Updated MacBook and MacBook Pros quietly go live
Danny Gorog06 November 2007, 3:13 AM
Apple has quietly bumped up the specs on its notebook line-up, but where is the long-awaited ultraportable MacBook?
NEWS ROUNDUP | Apple has quietly bumped the specs of its consumer-grade 13 inch MacBook notebook to include the same Santa Rosa architecture found in the more expensive MacBook Pro. The main changes are an improved 800MHz frontside bus and a newer Intel GMA X3100 integrated graphics processor.
According to AppleInsider, the new MacBook offers a speed increase of about ten percent over its predecessor.
The small refresh also washed over to the MacBook Pro line, where new BTO (Build To Order) options give purchasers the ability to add a 2.6GHZ Core 2 Duo chip and a 250GB Serial ATA Drive (5400 RPM) to their machines.
While the updated MacBooks are available through the local Apple store the BTO features for the MacBook Pro seem to be unavailable at present, even though the Tech Specs page reports them as options. I've emailed Apple to ask for confirmation.
Meanwhile, there's still no sign of the long-rumoured ultraportable MacBook. In fact, one analyst reckons Apple's "MacBook Thin" is still four to six months away.
Knowing Apple, it may well be waiting to negotiate the right pricing for flash based storage -- it already has the world's biggest buying power in flash, and it will only be a matter of time before it can wrangle a cheap enough deal to offer a decent-sized flash based drive in an ultraportable form factor.