Apple MacBook Pro (2008 Edition, 15-in, 2.5GHz) review

Apple has made its first update to the venerable MacBook line since the introduction of the MacBook Air. Regular 13-inch MacBooks get the usual CPU upgrade, but the MacBook Pro line gets a notable internal overhaul -- including new Penryn-class Intel CPUs, new touch pad gestures -- lifted from the MacBook Air -- and finally a backlit LED option for the 17-inch models, something already standard for 15-inchers.

We looked at the higher-end of two 15-inch configurations. The 15-inch, 2.4GHz version starts at £1,299 and the 17-inch, 2.5GHz version retails for £1,799.

Design
Physically, the refreshed 15-inch MacBook Pro is identical to its predecessors, still only 26mm thick, but now that we've had time to get used to the thinner, lighter MacBook Air, it feels positively huge in comparison.

By now we're very familiar with the minimalist layout -- open the lid and inside you'll find only a power button, a full-size keyboard, stereo speakers, a sizeable touch pad with a single mouse button and a built-in iSight camera. Despite our love for a clean look, we've also become used to having at least a few media control keys -- attractive touch-sensitive media controls now regularly pop up on even the cheapest laptops.

Features
Possibly the biggest change is how the revamped trackpad now work with multi-touch gestures, much like the MacBook Air. Originally, you could do things like use two fingers to scroll through documents -- now Pro users can use three fingers to go forward and back in Safari's browser history, and use a thumb and forefinger to zoom in and out of documents and photos -- much like on the iPhone. We hope Apple will roll this out for the 13-inch MacBooks sooner rather than later.

 
The move to backlit LED displays happened in the last MacBook Pro revision, at least for the 15-inch models. This time around, the 17-inch models have it, too. The 15-inch display is 1,440x900 pixels, while the 17-inch is either 1,680x1,050 pixels (standard) or 1,920x1,200 pixels (LED). Apple touts the backlit LED displays as being both energy efficiency and mercury-free.

The MacBook Pro remains the only laptop we can think of with a FireWire 800 jack -- along with the more common FireWire 400 -- useful for digital video fans, but we still think adding a simple SD card slot would be a huge plus for the Pro -- and let's get that on the regular 13-inch MacBook, too, while we're at it.

Performance
With the newest Penryn CPUs, the MacBook Pro offers an excellent boost in performance over the previous mid-2007 Pro revision in our benchmark tests, although a pre-Penryn 13-inch MacBook from late 2007 was nearly as fast. This reinforces our opinion that Intel's Penryn CPUs, while more energy efficient, don't offer much of a performance boost.

The MacBook Air was well behind -- its custom Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, designed to fit into the Air's extra-thin chassis, is slower than the typical Core 2 Duos found in most laptops.