What are the differences between the 15-Inch "Late 2008/Unibody" MacBook Pro models and the "Early 2008/Penryn" MacBook Pro notebooks that they replaced?

Please note that all Macs mentioned in this Q&A have been discontinued. The "Late 2008/Unibody" MacBook Pro line was replaced by the "Mid-2009" MacBook Pro line on June 8, 2009.

The 15-Inch "Late 2008/Unibody" MacBook Pro systems -- the MacBook Pro "Core 2 Duo" 2.4 15" (Unibody) and MacBook Pro "Core 2 Duo" 2.53 15" (Unibody) -- are quite a bit different than the "Early 2008/Penryn" MacBook Pro notebooks that they replaced. On March 3, 2009, Apple quietly replaced the MacBook Pro "Core 2 Duo" 2.53 15" (Unibody) with the MacBook Pro "Core 2 Duo" 2.66 15" (Unibody), which is offically identical apart from a faster 2.66 GHz processor (but just to make life interesting, both models officially support 4 GB of memory, but the 2.53 GHz "Late 2008" model unofficially supports 6 GB and the 2.66 GHz "Early 2009" model unofficially supports 8 GB).

Photo Credit: Apple, Inc.

Externally, the "Late 2008/Unibody" MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo models have an all new Aluminum iMac-esq black and silver case design milled from a single block of aluminum providing greater strength and a superior finish than the "Early 2008/Penryn" systems which also are made from aluminum but assembled from multiple pieces. The "Late 2008/Unibody" models are slightly thinner (0.05 of an inch), but a bit larger (14.35 inches wide and 9.82 inches deep, compared to 14.1 inches wide and 9.6 inches deep) and slightly heavier as well (5.5 pounds compared to 5.4 pounds).

The "Late 2008/Unibody" MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo models also introduce a new "no button" glass "multi-touch" trackpad with support for new "four finger" gestures and programmable "zones" -- compared to a "scrolling Trackpad" with "two-finger click" capability on the replaced models -- and a glossy display -- compared to the replaced models which were offered with an "anti-glare" display as the default with a glossy display as an optional "upgrade" at no additional cost.

Unfortunately for many, connectivity has been reduced on the "Late 2008/Unibody" models compared to the earlier line -- as it drops the previously available Firewire "400" port. Connectivity otherwise effectively is the same, with an ExpressCard/34 slot, AirPort Extreme (802.11a/b/g/n), Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, Gigabit Ethernet, a Firewire "800" port, two USB 2.0 ports, and optical digital/analog audio in/out. However, the "Late 2008/Unibody" models have a new "Mini DisplayPort" in lieu of DVI out, but all of these models support an external display at 2560x1600.

Internally, the "Late 2008/Unibody" models use a faster architecture with a faster system bus -- 1066 MHz up from 800 MHz -- faster memory -- 1066 MHz PC3-8500 DDR3 compared to 667 MHz PC2-5300 DDR2 -- and faster and dual graphics processors -- a NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT with dedicated GDDR3 SDRAM and a NVIDIA GeForce 9400M with 256 MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory compared to a single NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT in the replaced models.

For your convenience, the major differences between the MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo "Late 2008/Unibody" model and the configuration that each immediately replaced are summarized below. Please refer to the specs page for the model of interest for complete details.

MacBook Pro 15":	Core 2 Duo Penryn 2.4	Core 2 Duo Unibody 2.4
Processor Type:	2.4 GHz "Core 2 Duo" (T8300)	2.4 GHz "Core 2 Duo" (P8600)
L2 Cache:	3 MB	3 MB
Frontside Bus:	800 MHz	1066 MHz
Standard RAM:	2 GB	2 GB
Maximum RAM:	4 GB (6 GB)	4 GB (6 GB)
Video Type:	NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT	NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT NVIDIA GeForce 9400M
Video Memory:	256 MB	256 MB/256 MB (Shared)
Display:	Matte or Glossy	Glossy Only
Hard Drive:	200 GB	250 GB
SuperDrive:	8X Dual-Layer	8X Dual-Layer
Est. Battery Life:	5 Hours	5 Hours
Apple Part No:	MB133LL/A	MB470LL/A
Original Price:	US$1999	US$1999

 

MacBook Pro 15":	Core 2 Duo Penryn 2.5	Core 2 Duo Unibody 2.53†
Processor Type:	2.5 GHz "Core 2 Duo" (T9300)	2.53 GHz "Core 2 Duo" (T9400†)
L2 Cache:	6 MB	6 MB
Frontside Bus:	800 MHz	1066 MHz
Standard RAM:	2 GB	2 GB
Maximum RAM:	4 GB (6 GB)	4 GB (6 GB†)
Video Type:	NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT	NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT NVIDIA GeForce 9400M
Video Memory:	512 MB	512 MB/256 MB (Shared)
Display:	Matte or Glossy	Glossy Only
Hard Drive:	250 GB	320 GB
SuperDrive:	8X Dual-Layer	8X Dual-Layer
Est. Battery Life:	5 Hours	5 Hours
Apple Part No:	MB134LL/A	MB471LL/A†
Original Price:	US$2499	US$2499

† On March 3, 2009, Apple quietly replaced the MacBook Pro "Core 2 Duo" 2.53 15" (Unibody) with the MacBook Pro "Core 2 Duo" 2.66 15" (Unibody), which is officially identical apart from a faster 2.66 GHz processor (T9550) and a new order number of MC026LL/A (but it actually supports 2 GB of additional memory, 8 GB up from 6 GB in the model it replaced).

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