It’s finally here, the new Intel PowerBooks. Well, they’re not PowerBooks anymore, they’re MacBook Pro’s. Whle nearly everyone else was saying the Mac mini would be the first new Intel release, I’ve been saying it for more then a month that the PowerBook would be the one updated. I guess this adds some credibility to my prediction hat, huh? :)

Anyway, this is one hot notebook. Nearly four times faster then the current PowerBooks, the Macbook Pro was a delight for my fingers to grace upon today at Macworld. It’s very light and feels just like the current PowerBook. It has Firewire (guess I was right about that not dying, too!), Bluetooth, Ethernet, USB 2.0 (2 ports,) a very cool magnetic power cord, and a ExpressCard slot instead of the PC Card type. The screen is way brighter (67%) and looks as great as ever. The DVI daul-link output will let you get an even larger image out of the grogeous CInimea screens I’d love to have on my desktop. And while you have it plugged into that big screen, might as well pull out the FrontRow remote and watch a movie. If you need to record the stunned look on your face, the built-in iSight will catch that for you, too.

All in all, this is one awesome update to an aging notebook. The 1.67GHz Intel Core Duo processor version starts at 2k and the faster 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo processor will run you about 2.5k. Not cheap by any standard, but high quality items never are. And don’t worry, you can order yours now for February shipping. Mmm, another thing I said would happen (ship by March.) :)

Tags: intel, powerbook, macbook pro