As we are forcing our way out of Apple’s distortion field again and as we are regaining our common sense, we are noticing that Apple’s iPad 2 isn’t exactly the flawless product that has been painted on the flashing presentation screen.

Don’t get me wrong, it appears to be a solid upgrade in the usual Apple style, but if you are among us mortals, those who have to take peek into the checking account before hustling over to the Apple store, should remember that there are some painful downsides and there is a chance that you may regret the purchase of an iPad 2 (which will cost you, on average, $628, according to Apple).

Here are my top five reasons (which add up to one cumulative reason) why you should not buy the iPad 2.

1. It has a really crappy camera

It is suspicious if Apple introduces a new feature everyone has been asking for and then does not talk about it. There are two cameras in the iPad 2 – one antiquated camera for your video chats, some call this “facetiming”, and VGA (640×480) resolution and a 720p back camera with a still camera and 5x digital zoom. However, that is not a 1280×720p camera, as the specs suggest, but apparently the iPod Touch’s 960×720p camera which turns out to be about 0.7 megapixels or the kind of digital camera you would have bought in 1996. The digital zoom is due to its pixel interpolation process virtually useless. Overall, the iPad 2’s cameras are really an insult to the term “digital camera” in the year 2011.

2. There is no 4G

There has never been the right time to buy a computer and this year may change the tablet environment in a similar way: When you choose a shiny new tablet and walk out the door, it may already be old, because you just missed an announcement of a much better and new generation device. Granted, the iPad is brand new, but the lack of 4G integration or a conclusive upgrade path is a letdown. 4G preparation should be part of the iPad 2 to support its web browsing and content consumption focus. However, you could be sarcastic and be happy that there is no 4G: In the end, it may trick you into using much more bandwidth your AT&T plan allows you to use. So, if you are looking for an excuse to purchase the iPad 2, consider it a feature to protect your finances from the greedy hands of AT&T.

3. Where is that retina display?

Among the expected updates for the iPad 2 was a retina display with a much higher and crisper resolution. That was a no-show and the iPad 2 is stuck with the same 1024×768 pixel display as the iPad. Sure, apps run much faster and some apps may run smoother, but they will look the same. This may actually not a bad thing for the iPad itself, as this lower resolution display will somewhat conceal the actual picture quality that is delivered by the 0.7 megapixel camera. With growing competition it is likely that the next iPad will deliver a higher-resolution display and a much better camera.

4. Flash

Supporting or not supporting Flash has almost been a religious issue and we have seen trends that Flash may actually be on its way out. But the fact is that there is still plenty of compelling flash content out there and the recent introduction of stage acceleration support eliminates Steve Jobs’ concerns that Flash is inefficient and consumes too much battery and processor power. It’s nice to have a device to actually run flash apps without staring at empty content space and remember that you just shelled out more than $500 for a web content consumption device. Steve Jobs’ lecture that Flash will die reaches only so far. Can we just agree that this whole argument is not really about security and efficiency? It is about protecting Apple’s walled apps garden. If you want to have access to all popular types of Internet content, including Flash, the iPad is not for you. Period.

5. No USB, No SD

When Apple introduced the iMac in 1996 and told users that they really do not need a floppy drive anymore, we wanted to agree with Steve Jobs, and we had to, eventually – but it was a painful decision. Apple offered iDrive, an online data storage solution in place of the floppy, but we were dealing with 56K data connections and just downloading a new web browser took about 2 hours. Today we have to deal without common storage solutions such as USB and SD in the iPad/iPad 2 and you scratch your head over the same question: How do I get a lot of data from one place (a digital camera, for example) to this thing? Well, cloud computing could be a solution (just hope you are not on AT&T’s 200 MB data plan when you are on the road) – or another expensive Apple accessory to transfer pics from your camera to the device. But hey, it has an Apple logo on it, so you know that there are some detours you will have to accept.

