The best deals are marked in bold type in the full listings below. All models have SuperDrives, AirPort Extreme, and Bluetooth 2.0. The April 2010 and later models are listed separately from the Core 2 Duo ones, because their CPUs are so much more powerful, and dual-core and quad-core models are also separated. Our Leopard Group is for those using OS X 10.5 or 10.6.Our Tiger Forum and Tiger Group are for those using OS X 10.4.Got a MacBook Pro? Join our MacBook Group or MacBooks Forum.June 2007 and newer models can run OS X 10.9 Mavericks and 10.10 Yosemite. Apple says 1 GB of RAM is a minimum we suggest at least doubling that with Snow Leopard – and consider 4 GB with Lion or newer.
Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard only runs on Intel-based Macs, and OS X 10.7 Lion requires a Core 2 Duo or newer CPU. Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard is supported on all Intel-based Macs introduced prior to June 2009 (pre-Unibody) with at least 512 MB of RAM (we recommend at least 1 GB).
Santa Rosa and later models support up to 6 GB. Pre-Santa Rosa Core 2 models can handle up to 3 GB of memory. The newer, more efficient Core 2 CPU provides about 7% more processing power at the same CPU speed. The original Core Duo models ran hotter than the later Core 2 models, support a maximum of 2 GB of RAM, do not support 64-bit mode in Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, and do not supported OS X 10.7 Lion.
For more on this and the other Late 2011 MacBook Pro models, see The Late 2011 MacBook Pro Value Equation. The Early 2011 MacBooks ship with OS X 10.6.6 the Late 2011 models with OS X 10.7.2. Other than that, the Late 2011 17″ MacBook Pro appears to be identical to the Early 2011 model.Īll 2011 models ship with 4 GB of RAM and officially support up to 8 GB, although OWC has found they will work with up to 16 GB.
In October 2011, Apple began shipping an updated version with a slightly faster CPU, a better graphics engine, and more hard drive space. Battery life is rated at a pretty realistic 7 hours.
It also gained Apple’s high-speed Thunderbolt port. In February 2011, Apple moved the 17″ MacBook Pro to a quad-core i7 CPU, giving it a lot more computing power than 2010’s dual-core i7 model.
In fact, to get the highest usable resolution in a portable Mac, you want the 15″ MacBook Pro with the $100 1680 x 1050 hi-res build-to-order option – and that pales in comparison to the 17″ MacBook Pro’s 1920 x 1200. Icons, windows, the menu bar, and so on are all the same size on the screen as they are on the regular 15″ MacBook Pro with its standard 1440 x 900 display. Yes, its 2880 x 1800 display blows away the 17-incher’s 1920 x 1200 screen in terms of resolution, but the reality is that the new Retina model acts like it has a 1440 x 900 screen, just with sharper text and graphics. The thing is, the Retina MacBook Pro doesn’t really replace the 17″ MacBook Pro. And it discontinued the last 17″ MacBook Pro, a 2.4 GHz quad-core i7 powerhouse, in June 2012 in favor of the 15″ MacBook Pro with Retina Display. It introduced the first 17″ MacBook Pro, a 2.16 GHz Core Duo machine, in April 2006. Apple introduced its first 17″ notebook, the 1 GHz PowerBook G4, in January 2003.