Ultrabooks and Hybrids Cool new Laptop
Design and Features
The MacBook Pro 13-inch (Retina Display) retains the general Apple
design ID, with a black chiclet backlit keyboard and one-piece glass
multitouch trackpad, matte-finish aluminum all around, and a
glass-covered 13.3-inch widescreen surrounded by a black bezel. The
laptop is compact, measuring 0.75 by 12.35 by 8.62 inches (HWD), which
is thinner than the previous 13-inch MacBook Pro. But it feels sturdy in
your hand: At a weight of 3.57 pounds, it's a little heavier than some
ultrabooks we've reviewed recently, but the MacBook Pro isn't beholden
to the ultrabook specs. The Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (Mid 2012)
is lighter by slightly more than half a pound (2.96 pounds), so that's
where you should go if you need portability more than you do the Retina
Display.
Because the new MacBook Pro uses flash storage
instead of a spinning hard drive, the system boots up and launches apps
much more quickly. Flash storage also lets the MacBook Pro use Apple's
Power Nap, which updates social media, email, contacts, and location
tracking over Wi-Fi even while the laptop is asleep. Speaking of Wi-Fi,
the system supports dual-band (2.4GHz and 5GHz) 802.1a/b/g/n Wi-Fi and
Bluetooth 4.0 like the other recent MacBooks. Our midpriced review model
came with 256GB of flash storage, which is quite usable even for users
who need to run Windows through Boot Camp or other virtual environments
like Parallels Desktop. You can forgo half the storage (128GB) to save
$300, or you can up the total to 512GB (for $500) or 768GB (for $1,000).
If you need still more beyond that, or you don't want to shell out the
bucks for more flash storage, two USB 3.0 ports and two Thunderbolt
ports are available for connecting external drives.
Like the optical drive, FireWire 800 has fallen
out of favor at Apple, because that venerable (and relatively slow) port
is missing from both Retina display–equipped MacBook Pros. You can also
use the built-in SDXC card slot for extra storage, though the card will
stick out a bit while in use. A full-size HDMI port, headset/headphones
jack, and a MagSafe 2 charging port are the other user-accessible
openings on the side panels. There's no VGA or DVI port, but you can use
a third-party adapter with the Thunderbolt port, or you can use AirPlay
on an Apple TV for an easy wireless connection to a HDTV. Also on the
chassis are dual microphones (for noise cancellation during FaceTime
sessions), and the underside of the chassis has slits (like the 15-inch)
for both cooling and to help the speakers channel sound out to the
sides and give you better stereo sound

No comments:
Post a Comment