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The new MacBook Pro family.

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Apple has unveiled a new MacBook Pro line-up, making its flagship laptops more powerful than ever before. The 13-inch model is available with dual-core Intel Core i5 or i7 processors, while the 15- and 17-inchers have Core i7s onboard.

All the machines also sport Thunderbolt I/O technology (previously codenamed Light Peak while it was being developed by Intel), come with improved graphics processors and benefit from FaceTime HD cameras.

The Thunderbolt implementation is particularly interesting, as this high-speed (up to 10gbp/s) connectivity standard may come to replace USB, FireWire and pretty much everything else. In fact, it may even offer backward compatibility, with Apple's website stating that: "you can use existing USB and FireWire peripherals - even connect toGigabit Ethernet and Fibre Channel networks - using simple adapters".

Musicians will be relieved to know that FireWire 800 and USB 2.0 ports are still onboard, though, so existing audio interfaces can just be plugged right in.

Prices start at £999 for the 13-inch MacBook Pro; £1,549 for the 15-inch; and £2,099 for the 17-inch. Here's Apple's press release.

Apple MacBook Pro update press release

Apple today updated the industry-leading MacBook Pro family with next generation processors and graphics, high-speed Thunderbolt I/O technology and a new FaceTime HD camera. Featuring the very latest dual-core and quad-core Intel Core processors, the entire MacBook Pro line is up to twice as fast as the previous generation.*

"The new MacBook Pro brings next generation dual and quad Core processors, high performance graphics, Thunderbolt technology and FaceTime HD to the great design loved by our pro customers," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "Thunderbolt is a revolutionary new I/O technology that delivers an amazing 10 gigabits per second and can support every important I/O standard which is ideal for the new MacBook Pro."

Starting at £999.00 inc VAT (£832.50 ex VAT) the new 13-inch MacBook Pro offers amazing value and performance in a compact design. The highly portable 13-inch MacBook Pro features Intel Core i5 and Core i7 dual-core processors up to 2.7 GHz and Intel HD Graphics 3000. The powerful 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pro models feature quad-core Core i7 processors up to 2.3 GHz and AMD Radeon HD graphics processors with up to 1GB of video memory for high performance gaming, pro video editing and graphics intensive applications.

MacBook Pro is the first computer on the market to include the groundbreaking Thunderbolt I/O technology. Developed by Intel with collaboration from Apple, Thunderbolt enables expandability never before possible on a notebook computer. Featuring two bi-directional channels with transfer speeds up to an amazing 10Gbps each, Thunderbolt delivers PCI Express directly to external high performance peripherals such as RAID arrays, and can support FireWire and USB consumer devices and Gigabit Ethernet networks via adapters. Thunderbolt also supports DisplayPort for high resolution displays and works with existing adapters for HDMI, DVI and VGA displays. Freely available for implementation on systems, cables and devices, Thunderbolt technology is expected to be widely adopted as a new standard for high performance I/O.

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