Apple MacBook Pro Now Shipping and a Valentine's Day Processor Speed Bump

The Apple MacBook Pro is now shipping this week to many anxiously awaiting customers that placed orders weeks ago for this anticipated Core Duo based notebook. Furthermore, Apple is showing the Valentine's Day love by bumping the processor speed across the line by now offering 1.83GHz for the basic $2,000 edition, 2.0 GHz for the $2,499 enhanced MacBook and an option to upgrade to a 2.16GHz for an extra $300 on the top configuration model.

The $2,000 entry-level MacBook used to be 1.67GHz and the enhanced $2,499 edition used to be 1.83GHz so that means for the same price you're getting a one notch faster Intel Core Duo processor. Not a bad deal. If you ordered ahead of time when the configurations reflected slow speeds, you will also get this speed bump. The $300 upgrade to a 2.16GHz is only available if you select the 2.0GHz configuration from Apple.com, from there you will see an option to upgrade the processor.

 

Hopefully this satifisfies everyone that was upset that there wasn't a 2.0 ghz processor in it. and 300$ for 160 mhz seems quite pricey to me.

 

that's what I thought, who the heck is going to pay $300 for a 160MHz faster processor? I guess somebody that needs to have the fastest and the best, just 'cause.

 

Well, if you look at the price difference between the highest and the second highest in general (I'm just quoting the Merom prices), it's about right.

T7600 -- 2.33GHz, $640
T7400 -- 2.16GHz, $420
T7200 -- 2.0GHz, $295
T5600 -- 1.83GHz, $240

That's a $220 difference in raw price already, so $300 isn't a stretch. I don't see this as being any more of a gouging than memory prices.

 

Yes, that price difference (for the slight speed increase) has been the norm for most PC notebooks when going for the max configuration. It's the 'gotta have the best and fastest' premium. Not sure why people are raising a brow now that Apple is in the same game with the same chip offerings and pricing.