The Macbook Pro, a formidably-powerful laptop, is a bit pricey for most consumers. Today saw a price drop for a top-of-the-line configuration, which makes the price almost $1000US cheaper. That's a pretty hefty savings, although $3600US is still a hefty sum for the average user. A few months back, I dropped a larger amount on a slightly less-powerful version ... I have no regrets, but who couldn't use an extra grand right now?

The specs I'm referring to are:

• 17-inch
• 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• 8GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM
• 500GB Serial ATA drive @7200 rpm (add another US to sub a 256GB solid-state)
• Antiglare display

Adapters and peripherals don't appear to have changed price much, and you'll still need to buy an Apple Remote (there's a new one!) separately (if you need one). Still, for a portable graphics/video-editing machine and all-around powerhouse, that's a great machine, at a new, significantly lower buy-in level.

With all of the iPhone news lately, some of you may have worried that we're forgetting what got us here: Apple computers, not the other gadgets and doohickeys they sell. But worry not -- we're still Mac-crazy, which is why we'll still link to a Grade A smackdown on the old argument that Macs are more expensive than PCs.

After a few analysts question whether or not Macs are worth it (as if buying a powerful and easy-to-use computer was ever not worth it), MacsimumNews' Dennis Sellers pulls out the big guns, and shows that report after report will make it clear that when you compare the quality vs. cost that you get with an Apple to what you get with a PC, the Mac will almost always win.

Sure, if you compare a new MacBook Pro with the bargain laptops you'll find on the shelves at Best Buy, you'll be seeing a smaller charge on your credit card. But when you compare the total cost of ownership due to what's actually in those laptops (and the experience you'll have with each computer), the Mac is cheaper than ever.

[via MacBytes]

Finally, someone with more money that I have (I want a new MacBook Pro, but haven't yet convinced myself to shell out the dough to replace my old yet trusty G4 12" Powerbook) has put the new MBP and those shiny graphics chips to the test, and drummed up some real benchmarking numbers in Boot Camp. It turns out to be PC World, strangely enough. And the verdict? Well, it's not quite so great.

The good news is that the MacBook Pro is faster than ever, and graphics have significantly improved. And trust us, any improvement over the old chips is a step in the right direction.

The bad news is that in a practical situation (like playing the Crysis demo, which is actually about a year old at this point), a MacBook Pro in Boot Camp at the highest settings isn't actually playable, and the 15 fps you might squeeze out of it on a good day still can't compare to the 50 fps you can get out of even average video cards in a Windows PC. If the graphics are turned down, it's a different story -- we've seen a new MBP run games well in Boot Camp already, so it'll play, but Apple still has a ways to go to be competitive with brand new games.

But let's keep this all in perspective -- it's very good news when you compare the new MacBook Pros to the old ones. Apple is at least realizing that 3D performance needs an upgrade in their units. Maybe next time around they can bring some software updates into the mix as well, and we can start to see some real competition in high-end performance.

Is it just me or is it pretty mindblowing what Moore's Law is doing to our computers these days? I remember when 64mb of RAM was great, and even a few years ago, I wondered why anyone would ever use 1GB of RAM (I've got 2GB in my gaming PC, and I still almost think it's too much). But apparently TidBITS has been doing some testing, and they've discovered that not only can the new MacBooks hold 4GB of RAM as Apple recommends for a limit, but stuffing a whopping 6GB in there is possible and doable. There are two DDR3 slots in the new MacBooks and MacBook Pros, and they come with either 1GB or 2GB in each DIMM slot.

TidBITS says you can switch out one of those 2GB DIMMs for a 4GB, and voilà, as long as they're the same speed and type, apparently almost everything is hunky-dory. TidBITS says there are two drawbacks: one, that dual-channel architecture requires identical DIMMs, so that's out if you're running a 4GB and 2GB configuration. Plus, it'll cost you an arm and a leg, especially if your leg is priced at around $600, which is what a 4GB stick runs. Even the DDR2 is pricey at that level (then again, if you don't like memory prices, just wait about five minutes, because that's basically how often they change).

And for some reason, there's an issue with running two 4GB sticks in there (for a total of 8GB), but TidBITS surmises that may be fixed by the time Snow Leopard rolls around. Personally, I'd love to see a program that needs 6GB of RAM -- maybe a high end 3D modeler or a financial simulator of some kind. But it's good to know that if you really need that much memory (and have the cash to spend on it), there you go.

I think that at this point, the Mac mini has moved up into the ranks of the TRS-80 and the Apple IIe as one of my favorite computers of all time. Though it's been rumored dead more times than disco, it's still puttering along as the tiny little computer that could, racking up (we assume -- the mini doesn't carry with it any of the sparkle of the iPhone or the raw beauty of the MacBooks, and so Apple is relatively mum on info) enough sales to keep moving. And there might even be new life in store: Peter Cohen over at MacWorld suggests that after the recent MB and MBP updates, the mini is last in line to ditch the old Intel integrated motherboard design.

Sounds great to us. The mini's so under the radar that you wouldn't even expect Apple to announce an upgrade for it -- it just sort of slipped up to Core Duo 2 the last time it got upgraded, like a cute little baby bear following the family. And it's a versitile little cubby, too, from taking it out to sea to turning it into a Mac Pro mini.

