Stephen Chinnadorai

Don’t get me wrong - I’m happy that Apple finally updated the MacBook Pros to the speed they should be. But, I was expecting slightly more. Here are five things that today’s MacBook Pro update should have included:

1.  Re-designed chassis

I don’t know about you, but I feel that the MacBook Pro, no matter how beautifully designed it is, has an old design. It’s still using the case that the PowerBook G4 had - that’s over 5 years old now. I think the MacBook Pro is thin enough already, but it just needs a newer design.

 2. Newer graphics card

I’m glad Apple still pays some attention to the graphics cards, as they have bumped the VRAM from 128mb in the lower models to 256mb - and in the higher models from 256 to 512. But, they are still using the same card from the previous generation MacBook Pros: The NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT. It’s still a lot better than my MacBook’s Intel GMA 950, though.

3. Cheaper price

I guess you can’t expect this from Apple - but it will happen over time. The MacBook Pro still costs £1299 ($1999), and although there is now a larger hard drive and faster processor, I want it cheaper.  And in the UK especially, we are still being ripped off by about £200 compared to the US price.

4. Implement the new-style Apple Keyboard

I was quite disappointed to find the old Apple keyboard layout on the MacBook Pro. I thought Apple were making a transition to this new keyboard layout - I’ve only heard positive things about it. My MacBook keyboard and my new Apple Bluetooth keyboard both use this layout, and it works perfectly. The MacBook Air adopted it, too. I don’t see Apple’s reasoning for keeping the old-style keyboard. The backlighting still works on the new keyboard, as the MacBook Air has proven.

5. Blu-ray

This is probably the most unrealistic and unnecessary thing on the list - but it would be cool to have. I’ve seen Sony laptops that contain a Blu-ray burner for less than the price of a MacBook Pro. I know Apple would have to use a more expensive slot-loading drive, but it would have been a nice option. Now that a lot of people have HD video cameras, they will want to edit HD video on their computers, and then burn it to a Blu-ray for high-definition viewing on a PS3 or other Blu-ray player.

Even though these few things were missing from today’s MacBook Pro update, it doesn’t mean it’s a bad laptop. I’m still probably going to buy one later this year.