NiniaPimp Magazine

Check out this sexy picture of our model Cassey in front of Tampa’s skyline, overlooking the river.

Cami, you have an interesting and professional web page. Who does the design?

I do all the design myself…it’s not too detailed, I just use a little web page program and update it nearly every day.

I also noticed that you are on the cover of the movie Vampire Night. What do you think of the film?

It was better than I thought it would be! I was expecting cheesy stuff and it was a spoof on horror films. It was pretty funny. I liked it!

The disclaimer says WARNING: This film contains graphic violence, adult content, a kinky bondage scene, and a lot of biting. Were you involved in any of that?

There was graphic violence and biting in my two scenes… I was also tied up, but I don’t think that’s the bondage scene they are talking about! I’m also in their upcoming film Vampires of Sorority Row II, so I’ll be bitten in that as well.

So, where do you see yourself in ten years? Doing movies, modeling, something else?

Probably not modeling, unless it’s really commercial ad type work. I definitely want to see myself on stage still in 10 years, in musicals. Hopefully doing film, TV, and commercials as well. But I also expect I will have a real job, maybe in entertainment or advertising.

Most internet models and celebrities use a stage name for safety. Is there any reason for the name Cami?

It’s what everyone has called me since I was born, so it’s not really a stage name, though it is not my given name. I prefer not to use my real last name too often though, for privacy.

How have your interactions with fans been?

Basically pretty good. I have a good fan in Norway, one in the UK, one in Canada, and several in the USA. Most are really cool and promote me well! Some try to delve into my real life though to get my home address or full name, and often ask for nude pics or dates. I don’t like that, that is not being a fan, that is being, well, odd.

Can you give an example of some of the weird stuff that might have happened? You know, weird guys asking to date you and stuff.

I’ve had men ask me to be their “travel companion,” escort, and whatnot. Many guys think that since I am a female with photos on the net, I am looking for sex or dates or whatever, and that is not true. I had one mental hospital patient find my business card and call my business number several times demanding photos and that I call him back… that was creepy.

How did you get your start on the internet?

I started using the Net for random stuff in 1995, and then in 1996 I put some acting headshots on the web just to see who might see me. Some photographers asked me to model for them, and I did, and started building a portfolio from there. It sort of snowballed after that, into my own site and everything.

Ok, now what can you share with us that you think that people reading this article might find interesting?

I don’t define myself as a model like many models do. I never had an intention to be a model, but photographers wanted to shoot me. I don’t think of myself as a “model” even though a ton of people do.

Do you have anything for sale on your site?

Currently I have several 8x10s for sale, autographed to the buyer. very soon I will have an 8.5×11 calendar with 2 photos on it for sale autographed, as well as a non-nude but sexy amateur video.

I’ll ask you 5 random fun questions. Are you ready?

What was your favorite 80′s tv show?

Good question! Little House on the Prairie.

If you had a superpower, what would it be?

To be invisible so I could eavesdrop on important stuff and check out my competition during auditions!

What is the greatest state and why?

Well, not Florida. It has to be California or Hawaii. California because you can literally find any class or style of living here, from yuppieville to family suburbs to big city to forever-college towns. Hawaii because it’s almost always warm, humid, with clean air and beaches – a BIG plus for me.

Mr. T or the Terminator, who would win in a fight and why?

Terminator. He has a harder body.

What is the last thing you did before doing this interview?

Drank a girly beer and made a copy of a CD I downloaded all the songs from Napster…

Well, thank you for your time. I hope you have a great evening.

ANYTIME!!!

Alright, first off welcome to AfroSquad and NinjaPimp Online. How are you doing today?  Can you tell us about yourselves? Hi there! Ok here’s the answers to your questions.  Our names are Daisy and Hollie Mildenhall, and we are identical twins aged 22 from Wiltshire.  We now live in Cornwall, where Hollie works for the NHS as a finance assistant and Daisy works for a Media company as an Advertising consultant.  Although we have good careers are main job is our singing it has always been our passion and our sole drive in life. We began singing at the age of 8 where we sang at weddings, festivals, parties etc. as time went on we got more and more into singing and when we entered a competition here in Cornwall and won, it was only then when we got to record in a studio we realized this is what we want to do!

Myla, how are you doing today?
I’m doing good thanks, how are you doing today?

I’m doing well.  I’m excited to learn more about you.  First off, what are you wearing?
Pajamas

Do you have any nicknames or anything? Your long name seems suited for a nickname?
Well my first name is Myla, so people usually just call that. :) I just go by the full name for work.

How did you get into modeling? NinjaPimp’s Crazyman once got some glamour shots done, but nobody was interested in buying them.
I was 14 and my mothers friend who was an actress “discovered” me. I was signed the next week.

How can people learn more about you? Don’t you have a MySpace page? Can you tell us about your primary website?
Yes, my MySpace page has my blog, and my professional website with some of my modeling photos, my acting reel, and a fan forum is http://www.MylaLeighChenoa.com

So what do you do for fun?
I love to go clubbing, hanging out with friends and I’m just really spontaneous which means I love doing crazy and dumb stuff. So if it’s buying blocks of ice in the middle of winter, sneaking onto a golf course and riding the ice down the hill, that’s what’s going down for the evening. Yes, I’ve actually done that.