What a great little computer. We hope that the Nvidia GeForce 9-series motherboards do find a home in there, and (more than anything else) that Apple sees fit to remember their roots and keep creative computing with the tinest Mac alive.

Bare Feats continues to pit Macs against each other in a no-holds-barred, up-against-the-wall benchmarking breakdown, and this time around it's the MacBook Pro and the MacBook Air in the octagon together. And things go about as planned -- while the solid state drive in the MBA has its advantages, the processor and GPU (what little there is of it) in the MBA don't even really compare to the MBP. Sure, it's a small, super thin, super portable computer, but not only are you paying in cash for the portability, you're paying in performance, too.

This doesn't mean the MBA is a bad computer at all -- for most tasks, it'll work just fine. But complicated 3D graphics (both Halo and Unreal Tournament 2004 were tested) will be almost unplayable in games, and there will be a substantial wait, sometimes up to minutes more, for certain processor intensive tasks. If speed is a high priority (at least higher than portability), the MBA isn't for you.

I would like to see how the MacBook compares, though. It's not surprising that the MBP is a fast machine, but where does the MBA line up compared to the cheaper model?

[Via IMG]

Friday I found myself doing what anyone who was soon to be flying across the country to cover Macworld would be doing : replacing the hard drive in my MacBook Pro. A smart idea? Well, considering that my old drive was making some not so good noises I thought it better to replace the darned thing before it failed during the Expo.

I headed over to Other World Computing and ordered this drive. OWC is great because they offer up many of the same parts that Apple uses in their machines (in fact the drive I bought turned out to be the exact model drive that was already in my MacBook Pro, though the new one has twice as much space). And no, I am not getting paid by OWC in any way, shape, or form. I just have had several excellent experiences with them.

One thing to keep in mind is that the hard drive isn't classified as 'user replaceable' in the MacBook Pro, unlike the MacBook (replacing a hard drive in a MacBook is very, very easy). That didn't stop me because I've swapped out countless drives. I followed iFixIt's great guide to disassembling my MacBook Pro, but one word of caution: be sure you have a T6 Torx Screwdriver before you start. I have access a large number of computer tools, so I didn't think that would be a problem. However, after sifting through 4 different toolkits with no success (most tool kits have a T8 Torx as the smallest screwdriver), I thought I was in trouble. I finally found one in a very large, very expensive set of tools, but the screwdriver itself isn't pricey. Make sure you know that you have one before starting this process because there are 6 Torx screws that need to be removed (2 holding the keyboard to the base of the machine, and 4 holding the hard disk in place), and it is much much easier with the right tool.

Overall, this is something I would recommend that only people who are comfortable cracking open a laptop should do. There are lots of little screws and wires one has to move out of the way to replace the drive and a certain level of comfort with a computer's innards is required.

If you're the happy owner of a 2.2/2.4GHz MacBook Pro then Apple has a present for you: MacBook Pro Software Update 1.2. What does this update do you ask? Well, curiosity killed the cat which is why Apple keeps the release notes about this update terse. I'll reproduce them in their entirety for your enjoyment, "This update improves graphics stability and is recommended for all MacBook Pro (Mid 2007, 2.4/2.2GHz) computers running Mac OS 10.4 Tiger."

That's all she wrote, folks.

Switch to a Mac has performed the old Macrumors trick of predicting Apple releases based on when the product was last updated, and according to their research, we're supposed to see new MacBooks and MacBook Pros before the holidays. On average, they're seeing just under 200 days between releases for both, and so they expect updates to the line before the end of November.

If you want my professional opinion (and I'll assume you did because you came here to read it), that's all bunk. I waited months and months while Macrumors' page said "don't buy - updates soon" on the iPod, hoping against hope that I would be able to get an iPod with a touchscreen, and it was just days after I finally broke down and bought a Video iPod that Apple announced the iPhone. I have no doubts that there will be a portable update soon over at Apple (in fact, I know that someone over at our sister site Engadget is waiting until January to buy an iPhone just in case there's a new revision announced soon), but I would say that before the end of November is a little too soon.

Still, if you're planning to buy a new MacBook or Pro and can stand to wait a few weeks, you just might want to. As usual, we guarantee nothing, and personally I doubt it'll happen, but if Switch's reasoning seems sound to you, give it a week or two and just maybe you won't be left out in the cold if Apple launches new MacBooks in early winter.

Thanks, Robert!

Update: Figures. I have to wait months for a new iPod, but when I post my doubts about using the same system to predict a MacBook update, I'm way wrong. And the Pros got updated, too. Good times.

Apple has released Battery Update 1.3 for the following Macs:

• MacBook Pro (15-inch)
• MacBook Pro (15-inch Glossy)
• MacBook Pro (15-inch Core 2 Duo)
• MacBook Pro (15-inch 2.4/2.2GHz)

According to Apple, the update "...addresses battery performance issues with the 15-inch MacBook Pro." You can read all about it here.

Thanks, Stu!

If you have recently bought a MacBook or MacBook Pro you should check Software Update posthaste. Apple has just released MacBook, MacBook Pro Software Update 1.0 which corrects an issue with Journaling on those machines. It would seem that a number of MacBook and MacBook Pros left the factory without Journal turned on. This update simply enables Journaling on your Startup volume.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.