Well, as many of you know, I made the "big switch" last fall/winter and bought my first Mac. I'm now a loyal apple evangelist & swear by their products. I can't help but feel a little jealous today at all of the people who are, undoubtedly, out getting their hands on the new MacBook Pros that were released on the Apple Store this morning.

From Apple Gazette:

The new MacBook Pros utilize the Santa Rosa chipset and come in the following flavors:
2.2GHz Core 2 Duo. 2GB RAM, 120GB HD, 15″ LED. GeForce 8600M GT 128MB - $1999
2.4GHz Core 2 Duo. 2GB RAM, 160GB HD, 15″ LED. GeForce 8600M GT 256MB - $2499
2.4GHz Core 2 Duo. 2GB RAM, 160GB HD, 17″. GeForce 8600M GT 256MB - $2799
The 15-inch model uses a new LED display - the 17-inch model now offers a new 1920-by-1200 high-resolution display option.

Note the significant changes: These new procs are the new Intel Santa Rosa chips. Another significant change over the older Macbook Pros(the one's that came out Thanksgiving 2006 - which I bought) is the inclusion of LED's for backlighting. Instead of ATI graphics cards you now get the mobile version of the new geforce 8600 line cards. The older MBPs supported 3 HD options: 100gb @ 7200 rpm, 160gb @ 5400 rpm, 200gb @ 4800 rpm. The new options are 120gb @ 7200 rpm, 160gb @ 7200rpm, 160gb 5400 rpm, or 250gb @ 4800 rpm. Additionally, the old default ram options for MBP were 1GB, 2GB for the 17 inch with a max ram holding capacity of 3gb. The new MBPs all come with 2gb by default with a maximum option of 4gb.

From Apple's press release:

From Apple's press release:
Pricing & Availability
The new MacBook Pro models are now shipping and will be available through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.
The 2.2 GHz, 15-inch MacBook Pro, for a suggested retail price of $1,999 (US), includes:
* 15.4-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1440-by-900 LCD display;
* 2.2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor;
* 2GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, expandable to 4GB;
* 120GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
* a slot-load 8x SuperDrive® with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
* NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 128MB GDDR3 memory;
* DVI-out port for external display (VGA-out adapter included, Composite/S-Video out adapter sold separately);
* built-in Dual Link support for driving Apple 30-inch Cinema HD Display;
* built-in iSight video camera;
* Gigabit Ethernet port;
* built-in AirPort Extreme® 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;
* ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;
* two USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire 800 port, and one FireWire 400 port;
* one audio line in and one headphone out port, each supporting optical digital audio;
* Scrolling TrackPad and illuminated keyboard;
* the infrared Apple Remote; and
* 85 Watt Apple MagSafe Power Adapter.
The 2.4 GHz, 15-inch MacBook Pro, for a suggested retail price of $2,499 (US), includes:
* 15.4-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1440-by-900 LCD display;
* 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor;
* 2GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, expandable to 4GB;
* 160GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
* a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
* NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 256MB GDDR3 memory;
* DVI-out port for external display (VGA-out adapter included, Composite/S-Video out adapter sold separately);
* built-in Dual Link support for driving Apple 30-inch Cinema HD Display;
* built-in iSight video camera;
* Gigabit Ethernet port;
* built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;
* ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;
* two USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire 800 port, and one FireWire 400 port;
* one audio line in and one headphone out port, each supporting optical digital audio;
* Scrolling TrackPad and illuminated keyboard;
* the infrared Apple Remote; and
* 85 Watt Apple MagSafe Power Adapter.
The 2.4 GHz, 17-inch MacBook Pro, for a suggested retail price of $2,799 (US), includes:
* 17-inch widescreen 1680-by-1050 LCD display;
* 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor;
* 2GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, expandable to 4GB;
* 160GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
* a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
* NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 256MB GDDR3 memory;
* DVI-out port for external display (VGA-out adapter included, Composite/S-Video out adapter sold separately);
* built-in Dual Link support for driving Apple 30-inch Cinema HD Display;
* built-in iSight video camera;
* Gigabit Ethernet port;
* built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;
* ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;
* three USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire 800 port, and one FireWire 400 port;
* one audio line in and one headphone out port, each supporting optical digital audio;
* Scrolling TrackPad and illuminated keyboard;
* the infrared Apple Remote; and
* 85 Watt Apple MagSafe Power Adapter.
Additional build-to-order options for the MacBook Pro include the ability to upgrade to a 160GB (5400 rpm), 160GB (7200 rpm), 200GB (4200 rpm) or a 250GB (4200 rpm) hard drive, up to 4GB DDR2 SDRAM, Apple MagSafe Airline Adapter, Apple USB Modem, glossy widescreen display, 17-inch 1920-by-1200 high-resolution display and the AppleCare Protection Plan. Additional build-to-order options also include pre-installed copies of iWork™ ‘06, Logic Express 7, Final Cut® Express HD 3.5 and Aperture™ 1.5.