As everyone is talking about the “new” super MacBook Pro, I will give you my point-of-view about these “upgrades”.
SD integrated USB reader
Wrong thing, especially thinking the new SD XC protocol is finalized and this reader that will stay on the MacBook Pro for it’s life will be unable to use them. Programmed obsolescence, delivery on September, 2009 (3 months!)
No more ExpressCard
Sorry, no more expresscard means no access to CF-card readers for professional photographers, fast PCIe x1 SD reader, no more access to 2 more Firewire 800 ports, no more access to professional digital multichannel IO for musicians, no more access to eSATA hard-drives (I use two with the 150MB/s ExpressCard from Dynex), no more access to more USB ports at full speed, no more access to specific video capture or output …
New MacBook Pro are now on the iBook/old MacBook level
Downgrade to SATA-I
Apple downgrade the integrated hard-disk controller from SATA-II to SATA-I, meaning it will peak with one hard-drive, and will only deliver from 50% to 66% of the native speed of an actual SSD, not tlaking about future generation!!!
New MacBook Pro will see their performance downgraded up to 2X with the fastest SSD!
Downgrade from GeForce 9600M GT GPU to GeForce 9400 IGP
Needless to say, Snow Leopard will be there, and with OpenCL technology, will unleash the power of the GPU of a “true” MacBook Pro: 50 Gflops/s on the GeForce 9600M GT, compared to the 25 GFlops/s on the dual core CPU.
Naturally with a GeForce 9400M that is half as fast as the main CPU, OpenCL and Snow Leopard will be far less efficient on 23″ MacBook Pro or “downgraded” 15″ MacBook Pro without real GPU.
Buying a Geforce 9400-only MacBook Pro will be a real loss under Snow Leopard!
Value loss due to battery
The new battery as an impressive autonomy, up to 8hrs browsing Internet using Wifi!
Many of us will be happy with 2 hours autonomy, and a minority will want to have 4 or 5 hours, few needs 8 hours autonomy!
When you will have a problem with this battery is when you will need to either replace it or sell your used MacBook Pro: an aller-retour to Applestore Service, with a new Apple battery to pay as well as replacement service. No compatible low-cost battery. No ability to change it by yourself.
This will lower the value of the aftermarket MacBook Pro, after 2 or 3 years of usage.
Conclusion
Less expensive but real less value on these Mac, that I brand them all “MacBook” instead MacBook Pro.
General
