Apple Releases New 15" MacBook Pro, Updates 17" MacBook Pro

Apple today released a revamped version of the 15" MacBook Pro. The new model incorporates the same non-user-replaceable battery found in the 17" MacBook Pro and offers up to seven hours of runtime and up to 1000 charge cycles. Apple has also replaced the ExpressCard slot found in the previous model with an SD card slot and improved the display quality. Pricing starts at $1699, a $300 reduction from the previous entry-level model, and the new models are shipping today.

Three standard 15" MacBook Pro configurations are offered:

- $1699. 2.53 GHz, 4 GB RAM. NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, 250GB HD. Firewire.
- $1999. 2.66 GHz, 4 GB RAM. NVIDIA GeForce GT. 320GB HD. Firewire.
- $2299. 2.8 GHz, 4 GB RAM. NVIDIA GeForce GT . 500 GB HD. Firewire.

Additional options include:

- Up to 3.06 GHz Core 2 Duo
- Up to 8 GB RAM
- Up to 500 GB HDD or 256 GB SSD

Apple also announced minor spec updates to the 17" MacBook Pro today and dropped the entry-level price to $2499 from $2799. The new entry-level 17" MacBook Pro offers 2.8 GHz processor and a 500 GB hard drive. The new 17" model also retains the ExpressCard slot and begins shipping today.