MacRumors.com

The first of the just released Core 2 Duo MacBook Pros appear to be getting into customer hands and as with any new release, many people have questions.

One forum member, bcavanau, posted some early experiences from a 2.33GHz MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo. Of interest:

• Case has not changed, with only exception being new FW800 Port.
• No screen whine, mooing, excessive fan noise. (even DVD drive seems quiter).
• Hard drive (120GB) is Fujitsu MHW2120BH
• DVD Drive (6X-DVD-DL) is Matshita UJ-857D
• Airport reception seems to be consistent with previous model
• ATI X1600 Core clock is 418.50 and Memory clock is 450.00
• Screenshots of the About Window and the Hardware Overview in Mac OS X.

Another forum member, tekmoe, posted unpacking pictures in the forum (external gallery) of his 2.16GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro.

Update: The wireless card in the Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro is identified as a Atheros AR5008 802.11n chipset which is another "draft 802.11n" card which is described as "Up to 650% Faster & 5X Farther than 802.11g".

Another draft 802.11n card was discovered in the recently released Core 2 Duo iMacs as well. There is speculation that the upcoming iTV from Apple will support the unfinished 802.11n protocol which promises faster speeds and greater range than the current 802.11g standard.

Update 2: bcavanau has consolidated benchmarks and answers on this page.