Apple ramps up the speed on new MacBook Pros

Apple unveiled the new MacBook family today and the big difference is the speed – the three new laptops are up to twice as fast as the previous generation.

Coming in three form-factors – with 13 inch, 15 inch and 17 inch screens – the MacBook Pros pack significantly faster dual-core and quad-core Intel chips. The 13″ packs the fastest dual-core chip going – the Intel Core i7 which runs at 2.7 GHz. The powerful 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pro models feature quad-core Core i7 processors up to 2.3 GHz.

A new addition is Intel’s ThunderBolt I/O technology which means your computer can communicate with plug in devices much more quickly. The Thunderbolt pipe speeds data along at 20x the speed of USB 2.0. It lets you edit high-defintion video from an external hard drive say, or stream video out to a television for example with no hiccups in quality or delays in transfer time. The channels carry data at “an amazing 10Gbps each”.

Graphics are faster too – with AMD cards providing graphics rendering at 3x the speed of previous MacBooks, good for gaming and video editing.

The in-built webcam is now HD and as ever, the computers are built from one smooth unibody piece and clock in at a slender 0.95 inches.

Prices for the 13-inch models start at $1199, $1799 for the 15-incher and the 17-inch model weighing starting at $2499.

UK prices not yet announced

Go check it out over on Apple UK