Core 2 Duo MacBook Pros arrive

Woke up this morning and what'd I see? A mobile landing pad for Leopard in plenty of time for Macworld Expo.

Apple is now shipping its new Core 2 Duo-equipped 15-inch MacBook Pro, with the 17-inch MacBook Pro notebook going out in about a week. These 64-bit notebooks offer a few, yet important advantages over their Core Duo predecessors:

• First 64-bit Mac notebooks
• First Apple notebooks based on Intel's 64-bit Core microarchitecture; Core Duo was dual core, 32-bit Pentium-M
• Apple claims performance improvements of 39 percent over Core Duo MacBook Pros
• Dual-layer SuperDrive DVD burner in all models (6X on 15-inch, 8X in 17-inch model)
• 400 and 800 Mbps FireWire ports throughout lineup
• Expandable up to 3 GB of memory (see below)
• Hard drive capacity of up to 200 GB
• Build-to-order options now include MagSafe airline power adapter (see below)

Apple's approach to expanding MacBook Pro's RAM is to factor in availability of 2 GB DDR2 SODIMM memory. These are still 2-socket systems. To get to 3 GB, you put a 2 GB DIMM in one slot and a 1 GB DIMM in the other.

The MagSafe airline power adapter hooks directly from the power jack under your seat to the charging connector on your notebook. I'm watching this one closely. At present, I can't run my MacBook Pro 17 (Core Duo) on under-seat power on American Airlines flights. American uses 12V "cigarette lighter" jacks. Previously, that required plugging the full-sized charger into a DC-to-AC inverter, and from experience, MacBook Pro exceeds the 75 Watt limit of the underseat outlets. Apple tells me that with the airline adapter, power draw stays within American's imposed (and enforced) limit.

Until I get my hands on one, that's as far as I can take it, save whatever analysis occurs to me as I start digging around in earnest. In any case, it's an important day. Now if you want a 32-bit Mac client, you'll have to go low, down to the MacBook or Mac mini.