Macbook Pro 13 Inch 4gb Ram

Laptop Mag Verdict

Apple'due south latest thin-and-calorie-free notebook features strong graphics performance, a stunning brandish, and more than 6 hours of battery life.

Pros

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  Sleek and durable pattern

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  Long battery life

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  Bright, vibrant display

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  Good graphics performance

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  Excellent Mac Os X Leopard

Cons

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  Relatively small hard drive

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  Reflective display

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  Merely two USB ports

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Software and Warranty

Although Apple unveiled its new Snow Leopard Bone on the aforementioned solar day it announced the revamped MacBook Pro family unit, it will non ship on notebooks until September (at that time, it will cost $29 for existing Leopard users to upgrade). So, for now, you'll get Apple's Leopard OS, which nosotros've always praised for its robust multimedia suite, iLife '09,and such amenities as Time Machine, its automatic backup software.

Apple'southward standard warranty remains: one-twelvemonth parts-and-labor and 90 days of cost-costless, 24/7 phone support (Apple tree consistently aces our annual tech support showdown). The Apple Care Protection Plan, which includes three years each of parts-and-labor coverage and phone back up, costs $249).

Configurability

In addition to our $ane,199 configuration, at that place'south a $1,499 configuration that has a 2.53-GHz CPU, 4GB of RAM, and a 250GB hard drive. Whichever you buy, you'll have the opportunity to configure information technology online. If you buy the $1,199 version, upgrading to 4GB or 8GB of RAM costs $100 and $1,100, respectively. Considering of its seamless build, yet, these aren't changes you tin make yourself. Also, you can opt for a hard drive every bit big as 500GB ($200), or a 128GB ($400) or 256GB ($850) solid state bulldoze.

Verdict

Unlike its 17-inch sibling, the 13-inch MacBook Pro does non sweep its weight form in every category. In that location are cheaper notebooks with weaker performance and much longer battery life, for example, also every bit similarly priced systems with slightly better graphics punch merely shorter battery life. Nevertheless, the $1,199 MacBook Pro offers the best combination of performance, endurance, and smart software.

Performance

Click to enlargeThe ii.26-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P7550 CPU and 2GB of RAM delivered amend-than-average performance. The machine booted to OS X in a speedy 37 seconds (even its 57-second startup fourth dimension in Bootcamp slightly outpaced the average Vista car). Moreover, its PCMark Vantage score of iii,207 is about 350 points higher up the category boilerplate. To put this score in context, the $1,354Dell Studio XPS 13scored two,672 with integrated graphics enabled, just an impressive 3,961 with discrete graphics turned on.

The only glaring weakness was the size of the 160GB, 5,400-rpm hard drive: when we conducted the Laptop File Transfer Test (duplicating a iv.97GB folder of multimedia files) in Mac Bone Ten Leopard, the notebook completed the task in 3 minutes 57 seconds, a rate of 21.5 MBps. While that's almost five MBps faster than the thin-and-calorie-free category average, the $899Acer Aspire 3810T(which has a 500GB hard drive) completed the same test at a charge per unit of 24.8 MBps. But you simply see this advantage in Apple'due south Bone: When we performed the same test in Vista using Boot Camp, the MacBook Pro's transfer rate dropped precipitously to 13.7 MBps.

Anecdotally, the Pro performed slightly faster than average. For example, it took 7 minutes and 1 second to transcode a 5:05 MP4 prune to AVI using Handbrake in Windows (the average sparse-and-light takes 7:42). But the performance differences were really obvious one time nosotros started multitasking. When nosotros repeated the transcoding test while zipping our 4.97GB mixed-media folder in the background, it took x:45. The average sparse-and-light'due south completion time slows to sixteen:45 with this workload.

While the Pro's scores were above average on the Windows side, they were but blazing when we tried the aforementioned tests on the Mac side (using Handbrake and Apple tree's own compression utility). Its scores of ii:03 and ii:48, respectively, were the everyman nosotros've ever seen--and that was just on the entry level MacBook Pro.