The Bottom Line

All those reasons above add up to one main reason why you should not buy an iPad 2. In many ways, it is just a minor upgrade over the original iPad and in its basic feature set, the new iPad is, for its primary purpose of web browsing, just as good as the new one. If you look at it with common sense, the new iPad 2 is a bridge device that will lead to a much more substantial upgrade next year.

If you have an iPad already, there is no reason to buy a new iPad 2, other than you have $600 or more laying around growing mold. And if you don’t have an iPad, you may consider the original iPad, which we hear is seeing dropping prices. The crappy camera, the software update and the dual-core processor may not be worth the extra expense.

Source: pcmag.com

Just a few more hours before Verizon Wireless customers can stop holding their breath while watching the countdown to the iPhone 4 launch. As for those who prefer ordering the iPhone 4 through the Apple Store, the same can be done starting from February 9.

Customers can basically reserve an iPhone 4 for in-store pick up or order one for delivery through the Apple Store beginning from February 9. The smartphone will then be made available through Apple’s retail stores and Apple authorized resellers for Verizon’s network starting from 7 a.m. on the following day, or February 10 to be precise.

As reported previously, Verizon will be selling the 16GB model for $199 and the 32GB version for $299 on a two-year customer contract. Hard to see why anyone will want to wait some more to pre-order the iPhone 4 since it’s going to be out across 2,000 Verizon Wireless Communication Stores anyway.

Research In Motion is expected to introduce the BlackPad to compete with rival Apple’s iPad, which currently dominates the tablet market. RIM recently acquired blackpad.com, and is also expected to introduce the BlackBerry Bold 9800 to regain smartphone market share from Apple’s iPhone. RIM faces an uphill battle with the BlackPad.
Research In Motion will introduce its own tablet computer, called BlackPad, in November, according to news sources. The BlackBerry maker is moving to compete with rival Apple, which currently dominates the tablet market with its iPad.

RIM is also expected to introduce the BlackBerry Bold 9800 smartphone with a sliding QWERTY Relevant Products/Services keyboard next month to recover market share lost to Apple’s iPhone. According to IDC, RIM’s share of the global smartphone market was 19.4 percent in the first quarter, down from 20.9 percent a year earlier, while Apple rose to 16.1 percent from 10.9 percent.

News sources said RIM’s BlackPad will be about the same size as the iPad and include both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth so users can connect to the Internet through smartphones. The price is expected to be close to the iPad, which currently starts at $499.

The operating system for the BlackPad is not known, but could be the upcoming BlackBerry 6. RIM and AT&T could discuss that operating system at a press conference next week expected to focus on the Bold 9800.

Canada-based RIM recently acquired the domain blackpad.com.

Even with a tablet, RIM will have to scramble to compete with the more than 225,000 apps available for the iPad and iPhone on Apple’s App Store. RIM’s BlackBerry App World had a bit more than 9,000 apps as of Friday.

The BlackPad will reportedly have front and back cameras for videoconferencing. News sources said it will also be tied to the BlackBerry e-mail system used by many enterprises.

With more than three million iPads sold, Apple has a tremendous market lead and RIM will be playing catch-up along with tablets expected from Hewlett-Packard, LG Electronics, and Samsung. Dell Relevant Products/Services has already introduced its Android-powered Dell Streak tablet and smartphone in the United Kingdom and has a large volume of pre-orders for its U.S. debut.

Apple will take its popular iPhone 4 to 17 more countries, making Europe the largest iPhone market. The iPhone 4 will be essentially unlocked in the U.K., France and Canada, meaning it can run on any GSM carrier. Gartner’s U.K.-based analyst said problems with Apple’s innovative iPhone 4 antenna are not expected to hurt sales.
Apple’s iPhone 4 will ramp up its world tour Friday, reaching new markets in North America, Asia, Europe and Australia. The popular but trouble-plagued handset has been available since late June in France, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom for the same cost as the U.S. version, $199 for the 16-gigabyte model and $299 for the 32-gigabyte iPhone. Apple has not announced price points for the new markets.

