With all three MacBook lines—MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air—now sporting enclosures machined out of a single block of aluminium and black, backlit keyboards with chicklet style keys, it’s more difficult than ever to zero in on which particular model and configuration to go for. Further complicating matters are the new prices for all these notebooks which, to say the least, are freakin’ exhorbitant!

Worry not though, dear readers, because where there is a problem, there exists a solution, specially if it’s Smoking Apples we’re talking about. In this article, I’ve tried to highlight the key differences between the various configurations that these notebooks are available in (eight in total) and point out the positives and negatives of each one. At the end, I’ll leave you with two recommendations, one for the budget conscious buyer and another for those of you who want to go all out and have the cash to do so.

Given that introduction, I’m sure you expected a thousand word essay detailing the nitty gritty of the different MacBook configurations. But do you really want that? It would be a waste of precious resources and, frankly, quite a boring way of doing things. What I have instead is a ginormous table containing all the information you need to know about the new MacBooks to make an informed choice. Just click on the image below to enlarge it:

It should be noted that wherever the word “option” or “optional” has been used, it is implied that the part in question is not included with the standard configuration and you may be charged extra for its inclusion. Obviously, the price of said parts have not been included in the prices listed in the chart. Also, while we’re on the subject of prices, I’d like to make it clear that the prices in USD are not inclusive of taxes since there is no uniform tax applicable to these notebooks. The prices in INR, on the other hand, are inclusive of the Value Added Tax, amounting to four percent, and have been rounded off to the nearest Rs. 100. The prices in USD have been taken from the US Apple Online Store and the Indian ones are courtesy the Indian Apple Online Catalog. Actual prices are subject to change and may vary from the ones shown above.

Although I tried to cover even the minutest of differences that might influence your decision, the limited size of my MacBook Pro’s display and my propensity to overlook things got the better of my carefulness and I missed a few points. With an apologetic pout firmly in place, I’m listing them here for your comparison pleasure:

• ExpressCard/34 slot: All three MacBook Pro models come equipped with an ExpressCard/34 slot. None of the models in the other two lineups do.
• Illuminated keyboard: All MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models and the highest end ($1,599) MacBook have keyboards that get automatically backlit in the dark with the help of discreet ambient light sensors. The $999 and $1,299 MacBooks do not have this feature.
• Latch-less design: With the updates on October 14th, Apple made the new 15-inch MacBook Pros join the ranks of its MacBook brethren by replacing the latches that held the lid in place with hidden magnets that serve the same purpose. Since the MacBook Air also features a latch-less design, the 17-inch MacBook Pro ends up being the only notebook in the lineup to suffer from this little flaw.

The Recommendation

As should be evident from the table shown above, I have one recommendation each from the mid-range category and the high-end one. Of course, no Apple notebook qualifies as a low-end product, given that the cheapest MacBook you can currently officially buy sells for at least Rs. 58,800.

For people who do not want to spend north of one lac bucks on a notebook, think that a 13.3-inch screen will suffice, and do not want the added bulk of the meatier MacBook Pros, the $1,299 MacBook seems to offer the best bang for your buck. At the not-quite-so-terribly-expensive price of Rs. 75,800, this notebook offers a stunning new design, an all glass Multi-touch capable buttonless trackpad, a 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, and one of those swanky new “Made in India” NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics chipsets. The only things lacking are a FireWire port and an illuminated keyboard. If you think you can do without them and do not want to spend an arm and a leg on a new notebook, this is the machine for you.

But if you want all the power of a desktop computer from your notebook, a MacBook won’t quite cut it for you. What you need is one of the new 15-inch MacBook Pros, the higher end $2,499 model, to be precise. Powered by a speedy 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 6MB shared L2 cache, 4GB 1066GHz DDR3 SDRAM, a 320GB hard drive, and a scorching performer in the form of an NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT dedicated graphics card with 512MB of memory, this is a mean machine. There’s also a FireWire 800 port and an NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics chipset thrown in for good measure, for those times when the notebook is running on battery and every watt counts. Optionally, you can crank up the specs to include a 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and either a 320GB 7200 rpm hard drive (instead of the 5400 rpm one that is included by default) or a 128GB solid state drive. At Rs. 1,41,800 for the base configuration though, this notebook is clearly for the pros, and ones with deep pockets at that.

The Conclusion

There you have it, a look at exactly what each MacBook in the current lineup is capable of and a comprehensive chart detailing every single spec for your comparison needs. Feel free to copy the chart onto your hard drive—it’s just a PNG image and dragging it out of Safari and anywhere onto your hard drive should do the trick—and study it at leisure. Hopefully, this article made the decision much easier for you. If you plan to purchase one of these beauties, do let us know in the comments.