What are your favorite reality shows?
Well Flavor of Love has been pretty crazy. Celebrity Fit Club is always amusing and gotta give props to Surreal Life. I also love Survivor.

What’s the most adult modeling you have ever done?
I’m ashamed to say that I tested for Playboy. I’m glad I didn’t end up in the magazine.

We’ve seen a rash of celebrity adult videos. What do you think of all of these celebrity movies?
I don’t know what you mean. Are you talking about their home sex tapes that are being released?

Who are your favorite MySpace friends?
The polite and respectful ones:)

What do you love about modeling?
I love creating beautiful images

What do you hate about modeling?
The demanding schedule

What is your most embarrassing moment?
I’ll keep that to myself;)

What do you think of all of these child models on the net? Should somebody shut them down?
Absolutely! I was a child model and I was with an agency who watched out for me. I can’t imagine being a kid and running into who knows what. Just look at how many kids have disappeared. It’s sickening!

I agree. Do you have a nemesis? If so, who is it?
Adrianna Lima, haha

That’s interesting. The Red Ninja said that he hates her too. He has agreed to kick her in the face.  Anyway, what is one of your pet peeves?
Liars and people who are mean to others. They’re equal in the top pet peeve department.

You look like a professional model. What do you think of these girls with webcams who call themselves models?
They’re webcam girls. If they want to refer to themselves as models, then I think they should always include webcam in front of it. Most models distinguish themselves; fashion model, promotional model, etc. They’re no different, they should say webcam model.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
I don’t know. I don’t really plan ahead.

I hear ya’.  So do you love AfroSquad and NinjaPimp?
Absolutely ;)

Anyway, it was great having you.
Thank you so much for having me!

I’d love to have you again.

The Bomb Twinz, Dezire and Woody

www.BombTwinz.com

So, how are you doing today? I am stressing today. Booking last minute models for events and I am on the phone non-stop talking to different contacts… but I ALWAYS have time for Afro-Squad.com!

Can you introduce yourself? Hi, my name is DEZ!RE and if you f’ with me, I will f’ with you ten times harder! I have an identical twin sister—Woody, and together, we are known as the BOMBTWINZ.

I can only imagine how cool it would be for you to f’ me ten times harder, but that isn’t important right now. What do you and your sister do for a living?
I am a full-time student double majoring in Psychology and Behavioral Science. I am a behavioral specialist. I work with adult clients who have psychological disorders, the Project Manager for a marketing company, a spokes model, a supporting actress in a drama series, the President of the National Honor Society in Psychology, and I model on the side when I have time.

My twin sister Woody is a nursing major who just got kicked out of the accelerated [3.9+ gpa] nursing program because of her LOOKS [F' SJSU] and she works at a photo lab and hooks everyone up with the dopest pictures! =)

What has been your biggest modeling gigs? Modeling for an upscale hair salon, a couple band posters/fliers, Ralph Lauren Polo, and a runway show for Tommy Lees club.

Do you have any projects coming up? Hosting a huge party in the Bay Area, Photoshoots in Hawai’i, some runway shows stretching from the bay area all the way down to San Diego, HIN in August, another runway show in New York City, and possibly hosting a party in Miami.

Can you tell us about your MySpace page? Who runs it? I manage my own MySpace page because I stay true and loyal to all of the friends I have made on there. I changed my display name to BOMBTWINZ so I would not be searchable by the companies I work for [it would completely affect my career as a psychologist]. I try and make as many videos as possible to keep my page entertaining. So far, it is working! MySpace.com/bombtwinz or check out my youtube.com page.

Do you work for a modeling agency? If so, where do you work? Nope, I would rather keep all the money I earn for myself! ha ha. My sister and I are very dependent and can manage things on our own–for now, however, if things get too hectic and we start booking with larger companies, an agency could come in handy.

What will and what won’t you do in modeling? We will try anything except implied or nude! Some things should be kept for the imagination ;)

What are your hobbies? Pouring salt onto snails and then watching them bubble, squeezing citris onto cuts, picking dried nasal mucus and rolling them into balls, casually flicking them onto annoying people, running with scissors in my hands to pretend I am Edward Scissor hands, sniffing gasoline at gas stations, cutting people off and carving snow into their faces while snowboarding, traveling to tropical places, harassing boys, and checking out Afro-Squad.com! We love the AfroSquad. It is better than gay p0rn.

What are your guilty pleasures? Oh god. Downloading gay p0rn [men] no, seriously, m@sturbating at least twice a day, binging on junk food once or twice—maybe even thrice a week and um, some other pleasures should really be kept secret!