“iPhone 4 will roll out to many more countries later this year and Apple will announce availability and local pricing for these additional countries at a later date,” the company said.

Europe Is Largest Market

iPhone sales in Europe, particularly in the United Kingdom, have been strong as new carriers join the scene, said Carolina Milanesi, the U.K.-based vice president of mobile devices for Gartner Research.

“Europe — all countries combined — is now the largest market for Apple,” said Milanesi. “Spain will move to more carriers at the end of this month, which leaves Germany as the only market with an exclusivity deal. In Asia, there are many carriers Apple is working with. The largest markets [by country] remain Australia and Japan, with Hong Kong, China and Korea following.”

The new countries for the iPhone 4 are Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Additional markets will be named in August with the eventual goal of selling the iPhone in 88 countries by September.

Bad publicity for Apple from the signal difficulty experienced by some users because of the iPhone’s unusual antenna design is not expected to take a major toll on iPhone sales. In disclosing third-quarter earnings last week, Apple executives said 8.4 million iPhones were sold, although most of them were before the iPhone 4 was released on June 24. Apple says it sold 1.7 million iPhone 4s in its first three weeks.

Perception Abroad

The impact abroad will be minimal, said Milanesi. “The antenna issues, although covered in the press (in the U.K.), have not been as big as in the U.S.,” she said. “There has been coverage in media and blogs about the actual signal not being impacted as much given better network coverage.”

Mobile carriers that provide GSM service for the iPhone abroad include Vodafone, T-Mobile, O2, Telefonica, TIM and Orange. Apple has said it will sell SIM-free versions of the iPhone in the U.K., France and Canada, which will be essentially unlocked versions that can then be used with any GSM carrier.

In other iPhone news, Apple announced Friday that the white version of the iPhone 4, which would match the appearance of MacIntosh computers and some iPods, won’t be on the market any time soon.

“White models of Apple’s new iPhone 4 have continued to be more challenging to manufacture than we originally expected, and as a result they will not be available until later this year,” the company said. “The availability of the more popular iPhone 4 black models is not affected.”

In case you haven’t noticed, the iPhone 4’s antenna design has come under considerable scrutiny. In our iPhone 4 review, we investigated the iPhone 4 antenna and came to two conclusions.
First, that iOS 4 was displaying signal bars in an overly optimistic manner, compressing the dynamic range of possible signal bars users can see. Second, we identified a worst case signal drop of around 24 dB when the iPhone 4 is cupped tightly in the left hand, covering the black strip and possibly detuning the antennas and adding additional attenuation from the presence of the hand.

Since those initial measurements, we’ve been working tirelessly to both characterize the problem, fully understand the mechanisms behind it, and report on a number of possible solutions.
The Bars Have Changed

On July 2, Apple released a letter noting that the formula used in iOS 4.0 to calculate how many bars are presented for each signal strength is “totally wrong.” This mirrored our conclusions that the effects of the signal drop were exacerbated in part by the way the iPhone visualizes signal strength – the dynamic range is compressed so much that the 24 dB drop from cupping the phone without a case could make all the bars go away.

They went on to promise that in a future software update they would make bars 1, 2, and 3 taller, and make the bars more “accurate” by displaying 2 bars fewer in certain circumstances.

iOS 4.1 beta rolled around yesterday, and we immediately dove in to find out just how much the bar to signal strength mapping has changed. Update: iOS 4.0.1 final just came out this afternoon and we finished preliminary testing. The signal strength mapping algorithms are identical to the 4.1 beta. The findings in this article apply to 4.0.1 as well as the 4.1 beta.

