An Overview of the New Macbooks and Macbook Pros

The new Macbooks and Macbook Pros represent a sizable change in Apple's portable computing lineup The biggest change is in the manufacturing process

The new Macbooks and Macbook Pros represent a sizable change in Apple's portable computing lineup. The biggest change is in the manufacturing process. Instead of polycarbonate, the Macbook is now crafted out of a CNC machined block of aluminum. The same goes for the Macbook Pro.

On the Macbook, this means you'll have a lighter machine that's also structurally more rigid. The Macbook Pro also uses this same manufacturing method. So instead of that flimsy, thin aluminum that dents rather easily, you get something much more substantial.

On both the regular Macbook and Macbook Pro, you get a glass trackpad. Gone is the click button. Instead, the whole trackpad becomes the click button. Because of this, you also get over 30% more trackpad real estate. Like the Macbook Air, various gestures can also be used with this trackpad.

The display has not been ignored. You get LED backlighting. Compared to the traditional backlighting (called compact fluorescents) LED backlighting is much brighter, gets to optimal brightness almost instantly, and is more consistent. This will make photographers and other people who depend on their displays very happy.

The display is surrounded in black and encased in a sheet of glass. Those who prefer a matte screen might find this annoying. But I didn't find the glare to be all that distracting and in the end, the deeper/richer colors more than made up for it.

Nvidia powers the display for both Macbook models. Instead of Intel integrated graphics, the Macbook gets the Nvidia GeForce 9400M. The Macbook Pro gets a GeForce 9400M and a 9600M GT. Depending on the situation, the user can switch between either graphics chips.

Macbook users will notice the biggest difference since the Intel graphics chips from the past generation offered so-so performance at best. Macbook Pro users should also see a performance boost in the 9600M GT but it's still a far cry from the budget desktop SLI configurations that you can put together yourself.

One area where a lot of Macbook fans will complain loudly is the lack of firewire. People like firewire because it offers target disk mode, it uses less resources than USB 2.0, and some find it to be slightly faster than USB 2.0. Users will have to step up to a Macbook Pro if they want their firewire.

Instead of DVI, users will have to use DisplayPort. It's much more compact and supports DVI and VGA connections. As of right now, there's not a whole lot of industry support for DisplayPort.

Overall, the Macbook and Macbook Pro line has received a nice update. They both feel really solid and represent some of the finest notebooks available today. If you're looking for a notebook that offers a lot of bang for the buck, look elsewhere. You can buy a similarly configured Dell notebook for hundreds less. They won't have the really nice exterior casing, but the overall performance will be similar. But for those who prefer to use a Mac, this new line-up is hard to resist due to it's improvements and overall refinement.

Todd Matsumoto operates Macs To Go. This site specializes in Apple Macbooks.