Graphics

Like its predecessor, the 13-inch Pro has Nvidia'south integrated GeForce 9400M graphics card. Even when running in Boot Camp style, information technology smokes other thin-and-lights, particularly those running on Intel or fifty-fifty ATI integrated graphics; its 3DMark06 score of 2,174 is more than 700 points in a higher place average.

Although this type of score will contribute to zippy everyday computing (including photograph editing and some calorie-free gaming), it's even so not enough to plow through heavy-duty games. When we played Far Cry 2, we got a decent frame rate of 25 frames per second with the resolution ready to 1024 10 768, and just viii fps at 1280 10 800 (the category boilerplate is 23 fps for the former, and 12 fps at the notebook's maximum resolution).

Meanwhile, there are other 13-inch notebooks with greater gaming potential. Dell's XPS 13, armed with switchable Nvidia graphics, delivered 3DMark06 scores of 2,168 and 3,530 with integrated and discrete graphics, respectively. Its highest Far Cry two frame rate was 26 fps, withal, which is line with the xiii-inch MacBook Pro.

Bombardment Life and Wi-Fi

Click to enlargeThe 13-inch MacBook Pro has a nonremovable lithium polymer--as opposed to lithium ion--battery. Apple says it lasts ane,000 charges (nigh 5 years, the company says). Moreover, it lasts a long time on a charge. This notebook shined in the LAPTOP Battery Test (Spider web surfing over Wi-Fi), delivering a runtime of vi hours and thirteen minutes in Mac OS X, and 4 hours and 50 minutes in Boot Campsite. That marking far exceeds the category boilerplate (4:08), but still falls curt of the less expensive $899 Aspire Timeline 3810T (eight:05). Then over again, the Timeline isn't almost as powerful.

It's important to notation that replacing the battery costs $129, and requires you to either take the notebook to the Genius Bar at your local Apple store, or postal service information technology in for replacement. While Apple insists the bombardment lasts approximately five years (longer than you're likely to even own it), this potential inconvenience might be a turnoff for some buyers.

Despite its metal encasing, which has hindered the Wi-Fi performance of the MacBook Air, the 13-inch Pro's 802.11n radio delivered potent throughput: 22.nine Mbps and 16.ix Mbps at 15 and fifty feet, respectively (the category average is eighteen.9 Mbps and 15.4 Mbps). It also has Bluetooth two.1 + EDR.

Display and Sound

Click to overstateThe 13.3-inch (1280 x 800) LED-backlit display is plenty bright, and boasts a 60-percent richer color gamut than its predecessor. Indeed, colors looked vibrant, and blacks appeared as rich shadows. Although we praised the concluding-generation MacBook for its rich, vivid display, a side-by-side comparison (in which nosotros watched the same Hulu of the Stanley Loving cup finals at full screen), showed that the new MacBook Pro'southward brandish is brighter, with more saturated colors and enhanced shadow item (e.g., the creases on hockey players' jerseys). Unfortunately, when we watched Mad Men at full screen through iTunes, the glossy finish limited our viewing angles from the sides, as well equally from the front with the lid dipped frontwards.

The speakers left us peckish more in the volume section; even when we cranked the book up on both the organization and in Slacker, at that place still wasn't enough sound to fill up a quiet room with two people. Equally for sound quality, when we listened to tracks past Ashford & Simpson, Dr. John, Ella Fitzgerald, and Barry White, the songs sounded slightly tinny, but still richer than what we've heard from other 13-inch notebooks.

Ports

Although this 13-inch MacBook Pro's port selection remains pocket-size, information technology includes ii welcome improvements. One is a FireWire 800 port, which enables yous to back up to an external bulldoze at blazing speeds (using Time Machine); the other is an SD Card slot, a long overdue characteristic for those who want to transfer photos cable-free from a digital photographic camera.

Yous also get two USB 2.0 ports (we'd like to meet three), a Mini DisplayPort for connecting a larger monitor, a slot-loading DVD burner, an Ethernet jack, and headphone and mic ports. Only the 17-inch Pro has an ExpressCard/34 slot, but many tiny USB mobile broadband modems can exist plugged into this notebook.