After updating our devices to the iOS 4.1 beta (and 4.0.1) and making sure our little trick to show signal strength in dBm instead of bars still worked, we set off. Remember last time how I said I drove around town all day with iOS 4.0, testing the phone, and recording signal strength and how many bars were being shown? You guessed it – another update, another evening of driving around. Anand and I did quite our fair share of moving around to get a complete picture of what the new cutoffs are.

The results are conclusive – Apple has dramatically changed the signal strength to signal bar mapping in iOS 4.0.1 and the iOS 4.1 beta, making the dynamic range not only much broader, but the range values for each bar much wider. The range of signals that correspond to bars three and four are the same width, and bar two is only slightly less.

The cutoff value for two bars to one bar remains the same, but every other value has increased. The result is that the worst case drop of 24 dBm no longer makes all the signal bars disappear, but rather two.

AnandTech reader Mike Escoffery, Director of Design and User Experience at Media Platforms, created his own diagram to help compare the old and new way of iOS signal strength reporting:

As you can see the old way (top) put far too much weight into the 5th bar of signal. Apple’s new approach not only splits it up more reasonably between the 4th and 5th bar (still non-linearly keeping you in the 5th bar if possible) but also extends the range of the lower bars.

This change actually presented itself in our numeric signal strength reports – there’s more dynamic range in these numbers too. Previously, the absolute lowest value any iPhone would report was -113 dBm. With iOS 4.0.1/4.1, the value is now a shockingly low -121 dBm. In the iPhone 4 review, I talked a lot about how although the phone is prone to dropping signal from being held wrong, it was measurably more sensitive in weak signal areas. I was shocked that calls and data worked seemingly unfazed at -113 dBm. It seems as though this increased 8 dBm of range below -113 dBm was meant to show really how much more sensitive the radio stack is – it undeniably is more sensitive. Both Anand and I were able to hang onto calls all the way down at -121 dBm.

We’ve also included a comparison to how the latest version of Android displays signal bars from GSM or UMTS networks below. Thankfully, this didn’t require driving around town all day but rather inspecting the latest version of the Android source code from Google’s own repositories. Android uses an ASU value to compute signal strength, which isn’t anything more than a remapping of dBm to a sane value that’s a bit easier to interpret.

Apple’s mappings have gone from having probably the most compressed dynamic range among handset vendors to less compressed than Android.

While the software update obviously does not and cannot address the design of the antenna itself – or make the drop from holding the phone any less – it does change the way the issue is perceived among users. The result is that most iPhone users will see fewer bars disappear when they hold the iPhone 4 in a bare hand. The side effect is that the iPhone now displays fewer bars in most places, and users that haven’t been reporting signal in dBm will time see the – perhaps a bit shocking – reality of locations previously denoted as having excellent signal.

Interestingly enough, Apple has indeed changed the heights of bars 1, 2, and 3. They’re taller, and the result is that the relative heights are no longer linear, but rather a tad exponential looking. It’s a mind trick that Apple no doubt hopes will make the signal look better. If the bars are taller, they must denote stronger signal, right?

From top to bottom: iOS 4.1, iOS 4.0, Android 2.2

The reality is that Apple likely wants to deflect at least some of the initial backlash AT&T will face for reporting the signal bars without any concessions. Concessions that used to make coverage look better than it really is. Regardless of how tall the bars are, there are still going to be fewer of them virtually everywhere. Interestingly enough, while bars 1 and 2 are the most changed, their respective cutoffs are virtually unchanged.

While I was testing iOS 4.0.1, I told Anand that the signal reporting lie that started with the iPhone 3G had been removed entirely. That iOS 4.0.1 would potentially show the reality of AT&T’s coverage to iPhone users. With 4.0.1 users looking at signal bars will get a much more realistic view of how signal is changing.

We tested the iOS 4.1 beta on iPhone 3GSes as well, and found the mappings to be the same there as well.?

