Battery Life
Much has been made of the fact that the 15-in. MBPs--there are two models, one with a 2.2-GHz processor and one with the 2.4-GHz version--now feature LED backlit screens, which are better for the environment and extend battery life. I haven't yet gotten my hands on one of those, but owners have raved about them online. While the 17-in. model has the same backlighting as before, it seems it's only a matter of time before Apple moves it to LED as well. "We're going to transition our entire line when it's economically and technically feasible," Benjamin said.
With the LED screen, users get an estimated extra half hour of battery life, according to Benjamin--60 minutes if you change your settings to be more energy efficient. That's on the 15-in. models; on this 17-in. version, I found battery life extended by about 20 minutes when running the MBP at full processor speed and full brightness. That's while surfing wirelessly, text editing and listening to iTunes. And temperatures seem to be about the same as with the last generation. Using the app Core Duo Temp, I found that my MBP chugs along at about 122 degrees Fahrenheit, though I was able to tax the Core 2 Duo and raise it to about 165.
Benjamin also noted that the LED screen comes on at full brightness, unlike the 17-in. displays, which can take up to 15 minutes to "warm up." (You could have fooled me. The 17-in. model is plenty bright.) But other than the different screens and resolutions--the 15-in. remains at 1440-by-900 pixels--the underlying hardware among the latest models is generally the same.
The base 15-in. with the 2.2-GHz Core 2 Duo starts at $1,999; its slightly faster sibling goes for $500 more. For that amount, you get the 2.4-GHz processor, a 160GB hard drive instead of 120GB, and twice the video RAM--256MB vs. 128MB. There are also a variety of build-to-order options, including an upgrade to a 200GB hard drive that's slower, or the 160GB, 7,200-rpm like I have. If you want eke out every bit of speed, you'll want that Seagate Momentus drive, but if you're buying the 15-in. model, you're going to have to wait. Checking off that option box adds four to six weeks to your delivery time.
If you can wait--and I'm not one to set a good example--it's worth it. The faster drive, coupled with the faster processor, an 800-MHz front-side bus, 4MB of Level 2 cache and the new Nvidia GT 8600 video card offers a series of incremental speed bumps that overall add up. For example, the first MBP with a 2.16-GHz Core Duo processor (and 7,200-rpm hard drive) coughed up an Xbench score of 90. The next-generation model, with the 2.33-GHz Core 2 Duo processor and a slightly slower 5,400-rpm drive, checked in at 108. This one, with the faster 65nm 2.4-GHz processor, the Santa Rosa chip set with its faster front-side bus, and the faster drive, clocked in at 118. It won't blow you away if you have last fall's model. But that score is 31 percent faster than my first-generation MBP.
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