What are your favorite movies? American Pie, Dangerous Minds, The Sixth Sense, Dumb and Dumber, Monsters Inc., Set It Off, Finding Nemo, Bad Boys II, American History X, Misery, Miss Congeniality, GOONIES, Drop Dead Fred

Do you do any charity work? If not, what was the last nice thing you did for somebody? My family does a lot of charity work as a whole. We donate money to villages in Vietnam or hold community buffets for the poor. I am planning to travel to Vietnam soon to visit a village where all the lepers are sent. Here, I have contributed over 100 community service hours to a battered women’s shelter’s after school program for the kids, and I always give money to homeless people [who do not ask for it].

What do you think are your hottest pictures? The candid shot of me picking a fat wedgie for the Ralph Lauren Polo bathing suit photoshoot.

What do you normally eat for breakfast? A bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats, a couple strawberries or a banana, and a package of YOGOs! mmmmmm.

Do you work out? How often? How? I go to the gym ONCE a week and use the bike for 20 min because I am obligated to. Other than that, I do crunches once a day and if dancing in front of the mirror naked before I shower counts as a workout [since I keep my stomach flexed] that would also be one of my methods of keeping in shape.

What do you think of Afro-Squad.com? It is the $HIT! That is why I was excited to hear that Afro-Squad.com wanted to do an interview with me! Are you guys as hung as everyone says?

What is the biggest misunderstanding about you? The biggest misunderstanding would definitely have to be the assumption that I party a lot based on my pictures. Connecting with my friends in a social environment does not necessarily mean that I am partying! After all, I AM allergic to alcohol and smoke!

Is there anything else you want to talk about? My obsession with g@y porn. Can you tell me why a straight girl like myself has such a guilty pleasure? Hello? Um, I guess the interview is over.

Thanks for your time.

One of last year’s most impressively priced high-end multimedia laptops was the Dell XPS 15. Though it was certainly not svelte, the $849 entry-level model we reviewed had an excellent set of specs and some of the best-sounding speakers we’ve ever heard on a portable.

The new XPS 15 looks a lot like the old one–which isn’t that old, really: we reviewed it back in November 2010. Still, there are a few key differences with the 2011 update. First and foremost, all XPS models now have new second-gen Intel Core i-series CPUs. The GPUs have also been revamped, incorporating newer Nvidia GeForce GT 500-series graphics. The keyboard has also been given some tweaking, which we’ll go into in more detail. Finally, the built-in Intel Wireless Display is now WiDi 2.0, incorporating HD streaming up to 1080p.

The base model of the new XPS 15 is actually even cheaper than last year’s, at $799. It comes with a 2.3GHz Core i5-2410M CPU, an Nvidia GeForce GT525 GPU, 4GB of RAM, and a 500GB, 7,200rpm hard drive.

That’s not the one we reviewed, though. Unlike last time, Dell sent us a top-of-the-line fully rigged model, the XPS15-L502X, running around $1,488 on Dell’s Web site: a quad-core 2GHz Core i7-2630QM CPU, 8GB of RAM, a 750GB 7,200rpm hard drive, Nvidia GeForce GT 540M graphics, a Blu-ray drive, and a 1,920×1,080-pixel resolution screen, along with a chunky but longer-life nine-cell battery.

It’s a heavy beast, and expensive, too, but if you’re looking for a media laptop that can blast movies, play games, and show them off on a great screen, the new XPS 15 could be just what you’re looking for. But don’t feel like you have to spring for all the upgrades; the base model should be more than enough for most–unless you’re looking for Blu-ray and a full 1080p display.

The size and shape of the Dell XPS 15 is best described as beefy and bulky, with a flat, wide silver profile that looks like plastic but is actually metal. A thick, slightly tapered base and wide, flat, brushed-aluminum lid look, at first glance, like they belong on a budget laptop. Especially with the extra riser added by the nine-cell battery option, the overall effect is one of the thickest laptops we’ve seen on the market. The XPS has undeniably throwback looks, and not in a good way.

The hinge-forward design on the XPS mirrors other recent Dell laptops, such as the Inspiron R and Mini 10, pushing the screen forward a little in relation to the keyboard but giving the rear end significant chunk. The XPS uses that back lip for a handful of rear-facing ports, including HDMI, Mini DisplayPort, Ethernet, the power jack, and one of its two USB 3.0 ports. It nearly acts like a dock, giving this XPS a very desktop-friendly feel for keeping wires out of the way, but making access a little tough for lap use.

The thick chassis has some noticeable flex on the sides, giving an impression of being not quite as solidly built as other high-end laptops such as the MacBook Pro and HP Envy. However, this is a laptop that gets a lot better once you actually start using it. A wide, generous palm rest and keyboard deck is covered in more brushed metal, with a raised chiclet-style keyboard centered right in the middle between two speaker grilles.

The keyboard is new, a shift from the flat keyboard with raised key surfaces seen on many of last year’s Dell laptops. It’s a nicer look, but it doesn’t add up to anything significantly more ergonomic than the previous XPS. Typing feels very comfortable, although there could have been room for a number pad in the wide chassis.

