Like most notebook makers, Apple is rolling out Sandy Bridge-powered portables, with measurable speed bumps across the board. In fact, at this point in late March 2011, Apple is one of very few companies that is actually supplying laptops with the significant Intel update.
Like the recently reviewed 15in version of the Apple MacBook Pro (Early 2011), the 13in is cosmetically identical to the Mid-2010 model we tested with 2.66GHz processor.
The only way you’d tell them apart externally is from the little lightning-flash logo above the Mini DisplayPort. That signifies the Thunderbolt capability, a high-speed interface that may prove useful in the future.
We say future, because in the two months since this revision’s release there is still nothing you can plug into the unassuming little port, except an external display. Promise, LaCie and Western Digital have all threatened storage products with Thunderbolt but these won’t be available until later in the year.
Until then, we must dwell on the other running changes: namely, main processor, its integrated graphics processor, and a couple of other small yet highly significant changes.
