MacBook Pro (Early 2008)

The last MacBook Pro before the unibody, and the first with a multi-touch trackpad. That trackpad is why this generation is worth remembering. Pinch to zoom, rotate and swipe, taken conceptually from the iPhone that had launched the previous summer, and a clear step past the single-finger and two-finger scrolling that came before. Nothing on a Windows laptop came close for years. Intel's 45nm Penryn Core 2 Duo ran at 2.4 or 2.6GHz, which was a sensible rather than dramatic improvement, alongside larger RAM options and the first solid-state drive option in the Pro line. LED backlighting arrived across the range too, improving brightness and color while drawing less power than the fluorescent tubes it replaced. Reviewers treated it as a competent internal refresh and said the outside was looking tired after two unchanged years of riveted aluminum panels, with the single-piece construction already rumored. It arrived in February 2008. Apple replaced the entire manufacturing process in October. That makes this the final chapter of the classic aluminum MacBook Pro that had started in 2006.