We do have a few gripes: the backlit keyboard is now a $40 upgrade instead of an included feature on the entry-level model. And, though last year’s XPS had function-reversed volume and media control keys, they’ve flipped back to requiring pressing the function key in this year’s model. It’s a bit of a drag. We’re not huge fans of the column of page up/down buttons lining the right side of the keyboard, relegating the Enter/Shift keys to inner positions that aren’t instantly touch-intuitive, but it’s a trend that’s growing for laptop keyboards everywhere.

A few backlit touch controls lie on the upper-right side above the keyboard, to the left of a slightly off-from-center power button. A settings button launches a pop-up of useful controls, ranging from Bluetooth to battery mode; we wish more laptops had such a hot key. Another button can be customized to instantly launch any program, and a third brings up fine-tuning controls for the Waves MaxxAudio system that runs through the JBL speakers.

Dell’s onscreen dock, much like the icon dock in Mac OS X, provides an instant-access strip for commonly used programs, augmenting Windows 7 nicely. It’s not new or unique, but we appreciated it once again on the XPS 15.

A large multitouch touch pad is nearly the size of the MacBook Pro’s, and it controls better than many touch pads we’ve seen. Simple wide buttons beneath do their job without fanfare, but reliably.

Like last year’s XPS, the included 5.1-speaker/subwoofer array is one of the best we’ve ever heard in a laptop. Music and movies play with crisp pop, punch, and separation, and gaming shows off the surround-simulating effects. They’re so good, they’re going to be one of primary features you’ll show off to friends and family, and they’ll probably make you skip using headphones–to the chagrin of neighbors or roommates.

The 15.6-inch LED-backlit glossy 16:9 display in our high-end XPS 15 configuration has a 1,920×1,080-pixel full-HD display, which costs an extra $150 on Dell’s Web site to customize. Based on our experience, it’s worth the upgrade: colors popped, images were extremely vivid, and movies and games looked spectacular. Combined with the XPS’ powerful sound, it adds up to one of the best portable home-theater offerings in any recent laptop we’ve seen. The Blu-ray drive–an extra $100, or $175/$275 for two different speeds of BD-write capable drives–makes sense in a laptop with media features this strong.

An HD Webcam records video at resolutions up to 1,600×1,200 pixels, or at 1,280×720 pixels in HD H.264 format. Though frame rates are choppy using normal settings, the HD recording mode produces smooth, very watchable clips. The Webcam is also compatible with SkypeHD for HD streaming, a pleasant bonus. A noise-canceling microphone adds to the chat package, pushing its chat capabilities closer to that of a business laptop.

The new Dell XPS has the same set of ports we saw in the XPS back in November, and that’s OK, since those ports already were pretty up-to-date. Though the XPS lacks an ExpressCard slot, it comes with two USB 3.0 ports, an optional TV tuner (included on our config), and HDMI 1.4 with Nvidia 3DTV Play, allowing playback of 3D games or Blu-ray content onto a 3D HDTV via an HMDI cable. You’ll need a 3D TV to even take advantage of this feature, of course, and we doubt many people will.

Configurations for the Dell XPS 15 vary across a tremendous spectrum, starting at $799 and climbing into the $1,500 range. Like many Dell laptops, the number of customizable extras can seem daunting: nearly every feature has an upgrade. That HD Webcam, confusingly, has two options, one of which adds facial recognition for $20, a feature most would assume comes as a standard software feature; there are WiMax and Bluetooth options; the keyboard comes in standard or backlit (an extra $40); and the JBL speaker system has a completely confusing and unnecessary $20 upgrade option on Dell’s Web site. You get the picture.

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Summary: I wanted a light-weight, highly portable, bigger than a netbook with a SSD hard drive. I’d purchased a 2010 MacBook Pro 13″ and intended on putting in a 160GB Intel X-25m before the Air refresh. I’m glad I chose the Air.

The price is very reasonable for what you get: the most solid ultra-thin on the market. Between the flash memory, higher resolution screen and size/weight it is definitely worth the extra $100 to go from the 13″ MacBook Pro to the Air. The flash-based memory is very fast and extremely responsive. 12-15 second boot times, nearly instant launching of applications and fast read and writes make the Air feel many times faster than the Pro to the average user. My regular use consists of internet, media streaming, MS Office applications and IE based work applications which force me to use a virtual machine. The 4GB RAM option is a must if you intend to do serious work on the Air, honestly I don’t see why Apple didn’t make it the base configuration with a 6 or 8 GB option. I can smoothly run Windows XP (I don’t like the newer renditions) along with MS Word, Excel and Powerpoint, a silly amount of browser tabs, email, iTunes, etc; simultaneously. And while the difference in resolution doesn’t seem huge, it is… you have the same resolution as the base 15″ Pro and everything is still very readable. There is a lot more screen space than the 13″ Pro and I don’t think I could readjust to 1280X800. The screen is of typical Apple quality, that is to say excellent. It isn’t the best available but it is excellent indeed.

The 256GB model costs $300 more, which again is a very reasonable price for the increased memory: 256GB SSDs run about $300 more than their 128GB comrades. I simply do not need that much memory on a laptop, especially when a home server with TB-sized memory can be built inexpensively. Everything else on this model is the same except for the optional CPU upgrade.

