2011 15″ MacBook Pro

QuadCore i7 2.4ghz, 4gb Ram, 750gb HDD

Quietly unveiled without a press release, the MacBook Pro “Core i7” 2.4 15-Inch (Late 2011) features a 32 nm “Sandy Bridge” 2.4 GHz Intel “Core i7” processor (2760QM), with four independent processor “cores” on a single silicon chip, a 6 MB shared level 3 cache, 4 GB of 1333 MHz DDR3 SDRAM (PC3-10600) installed in pairs (two 2 GB modules), a 750 GB Serial ATA (5400 RPM) hard drive, an 8X DL “SuperDrive”, dual graphics processors — an AMD Radeon HD 6770M with 1 GB of dedicated GDDR5 memory and an Intel HD Graphics 3000 graphics processor that shares 384 MB of memory with the system — and an integrated FaceTime HD webcam.

The standard configuration of this model has an LED-backlit 15.4″ widescreen TFT active-matrix “glossy” display (1440×900 native resolution), but it also was available via custom configuration with a “high-resolution glossy” 1680×1050 display and a “high-resolution antiglare” 1680×1050 display for an additional US$100 and US$150, respectively.

Connectivity includes AirPort Extreme (802.11a/b/g/n), Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, Gigabit Ethernet, a Firewire “800” port, two USB 2.0 ports, separate audio in and out ports, an SDXC card slot, and a “Thunderbolt” port that is backwards compatible with Mini DisplayPort and, likewise, supports an external display at 2560×1600 and passes an audio signal. Thunderbolt also supports other peripherals that use the Thunderbolt standard which provides up to 10 Gbps of bandwidth in both directions.

This model uses a “Unibody” aluminum case design — milled from a single piece of aluminum — and has a backlit keyboard, a “no button” glass “inertial” multi-touch trackpad, and a non-swappable battery design that provides an Apple estimated 7 hours of battery life.