BLOG / New MacBook Pro Gets Flashy

Well, the Apple juggernaut announced its “best computer ever made” on Monday (June 11, 2012) at WWDC 2012. Now, don’t get me wrong, I like Apple as much as the next Apple user but calling the new MacBook Pro the best computer they have ever made is a bit of an exaggeration. The Apple II or the original Mac are more like it, as they were truly breakthrough products in the industry. Their latest laptop on the other hand, is just keeping up with current technological advances. In its latest incarnation, the MacBook Pro has been stripped of its built-in DVD slot to make the laptop thinner and lighter, which makes sense (you might not be so pleased if you use your laptop to watch DVDs), as I can’t remember the last time I actually used a DVD to install an application. The trend is evident though, laptops are getting thinner and as technology evolves, the line between tablet and portable computer will be blurred even further.

Another big surprise (at WWDC 2012), at least for me, was the update to the MacPro line. I thought Apple was going to get rid of the line altogether in favor of more powerful iMacs to cater to the professional market. A MacPro would be a nice piece of hardware to have, but as a small business owner, I have to keep the bottom line in mind at all times. In other words, I couldn’t possibly justify the investment on a $2,400 (before taxes) desktop computer, when I could get the job done on an iMac.

In the OS front, Apple pretty much declared all out war on Google by kicking its maps functionality out of their iOS platform and creating their own proprietary 3D map application. I don”t care who’s doing the navigation now, as long as I get to my destination when I need to. All in all, the announcements were well received by the Apple faithful but since I just updated my desktop system (iMac) last September, I won’t be needing anything else from them for a little while.