Apple refreshes its MacBook Pro lineup

Apple on Tuesday updated its MacBook Pro notebook lineup with the biggest additions being the latest Intel Core 2 Duo chips, more memory and the multi-touch trackpad that's found in the MacBook Air. Apple also updated its MacBook lineup.

Apple rolled out a 2.4 GHz, 15-inch MacBook Pro starting at $1,999. The refreshed lineup, which was flagged as imminent by Jason O'Grady last week, will be closely watched by Wall Street, which is increasingly worried about growth for Apple's iPod and iPhone businesses. The consensus view is that strong Mac sales will carry Apple for a few quarters.

By the specs:

• 15.4-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1440 x 900 LCD display;
• 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB shared L2 cache;
• 800 MHz front-side bus;
• 2GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, expandable to 4GB;
• 200GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
• A slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+/-R DL / DVD+/-RW / CD-RW) optical drive;
• NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 256MB GDDR3 memory;
• DVI-out port for external display (VGA-out adapter included,
• Composite/S-Video adapter sold separately);
• Built-in Dual Link support for driving Apple 30-inch Cinema HD Display;
• Built-in iSight video camera;
• Gigabit Ethernet port;
• Built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
• ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;
• Two USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire 800 port and one FireWire 400 port;
• One audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analog;
• Multi-Touch trackpad and illuminated keyboard; and
• 85 Watt Apple MagSafe Power Adapter.

Among those features, Jason notes that the Nvidia benchmarks may be the most interesting of the bunch. The 2.5 GHz, 15-inch MacBook Pro will run you $2,499. The specs are similar to the aforementioned model with the following differences:

• 2.5 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 6MB shared L2 cache;
• 250GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
• NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 512MB GDDR3 memory.

Apple also unveiled a 17-inch version for $2,799. The vital details are the same as the 2.5 GHz, 15-inch MacBook Pro except with a larger screen. All of those aforementioned MacBook Pros have build to order options.

As for the MacBook lineup, Apple announced a 2.1 GHz 13-inch white MacBook starting at $1,099 and a 2.4 GHz version for $1,299. A 2.4 GHz black 13-inch MacBook will cost you $1,499. Build to order options are also available.

More notebook happenings today:

• Jason O'Grady: Updated MacBook inherits Penryn processor
• Josh Taylor: And now for a sexy notebook that businesses can actually use
• Adrian Kingsley-Hughes: Apple debuts new MacBook and MacBook Pro models
• John Morris: Apple refreshes MacBook and MacBook Pro
• Matthew Miller: The Lenovo X300 is a true road warrior device
• MacBook Air diary.