There aren’t really any irritating or disappointing aspects to the Air as a laptop, everything is executed practically flawlessly especially at the user level where experience is always different than benchmarks predict. What is irritating (extremely so) is some of Apple’s decisions on options and pricing. The removal of the back-lit keyboard is unexplainable, it doesn’t take more thickness (previous renditions of the Air had it). If cost was the issue as Apple likes to maintain their ridiculous profit margin, they should’ve at least made it a built to own option! It isn’t hard to get used to the lack of it, nor do I ever look at the keyboard to type even in the dark (though it is nice for the function keys, not having to center your hands to know where keys are and also making certain key combinations) but why take away something so forward thinking and generally awesome? The most irritating aspect by far is the lack of CPU upgrade option for the 128GB model. There is no reason whatsoever for not offering it for both models and I seriously doubt the 256GB model is that more profitable to push it’s sales harder. I simply do not need that much space and I’m not paying for what I don’t need (like an optical drive!) but it sure would’ve been nice to get the faster CPU. The 1.86ghz CPU that comes standard works just fine, especially with Apple’s wonderful hardware and software integration along with the flash memory… but again it would’ve been nice to have the option. The matte screen option’s absence was to be expected as the 13″ Pro lacks it as well, but again the option would’ve been nice. I don’t see why it is so damned difficult to give people more options!

Overall I’m very impressed with my new MacBook Air. It has everything I want: sturdy, well utilized CPU; SSD memory; high resolution and not ultra-stupid-glossy display (it isn’t matte but it’s better than the Pro). It also lacks everything I don’t need or want: optical drive (seriously think about how often you’ve used yours, I think I burned a few CD’s before I had my car adapter for iPod), heaviness, thickness, moving parts! I would highly recommend it to anyone, though I’m sure in about a year Apple will do a refresh and add a bunch of the things I’ve complained about! I still wouldn’t wait though.

Amid competition from slim-tower PCs and all-in-ones, the tried-and-true midtower PC might seem like a dated platform. Still, we can’t help but have some appreciation for HP’s Pavilion p6720f. This $599 desktop has few feature highlights, but it’s a capable budget PC with an expandable base for a reasonable price.

HP’s Pavilion midtower design should feel familiar if you’ve gone PC shopping in the last few years. Its glossy black, gray-trimmed exterior conforms to apparent industry aesthetic standards, and although its outside is plastered with stickers, we’re more willing to forgive a midtower for that design offense. Unlike smaller slim-tower PCs, a standard midtower desktop isn’t that likely to wind up in your living room hardware stack.

The Gateway’s DX4840-03e and HP’s own Pavilion p6510y are two of the last midtowers we’ve reviewed, both from July 2010. Neither is available anymore, but they still provide relevant points of comparison for the Pavilion p6720f, in that they let us see how the value proposition has changed over the last nine months or so.

The differences between the two HP systems are more prominent than between the Pavilion p6720f and the Gateway. The newer HP unit boasts a faster, more advanced AMD quad-core CPU than the older one, as well as a larger hard drive, more RAM, and wireless networking. Granted, the newer model costs $70 more than the older one, but even taking that price jump into consideration, the newer Pavilion seems like a definite improvement.

The matchup with the Gateway model isn’t as black and white for the Pavilion p6720f. The two are more or less identical in terms of core features, although the Gateway offers more RAM and a dual-core Intel Core i3 chip with a faster core clock speed than the HP. The two models trade performance wins on our benchmark tests, making neither an obvious winner, but we’ll give HP credit for offering more expandability than the Gateway. The Pavilion gives you a free PCI Express graphics card slot, as well as three 1x PCIe slots for other card upgrades. The Gateway offers only a graphics slot and a single 1x PCIe input. Although free slots don’t translate to instantly usable out-of-the-box functionality, we’re willing to pay more for upgrade potential.

Cinebench
(Longer bars indicate better performance)

Rendering multiple CPUs  

Rendering single CPU  

We weren’t surprised by the Pavilion p6720f’s benchmark results given its quad-core AMD CPU. Though it drags behind the Asus and Gateway systems on clock-speed-focused tests, the newer HP handles multitasking and multicore-friendly apps well. With more and more programs like media creation apps, games, and even Windows 7 itself supporting multiple processor cores, you may see a noticeable benefit from a system like the HP with four CPU cores. Intel’s Sandy Bridge CPUs might upend the HP’s fast Phenom II X4 chip when they emerge in this price range, but for now, casual computer users should be satisfied with the Pavilion p6720f’s overall performance.

We mentioned the HP’s card expandability. We should add that if you want to upgrade to a discrete graphics card, the Pavilion’s 250-watt power supply will prevent you from adding anything beyond a lower midrange GPU. Other upgrade options include a spare RAM slot, as well as a free hard-drive bay, but, as usual with the midtower Pavilion, the clunky hard-drive cage makes adding a second storage device harder than it should be.

