2012 MACBOOK PRO 15 INCH UPDATE
2012 MACBOOK PRO 15 INCH UPGRADE

Thankfully, unlike the rMBP and MacBook Air, you can always opt to buy RAM and storage upgrades on your own.ġ x Firewire 800, 1 x Audio Line in, 1 x Audio Line out, SDXC reader, Kensington Lock slot

2012 MACBOOK PRO 15 INCH UPGRADE

This being Apple, upgrade pricing is still a hair away from being highway robbery, but at least the matte WSXGA+ screen upgrade costs a reasonable $100.

The standard memory and storage configuration in a nearly-$2000 notebook is pretty unacceptable. The base $1799 SKU comes with a quad-core i7-3615QM (2.3GHz) and a 512MB Nvidia GeForce GT 650M dGPU, but makes do with a paltry 4GB of memory and a 500GB hard drive. Other than the updated processor/integrated graphics and the addition of USB 3.0, the 13” is identical to the previous model that we covered in depth last year. Starting at $1199, the MBP13 comes with a 2.5GHz Core i5-3210M, 4GB DDR3, and a 500GB HDD, while the higher end SKU bumps that to a 2.9GHz i5-3520M, 8GB DDR3, a 750GB HDD, and a $1499 pricetag. From an SKU standpoint, Apple has kept things relatively straightforward, with a high end and a low end for both the 13” and 15” models. It’s a solid notebook, that much is certain. I’m not going to go too far in depth with analyzing the design, because we’ve gone over it a few times over the years ( here, here, here, here, here, and here. It’s likely to be the last iteration of the original unibody MBP, giving this body style a 4.5 year run as one of the most instantly recognizable notebook computers on the market. The 2012 MBP looks exactly like the 2011 MBP, which looked exactly like the 2010 MBP, which looked exactly like the post-April 2009 MBP. You can essentially sum it up in one paragraph, or even one sentence if you try hard enough. It’s pretty difficult to find things to write about the 2012 MacBook Pro hardware. But is a less headline-worthy computer necessarily a worse one? Naturally, it doesn’t generate the same kind of excitement that the all-new, all-awesome Retina MacBook Pro does.

2012 MACBOOK PRO 15 INCH UPDATE

Along with Ivy Bridge, the 2012 MBP line gets HD 4000 graphics and USB 3.0 across the board, plus a free update to Mountain Lion when it releases later this summer. The details don’t bring any particularly earth-shattering revelations, with 13” retaining the dual-core processor and integrated graphics, while the 15” makes the switch from AMD to Nvidia’s new Kepler-based GT 650M dedicated graphics.

Basically, it’s just an Ivy Bridge-infused version of the venerable unibody MacBook Pro chassis that we’ve known and loved for the last few years. With most of the attention from Apple's hardware refresh event centered around iOS 6 and the new Retina MacBook Pro, the updated 2012 edition of the regular MacBook Pro has flown a little bit under the radar.

2012 macbook pro 15 inch