Apple CEO Steve Jobs, promising to improve an industry antenna problem, has offered free cases to all iPhone 4 owners. He also promised a full refund for iPhone 4s returned and cited Apple data showing few consumer complaints.
Jobs also refuted an “Antennagate” story saying Apple knew about the reception problems.
Apple’s last-minute press conference drew scores of journalists Friday to hear the iPhone maker’s fix for what could go down in company history as “Antennagate.” A rumored recall won’t happen, but the always-confident Apple CEO Steve Jobs did offer a solution to the much-hyped antenna issue: Free bumper cases for every iPhone 4 and a refund on cases already purchased. Consumers who purchase the iPhone 4 through Sept. 30 are eligible for the fix.

Apple is also offering to give consumers a full refund for undamaged iPhone 4s returned — with no restocking fee. Finally, the company issued a software update that fixes the way the signal-meter bars appear and other bugs.

“Apple did what they needed to do. They put one of their best corporate assets on the job — Steve Jobs. He was on vacation in Hawaii earlier this week and he came back for this,” said Michael Gartenberg, a partner at Altimeter Group. “This was a problem that Apple had to deal with way beyond just an open letter from Steve on the web site.”

Jobs Talks Numbers

Jobs opened the press conference with a presentation that highlighted similar reception problems with competing smartphones. He denied a Bloomberg report alleging that Apple knew about the antenna issue before rolling out the iPhone 4 to market, calling the article “a crock.” Jobs also gave journalists an up-close look at Apple’s $100 million test facility complete with 17 anechoic chambers.

According to Apple’s data Relevant Products/Services, people are reporting better reception with the iPhone 4 antenna than ever before. Jobs noted that only one-half of one percent of iPhone 4 users have called AppleCare to complain about the antenna or reception. And iPhone 4 return rates are a mere 1.7 percent — less than a third of iPhone 3GS returns. Finally, the iPhone 4 drops about one call per 100, about on par with the 3GS.

“Now when we look at this data, it’s hard to escape the conclusion that there is a problem, but that problem is affecting a very small number of users,” Jobs said. “I get e-mails saying the phone works perfectly, and they can’t understand what this is all about. So we think it’s affecting a small batch, but it has to do with inherent problems in smartphones. But we want all of our users to be happy.”

Jobs ended his presentation by assuring the crowd that Apple loves its users — and takes the problems with the iPhone 4 personally. Jobs believes his engineers have gotten to the heart of the problem — and it’s a problem common to the industry. Jobs is essentially accepting the challenge to lead the charge to engineer better antenna technology, but isn’t willing to stand alone as the only smartphone maker with antenna issues.

Smoldering Ashes

Gartenberg called the press conference effective. What he saw was a candid Apple responding to the pounding it has received from the media for the last two weeks.

“Several times they called out prominent news outlets and basically said that what they were reporting was incorrect or false. It was a bold thing to do, but I think they felt they had to get themselves formally on the record in a big way,” Gartenberg said.

“No doubt the story will continue,” he added. “The question is whether Apple has effectively put out the worst of the fire, leaving only smoldering ashes for the next couple of days, or is this going to flare up again?” ?

Amid raves about Apple’s new iPhone 4, some users have reported problems. These include a fading of signal strength when the iPhone 4 is held — but Apple reportedly said the issue does not actually affect calls and a fix may be on the way. Another iPhone 4 problem involves temporary screen discoloration that some users said is drying adhesive.
Even as throngs lined up around the world to buy Apple’s iPhone 4, reviews are coming in — mostly positive, but some users reported problems. The most prominent issue is an apparent drop in signal strength when the device is held, which could be related to the fact that the iPhone 4’s stainless-steel casing serves as the antenna.

Some users reported that holding the device causes the signal bars to fade into no signal at all.

Drying Adhesive?

In videos posted on YouTube, some users demonstrated that the signal falloff happens when the device is held by either hand, while others posted that it only happens when held with the left hand. Some have speculated that a user’s hand acts as a conductor between the antenna section that provides mobile Relevant Products/Services reception and the section that picks up Wi-Fi, thus bridging the two and sapping the signal strength.