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The 13-inch MacBook Pro is the most affordable of Apple’s high-end laptops. With the admittedly supercharged 15-inch version starting at a princely $1,799, the 13-inch model’s starting price of $1,199 is the one many consumers will likely consider first. Its size is also ideal and in fact, we’ve long considered 13 inches to be the sweet spot in laptops for usability and performance. The question is: does the smaller Pro deliver the processing punch that last year’s lacked?

In short: unequivocally yes. This year’s 13-inch Pro gets a cutting-edge processor upgrade that many were waiting for–including us. That upgrade comes in the form of next-generation Intel Core i-series CPUs. The 2011 MacBook Pros are the first laptops we’ve reviewed at CNET with these processors; the entry-level 13-inch model features a second-generation 2.3GHz Core i5 processor, whereas the $1,499 configuration has a 2.7GHz dual-core Core i7.

Though both configurations use differently branded CPUs, the Core i5/Core i7 difference turns out to be pretty insignificant between these two 13-inch Pros. In our benchmark tests, the Core i5 13-inch model performed so closely to the Core i7 version (and, in single-task tests, not that far off from the quad-core 15-inch Pro) that, for the $300 savings, it’s arguably the better buy. The entry-level version has an identical screen, graphics, RAM, and ports to the $1,499 model, with the exception of a 320GB hard drive instead of 500GB.

One small drawback: the integrated (and nonupgradable) Intel HD 3000 graphics in both 13-inch models are a step backward from the integrated Nvidia graphics found in the 2010 13-inch Pro. Though it’s a bit of a backslide, however, it still amounts to better graphics than low-end Nvidia GeForce GPUs, and it’s leaps and bounds above Intel integrated graphics in 2010 Windows laptops.

The entry-level 13-inch Pro also still comes with the much-talked-about high-speed data/video port, Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt is envisioned as a sort of future unified successor to USB, FireWire, and DisplayPort, allowing peripherals to carry data and video at 10Gbps. We don’t know when Thunderbolt-compatible peripherals will be available (although Apple says the first ones should show up in the spring of 2011), how much they’ll cost, or if Apple will be adding the technology to future displays or iOS devices. For now, it’s a wait-and-see gamble on a future technology, but at least the port is backward-compatible with Mini DisplayPort, and a FireWire 800 port remains for legacy hardware.

In the end, the 2011 13-inch Pro is a big step up in processing performance for the same price as its predecessor. To put it in perspective, the 13-inch MacBook Pro is about as powerful CPU-wise as last year’s $2,199 15-inch Core i7 model. And though its integrated Intel graphics are a bit less capable than the previous model’s Nvidia 320M GPU, the payoff comes with a sizeable jump in battery life. To be honest, we’d rather have a longer-lasting battery.

There’s nothing different design-wise about the new MacBook Pro. Walk up to the 2011 version and you’d have no idea that you were looking at a “new” Mac. The iconic design and unibody construction has remained intact, even identical, to last year’s 2010 model, even down to the port layout. Ports line the left side, and the side-connecting MagSafe charging cable plugs toward the rear, staying out of the way. The slot-loading drive lines the right side. A wide expanse of aluminum and Apple’s simple but excellently constructed keyboard feel like tech minimalism in a world of overwrought and overdesigned laptops, and the large multitouch clickpad is still–even nearly three years later–one of the largest we’ve seen. Construction quality is, as always, rock-solid: compared with other flexy laptops, the seamless metal body of the Pro feels like modern art.

That being said, we wouldn’t mind some design improvements in the future, especially when it comes to thickness and weight. The 13-inch Pro is compact and thin, but compared to wafer-thin Apple products like the iPad and MacBook Air, it ends up feeling heavier. Then again, if thickness matters that much, you can always buy an Air.

A backlit keyboard still comes standard, even on the entry-level $1,199 MacBook Pro. It’s useful for typing in low-light conditions, and the ambient light sensors control screen brightness and keyboard lighting in perfect balance. The ergonomics work excellently, and the MacBook Pro also has some of the largest, deepest palm-rest zones in a 13-incher.

Edge-to-edge glass still frames the Pro’s 13.3-inch screen, and, yes, there still isn’t a matte screen option–although on the larger 15-inch line, antiglare is offered. The display has excellent brightness, color, and contrast, and the screen’s viewing angles are generous, but the 1,280×800 native pixel resolution is identical to the 2010 model’s. Oddly, the MacBook Pro might be the last laptop that hasn’t switched to a 16:9 1,366×768-pixel display. Even more oddly, the 13-inch MacBook Air actually has a higher resolution than the current 13-inch Pros, at 1,400×900 pixels.

Speaker volume is adequate, and both music and movies sound good on the integrated stereo speakers. The MacBook Pro doesn’t have audio that reaches out and grabs you, unless you’re wearing headphones; then again, on a 13-incher this slim, it does better than equivalent competition.

A new HD Webcam offers 720p wide-screen Web chats via the new FaceTime app, which comes preinstalled. FaceTime, which has been available as a beta release for a while, allows calls to both Mac users and iPhone 4 owners. iPhone 4 calls come in at a fuzzier resolution, but Mac-to-Mac calls looked relatively crisp over Wi-Fi. Swapping between portrait and landscape mode can be triggered with a single button-click.

