New MacBook Pro launched in India

12 March 2009

Apple has introduced its newly updated MacBook Pro notebook in India, along with a revised desktop Mac line-up. Starting at Rs142,700, the machine uses Intel quad-core "Nehalem" Xeon processors and a next-generation system architecture.

Intel's Xeon chips pack in an integrated memory controller which allows using DDR3 memory. This means one can add up to 32GB DDR3 memory modules for wider memory bandwidth.

The basic MacBook Pro version comes equipped with Quad-Core 2.66GHz Intel Xeon processor and 3GB DDR3 1066GHz RAM. The higher-end 8-core version, starting at  Rs188,900, has twin Quad-Core 2.26GHz Intel Xeon processors with 8MB shared L3 cache per processor and 6GB DDR3 1066GHz RAM.

The Mac Pro allows adding up to four Nvidia GeForce GT 120 graphics cards with GDDR3 video memory and offers an option of ATI Radeon HD 4870 graphics card with 512MB GDDR5 video memory. Also, Mac Pros can now support up to eight 30-inch displays with four Nvidia GeForce GT 120 graphics cards.

It comes with a 640GB SATA HDD 7200RPM storage capacity that can be updated to 1TB SATA 7200RPM HDD. It also features 18x SuperDrive with double layer support and three PCI Express 2.0 expansion slots for 16-lane cards.

Apple says that through advanced chemistry, intelligent monitoring of the system and battery, and what it calls adaptive charging technology, the new MacBook Pro has up to eight hours of battery life and 1,000 charging cycles, lasting three times longer than others, and this is achieved without adding to the thickness, weight or cost.