Apple hasn’t officially commented on this complaint, and details have yet to emerge as to whether other conditions impact the signal strength. But according to Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal, Apple is saying the signal-strength issue is not related to actually being able to make a call, but to how the signal bars are presented, and a fix is on its way.

But signal strength isn’t the only complaint about this newest member of Apple’s hit smartphone line. Some iPhone 4 users said a yellow coloration appears in the bottom-right corner of the display, or along the lower edge.

Some sites are suggesting that the yellow disappears after a day or so of use, and that it’s because the devices, which are in heavy demand, are shipping so quickly that the display-glass adhesive is not completely dry.

‘A Major Leap’

However, these are also reports online that some users who have complained to Apple about the discoloration — or about another possible problem, of bright white spots on the screen — have been instructed to exchange their unit for a new one next week.

Even with these bumps in the road, the iPhone 4 is getting sky-high praise from consumer technology reviewers. For instance, Mossberg wrote Wednesday that “in both hardware and software,” the iPhone 4 is “a major leap over its already-excellent predecessor, the iPhone 3GS.” The device, he added, means Apple keeps its “lead in the smartphone wars.”

The New York Times’ David Pogue asked “what’s the point” of reviewing the iPhone 4, since it’s already a hit? Apple and AT&T Wireless took orders for 600,000 on the first day of pre-orders, and some observers were suggested that about a million iPhones might be sold on Thursday alone.

Because Apple releases only one new iPhone model annually, Pogue wrote, it “had better be pretty amazing to compete” with a growing set of impressive contenders, like smartphones based on Google’s Android platform. And “it is,” he wrote.

Pogue cited a stronger battery, a faster processor, a new version of the operating system Relevant Products/Services, and a thinner and narrower form factor, creating a “beautiful” device that feels “solid and Lexus-like.”

Amid heavy pre-orders for Apple’s new iPhone 4, an analyst says Apple is having difficulty getting enough touchscreens. The shortage has cut Apple’s monthly inventory target for the iPhone 4 by 50 percent. The heavy demand for the iPhone 4 has caused both Apple and AT&T problems with pre-orders. AT&T said demand was up 1,000 percent from 2009.
More than 600,000 of Apple’s new iPhone 4s were sold on the first day of pre-orders earlier this week. The volume was so great that AT&T had to suspend its online sales and Apple had to delay ship dates. Now an analyst reports the company is having difficulty getting enough touchscreens to meet demand.

Rodman & Renshaw analyst Ashok Kumar issued a research note on Friday in which he said the shortage means Apple has had to cut by 50 percent the number of iPhones it can deliver monthly from the original estimate of four million. Kumar said his report is based on information from Apple’s supplier, LG Display Company, which he said is hoping to get up to the needed capacity by late summer.

Retina Display

Kumar noted that a similar shortage affected early shipments of the iPad, whose screens LG also makes. Both devices use a Retina display, which features a very high density of 78-micrometer-wide pixels, resulting in four times more pixels in a given area. IPS, or in-plane switching, technology in the displays enable a wider viewing angle than on regular LCDs, and the contrast ratio is four times that of previous models.

The launch of the iPad outside the U.S. was delayed by a month because of an inventory shortage. At the same time that there is too much demand and too little supply of the iPhone 4, there appears to be lessening demand for the previous model, the iPhone 3GS.

The iPhone 4 is scheduled to go on sale in stores on June 24, and the pre-orders started June 15. In-person pre-orders are being accepted at brick-and-mortar Apple and AT&T stores, Radio Shack, Best Buy, and some Wal-Marts.

“It was the largest number of pre-orders Apple has ever taken in a single day,” Apple said, adding that it was “far higher than we anticipated, resulting in many order and approval system Relevant Products/Services malfunctions.”