While most ports on the 13-inch MacBook Pro remain carbon-copy identical to those on last year’s model, there are a few notable additions. The SD card slot now accepts SDXC cards. More importantly, the Mini-DisplayPort has subtly been transformed into the aforementioned Thunderbolt port. The Intel-developed data and audio/video port has extremely fast throughput at a maximum of 10Gbps, and compatible hard drives will be able to send files with blazing speeds. The tiny Thunderbolt port is powered, and will be able to daisy chain up to six connected devices, be they hard drives or even monitors. It’s backward-compatible with old Mini DisplayPort monitors or cables, and like with last year’s Pros, it can output audio and video over HDMI with a Mini DisplayPort-to-HDMI adapter.

Thunderbolt may be a rival to USB 3.0, but devices that can use the port won’t even be available until spring. Most people will simply use the USB 2.0 and FireWire 800 ports on the 2011 MacBook Pro and be completely satisfied. Still, it’s comforting to know that future port support is there. Is it necessary right now? No. In two years, however, it could be indispensable. Consider it future tech on your MacBook Pro–a perk, rather than a necessity.

Apple’s laptops have always had limited upgrade and configuration options; the new Pros are no different. The 13-inch MacBook Pro comes in $1,199 and $1,499 configurations, with 2.3GHz Core i5 and 2.7GHz Core i7 dual-core CPUs, respectively. The only real differences between the two models are their CPUs and included hard drives (320GB in our $1,199 configuration, 500GB in the $1,499 model). If you’re dying for more hard-drive space, consider a custom order on Apple’s Web site: that hard drive can be expanded up to a 500GB hard drive for just $50, or 750GB for $150. Either way, that comes to less than the high-end model’s sticker price. Solid-state drives can also be added: 128GB, 256GB, or 512GB. Those aren’t cheap: the 128GB upgrade costs $250, whereas the 512GB costs a whopping $1,250.

That’s it as far as configurations go. The 1,280×800-pixel glossy screen can’t be upgraded, unlike on the 15-inch Pro. There’s no option to add discrete graphics, either. It’s an odd disconnect: even the 13-inch MacBook Air has a higher-resolution screen, and the lack of higher-end graphics feels cheap for such an expensive laptop.

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The 13-inch MacBook Pro is the most affordable of Apple’s high-end laptops. With the admittedly supercharged 15-inch version starting at a princely $1,799, the 13-inch model’s starting price of $1,199 is the one many consumers will likely consider first. Its size is also ideal, and in fact, we’ve long considered 13 inches to be the sweet spot in laptops for usability and portability. The question is: does the smaller Pro deliver the processing punch that last year’s lacked?

In short, unequivocally yes. This year’s 13-inch Pro gets a cutting-edge processor upgrade that many were waiting for–including us. That upgrade comes in the form of next-generation Intel Core i-series CPUs. The 2011 MacBook Pros are the first laptops we’ve reviewed at CNET with these processors; the entry-level 13-inch model features a second-generation 2.3GHz Core i5 processor, and the $1,499 configuration has a 2.7GHz dual-core Core i7.

However, despite the processor improvements, the use of Intel’s HD Graphics 3000 integrated graphics is a step backward from the integrated Nvidia graphics found in the 2010 13-inch Pro. It’s not a huge backslide, though, and for many it’s a survivable loss. Plus, it does come with the much talked about high-speed data/video port, Thunderbolt.

Thunderbolt is envisioned as a sort of future unified successor to USB, FireWire, and DisplayPort, allowing peripherals to carry data and video at 10Gbps. We don’t know when Thunderbolt-compatible peripherals will be available (although Apple says the first ones should show up in the spring of 2011), how much they’ll cost, or if Apple will be adding the technology to future displays or iOS devices. For now, it’s a wait-and-see gamble on a future technology, but at least the port is backward-compatible with Mini-DisplayPort and can support HDMI out with the purchase of a cable. The 13-inch MacBook Pro also keeps its FireWire 800 port, so Thunderbolt is more of an added feature than a risk Apple’s making you buy into.

In the end, the 2011 13-inch Pro is a big step up in processing performance for the same price as its predecessor. To put it in perspective, the 13-inch MacBook Pro is about as powerful CPU-wise as last year’s $2,199 15-inch Core i7 model. And while its integrated Intel graphics are a bit less capable than the previous model’s Nvidia 320M GPU, the payoff comes with another big leap in battery life.

Lastly, if you’re on the fence between the $1,499 13-inch and the $1,799 15-inch Pros, that $300 buys you a lot more computer. On the other hand, we’d argue that most people won’t see or don’t need the extra performance and it is a larger, heavier laptop.

