Wednesday, February 23, 2011

New 13-Inch MacBook Pro Specs Leaked, Light Peak Arrives as Thunderbolt

We’ll all have to feign surprise on Thursday when Apple announces new MacBook Pro models, since details about the notebook refresh have been leaking out steadily for days. Now it appears the full specs have been leaked for a new 13-inch model, complete with an image of the new Light Peak port, rechristened as “Thunderbolt.”

MacRumors has compiled a number of leaked photos from several sources which appear to confirm that new MacBook Pros are indeed a reality, complete with specs for a 13-inch model that comes packing the “Thunderbolt” (aka Light Peak) port we’ve all been waiting for.

The image below is a leaked shot of the 13-inch MacBook Pro ports, which you’ll note has a mini DisplayPort-style jack with a lightning bolt icon sandwiched between the Firewire 800 and USB ports. According to the leaked specs from the box, this is the Thunderbolt port, which “supports high-speed I/O and Mini DisplayPort services” -- meaning that in addition to plugging in an external display, you’ll also be able to use the port to access other devices, with the appropriate adaptors.

MacBook Pro with Thunderbolt port

This particular 13-inch MacBook Pro model is packing a 2.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor (presumably Intel’s new Sandy Bridge) as well as “Built-in FaceTime HD camera” -- which may mean that the final version of the FaceTime software is incoming very soon.

Otherwise, there doesn’t appear to be anything else too radical about the new 13-inch MacBook Pro, but as everyone knows, the best features are usually reserved for the larger 15-inch and 17-inch models -- so there may yet be a few surprises in store for Thursday, when Apple is expected to announce the new models.

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