1,000 Percent More

Apple noted that “many customers were turned away or abandoned the process in frustration.” AT&T reported that its pre-order sales were 1,000 percent more than pre-orders for the iPhone 3GS in 2009.

Earlier in the week, Apple said it will ship iPhones purchased through pre-orders by July 2 instead of the original date of June 24, but it now indicates shipping by July 14.

There were reports that visitors to the AT&T site were seeing other customers’ accounts during the iPhone 4 pre-order process. In addition, there were reports that, in some cases, customer Relevant Products/Services information was accepted, but no pre-order was completed. AT&T told news media that it has not been able to duplicate the problems and that, in any case, revealed information did not include Social Security numbers, credit-card information, or call-detail records.

I’m convinced that there’s no perfect mobile form factor. You can make arguments in favor of and against everything from the smartphone and tablet to 17″ desktop replacement notebooks.
There’s simply a time and a place for everything.

Sometimes you don’t need to do a lot but want to be able to couch around and browse the web on a tablet. Other times you need to do actual work but don’t need a ton of CPU horsepower; that puts you into 13-inch notebook territory.

For even more productive beings there are larger 15 and 16-inch systems. And given how thin the system is, it’s also not hard to make an argument for Apple’s 17-inch MacBook Pro. You get a desktop-like screen resolution and mainstream desktop performance.

It’s like having a set of screwdrivers. You may use some more often than others but having the entire set helps. Unfortunately having a set of notebooks and mobile devices isn’t really an option for most. Inevitably you have to choose. And for portability, that choice often leads you to something a bit larger than a netbook for performance, but small enough to comfortably carry around.

For Apple users this portable sweetspot is the 13-inch MacBook Pro.

Apple’s 2010 13-inch (left) vs. 15-inch MacBook Pro (right)

I’ve praised the 2010 15-inch MacBook Pro as being the one to get thanks to its combination of performance and battery life. When Apple made its 2010 upgrade public however, the 13-inch model was somewhat neglected. It got a faster GPU and bigger battery, but only a mild CPU bump. Priced at $1199 you get a 4.5 lbs aluminum unibody chassis, a 13.3″ display and a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo CPU. Keeping up with recent tradition, a NVIDIA GeForce 320M chipset is also under the hoo..err, keyboard. While the rest of the MacBook Pro lineup got shiny new Core i5 and i7 processors (dual core + Hyper Threading), the new 13-inch is stuck with an older Core 2 Duo.

On the bright side, Apple finally outfitted the 13-inch MacBook Pro with a sufficient amount of memory: 4GB. It’s still spread out over two DIMMs (making upgrading more expensive than it should be), but it’s enough to get you going. I’d say that given the usage model for most notebooks, 4GB should be plenty with OS X 10.6.

The 13-inch MBP comes with all the ports the 15-inch model has, minus dedicated line in/out. You get GigE, FireWire 800, mini DisplayPort, 2 x USB 2.0, a SD card readerand a shared line in/out port. Click to Enlarge
Apple’s 2009 Lineup 13-inch MacBook Pro (Early 2010) 13-inch MacBook Pro (Late 2009)
CPU Intel Core 2 Duo 2.40GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 2.26GHz
Memory 4GB DDR3-1066 2GB DDR3-1066
HDD 250GB 5400RPM 160GB 5400RPM
Video NVIDIA GeForce 320M (integrated) NVIDIA GeForce 9400M (integrated)
Optical Drive 8X Slot Load DL DVD +/-R 8X Slot Load DL DVD +/-R
Screen Resolution 1280 x 800 1280 x 800
USB 2 2
SD Card Reader Yes Yes
FireWire 800 1 1
ExpressCard/34 No No
Battery 63.5Whr 60Whr
Dimensions (W x D x H) 12.78″ x 8.94″ x 0.95″ 12.78″ x 8.94″ x 0.95″
Weight 4.5 lbs 4.5 lbs
Price $1199 $1199