The MacBook serie has replaced the original PowerBook and iBook notebook series as part of the Intel transition that Apple was going through.The first MacBook had a case manufactured from a combination of polycarbonate and fiberglass.
The second model was produced from aluminum and it was later rebranded as the 13-inch MacBook Pro.The third installment of the MacBook serie was introduced in October 2009 and was made from an unibody polycarbonate shell because aluminum was now reserved for MacBook Pro high-end notebooks and plain MacBooks are considered the low-end of the family.The MacBook is considered to be the most successful Machintosh in history as NPD sales research group declared that it was the single best selling notebook in U.S retail stores during five months until October 2008(October 2008 was also when the first MacBook Pro was revealed).
The MacBook Pro
The MacBook Pro is considered the high-end of the MacBook family and it is a line of Machintosh notebooks.It was first announced in January 2006 by Apple.Replacing the PowerBook G4(to not be confused with the iBook G4 that was replaced by MacBook,not MacBook Pro),it is the second Apple product part of the Apple-Intel transition(the first on is the iMac desktop system).The first MacBook Pro model is the 15-inch MacBook Pro introduced by Apple in January 2006,followed by the 17-inch version several months later,in April 2006.The 15-inch model was a carry-over from the PowerBook G4 notebook that it has replaced.Both 15 and 17-inch models use aluminum for their casings and Intel Core CPUs(for the original models).
Later revisions were upgraded and in late 2006 both models were upgraded to Core 2 Duo CPU technology.A third installment was later introduced,not as a fresh model,but a rebrandement of the aluminum MacBook,as it was re-named the 13-inch MacBook Pro.The second model was made from a single bloc of aluminum(unibody) and was introduced alongside the rebranded 13-inch MacBook Pro.All new unibody revisions for both 15-inch and 17-inch were upgraded since 2010 with the i5 and i7 CPU technology,but the 13-inch MacBook Pro was limited to Core 2 Duo technology.
Both 15-inch and 17-inch come with ExpressCard/34 slots as they replace the PowerBook G4's PC card slot.Both models also come with FireWire 400 and USB 2.0 ports.However,the 17-inch model is equipped with an extra slot,as it has three,and the 15-inch model only two.Since the original revisions of the 15 and 17-inch models,a great amount of updates and upgrades were made to both,such as the upgrading of the FireWire technology from 400to 800,crossing from USB 2.0 to USB 2.1,or the replacement of the original CPUs and graphics card with newer improved and more powerful models,such as i5 and i7 for processors and Nvidia graphics card.