New MacBook Pros Bring Faster Processors, Thunderbolt & HD Camera

After weeks of rumors and speculation, Apple has updated its MacBook Pro line, upgrading processors and graphics and adding a high-speed Thunderbolt I/O port and a new FaceTime-enabled HD camera.
The biggest news is the inclusion of Thunderbolt (Light Peak) technology, which Intel developed. In practice, it’s a dual Thunderbolt/DisplayPort I/O port (marked by a lightning icon) that provides two bi-directional channels with data transfer speeds up to 10 Gbps.
The new FaceTime HD camera triples the resolution of the previous MacBook Pro cameras, enabling 720p video chats.
Finally, note the inclusion of Intel’s new Sandy Bridge CPU architecture, coupled with a switch to AMD Radeon graphics for the 15-inch and a 17-inch models, which have previously been powered by Nvidia’s graphics chips.
The 13-inch MacBook Pro starts at $1,199, with a 2.3 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 CPU, Intel’s HD graphics 3000, and a 320 GB hard drive, and can be upgraded to a 2.7 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 CPU and a 500 GB hard drive for $1,499.
The 15-inch MacBook Pro is also available as two models: One starts at $1,799 with a 2.0 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 CPU, AMD Radeon HD 6490M and a 500 GB hard drive, and the other has a 2.2 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 CPU, AMD Radeon HD 6750M and 750 GB hard drive starting at $2,199.
The 17-inch model starts at $2,499 and features a 2.2 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 CPU, AMD Radeon HD 6750M graphics and a 750 GB hard drive.
The Apple Store is still down at the time of this writing, but it should come back any minute.

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