Webcam

Click to overstate

The Pro, and every other mobile Mac that Apple has made in recent years, has an iSight webcam. Our photos weren't the near detailed we've seen (the smoothen in our pilus and the fuzz on our sweater both came out blurry), merely they were at least well-lit with good colors. Likewise, our VGA video showed some pixelation, just was smooth and bright with relatively stiff audio.

Equally e'er, what's all-time about Apple'southward iSight camera isn't the image quality, just the accompanying Photo Booth software, which is congenital into the Leopard Bone. In addition to snapping photos and recording video captures, it can have iv shots in a row, similar to a real photo booth. Not to mention, the program also has tons of fun filters, and integrates well with Apple's electronic mail client, equally well asiLife, Leopard'southward built-in multimedia suite.

If you call back the latest changes to Apple's MacBook line aren't exciting, y'all're non paying close enough attention. The 13-inch model is now part of the MacBook Pro line, and, like its larger-screened siblings (like the 15-inch model), now has a more colorful display, and--at long last--an SD Menu slot. Moreover, this thirteen-inch stunner lasts more than 6 hours on a charge. The price for the entry-level Mac is now just $one,199, a $100 cost drop from the xiii-inch unibody MacBook. We wish Apple tree included more hard drive space for the money (160GB is netbook territory) merely overall our Editors' Choice-winning thin-and-low-cal but got sweeter.

Design

At first glance, the xiii-inch MacBook Pro looks identical to final season's revamped MacBook line. And that's generally truthful: the aluminum chassis, black island keyboard, big multitouch trackpad, and thin, rounded lid will all await familiar. Even its weight (four.4 pounds) and dimensions (12.8 10 viii.9 ten ane.0 inches) remain the same, making this notebook like shooting fish in a barrel to conduct.

Similar its predecessor, the xiii-inch MacBook Pro is made from a single, seamless piece of aluminum, which means it'due south more than durable than virtually other notebooks in this price range. The only divergence is that the battery is now non-removable (more on that later).

Keyboard and Touchpad

Every bit always, the island keyboard has a soft end, and makes little audio when you lot type. While the keyboard on, say, the 17-inch MacBook Pro might be too large (and too recessed) for some hands, the 13-inch's keyboard is comfortably placed. It's also backlit with an ambience light sensor, which comes in handy for low-calorie-free environments.

The touchpad remains one giant push that doubles as the touchpad and the touch button. It'south not the smoothest nosotros've ever tested, but the friction is still slight enough that it shouldn't be a problem. In the by, we've institute the button to exist a flake stiff, with a slight learning curve to match. By now, Apple's gotten the pattern correct: we were able to effortlessly press down on the button without thinking about the fact that there'south no dedicated bear upon push (nevermind ii).

The multitouch gestures work smoothly. By pushing 4 fingers toward the meridian of the touchpad, we were able to fling windows up toward the height of the screen, exposing a clean desktop. When we used two fingers to zoom in and out of pages in Safari 4 (fresh out of beta, and a new, Cover Flow-tastic add-on to the Leopard Bone), the onscreen response was very quick, and just slightly jerky.

Click to overstate

Apple MacBook Pro (thirteen-inch) Specs

Bluetooth	Bluetooth ii.1 EDR
Make	Apple
CPU	2.26-Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo P7550
Card Slots	SD memory reader
Visitor Website	http://www.apple tree.com
Display Size	thirteen.3
Graphics Card	Nvidia GEForce 9400M
Hard Drive Size	160GB
Hard Drive Speed	five,400rpm
Hard Drive Type	SATA Hard Drive
Native Resolution	1280x800
Operating System	OS Ten x.5 Leopard
Optical Drive	DVD /-RW
Optical Drive Speed	8X
Ports (excluding USB)	Kensington Lock, Headphone, Firewire 800, Ethernet, Mini DisplayPort, Microphone
RAM	2GB
RAM Upgradable to	8GB
Size	12.viii x 8.9 x 1.0 inches
USB Ports	2
Video Memory	256MB
Warranty/Support	One-year parts and labor/90 days 24/seven price-gratuitous phone
Weight	iv.4 pounds
Wi-Fi	802.11a/b/g/due north

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Source: https://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/apple-macbook-pro-13-inch

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