosa processors, these latest MacBooks should be the coolest-running MacBook iteration yet.

The current MacBook model lineup includes:

2.0GHz 13-inch MacBook (white)
* 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
* 1GB memory
* 80GB hard drive
* Intel GMA X3100 w/ 144MB of DDR2 SDRAM
* Combo drive
$1,099.00

___

2.2GHz 13-inch MacBook (white)

* 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
* 1GB memory
* 120GB hard drive
* Intel GMA X3100 w/ 144MB of DDR2 SDRAM
* Double-layer SuperDrive
$1,299.00

___

2.2GHz 13-inch MacBook (black)

* 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
* 1GB memory
* 160GB hard drive
* Intel GMA X3100 w/ 144MB of DDR2 SDRAM
* Double-layer SuperDrive
$1,499.00

That's pretty much the entire story for portable Macs in 2007, with Apple taking a breather after the momentous landslide of new product rolled out in the watershed year of 2006. And who's to argue? Apple notebooks are selling more strongly than ever before in their history, accounting for the lion's share of Mac system sales (and profits).

However, we're now arguably more than overdue for some hardware upgrades. The MacBook Pros which are heavily derivative of the aluminum PowerBooks that preceded them, are an excellent design but showing their age, which dates back to January, 2003, while the MacBook is now more than a year and a half old - longer than the PowerBook 3400, Wallstreet, Lombard, or Pismo remained in production respectively.

In the final The Road Warrior column of the year later this week we'll take a look at what may be coming for 'Book aficionados in 2008.

In the meantime, Merry Christmas to all!



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cmoore@macopinion.com


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