There are, however, several ways to push the 15-inch Pro well past its default configurations. Bumping the 500GB hard drive from 5,400rpm to a faster 7,200rpm model is a £40 upgrade, and solid-state drives are available in sizes from 128GB (£160) to 512GB (a whopping £1,040). RAM can be doubled to 8GB for £320, but each of the three base 15-inch models is locked into particular CPU and GPU combinations.
The 15- and 17-inch Pros have 'automatic graphics switching', an Apple-engineered variation on Nvidia's Optimus graphics-switching technology. The concept is simple: the system uses its integrated Intel graphics by default, and, when an app launches that requires the discrete Nvidia GeForce GT 330M GPU, it seamlessly switches over to that, then turns it off when it is no longer required.
Previously, switching between the integrated GeForce 9400 and the discrete GeForce 9600 found in last year's Pros required you to manually flip a software switch in the power-options menu, and then log out and log back in.
Game on
The GeForce GT 330M (available in 256MB and 512MB versions) isn't a hard-core gaming powerhouse, but it should be capable of playing just about any current PC game, although you may have to dial down the detail levels or resolution for optimal frame rates. It's the seamless switching between GPUs that interests us more, as it lets you take advantage of the discrete graphics for HD video and gaming, but won't run down the battery when not in use. Playing the Mac version of Call of Duty 4, we got 34.5 frames per second at a 1,440x900-pixel resolution, with 4XAA and other high-end graphics options turned on, and 59 frames per second at the same resolution, but with medium in-game graphics settings.
You're likely to get a big performance boost from the 2.66GHz Intel Core i7 CPU (and even the lower-end 2.4GHz Core i5 version). We've generally found these new Intel chips, which started turning up in systems around January, to be faster and provide better battery life than their older Core 2 Duo counterparts. Our Core i7 Pro breezed past previous MacBooks, as well as other Core i5 and Core i7 systems, in our multitasking benchmark test. In single-app tests, such as Photoshop and iTunes, Alienware's Core i7 M15x was neck and neck.
In anecdotal use, the system certainly felt extremely fast and responsive, although you'd probably need a heavy workload to really feel the difference between last year's version and this one. The Core i5 versions are probably more than adequate for most users.
The batteries in the entire 13-to-17-inch Pro line-up are currently non-removable, but Apple claims the new Intel architecture (and some modest changes to the battery itself) will lead to improved battery life. Last year's 15-inch Pro ran for 5 hours and 5 minutes in our video-playback battery-drain test. This time around, we got 5 hours and 56 minutes, which doesn't seem like much more, but keep in mind that we're running a very powerful processor, and this score draws with those of other high-end 15-inch laptops.
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
Conclusion
We continue to pine for extras such as an HDMI port, Blu-ray drive and 3G connectivity but, at the same time, the Apple MacBook Pro's Core i7 CPU is extremely impressive. With the 13-inch model still stuck with a Core 2 Duo CPU, this revamped 15-inch Pro now feels like the line's powerhouse flagship model.
Additional editing by Charles Kloet
Android App 
RSS Feeds 
iPhone App 
Newsletters
User reviews6
Add your review
Jordan-Findlay 2 October 2011
Good: good quality materials, large memory, fast processing, immense battery life, high graphics card, light
Bad: very reflective
Comment: i cannot tell you how much i want this mac
richard10666 10 May 2011
Good: It's so easy just like like a giant IPhone
Bad: would like it to be bit more compatible
Comment: Just a great piece of equipment to have
Simon 'Buzzard' Tuck 11 October 2010
Good: Glossy Screen, Large Trackpad with Multi-touch, Solid Design
Bad: Battery life, Power Options, No Matte screen option
Comment: Let me start my review by telling you a little about me, I love my gadgets, tv and gaming and of course have different pieces of hardware for each individual thing, like my Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 for gaming, along with my Samsung 32" LCD TV. Then there is my laptop, before getting this beautiful MacBook Pro 15" I had a Toshiba Satelite P100. The best I could do on that laptop (which cost around £600 new) was slow video editing and waiting around for the Sims 3 to load.
Of course being a lover of tech I experimented around with different ideas like hooking my laptop up to the tv as an extended screen to watch Youtube on the big screen which unfortunately got my laptop all steamy because it couldn't deal with an extra screen for too long, or streaming videos from my laptop to my Xbox 360 which required my router to handle the data stream, which meant I couldn't also do anything too demanding on my laptop.
This all changed when I got the MacBook Pro. With its excellent i5 processor, 4GB of RAM and Dual Graphics, it can pretty much handle anything you throw at it. With all this hardware it dosn't even seem to slow down much when dual-booting Windows 7 using Parallels 6, listening to music on itunes (which certainly using a fair amount of processor memory) and flying around the world using Google Earth.
Its Glossy screen makes everything look fantastic too, (although the option for a Matte screen which alot of artistic folk like to use isn't an option), along with hot-keys on the keyboard to adjust the backlight and keyboard light, music control and Dashboard everything just seems to be easy.
The casing is great too, made from one solid block of aluminium and carved out with lasers (which Apple have named unibody), doesn't just make it seem cool but extremely sturdy too, you feel like you could drop it from a fifth floor and nothing would happen to it, although like me i'm sure if you have paid this much money you'll be treating it like one of the family.
The price of the machines i'm sure is whats keeping many people to change to an apple computer. But even though the price is steep you'll be sure to get a great machine, with relatively few viruses on the internet for your machine to get sick from and great support from Apple itself.
Overall, once you go Mac you won't go back.
See all 6 user reviews