There’s nothing different design-wise about the new MacBook Pro. Walk up to the 2011 version and you’d have no idea that you were looking at a “new” Mac. The iconic design and unibody construction has remained intact, even identical, to last year’s 2010 model, even down to the port layout. Ports line the left side, and the side-connecting MagSafe charging cable plugs toward the rear, staying out of the way. The slot-loading drive lines the right side. A wide expanse of aluminum and Apple’s simple but excellently constructed keyboard feel like tech minimalism in a world of overwrought and overdesigned laptops, and the large multitouch clickpad is still–even nearly three years later–one of the largest we’ve seen. Construction quality is, as always, rock-solid: compared with other flexy laptops, the seamless metal body of the Pro feels like modern art.

That being said, we wouldn’t mind some design improvements in the future, especially when it comes to thickness and weight. The 13-inch Pro is compact and thin, but compared to wafer-thin Apple products like the iPad and MacBook Air, it ends up feeling heavier. Then again, if thickness matters that much, you can always buy an Air.

A backlit keyboard still comes standard, even on the entry-level $1,199 MacBook Pro. It’s useful for typing in low-light conditions, and the ambient light sensors control screen brightness and keyboard lighting in perfect balance. The ergonomics work excellently, and the MacBook Pro also has some of the largest, deepest palm-rest zones in a 13-incher.

Edge-to-edge glass still frames the Pro’s 13.3-inch screen, and, yes, there still isn’t a matte screen option–although on the larger 15-inch line, antiglare is offered. The display has excellent brightness, color, and contrast, and the screen’s viewing angles are generous, but the 1,280×800 native pixel resolution is identical to the 2010 model’s. Oddly, the MacBook Pro might be the last laptop that hasn’t switched to a 16:9 1,366×768-pixel display. Even more oddly, the 13-inch MacBook Air actually has a higher resolution than the current 13-inch Pros, at 1,400×900 pixels. We’re surprised that there wasn’t a resolution upgrade in the higher-end $1,499 configuration.

Speaker volume is adequate, and both music and movies sound good on the integrated stereo speakers. The MacBook Pro doesn’t have audio that reaches out and grabs you, unless you’re wearing headphones; then again, on a 13-incher this slim, it does better than equivalent competition.

A new HD Webcam offers 720p wide-screen Web chats via the new FaceTime app, which comes preinstalled. FaceTime, which has been available as a beta release for a while, allows calls to both Mac users and iPhone 4 owners. iPhone 4 calls come in at a fuzzier resolution, but Mac-to-Mac calls looked relatively crisp over Wi-Fi. Swapping between portrait and landscape mode can be triggered with a single button-click.

While most ports on the 13-inch MacBook Pro remain carbon-copy identical to those on last year’s model, there are a few notable additions. The SD card slot now accepts SDXC cards. More importantly, the Mini-DisplayPort has subtly been transformed into the aforementioned Thunderbolt port. The Intel-developed data and audio/video port has extremely fast throughput at a maximum of 10Gbps, and compatible hard drives will be able to send files with blazing speeds. The tiny Thunderbolt port is powered, and will be able to daisy chain up to six connected devices, be they hard drives or even monitors. It’s backward-compatible with old Mini DisplayPort monitors or cables, and like with last year’s Pros, it can output audio and video over HDMI with a Mini DisplayPort-to-HDMI adapter.

Thunderbolt may be a rival to USB 3.0, but devices that can use the port won’t even be available until spring. Most people will simply use the USB 2.0 and FireWire 800 ports on the 2011 MacBook Pro and be completely satisfied. Still, it’s comforting to know that future port support is there. Is it necessary right now? No. In two years, however, it could be indispensable. Consider it future tech on your MacBook Pro–a perk, rather than a necessity.

Apple’s laptops have always had limited upgrade and configuration options; the new Pros are no different. The 13-inch MacBook Pro comes in $1,199 and $1,499 configurations, with 2.3GHz Core i5 and 2.7GHz Core i7 dual-core CPUs, respectively. Our high-end $1,499 Pro comes with a 500GB hard drive and 4GB of DDR3 RAM. RAM can be expanded up to 8GB for an extra $200; the hard drive can be expanded up to a 5,400rpm 750GB drive for $100 or a solid-state drive at 128GB, 256GB, or 512GB. Those aren’t cheap: the 128GB upgrade costs $200, whereas the 512GB costs a whopping $1,200.

That’s it as far as configurations go. The 1,280×800-pixel glossy screen can’t be upgraded, unlike on the 15-inch Pro. There’s no option to add discrete graphics, either. It’s an odd disconnect: even the 13-inch MacBook Air has a higher-resolution screen, and the lack of higher-end graphics feels cheap for such an expensive laptop.

The new second-generation Sandy Bridge Intel Core i5 CPU is a huge improvement on last year’s 13-inch Pro. Benchmark tests show that this model is nearly twice as fast in multitasking and the iTunes test. Start-up boot time is also zippy, although nowhere near as fast as on the MacBook Air. This is the processor upgrade we were hoping for last year, and then some. Though you should obviously keep in mind that the 15-inch Pro is even faster, for the price and the size, it’s hard to beat what the 13-inch offers. Until other next-gen Intel Core i-series laptops arrive, aside from the new 15-inch quad-core MacBook Pro, this is the second-fastest Apple laptop we’ve ever reviewed.

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