Pick an Apple: Like a magician pulling a rabbit out of the hat, Apple Inc. always conjures up a buzz out of its product announcements. In its latest trick, the technology maestro has unveiled a much-anticipated lineup of new MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air notebook computers that are already triggering excited debate. Along with some innovative technology, the new creations basically trumpet Apple computers' traditional selling points — style and ease of use.
Apple has adopted a manufacturing technique that involves carving the chassis for notebooks out of a single aluminum plate, what it calls a "unibody." The idea was first used for the existing MacBook Air and is claimed to make notebook computers lighter and more robust than those made with traditional plastic. The change is significant in the case of the MacBook, which sheds a few hundred grams by switching from a polycarbonate body to an aluminum one. The MacBook Pro had already used an aluminum chassis, but gets a lighter version, although other changes have actually made the Pro slightly heavier than its predecessor.
Apple has also adopted Nvidia's 9400M chipset for graphics in all three models of the MacBook. It claims that this chipset has up to five times the processing capability of its previous graphics chipsets. Moreover, the new high-end MacBook Pro augments the 9400M with a second chipset, Nvidia's 9600M GT, which offers beefed-up performance. Users can switch between the two, choosing between five hours of battery life with the 9400M or about four hours with the 9600M GT. This procedure unfortunately involves a restart.