With a raft of updates including the ultra-fast Thunderbolt I/O port technology (a snub at USB 3.0), the new MacBook Pros hardly qualify as an average mid-cycle refresh. The 15″ and 17″ MacBook Pros ($1,799-$2,499) are endowed with up to 2.3GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processors with Intel Turbo Boost 2.0 technology capable of cranking up to 3.4GHz – making these latest variants up to 2x faster than their predecessors. On the graphics end, AMD Radeon processors with 256MB-1GB of RAM yield up to 3x faster graphics for blazing Call of Duty or Photoshop sessions. Not to be left out the updated 13″ MacBook Pro ($1,199-$1,499) also jumps to a dual-core Intel Core i5 or i7 processor with 2.3GHz-2.7GHz speeds and Intel HD graphics. Along with the 10GBps hybrid Thunderbolt/MiniDisplay port, Apple has also added a full-screen HD video widescreen FaceTime camera, up to 8GB of RAM and a choice of hard drives ranging from 256MB to 750GB and 128MB-512MB solid-state drives. One thing that hasn’t changed: the inevitable arghs from recent buyers.
