Welcome to a Laptop Battery specialist of the Apple Ac Adapter
We've all become familiar with Apple's update cycle, so for many, the latest batch of MacBook Pros is no surprise. We'd been predicting the Core i update with switchable graphics for some time by simple recognition of it being an exciting move in the Windows PC notebook world.
The test model on review here is the 15-inch Intel Core i5 version, with a 2.4GHz processor and 4GB of RAM. It is the entry point to the current crop of MacBook Pros of this size and comes with a price tag of £1499. Two other processor versions are available, the 2.53GHz Core i5 and the 2.66GHz Core i7, which, at the top of the range sees the price rise to £1799. Whichever way you look at it, the MacBook Pro with adapter like Apple A1021 AC Adapter
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is an expensive machine.
And that's before you get to your other configurable options. You have the choice to upgrade to 8GB of RAM, expand the hard drive over the default 320GB, or make changes to the screen.
The MacBook Pro comes with Apple's LED-backlit display with a glossy finish, which is a glorious thing to behold with excellent colours and nice deep blacks. The bezel-free screen design adds to this impact, although this hasn't changed from previous versions of this computer. The resolution though is 1440 x 900, with a higher resolution version, 1680 x 1050 pixels, costing you more. On top of that you can opt for an antiglare finish, an obvious choice for those who want to work on the move with the MacBook Pro, but you'll need a spare £120 on top of the price.
Powering this screen is the dual arrangement of an onboard Intel HD Graphics solution and the Nvidia GeForce GT 330M discrete graphics card, with 256MB of dedicated video memory (512MB on the top range model). We'd expected to see Nvidia's Optimus technology in place, but it seems that Apple had their own system in the works. You no longer have to close all your applications and manually switch graphics handling over (which Nvidia told us that many people never did anyway), it all happens automatically and seamlessly, based on the load you put on the system.
Apple are always being accused of taking an "Apple knows best" approach and we see it here with the graphics. You essentially have no control over the system: the only thing you can do is opt to turn it off. There is no notification of a switch so you can't help feeling that you aren't really in control. Fortunately there are apps that you can install which will tell you what is going on, such as gfxCardStatus, which will indicate when you are using the Intel graphics and when you are using the Nvidia graphics.